Roxy Music
Roxy Music is an art-rock or glam rock music group out of England, that was formed in 1970, principally by its leader and songwriter, Bryan Ferry. The other main group members were Graham Simpson (bass guitar), Phil Manzanera (guitar), Andy Mackay (saxophone and oboe), and Paul Thompson (drums). Roxy Music's recordings have been cited in Wikipedia as being influential to both glamour rock, and punk rock, as well as to electronic and New Wave music. Brian Eno was a band member on synthesizer who went on to have a signficant and prolific solo career in Avant Garde music. Roxy Music's first success began with the critically-acclaimed album Roxy Music, which is also on the list of the top 10 greatest Glam Rock albums of all time. It reached #10 in the U.K. charts in 1972; the initial single off of this first album was "Virginia Plain". During this time, Roxy Music had a debut performance on the British television music show "Top of the Pops", which became a cornerstone of the burgeoning Glam Rock trend. The next three albums, For Your Pleasure, Stranded and Country Life all met with great success, even though it was after the release of For Your Pleasure that Brian Eno left the group, much to the dismay of Roxy Music fans; Eno citing differences with Ferry about the management of the group. Eno was replaced, according to Wikipedia, by Eddie Jacobs, who played keyboards and electric violin. The Roxy Music albums epitomized the merging and melding of Avant Garde, fashion chic, Glam, and New Age all in one; with the addition of Bryan Ferry's edgy, at times discordant, almost atonal vocal performances, the result is music that almost sounds more alive in the 21st century than the 20th! Bryan Ferry himself, being the working class miner's son from Northern England, embraced the jet-set, suave lifestyle of the Art Performance world, dating lots of beautiful women such as Playboy model Marilyn Cole, fashion model Amanda Lear (who later dated David Bowie), and Jerry Hall (later became the common-law wife of Mick Jagger).
The group was formed from inauspicious beginnings, and like many of the great rock and roll bands of all time, started with many of the band members' art school connections. In 1970, after Bryan Ferry lost his job teaching ceramics for holding impromptu record-listening sessions, he advertised for a keyboard player. Andy Mackay responded, not as a keyboardist but as a saxophonist and oboe player. Additionally, Bryan Ferry already knew Graham Simpson from an art college band called The Gas Board. Mackay knew Brian Eno from university days, and convinced him to sign to the band. Bryan Ferry initially wanted to name the band simply Roxy, but hearing that there was already a band with that name in the United States, changed it to Roxy Music. Bryan Ferry advertised in The Melody Maker for other key band members and recruited Phil Manzanera and Paul Thompson this way. The rest is Glam Rock history. Give it a listen!
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