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Shadow Child | |
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Birth name | Simon Bird aka Simon Neale |
Also known as | Shadow Child Dave Spoon Lovequest Polymod M.A.S.C |
Born | [1] [2] Portsmouth, Hampshire, England | 20 January 1977
Origin | Portsmouth |
Genres | House, deep house, jungle, bass music |
Years active | 2004–present |
Labels | London Records, Food Music, Universal, Dim Mak Records, Toolroom, Size, Dirtybird, Deleted, Moda Black, Apollo, Polydor |
Website | theshadowchild |
Born in Portsmouth UK on 20th January 1977, Simon Bird is an artist, producer and DJ often credited as Simon Neale who is best known by stage names Shadow Child and Dave Spoon. He's a member of the group 'Lovequest' with Doorly and Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears and also 'MASC', a duo formed with Altern 8 legend Mark Archer. From 2022, Simon became a resident on the re-launched Kool FM with his 'DNA' radio show after a 9 year stint on their parent station, Rinse FM. He was also previously part of the line-up on BBC Radio 1's 'In New DJs We Trust'.
Simon grew up listening to a mixture of synth-pop and early '90s house and rave, and attended a secondary school in 1989 that had a TB-303 and Juno 60 stashed away in the music room cupboard.
After stints running record shops, teaching music production and DJing south-coast clubs in the UK, he established himself as Dave Spoon on the global dance scene, signing his debut "21st Century" EP to Toolroom Records in 2004. The piano-led "Sunrise EP" soon followed and was snapped up by Seamus Haji's Big Love imprint.
In 2006, Spoon released "At Night". With an added vocal in 2007 from Lisa Maffia, the track crossed over as "Bad Girl (At Night)" on Universal, earning Spoon his first top 40 hit, with the second coming in 2008 in the form of "Baditude" with collaborators Sam Obernik & Paul Harris from Dirty Vegas.
He followed this with DJ compilations for Ministry of Sound & Toolroom, remixes of songs by artists like Dizzee Rascal and The Pet Shop Boys, and carved out a global DJ career, including a 2 year residency for Cream in Ibiza. His 2008 single "Baditude" entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 34 on downloads alone on 10 August. The following week, the song climbed to No. 29.His own label at the time, 'Televizion' released the Pete Tong collaboration "Gas Face", which was used as title music for the Hammer Horror film Beyond the Rave. The pair went on to work together on several recordings, including a remix for Robyn & Kleerup's 'With Every Heartbeat'.
As Shadow Child, he made his debut in 2012 with "String Thing" on Dirtybird, championed by Eats Everything and Claude VonStroke, but it was his single '23' and remixes of AlunaGeorge and Hot Natured that pushed him to the forefront of the UK's 'Deep House' sound in 2012. At the time, this fresh alias for one of house music's household names turned down an exciting path, fusing underground bass-led grooves with elements of rave, jungle, house and all the quirks and depth you'd expect to hear on the cooler sound-systems around the globe.
Title | Album details |
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Collected |
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Year | Album | Label |
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2012 | Shadow Child | Dirtybird |
2012 | Phil Collins | Deleted |
2012 | 23(featuring Tymer) | Food Music |
Year | Song | Album | Label |
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2012 | "Comb Over" (with James Talk) | BBQ Trax | Dirtybird |
2013 | "The Only One" | Dirtybird Players Part 1 | Dirtybird |
2013 | "Bending Albert's Law" (vs. Karin Park) | Moda Black Vol. 2 | Moda Black |