Raymonde began his career as bassist for London-based
post-punk band
Drowning Craze, who released three singles on
Situation 2: "Storage Case" (1981), "Trance" (1981) and "Heat" (1982). In 1984, Raymonde joined Cocteau Twins, filling the void left by the departed bassist
Will Heggie. He remained as a core writer in the band until its dissolution in 1997. As well as his work with Cocteau Twins, he also contributed to the first two albums by
This Mortal Coil, another
4AD project. Raymonde's debut solo album,
Blame Someone Else, was released on 6 October 1997, and featured
Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins. In 2007, he made an appearance in the documentary film
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man. In 2009, Raymonde formed the group
Snowbird with
Stephanie Dosen. Bella Union was named the Best Independent Label of the Year in 2010, as voted by the UK's indie retailers, and later won this award again in 2012, 2014 and 2016. In 2011, he was asked to be the music supervisor for
Jonathan Caouette's documentary
Walk Away Renee, which was accepted for the
Cannes Film Festival and released in May 2013. In 2012, Bella Union celebrated its 15th year, and the label was asked to host and curate the Friday line-up at the
End of the Road Festival that September. Between 2012–2015, Raymonde presented a show on
Amazing Radio on Monday evenings, and has stood in for
John Kennedy on his
Xposure show on
Radio X. He was vice-chairman of the board at the Association of Independent Music in 2013, and has spoken regularly around the world about his experiences in the industry. He presented a weekend workshop with music students at
QUT in
Brisbane, and has also done
master classes at
Middlesex University,
BIMM and the Academy of Contemporary Music at
UCO in
Oklahoma City. He served as the keynote speaker at Big Sound in Australia, Going Global in New Zealand and
Norwich's Sound & Vision (where he was interviewed by
John Robb). On 27 January 2014, he released his first music in 17 years, with the band Snowbird. Their album
Moon was issued as a vinyl package with one black vinyl and one white vinyl, with artwork designed by
Vaughan Oliver and a bonus electronic dub remix album by RxGibbs called
Luna. In summer 2015, he started a new musical project with musician Richard Thomas (formerly of
Dif Juz and
the Jesus and Mary Chain), called Lost Horizons. Their album,
Ojalá, was released on Bella Union in November 2017. The album was named
Rough Trade "Album of the Month"; following this, the band were invited by
Perfume Genius to be part of the Le Guess Who festival in Utrecht. In 2018, Bella Union released two double albums celebrating the work of Raymonde's late father, Ivor, who worked with
the Walker Brothers,
David Bowie,
Tom Jones and
Dusty Springfield, among others. In 2018, Simon and his wife, Abbey Raymonde, started the management side of Bella Union, working with Brighton-based Penelope Isles. In March 2022,
Bella Union celebrated its 25th anniversary in Austin at
SXSW festival with around 15 bands performing across two stages at the legendary MOHAWK venue, then in May 2022 Simon and his fellow
Cocteau Twins Elizabeth and Robin received an
Ivors Academy's Visionary Award. In 2023, the "Heaven or Las Vegas" LP received the SAY (Scottish Album Of The Year) Award for Classic Album. == Discography ==