Paul Rodgers is an English rock
singer-songwriter best known for being a member of Free and
Bad
Company. Both bands experienced major international success
in the 1970s. Before establishing a career as a solo artist, he was
also a member of The Firm and The
Law. He has recently toured and recorded with Queen.
|
Contents
- 1 1960s:
Free
- 2 1970s:
Bad Company
- 3 1980s
- 4 1990s
- 5 2000-2003
- 6 2004-present
- 7 Discography
- 7.1 Solo
- 7.2 Free
- 7.3 Bad
Company
- 7.4 The
Firm with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin
- 7.5 The
Law with Kenny Jones of The Who
- 7.6 Queen
+ Paul Rodgers
- 8 External
links
|
1960s: Free
Rodgers was born December 17, 1949 in the northern English town of Middlesbrough.
He played in local band 'The Roadrunners', which just prior to leaving
Middlesbrough to break into the London music scene changed its name to
The Wildflowers. Other members of this band were Micky
Moody (later of Whitesnake) and Bruce
Thomas (later of Elvis Costello
and The Attractions). Rodgers first premiered onto the British music
scene in 1968
as singer/songwriter for bluesy rockers Free. In
1970, they shot up the international radio charts with the
Rodgers/Fraser rock classic "All Right Now". A #1 hit in over 20
territories and recognised by ASCAP in 1990 for garnering over 1,000,000
radio plays in the US alone. The song played a pivotal role in
introducing Rodgers' stylistic metier, while helping to establish the
sound of the British blues/rock invasion. At the time, Free and Led
Zeppelin were the biggest grossing British acts. Free
released four top five albums with a combination of blues, ballads and rock. The
Multi Million Award was given to Paul Rodgers in 2000 by the British
Music Industry when "All Right Now" passed 2,000,000 plus radio plays
in the UK.
1970s: Bad Company
Rodgers then formed his next band, Bad
Company, one of rock's first supergroups, with Mick
Ralphs, former guitarist of Mott the Hoople. Rodgers
said, "Mick and I were trying to come up with names for the band. When
I called him and said 'Bad Company', he dropped the phone."
Bad Company toured successfully from 1973 to 1982, and had
several hits such as "Feel Like Making Love", "Can't Get Enough", "Shooting Star",
"Bad Company", and "Run with the Pack". Rodgers also showcased his
instrument talents on several tracks: "Bad Company" and "Run with the
Pack" featured Rodgers on piano; "Rock and Roll Fantasy" featured
Rodgers on guitar; on the ballad "Seagull", Rodgers played all of the
instruments. Bad Company earned six platinum albums until founding
member Rodgers left in 1982
at the height of their fame to spend time with his young family. In
1973, after singer Ian Gillan had left Deep
Purple, the band tried to hire Rodgers, but he declined.
1980s
In the early 1980s, it was rumoured that Rodgers would sing
with The Rossington-Collins
Band (made of up the survivors of Lynyrd Skynyrd), but the pairing
never came off.
Early in 1984,
Rodgers released his much anticipated first solo LP Cut
Loose. It showcased his talents as a singer,
songwriter and multi-faceted musician. He composed all of the music and
played all of the instruments. The album peaked at a disappointing #135
on the Billboard's Pop Albums chart．
When his friend Jimmy Page started to come
around to his house, guitar in hand and Led
Zeppelin at an end, "The
Firm" was born. Their first outing was on the US ARMS Tour
(rock music's first major charity fundraiser) including Jeff
Beck, Joe Cocker and others. Rodgers
agreed to two albums and two tours. Both "Firm" world tours were top
grossing. The Firm's two albums, The
Firm and Mean
Business, enjoyed international success
producing the radio hits Rodgers' "Radioactive" on which he played the
guitar solo, "Satisfaction Guaranteed", and, in the UK, "All The King's
Horses".
1990s
Image:Paul
rodgers tour1999.jpg
This image is a candidate for
speedy deletion. It will be deleted after Wednesday, 25 July 2007.
