Duran Duran

Duran Duran (/djʊˌræn djʊˈræn/) are an English pop rock band. Formed in Birmingham in 1978 by keyboardist Nick Rhodes, guitarist (later bassist) John Taylor and singer/bassist Stephen Duffy. The band went through several early changes before the band's line-up settled in May 1980 as Rhodes, Taylor, singer Simon Le Bon, guitarist Andy Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor.Emerging as one of the most successful bands of the New Romantic scene in the early 1980s, they were innovators of the music video and a leading band in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US. By 1984, the band had achieved a level of popularity likened to Beatlemania. The band's first hit was "Planet Earth", which peaked at no. 12 in early 1981. That summer, they achieved a Top 5 hit with "Girls on Film", the popularity of which was enhanced by a controversial music video. Both tracks were taken from their 1981 self-titled debut album, which reached no. 3 and went Platinum in the UK. The band's second album, Rio (1982), went on to greater success and became a worldwide hit. The songs "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Save a Prayer" and "Rio" featured cinematic music videos directed by Australian filmmaker Russell Mulcahy and became three of their biggest hits. In 1983, the band scored their first UK number one single with "Is There Something I Should Know?". Their third album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, became their first and only UK number one album. A remix of "The Reflex" became a US and UK number one single. In 1985, the band topped the US charts with the single "A View to a Kill" from the soundtrack of the James Bond film of the same title.Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor both left the band before the recording of their fourth album, Notorious (1986), which yielded the top ten title track. Le Bon, Rhodes and John Taylor initially continued as a core trio, before adding guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and drummer Sterling Campbell as full-time members in 1989, though Campbell departed in 1991. The band's records in the late 1980s and early 1990s found only moderate success. However, their 1993 album Duran Duran (commonly called The Wedding Album), featured two top ten worldwide hits "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone". John Taylor left the band in 1997, though four years later, in 2001, a full reunion of the classic 1980–1985 line-up of Le Bon, Rhodes and all three Taylors took place, which led to a number of highly successful concert tours and the 2004 album Astronaut, which reached number three in the UK and top 40 in numerous other countries. The album's lead single "(Reach Up for The) Sunrise" was an international dance hit, and reached number five in the UK. Andy Taylor left again in 2006, and the band have since released five albums, with the most recent being Danse Macabre in 2023.According to Billboard, Duran Duran have sold over 100 million records. They achieved 30 top 40 singles in the UK singles chart (14 of them top 10) and 21 top 40 singles in the US Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, they have achieved consistent success on the albums chart with top five albums in five consecutive decades. The band have won numerous awards throughout their career: two Brit Awards including the 2004 award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, two Grammy Awards, an MTV Video Music Award for Lifetime Achievement and a Video Visionary Award from the MTV Europe Music Awards. They were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.Childhood friends John Taylor and Nick Rhodes formed Duran Duran in 1978 in Birmingham, England, together with Taylor's art school friend Stephen Duffy, naming their band after "Dr. Durand Durand", Milo O'Shea's character from the science fiction film Barbarella (1968), the day after the film was broadcast on BBC on 20 October 1978. The three of them (Taylor on guitar and vocals, Rhodes on synthesizer and tapes, Duffy on vocals and bass) played their first gig on 5 April 1979 at the Birmingham Polytechnic. Soon after, they were joined by Simon Colley on clarinet and bass. John (then going by his first name Nigel) Taylor was the guitarist at this point. After a few gigs, including a performance at Barbarella's in Birmingham opening for the band Fashion, Duffy and Colley left the band in June 1979.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.