Simon Gallup

Simon Johnathon Gallup (born 1 June 1960) is an English musician and bassist with the alternative rock band The Cure. He is the second longest-serving member of the band after lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Smith.

Born in Duxhurst, Surrey, Simon's family moved to Horley in 1961 where he attended Horley Infants and Junior Schools until 1971, followed by Horley Comprehensive School (now Oakwood secondary school) to 1976. Between 1976 and 1978 he worked in a plastics factory and became the bass player for local punk band Lockjaw, who later evolved into the Magazine Spies (1979–1980), also known as the Mag/Spys. Lockjaw and the Mag/Spys played regular live shows with Easy Cure and later the Cure between 1977 and 1979, and after collaborating in the studio on the Cult Hero recording sessions in October 1979, both Gallup and keyboardist Matthieu Hartley left the Mag/Spys to join the Cure. Former Mag/Spys Gallup, Hartley and Stuart Curran later performed together under the name of the Cry and later Fools Dance during Gallup's hiatus from the Cure between 1982 and 1984.

Gallup first joined the Cure in 1979, replacing Michael Dempsey on bass guitar. He also has been credited for occasionally playing the keyboards, particularly after Matthieu Hartley's departure in 1980. He took over keyboard lines for many of the songs that Hartley played. Examples of songs he played keyboard on live include "At Night", "A Forest", "A Strange Day" and "Pornography". During "Cold" he multi-tasked pla…