Simon Hood was Born in Greenville, NC. at a time of great change in our country, he recalls being among the first generation of Americans growing up in a fully integrated society. Some of his first memories were of a 20 minute drive each morning to be dropped off at school by one of his aunts, who was a huge fan of Sam Cook and the L.T.D.'s. The interesting thing about that drive was listening to those great artist, the first thing in the morning. He said, "thank GOD my first class of the day was music because all I wanted to do was sing".In Greenville, SC, his parents founded a successful day care center in the Nichol Town community where again Simon's love for music was nurtured by a piano that was purchased to assist the church choir prepare for performances. Simon says, "I use to sit at that piano and try to play songs I heard on the radio" so it comes as no surprise he's found his way to song writing.
In New Haven, CT, Simon and one of his cousins use to perform at area Break Dancing shows and battle in competitions which lead to a deep love of Hip-Hop. He began producing and writing Hip-Hop, and recording in world class studio's like (Bay Side Studio) in NY. the place where Hip-Hop pioneers like "Salt-N-Pepper" recorded. Then by chance he wanted to record, but dreaded the train ride to NY when he happened to come across a local New Haven studio. Where he met Glen Paige (DJ White Rock) who accidentally heard him sing during a session when a microphone believed to have been muted was actually live. Glen then asked Simon to join the R&B group "NAZYET".
Simon started his own production company Ringo D. Productions right out of high school. While that start up company ended few years later he learned a great deal about production, and song writing. He would say, "the best teacher in music is experience, sometimes you got to get in the deep water to swim".
After Ringo Productions he worked several years at the Underground Studio(made famous by EPMD's Eric Sermon) located on Peachtree St. in Atlanta Ga. were he built a network with other underground independent artist and producers. He has worked along side producers like Dent, Zack, PME and Jazzy Faye. He has produced for artist like Damian Hall of the multi-platinum R&B group "Guy", Lil Jamal of "Illegal", and has done a host of freelance work through D.A.R.P. (Dallas Austin Recording Projects) with the guidance of Julian Wright.
Ready to get back to his origins musically, Simon made the decision 5 years ago to transition to R&B and merge his knowledge of Hip-Hop production with excellent song writing. Reaching out to one of his closest friends and band mates, producer Glen Paige of New Haven, CT. The pen began to flow. Along with a large number of tracks and songs Simon already wrote Glen has added so much more because now Simon doesn't have to do everything. That leaves more time to dedicate to other areas of his career.
The recent release of the single "Love Gone Wild" a song written and recorded to draw attention to the difference between love and obsession, was also produced, and performed by Simon Hood it has ranked as high as #1 in several internet radio communities like Air Spun, and was also a selected feature in the Air Gods campaign. It is also included on Simon Hood's debut album "Find A Way".
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