BIOGRAPHY
SIMON LAW aka THE FUNKY GINGER
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Musician Composer Songwriter Producer Educator Meditator
From early childhood days in Trinidad in the 60s, to his time as head chorister at Hereford Cathedral in England in the 70s… From London’s dance/club/music culture and to the present day in Toronto, Simon’s diverse and eclectic love of music has always shone through. His songs and productions have sold over 10 million albums and singles worldwide.
He was a regular club goer & dancer at the Africa Centre for Soul II Soul’s legendary Sunday night sessions which led to a lifelong friendship & collaboration with Jazzie B OBE and the creation of Soul II Soul’s long career. He has been involved in all of their 7 album releases.
In particular co-writing the Grammy winning, global No.1 hit Back II Life and also Keep On Movin’ , both from the seminal album Club Classics Vol 1. This worldwide multi-platinum album, including the Grammy Award winning instrumental African Dance were co-written by Simon.
He has produced and co-written hit tunes with many other artists including Maxi Priest, Chante Moore, Shabba Ranks, Johnny Gill, JT Taylor (Kool and the Gang) Joanna Law (his sister) Guru's Jazzmatazz and The Jazz Warriors.
Four career highlights are:
1. co-producing the late, very great South African reggae superstar Lucky Dube’s album ‘Victims’ in South Africa.
2.Simon also worked with his mentor and hero Maurice White, Earth Wind and Fire’s founder in 1991.
3.He contributed keyboards for Guru's Jazzmatazz album and performed this album with Donald Byrd and Roy Ayres.
4.Making the film Music Is Life about music's role in caring for people living with dementia.
In Canada he plays regularly in the Toronto band Jen Schaffer & The Shiners with his partner Jen Schaffer. They’ve released 2 albums and an EP and played at the prestigious Mariposa Folk festival in 2016.
As a teacher he taught music at the Paul Penna Downtown Jewish Day School for 4 years (2010-14) He also wrote, produced and directed 2 original musicals at Jackman Avenue Public School and George Webster Public School in Toronto. These productions were written with the children using state of the art multimedia and also traditional theatre arts. They featured a cast of 100 children with sellout performances!
CURRENT PROJECTS:
Producing album for new UK band Marlene Dali to be released later in 2022
Writing music for meditation.
https://funkyginger.bandcamp.com/
Promoting the song Let's Reimagine, which he helped create for Reimagining Dementia: A creative Coalition.
Simon says, "I produce and play drums and keys in the incredible Toronto band Jen Schaffer & The Shiners" Jen is his life partner. This year the band celebrate 13 years of playing music together.
He facilitates music classes and is involved in research into dementia and music at The Bitove Method in Toronto.
Simon says' "I am constantly chipping away at the coal face of song ... writing/producing tunage for wonderful artists and projects all over the world"
He's writing and producing music for TV, Film and advertising for his publisher Sony Production Music eg. KPM's Funky Ginger's Toronto Tapes
"I'm certainly getting way more active in the sync and scoring world these days" Simon adds.