15-611: Simon Philip Raymonde (born 3 April 1962) is an English musician and record producer. He is the son of the late arranger and composer Ivor Raymonde . He is best known as the bass guitarist and keyboard player with the Scottish band Cocteau Twins from 1983 to 1997. Raymonde now runs the Bella Union record label and management company Bella Union Artist Management. Raymonde has acted as producer and mixer on many records, including Clearlake 's Cedars , James Yorkston 's Moving Up Country ,
30-622: A Bevin Boy during the Second World War . He initially entered professional music as a jazz and classical pianist. He played in various big bands and started leading his own band by the early 1950s. He then became a music director at the BBC alongside Wally Stott . He worked as a session musician on occasion, playing on and arranging Johnny Duncan 's UK hit "Last Train to San Fernando." He also worked as an actor, supporting comedian Tony Hancock in all of
45-512: The UK singles chart , and he and lyricist Mike Hawker followed it up with Dusty's second hit single, "Stay Awhile". Raymonde continued working as Springfield's arranger through the 1960s, as well as arranging and producing hits for Helen Shapiro , Billy Fury , the Walker Brothers , Susan Maughan , Ken Dodd , Alan Price , Honeybus , Eternal Triangle , Los Bravos , The Flies and many others. In
60-468: The "Heaven or Las Vegas" LP received the SAY (Scottish Album Of The Year) Award for Classic Album. Ivor Raymonde Ivor Raymonde (born Ivor Pomerance ; 22 October 1926 – 4 June 1990) was a British musician, songwriter, arranger and actor, best known for his distinctive rock-orchestral arrangements for Dusty Springfield and others in the 1960s. He studied at Trinity College of Music , and served as
75-431: The 1970s, he worked as an arranger and producer at DJM Records on albums by the actor Edward Woodward , and later worked with Ian Dury , Julio Iglesias and Richard Anthony . He had four children: Gail, Linda and Nicholas, and Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins , co-founder and manager of the independent record label Bella Union . A compilation of Ivor Raymonde's recordings, Paradise: The Sound of Ivor Raymonde ,
90-528: The 2007 Mercury Music Prize , and the album The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads by Lift to Experience . Raymonde remixed tracks for Archive , Tristeza and Departure Lounge . Raymonde's memoir In One Ear: Cocteau Twins, Ivor Raymonde and Me was released on 12 September 2024. Raymonde began his career as bassist for London-based post-punk band Drowning Craze , who released three singles on Situation 2 : "Storage Case" (1981), "Trance" (1981) and "Heat" (1982). In 1984, Raymonde joined Cocteau Twins, filling
105-655: The Jesus and Mary Chain ), called Lost Horizons. Their album, Ojalá , was released on Bella Union in November 2017. The album was named Rough Trade "Album of the Month"; following this, the band were invited by Perfume Genius to be part of the Le Guess Who festival in Utrecht. In 2018, Bella Union released two double albums celebrating the work of Raymonde's late father, Ivor, who worked with
120-618: The Walker Brothers , David Bowie , Tom Jones and Dusty Springfield , among others. In 2018, Simon and his wife, Abbey Raymonde, started the management side of Bella Union, working with Brighton-based Penelope Isles. In March 2022, Bella Union celebrated its 25th anniversary in Austin at SXSW festival with around 15 bands performing across two stages at the legendary MOHAWK venue, then in May 2022 Simon and his fellow Cocteau Twins Elizabeth and Robin received an Ivors Academy 's Visionary Award. In 2023,
135-800: The board at the Association of Independent Music in 2013, and has spoken regularly around the world about his experiences in the industry. He presented a weekend workshop with music students at QUT in Brisbane , and has also done master classes at Middlesex University , BIMM and the Academy of Contemporary Music at UCO in Oklahoma City . He served as the keynote speaker at Big Sound in Australia, Going Global in New Zealand and Norwich 's Sound & Vision (where he
150-501: The comedian's first TV series in 1956. He moved on to Philips Records , where he worked as producer with Frankie Vaughan , for whom he arranged the hits " Tower of Strength " and " Loop de Loop ", and with Marty Wilde and the Springfields . When Dusty Springfield went solo in 1963, he played her a tune he had written, which became her first big hit, " I Only Want to Be with You ", produced by Johnny Franz . It reached #4 on
165-562: The documentary film Scott Walker: 30 Century Man . In 2009, Raymonde formed the group Snowbird with Stephanie Dosen . Bella Union was named the Best Independent Label of the Year in 2010, as voted by the UK's indie retailers, and later won this award again in 2012, 2014 and 2016. In 2011, he was asked to be the music supervisor for Jonathan Caouette 's documentary Walk Away Renee , which
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#1733116105492180-654: The first two albums by John Grant's first band the Czars , three albums by the Duke Spirit including the hit album Cuts Across the Land , Archie Bronson Outfit 's "Kangaroo Heart", Anthony Reynolds ' "Just So You Know" and the Open 's Silent Hours . He co-produced the posthumous album from Billy Mackenzie . He also mixed the Fionn Regan album The End of History , which was nominated for
195-423: The void left by the departed bassist Will Heggie . He remained as a core writer in the band until its dissolution in 1997. As well as his work with Cocteau Twins, he also contributed to the first two albums by This Mortal Coil , another 4AD project. Raymonde's debut solo album, Blame Someone Else , was released on 6 October 1997, and featured Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins. In 2007, he made an appearance in
210-626: Was accepted for the Cannes Film Festival and released in May 2013. In 2012, Bella Union celebrated its 15th year, and the label was asked to host and curate the Friday line-up at the End of the Road Festival that September. Between 2012–2015, Raymonde presented a show on Amazing Radio on Monday evenings, and has stood in for John Kennedy on his Xposure show on Radio X . He was vice-chairman of
225-426: Was interviewed by John Robb ). On 27 January 2014, he released his first music in 17 years, with the band Snowbird. Their album Moon was issued as a vinyl package with one black vinyl and one white vinyl, with artwork designed by Vaughan Oliver and a bonus electronic dub remix album by RxGibbs called Luna . In summer 2015, he started a new musical project with musician Richard Thomas (formerly of Dif Juz and
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