- Simone has a younger sister, Janneke (in the middle on this picture), who was born on her second birthday on January 17th 1987. It’s a funny coincidence because Janneke was born prematurely (she was supposed to be born in April). Simone and her sister have the same voice on the phone so Simone’s mother and husband were confused several times. Janneke has a similar voice when she sings but lower. Simone describes her sister as a “calm version” of her.
- She loves tattoos on other people, but don’t want to get any herself.
- When she was younger, she loved the Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys.
- She owns over eight hundred DVDs.
- The texts in Latin are written in English by Simone and/or Mark, then translated by Gjalt Lucassen (Arjen Lucassen’s brother), who teaches Latin. He also makes sure the pronunciation is correct before the band records the songs.
- Her first rock concert was After Forever when she was 16. She went with Mark.
- She met Mark in the summer 2001 on an After Forever chat. They dated for 4 years and a half.
- At first, her parents didn’t know about Epica. When they had their first concert, it was on the same day as a recital and Simone had to confess.
- When the band tours in America, Simone always comes with a full suitcase and then buys another suitcase to fill up because she buys a lot of things.
- She’s a good friend with Cristina Scabbia and Elize Ryd.
- If someone decided to make a movie about her life, she’d want her role to be played by Scarlett Johansson or Amanda Seyfried.
- She worked with Amanda Somerville as a vocal coach for The Phantom Agony, Consign to Oblivion and The Divine Conspiracy.
- When she listens to songs, if she doesn’t like the voice, she can’t love the song, no matter how good the melody is.
- Between 2003 and 2007, every time she got sick on tour, Simone took antibiotics. It eventually killed her immune system and she got a staph infection in winter 2008 when the band was in North America. She went to four hospitals, but still did a show sitting on a bar stool. When the infection got worse, the band had to cancel some shows while Simone was hospitalized. Epica did a support act tour in America for Symphony X together with Amanda Somerville who replaced Simone.
- Her worst nightmare is that something happens to her family. Other nightmares would be to have to cancel a tour, to be late for a show or to be unable to remember the lyrics on stage.
- In September 2012 in Santiago (Chile), Mark invited Robert Castillo (an Epica fan) onstage so he could propose to his girlfriend Cynthia Oyarzun. She accepted his proposal and Simone Simons congratulated the couple, wishing them “love, luck and a lot of sex”.
- She wishes she could play the piano. Oliver tried to teach her but she still can’t play. She jokes she plays the flute and the piano “on the level of a 6 year old”.
- When she was little, she danced on her bed to the music that was on the radio. She played the flute for one year and she sang in a musical at primary school. When she was fourteen, she had pop/jazz singing lessons for one year.
- On a desert island, she would bring sunscreen, sunglasses and shampoo.
- When in America, she always eats burgers, but has to set a limit of five burgers for a whole tour because she likes a lot of cheese on her burgers and she “doesn’t want to look like a burger after eating” too many of them. She also loves frozen yogurts, cupcakes, Starbucks, tea with milk and cake pops.
- She smoked when she was younger, but she stopped when she realized it was “stupid and disgusting”.
