About Simone Simons
Simone Johanna Maria Simons (born 17 January 1985) is a Dutch singer. She is best known for being the lead singer of Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, which she joined at the age of seventeen, releasing nine studio albums and touring the world. In her singing career, she has also collaborated with bands such as Kamelot, Leaves' Eyes, Primal Fear, Ayreon, and Angra. She also has a side pursuit as a lifestyle blogger, via her website SmoonStyle. == Early life == Simons was born in Hoensbroek, Heerlen, near the border with Germany and Belgium. She has a younger sister named Janneke who was born on Simone's second birthday. Her earliest musical interests included singing along to Disney movies as a young child, as well as pop acts such as the Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, Whitney Houston whose songs she performed in a primary-school musical around age 12. At age 10 she started taking singing lessons and also began flute lessons (which she continued for two years), later joining a music school at age 12. At age 15 she switched from pop/jazz singing lessons to study as a lyrical singer, becoming also interested in classical music and composition, after listening to Nightwish's second album Oceanborn and hearing Tarja Turunen's voice for the first time. In her teenage years she first gravitated toward alternative rock bands Radiohead, Silverchair, Muse, Deftones, R.E.M. and Garbage before discovering black metal Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir through her first boyfriend; at one point she was invited to join a black-metal band rehearsal and did so, although she was a little afraid to sing.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.