Roxy Music were a British Art-rock group founded in the early 1970s as a collaborative project between art school graduate Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards) and electronic music wizard Brian Eno. The group's name was partly a homage to the titles of old cinemas and dance halls, and partly a pun on the word 'rock'. The juxtaposition of nostalgic and contemporary or futuristic themes was a distinctive feature of the band's style of music and general appearance.
In the winter of 1970/71, Bryan Ferry (ceramics teacher) advertises for a keyboard player to join with him and Graham Simpson a bass player he knew from his college band, The Gas Board. Andy MacKay replied to the advertisement, not as a keyboard player but as a saxophonist and oboist, however, he did posses a VCS3 synthesiser. Andy met Brian Eno during university days, as both were interested in avant-guard and electronic music. It was some time later that they met again, and as Brian could play a synthesizer and owned a Revox reel to reel tape machine, Andy co-opted him to join the fledgling band as a technical advisor. It wasn't long before Eno was a performing member of the group. Dexter Lloyd a classically trained timpanist joined the group as a drummer, but he left after a few months and again an advertisement was placed seeking a 'wonder drummer'. It was in June 1971 that drummer Paul Thompson joined the line-up. Soon after that guitarist Phil Manzanera made them five-piece. Yet after Simpson left the bassist position remained vacant and band elected to count on session and touring musicians.
Their first single Virginia Plain, which reached the top three in the British charts, was typical of the band's blend of highly literate lyrics and musical inventiveness, combined with a powerhouse glam rock backbone. During that decade, they emerged as one of the foremost bands of the time, popular throughout the UK and Europe. In the US, the band was esteemed by critics and an ardent "cult" following, but they remained little known among the general public. They were a significant influence on the early British punk movement, as well as the New Romantic and experimental electronic groups of the early 1980s.
Eno left after the group's second album - For Your Pleasure - amidst differences with Ferry over the direction of the group. He was replaced on keyboards by Eddie Jobson, late of progressive rockers Curved Air. The other key members of the band—the classically trained Mackay, the experienced progressive rock guitarist Manzanera and the intensive and accurate drummer Paul Thompson are reported to have shared some of Eno's concerns about Ferry's dominance of the band, but they elected to remain in the group. Gradually, Manazanera and Mackay's songwriting became more integral to the band's sound, although all but one of Roxy's singles were written either wholly or jointly by Ferry. The exception was their only number one hit, Jealous Guy, which they recorded as a tribute to John Lennon shortly after his death.
Manzanera and Mackay also undertook solo projects, and they, along with Thompson, took part in some of Ferry's solo recordings and concert tours. He is also noted as a solo performer, usually of lounge-lizard style ballads, an art form which he seems to have made his own in recent times. However, his solo career began in 1973, when still very much a member of the band, and solo albums (mostly containing ironic cover versions of pop standards) alternated with Roxy's releases. Actually most of his solo records during this time strongly ressembled in instrumental way the Roxy ones, partly because of the other three took part in the recording process. Also while touring with Roxy Music, Ferry presented his solo songs, thus engulfing the batch of material in one.
Following their fifth album, Siren, Roxy Music temporarily disbanded. They reunited in 1978, with the Manifesto album (minus Jobson) which began to signal the type of smooth, brooding with musical arrangements that predicted their future direction. During sessions of Flesh + Blood, Thompson left the band because he broke his thumb during a motorcycle incident and soon after that he left permanently. Generally, their later music is slicker and musically less adventurous than that of the earlier albums; however, Ferry's apparently effortless elegance and the musical abilities of Mackay, Manzanera and Thompson, are always much in evidence. This culminated in the sombre perfectionism and beautifully sculpted soundscapes of their final eighth album Avalon.
After their last album the quartet devoted to varius projects with Mackay, Manzanera and Ferry doing all solo albums. Thompson also worked as a session drummer for various artists. His post Roxy session work included such diverse acts as punk band, The Angelic Upstarts on their 1983 album Reason Why and blues-rocker Gary Moore on his Emerald Aisles Live In Ireland-tour in 1985, which was released on video.
The original line-up - Ferry, Manzanera, Mackay, and Thompson - reformed in 2001 and toured extensively for a couple of years. Notably, the only significant former member missing was Brian Eno, who critisized the reunion and said that Roxy Music is a close point for him. Manzanera and Thompson also recorded and toured with Ferry on his 2002 album Frantic.
In Friday 18 March 2005 it was learned on Phil Manzanera's [www.manzanera.com official site] that the band have decided to record their first album since Avalon. Frontman Bryan Ferry is set to join Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay, Paul Thompson and Brian Eno for the reunion. The project marks the first time Brian Eno will work with Roxy Music since 1973's For Your Pleasure, and will be the first one since Avalon 23 years ago and the first for more than three decades featuring the original line-up of the first two records from 1972 and 1973. In Saturday 19 March the site was updated with more info, explaining that the band are in the studio working on new material. Since then this paragraph mysteriously vanished, but yet the hopes of new Roxy Music album are high.
Roxy Music also anounced in 17 March, 2005 that they will return to the stage, for a long-awaited, live performance at this year's Isle of Wight Festival on Saturday 11 June, 2005, their first UK concert since the acclaimed 2001 world tour. Roxy Music will perform on the same night as Morrissey at the festival which takes place over three days - 10, 11, 12 June. Bryan Ferry is also working in parallel on his next studio album set for release later this year. The touring will coincide with the new album, where the band will present with high expectations new material.