Simone Murphy

Simone Murphy (born 29 July 1993) is a Scottish musician and former model. Born in Edinburgh, she started modelling aged two before setting up several events while at the University of Edinburgh. After being scouted while working at Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh aged 21, she applied for Cycle 11 of Britain's Next Top Model, on which she placed fifth. That year, Murphy was a finalist in a competition to become PETA UK's Hottest Vegan. She later modelled for Karl Lagerfeld and appeared in music videos by The 1975.

Murphy diversified into DJing during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. She released a remix of Lana Del Rey's "Say Yes to Heaven" in 2023 under the name Sim0ne, which she followed with several original compositions and remixes of Janet Jackson's "Empty" and MCR-T and HorsegiirL's "My Barn My Rules". Critics usually categorise her music as house music, techno, and trance music.

Life and career

Early life and Britain's Next Top Model Murphy was born 29 July 1993 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was named after Nina Simone. and her father was a photographer. She attended George Heriot's School Aged two, she modelled for The Scotsman fashion magazine, before modelling for local clothing brands as a teenager. Murphy studied Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, during which time she worked as an events manager and helped set up Fly Festival. After graduating in 2014, she worked in the hospitality and events industry, and took a post on the third floor of Harvey Nichols The only Scottish contestant in the lineup, and quit the modelling industry after finding success as a DJ. In a February 2024 interview with Yazzi Gokcemen of Notion, she expressed pride in leaving the industry on her terms, citing the industry's tendency to phase out models. and her own track "Star Sign". Around this time, she began a residency at Rinse FM and was selected by SoundCloud for their "First on SoundCloud" program that July. She then performed a set as part of a day rave comprising entirely female and genderqueer DJs, which had been organised by Nia Archives for her single "Bad Gyalz". She then launched the club night Club Zer0. By the end of that year, she had released a remix of MCR-T and HorsegiirL's "My Barn My Rules".

After being named BBC Radio 1's Future Star of 2024 she released "Halo", a collaboration with Remedy Club. For International Women's Day 2024, she and other women and non-binary DJs performed a set at The Thekla in Bristol. Laviea Thomas of Skiddle described her set as a "concoction of mainstream pop hits, OG club classics and a whole lot of spontaneity", and observed that Murphy got straight "into bouncy club music with EDM-inspired drops", in contrast to other DJs who preferred to take ravers "on a journey to climax". The following month, she released "Work It", a combination of techno and trance.

"This set feels like an unabashed celebration of 2000s girlies who love to dance, the images behind the DJ glitching through anime, paparazzi shots of celebrities like Paris Hilton, psychic hotlines and memes. What looks like an AI version of sim0ne herself is also present on the screen, but the real thing is even better, striking the perfect balance between cool, calm and collected behind the decks and constantly dancing along with the crowd. It’s a great showcase of the little nook sim0ne has carved out for herself." — Georgia Jackson of The Soundboard Reviews discussing Murphy's 2024 Leeds Festival performance She then performed at that year's Leeds Festival; Georgia Jackson of The Soundboard Reviews described her set as "a seamless mix of styles, techno and trance beats, Spice Girls and Lana Del Rey remixes and her own glittering Eurodance and hyperpop-inspired material". She then mounted a tour of Asia, during which she performed at Clockenflap in November 2024. She went viral shortly after the performance after alleging that multiple audience members had sexually harassed her during the performance. She stated in a February 2025 interview that she was working on an EP and was interviewed for the March 2025 BBC documentary Nightclubs: Is the Party Over?. In August 2025, she released the single "Space Cadet".

Personal life and artistry Murphy lived in Camden Town in July 2022 and had moved to East London by April 2024. In April 2023, Megan Wallace of Planet Woo noted that she had over 120,000 followers in Instagram, with her social media content comprising humorous videos, modelling looks, and advocacy "on the pressing political issues of the day – from the injustices of Conservative party austerity, to the need to advocate for trans rights amid a context of increasingly overt hate and discrimination". She adopted a vegan lifestyle after being horrified by a social media clip, (She stated in July 2017 that she had done so after watching a clip of a chicken hatchery, a contest won by Mark Goodwin and Casey Rider.)

In March 2017, The Scotsman reported that Murphy had described herself as being influenced by the flower power movement.

Writing in April 2022, Becky Buckle of Mixmag wrote that a normal day for Murphy involved "playing mixes of camp icons such as Kylie, Lady Gaga and Charli XCX while dressed head-to-toe in Fiorucci". while Chiara Maculan of Bricks wrote in June 2024 described her productions as "high energy blends of house, techno, trance, and even acid".

2025

Remixes