Ariel Publicity

The stats on DURAN DURAN are remarkable: a total of over 70 million records sold, 18 American hit singles, 30 UK top 30 tunes, and a global presence which guarantees them huge concert audiences on 5 continents. More remarkable still is the way they have achieved this, fusing pop music, art and fashion with a unique style and confidence.

When they first broke in the early 1980s Duran Duran single-handedly transformed music video from a gimmicky marketing tool into one of the music industry’s most valued assets. With exotic locations, beautiful girls and stunning effects, Duran Duran took the visual imperatives of the New Romantic movement to another level. Their impact throughout the 1980’s was such that Rolling Stone magazine - adapting the old Beatles’ sobriquet -dubbed them ‘The Fab Five.’

Despite the occasional pause and some re-grouping in the 1990’s, Duran today are an unstoppable force who still command the respect of the finest players in the game. On their next studio album (slated for release on Epic Records in the fall of 2007) they have collaborated with top producers Timbaland and Nate ‘Danja’ Hills, as well as long-time Duran fan Justin Timberlake.

Formed in Birmingham, England in 1978, by keyboardist Nick Rhodes and bassist John Taylor, Duran Duran’s early sound was an exciting stew of influences: the soul music of their youth, the vibrant New York underground music scene of the 1970’s spearheaded by the New York Dolls and Velvet Underground, the iconic art pop of David Bowie and glam bands such as Roxy Music.

At the time, John was at Art College and Nick was still in the 6th form at school. The first incarnation of the band was rounded out by another art student Stephen Duffy and a friend, Simon Colley who was at catering college. Simon played clarinet and bass, Nick had one small synthesizer and a drum machine, John played guitar and Stephen sang and played a fretless bass.

After Simon and Stephen moved on – Duffy to The Lilac Time and more recently Robbie Williams - a number of new faces came and went before Roger Taylor, previously drummer with local punk heroes The Scent Organs. joined the band. With Roger on board, John took up the bass and the newly christened Duran Duran - named after a character in Roger Vadim’s sci-fi classic movie Barbarella - started to develop a funkier style, more in tune with some of the up-and-coming bands of the post-punk era such as Japan.

They began to create waves in Birmingham’s premier music club, the Rum Runner. Listening to their demos, the club’s owners, Paul and Michael Berrow, gave them a residency and a rehearsal space. Auditions for new band members followed, with guitarist Andy Taylor answering an ad in Melody Maker and singer Simon Le Bon joining after being introduced by an ex-girlfriend, who bartended at the club. Unlike the rest of the band, Simon came from the suburbs of London, but was studying drama at Birmingham University.

In the months that followed, the band worked tirelessly. By 1980, after supporting Hazel O’Connor on tour, Duran Duran became the subject of a fierce record company bidding war. Eventually EMI Records came through, putting the band immediately into the studio with producer Colin Thurston.

Their eponymous debut album sold more than 2.5 million copies in 1981, staying on the charts for an astonishing 118 weeks and spawning the giant hit single ‘Planet Earth’. That same year, Duran began to challenge expectations. They became the first pop act to produce a 12” remix single, for ‘Planet Earth.’ and also released a controversial video, directed by Godley and Crème, for the dance mix of ‘Girls on Film’. Its sexually explicit content led to it being banned by both MTV and the BBC.

Incorrectly perceived by the rock media as the poster-boys for a new generation of teeny boppers, Duran’s first major statement was the antithesis of a traditional pop album. The lyrical themes were adult-orientated, and the music – while melodically bright and dance-fueled – had a much darker quality. As the band themselves pointed out, there was a shadowy, European twist to the album. Songs like ‘Careless Memories’ weren’t far removed in mood from bands like The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen. What saved Duran Duran from the gloomy cul de sac of goth however, were their dance-inducing rhythms and Rhodes’ experimental electronics.

Duran Duran’s ascent coincided with that of the so-called “Second British Invasion” which conquered America in the 1980s. Unlike contemporaries such as Spandau Ballet, Human League, Ultravox and Culture Club, they endured thanks to their exhaustive touring, imaginative embrace of new technology and superior song craft. Classic chart-toppers such as ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’, ‘Rio’ and ‘Save A Prayer’ soon turned Duran’s second album ‘Rio’ multi-platinum worldwide. It was during this period that Princess Diana declared Duran Duran to be her favorite band, and new friends like artists Andy Warhol and Keith Haring publicly voiced their support.

From 1983 the band went super nova. The video for Hungry Like the Wolf, which was filmed in Sri Lanka by director Russell Mulcahy went on permanent rotation on MTV. Later that year ‘Is There Something I Should Know’ went straight to #1 in the UK and hit #4 in the US. The band’s third album, 1984’s ‘Seven And The Ragged Tiger’ earned Duran Duran their first Stateside #1, with ‘The Reflex’. In 1985 an invitation to write for the movie ‘A View To A Kill’ earned the group another first when their song became the only Bond theme tune to make it to #1, an accomplishment that is still unrivalled today.

Now that the Duran brand had become a licence to print money, EMI wanted another album. For the first time in years, the band said “no”, taking time out to draw breath and regroup creatively. John and Andy teamed up with Robert Palmer, former Chic drummer Tony Thompson and bassist Bernard Edwards to form the Power Station; while Nick, Simon and Roger embarked on a side project: Arcadia, with guest performers Grace Jones, Sting, David Gilmour and Herbie Hancock