Simon Hussey | |
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 Simon Hussey | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Simon Cyril Hussey |
| Born | 7 July 1960 Lismore, Victoria, Australia |
| Origin | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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| Years active | 1984–present |
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| Spouse | Elisabeth Reyne (1988–98) (div.) |
| Children | 1 |
Simon Cyril Hussey (born 7 July 1960) is an Australian multi-instrumentalist, songwriter-arranger, record producer and audio engineer. In 1984 he formed Cats Under Pressure on keyboards with David Reyne (ex-Australian Crawl) on vocals and Mark Greig on guitar. On the Australian Crawl album Between a Rock and a Hard Place (August 1985), Hussey co-wrote four tracks with the band's lead singer, James Reyne (David's older brother). In 1987 when James undertook his solo career, Hussey joined his backing band on keyboards, and co-wrote six tracks for James' debut self-titled album including top 10 hit singles, "Hammerhead" (October) and "Motor's Too Fast" (June 1988). In May 1988 Hussey was the producer, and provided keyboards and song writing, for Edge (November), the comeback album by Daryl Braithwaite (ex-Sherbet), which peaked at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart for three weeks in mid-1989.
Hussey worked on further solo material by both Braithwaite and James Reyne. In 1991 Hussey formed Company of Strangers with Braithwaite, Reyne and Jef Scott (backing and session musician for both artists). The group issued a self-titled debut album (November 1992) which peaked at No. 9, and provided three top 40 singles "Sweet Love" (June), "Motor City (I Get Lost)" (September), and "Daddy's Gonna Make You a Star" (January 1993). At the ARIA Music Awards of 1992 Hussey won Producer of the Year for his work on various tracks: Craig McLachlan's "On My Own"; Braithwaite's "The Horses", "Higher Than Hope" and "Don't Hold Back Your Love"; and James Reyne's "Slave". For "The Horses" Margaret Urlich provided backing vocals.[1] Hussey won the same category in 1993 for Braithwaite's "Nothing to Lose"; and Company of Strangers' three singles. In 1994 he won Engineer of the Year for Braithwaite's "Barren Ground" and "The World as It Is"; and Company of Strangers' "Baby, You're a Rich Man" and "Daddy's Gonna Make You a Star". He was nominated for five ARIA Music Awards for his production or engineering work. Hussey has received two APRA Music Awards for his song writing.