Simon Tong (born 9 July 1972) is an English guitarist and keyboardist who was a member of The Verve between 1996 and 1999 and is currently a member of Erland and the Carnival and Transmission. He has also played on tour with Blur, Gorillaz and the unnamed supergroup responsible for The Good, the Bad & the Queen. He ranks in BBC\'s "The Axe Factor" as the 40th greatest guitarist of the latest 30 years.\n', '

Tong grew up in English town Skelmersdale, the subject of his most recent release, Prospect of Skelmersdale with his project The Magnetic North.\n', '

From 1996 to 1999, Simon was a guitarist and keyboardist for The Verve. He was brought in to replace lead guitarist Nick McCabe after the band\'s first short-lived split, but remained with them when McCabe returned. Their third album was 1997\'s highly acclaimed Urban Hymns. He played on many of their hits from that time such as "The Drugs Don\'t Work", "Bittersweet Symphony" and "Sonnet". The Verve disbanded in 1999 and later reformed in 2007, this time without Tong. By 2009 they had disbanded again.\n', '

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