Simon Fagan (born 23 May 1981) is an Irish singer/songwriter from Navan. He has been performing music since the age of 5. Simon Fagan's debut EP, ''Hired and Fired'', was released by SiAn Records in March 2009 and his debut album ''Outside Looking In'' has been recorded.

Musical career

Early life and breakthrough

Fagan's musical career started in his parish

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

at the age of 5. At 7 he was taught how to play the

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

and joined his local brass band before picking up the trumpet. He later received a musical scholarship to St. Finian's College. While in his senior year, Simon joined the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. After school he went on to study orchestral trumpet at both the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ( gd, Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama ( gd, Acadamaidh Rìoghail Ciùil is Dràma na h-Alba) is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and ...

. During this period Simon sang in a number of original bands in both

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and Glasgow. After college Simon chose to focus on a career as a singer songwriter. In 2007 Simon teamed up with composer Brian Byrne and recorded a 14 track album in both Ireland and Los Angeles. Although never released, it earned Simon a slot in the Point Theatre, Dublin to open up for

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...

in and then

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

in Vicar Street.

Hired and Fired (2008–2009)

Simon joined up with producer Martin Quinn and recorded a 4 track EP called Hired And Fired. This was released through SiAn Records in March 2009. Throughout 2009 Fagan toured heavily throughout Ireland and the UK and even ventured as far as Egypt. He appeared on some high-profile radio shows including

Today with Pat Kenny Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

on RTÉ Radio 1 in Ireland, 9 BBC regional shows in the UK and both

Nile FM Nile FM is a privately owned English-language radio station based in Cairo, Egypt, that plays English-language music hits and is owned by Nile Radio Productions. Nile FM airs at 104.2 FM. Some of the station's most popular programs are The Big Bre ...

and

Nile TV Nile TV International is a public Egyptian television channel. It is the second Egyptian satellite television news network in Egypt, and the first Arab satellite channel to broadcast its programs in foreign languages; English, French, and formerl ...

in Cairo. It was during this period, that Fagan recorded a number of songs, among them was the track "Never Really Cried", which would later feature on the album ''Outside Looking In''. The track was discovered buy

Platinum Blue Music Xray is a music tech company based in New York City. The company's official name is Platinum Blue Music Intelligence Inc but it began operating under the name "Music Xray" in July 2009. The company is billed as "an online platform where art ...

& Music Xray CEO

Mike McCready Michael David McCready (born April 5, 1966) is an American musician who serves as the lead guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the band. McCready wa ...

who named it Song of the Week in '' The Huffington Post''.

Outside Looking In (2010 – Present)

In January 2010 Simon started work on his debut album with producer Martin Quinn. Long-term friend and mentor Brian Byrne, came on board to arrange strings for the album, which were recorded by the

Prague Philharmonic Orchestra The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra was established in 1995, under the German conductor Friedemann Riehle. The orchestra has since produced many classical and film music recordings, working with labels such as Decca Records, Decca, EMI, Sony BMG a ...

. The album, titled ''Outside Looking In'' was released on 14 May. It contains the single 'Damn Honey'.

Discography

Albums

* ''

Hired And Fired EP Henry Jamison "Jam" Handy (March 6, 1886 – November 13, 1983) was an American Olympic breaststroke swimmer, water polo player, and founder of the Jam Handy Organization (JHO), a producer of commercially sponsored motion pictures, slidefilms (l ...

'' (2009) * ''Outside Looking In'' (2010)

Singles

* " Bring The Dance" (2008) * "

Falling into You ''Falling into You'' is the fourth English-language and fourteenth studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released on 11 March 1996 by Columbia/Epic Records. The follow-up to her commercially successful album ''The Colour of My Love'' (19 ...

" (2009) * " Damn Honey" (2010)

References

Interviews

Interview with Simon Fagan, Three Monkeys

External links

*
Simon Fagan's Myspace pageSimon Fagan on Last.fmSimon Fagan on FacebookSimon Fagan on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fagan, Simon Irish male singer-songwriters Irish singer-songwriters People from Navan 1981 births Living people 21st-century Irish male singers Musicians from County Meath