Simon House
Simon House (born 29 August 1948 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England) is an English composer and classically trained violinist and keyboard player, perhaps best known for his work with space rock band Hawkwind. His arrival in 1974 introduced a new element to the band's style. He was the first conspicuously trained musician to join, and the sound that emerged on "Hall of the Mountain Grill" was a previously unheard, lush chaos which sounded a little like Black Sabbath meets The Moody Blues. Before Hawkwind, House played in High Tide and the Third Ear Band, who contributed the soundtrack  to Roman Polanski's "Macbeth". Guitarist Tony Hill recounted how House became a member of High Tide: "[Pete Pavli and I were] hanging out with and crashing where we could at Mike's or Wayne's. Simon ended up crashing there as well. Simon was playing bass then. He said: 'I used to play violin, you know?' So I said 'Get it!' That was basically it." He joined Hawkwind in 1974, playing on some of their albums, before leaving for David Bowie's band in 1978. That, along with Robert Calvert falling into clinical depression, led to Hawkwind breaking up  in mid-tour. Along with other Hawkwind members he guested on science fiction author Michael Moorcock's "New Worlds Fair" in 1975 and has also played on solo projects by former Hawkwind members Robert Calvert and Nik Turner. Since the 1970s, as well as cutting an album ("Interesting Times") with Tony Hill under the High Tide banner and releasing several solo albums under his own name, House has twice rejoined Hawkwind; between 1989 and 1991, and between 2001 and 2003.