Francis Rossi

Francis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi OBE (born 29 May 1949) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is the founder, leader, lead singer, lead guitarist and sole continuous member of the rock band Status Quo.

Rossi was born on 29 May 1949 in Forest Hill, London. His father Dominic, trained as a carpenter, before joining the side of the family who were Italian ice cream merchants and had an ice cream business, Candy Store, in Bedford Hill, South London, Rossi recalls working in the shop during his school holidays, from 8am to 8pm. His mother, was from a Northern Irish Roman Catholic background and came from Liverpool. He grew up in a household with his parents, grandmother, and "lots of aunts and uncles" and was given a Roman Catholic upbringing, having been named after Saint Francis of Assisi. He would spend some holidays in Crosby, Merseyside where his maternal grandparents and aunts and uncles lived.

Rossi attended Our Lady and St Philip Neri Roman Catholic Primary School in Sydenham, and then Sedgehill Comprehensive School, where he had trumpet lessons, with his two bandmates, he was expelled at age 15, on his last day, for having allowed his classmates to deface his school uniform. He found work as an optician's assistant His desire to become a musician began after watching (with his brother, Dominic) the Everly Brothers live on television at a young age, after which he asked his parents to buy him a guitar for Christmas, his brother opted for a train set.

In 1962, while attending Sedgehill Comprehensive School, Rossi became close friends with future Status Quo bassist Alan Lancaster while playing trumpet in the school orchestra. The two, along with other classmates Alan Key (drums) and Jess Jaworski (keyboards), formed a band called the Paladins, who played their first gig at the Samuel Jones Sports Club in Dulwich. Key was later replaced by Air Cadets drummer and future Quo member John Coghlan, and the band was renamed the Spectres. The Spectres wrote their own material and played live shows; the line-up soon included Redhill-based keyboard player Roy Lynes.

In 1965, the Spectres played at a Butlins holiday camp in Minehead. There Rossi met his future long-time Status Quo partner Rick Parfitt, who was playing as part of another band, the Highlights. The two became close friends and agreed to continue working together. In 1966, the Spectres signed a five-year deal with Piccadilly Records, releasing three singles that failed to chart. The group again changed their name, this time to Traffic Jam, after embracing psychedelia.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.