Roxy Music Artistfacts

1970-
Bryan FerryVocals, keyboards
Phil ManzaneraGuitar
Andy MackayOboe, saxophone
Paul ThompsonDrums
Brian EnoSynthesizer1970-1973
Eddie JobsonSynthesizer, keyboards, violin1973-1976, 2019
Having failed an audition to join King Crimson as their lead singer, Bryan Ferry set about forming Roxy Music with his friend from university, bassist Graham Simpson, in 1970. After advertising for bandmates, Ferry and Simpson were joined by oboe player and saxophonist Andy Mackay and synthesizer connoisseur Brian Eno. The group's name was derived from an old cinema, the Roxy. However, after finding out an American band was using the same name, they added "Music" to become Roxy Music.
Roxy Music released their self-titled debut album in June 1972. Unusually, it contained no singles, although the band later issued a non-album cut, "Virginia Plain," to help promote the record.
On August 24, 1972, Roxy Music made their debut on Top Of The Pops with a performance of "Virginia Plain." Showcasing the band's flamboyant outfits and magnetic stage presence, it's regarded as one of the most culturally groundbreaking moments in British television history, setting the stage for the incoming glam rock movement.

Another iconic glam rock performance that took place on Top Of The Pops a few weeks prior: "Starman" by David Bowie.
Ferry, Eno, and Mackay all attended art schools in the 1960s, with Ferry studying at Newcastle University under the legendary British painter Richard Hamilton. Hamilton's 1956 collage "Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?" is regarded as one of the first works of pop art and would go on to influence the Roxy Music song "In Every Dream Home a Heartache." Hamilton later called Ferry his "greatest creation."
Following weeks of growing tension, Brian Eno quit Roxy Music on July 2, 1973, after an appearance at York Music Festival. During the performance, while Ferry was attempting to sing "Beauty Queen," a ballad from the album For Your Pleasure, the crowd began loudly chanting "Eno! Eno! Eno!" The incident left Ferry feeling envious and infuriated, and he vowed never to perform with the synthesizer player again.

Brian Eno famously realized his time was up in Roxy Music when he found himself thinking about his laundry onstage.
Roxy Music went through a lot of bass players. It was John Gustafson who was responsible for the band's most famous bassline, however, on "Love Is the Drug." Nile Rodgers said that bassline was one of the main inspirations behind Chic's "Good Times," which in turn inspired John Deacon's bassline on Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust."
Salvador Dali's muse Amanda Lear, Playboy playmate Marilyn Cole, and American socialite Jerry Hall are among the beauties to have graced Roxy Music's album covers. Country Life features German models Constanze Karoli and Eveline Grunwald dressed in nothing but see-through lingerie. This caused a big stir in the US, where it was issued in an opaque sleeve before Roxy Music changed the image on the front completely.
In March 1981, Roxy Music achieved their first and only #1 in the UK with a cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy." The group recorded their haunting take on the Imagine ballad a few months after the former Beatle was shot and killed outside his home in New York City on December 8, 1980. Five years on from Lennon's death, Ferry performed "Jealous Guy" at Live Aid, accompanied on guitar by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour.
They released their final album, Avalon, in May 1982. It was their best-selling record, spawning the smash hit "More Than This." In 2003, the song found new life when Bill Murray was seen singing it at a Tokyo karaoke bar in the cult film Lost in Translation. Toni Collette dances to the song in the 2019 movie Knives Out.
Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook named their first band, The Strand, after the Roxy Music song "Do The Strand." The British pop band Bananarama, meanwhile, took part of their moniker from Roxy's song "Pyjamarama." Furthermore, the electronic outfit Ladytron is named after the song of the same name from their debut album.
Roxy Music was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 29, 2019. Duran Duran frontman Simon Le Bon and bassist John Taylor marked the ceremony with a heartfelt induction speech, after which Roxy Music members Ferry, Mackay, guitarist Phil Manzanera, and synthesizer player Eddie Jobson took to the stage for an extended live set. Eno and drummer Paul Thompson were also inducted with the group but didn't attend.
In 2022, Roxy Music embarked on a tour of the UK and North America to celebrate 50 years since the release of their self-titled debut album. Ahead of the tour, which featured St. Vincent as support, Ferry spoke to Apple Music: "It's great to get people together and their common interest is us and our music. It's a very special thing and we're all very looking forward to it and it's going to be a moving experience for all of us."

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