The
Law, Rodgers' 1991 musical venture with former Who drummer Kenney
Jones, produced Billboard's #1 AOR
Chart hit "Laying Down the Law" written by Rodgers, but the album
peaked at a disappointing #126 on the Billboard's Pop Albums chart. A
recorded-and-never-released second album can be found on the bootleg
market. The album is often referred to as The Law II
Rodgers acknowledged the influence of Jimi
Hendrix by collaborating with Slash, Hendrix's "Band Of Gypsies" (Buddy
Miles and Billy Cox) and recorded the track "I Don't Live Today", on
the CD "In From The Storm" a tribute to Hendrix. Then Rodgers teamed
with Journey guitarist Neal Schon
and released "The Hendrix Set /Paul
Rodgers" a live CD, released in 1993 with's Rodgers' interpretations of
Hendrix songs. A Canadian and US tour followed.
His Grammy-nominated solo CD, Muddy
Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters was
released in 1994.
Rodgers wrote the title track and was backed by guitarists Brian
May, David Gilmour, Jeff
Beck, Steve Miller, Buddy Guy, Richie
Sambora, Brian Setzer, Slash & Trevor Rabin to name a few. "Muddy
Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters" celebrated Rodgers' blues roots
and respect for Waters.
For Woodstock's
25th anniversary in 1994, Rodgers pulled together drummer Jason
Bonham, bassist Andy Fraser (Free), guitarists
Slash and Neal Schon
at the last moment to perform. They were billed as the "Paul Rodgers
Rock and Blues Revue".
His first double solo CD, Now and Live,
charted internationally in the top 30. The single
"Soul of Love" remained in rotation on more than 86 US radio stations
for six months. His 1997
world tour included Russia,
Japan, Canada, US, UK, Germany, France, Romania, Bulgaria, Israel, Brazil, Greece and Argentina.
Rodgers and Bad Company hit Billboard's
US BDS charts
with the #1 single "Hey, Hey" in 1999, one of four new tracks off Bad Company's The Original Bad
Company Anthology. The second single release,
Rodgers' "Hammer of Love", reached #2. For the first time in 20 years,
all the original members of Bad Company toured the US.
2000-2003
Rodgers focused on his solo career in 2000 and released Electric,
his 6th solo CD. In its debut week, the single
"Drifters" was US rock radios #1 Most Added FMQB Hot Trax, #2 Most
Added R&R Rock and #3 Most Added Album Net Power Cuts.
"Drifters" remained Top Ten for eight weeks on Billboard's
Rock Charts M.H. That year, he played sold-out concerts in England, Scotland, Australia, United
States and Canada.
After his appearance on TV's Late Show with David
Letterman in New York, he met and jammed with B.B. King.
Says Rodgers, "The thrill was definitely not gone... for me.
B.B. is a blues giant." That same year, Paul Rodgers, Jimmie
Vaughan, Levon
Helm, blues men Hubert Sumlin, Johnnie Johnson, James
Cotton and others performed a sold out concert in Cleveland as
a "Muddy
Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters".
The spring of 2001,
Rodgers returned to Australia, England and Scotland for the second run
of sold-out shows. That summer he toured the US with Bad
Company.
Paul Rodgers and Bad Company released their
first live CD and DVD Merchants of Cool
in 2002. It
included all the hits and a new single "Joe Fabulous" penned by Rodgers
which hit #1 at Classic Rock Radio and Top 20 on mainstream
rock radio in the US. In its debut week, the DVD sales sound scanned at
#3 Canada, #4 in the US. The "Joe Fabulous" Tour kicked off in the US
and sold out in the UK. While in London, Rodgers performed with Jeff
Beck at the Royal Festival Hall. Rodgers was
invited by long time fan, Tony Blair to perform at the Labour
Party Conference. "I had the entire Labour Party singing the chorus of
"Wishing Well", a song I wrote and shared with Free,
...'love in a peaceful world'. 'Love in a peaceful world'... over and
over and over hoping the words would sink in but we went to war"
recalled Rodgers. Twice in 2002, Rodgers performed on Britain's popular TV show Top
of the Pops 2.
In 2003, Rodgers toured as a solo artist for the first time in
two years playing 25 exclusive US dates. In his solo band are guitarist
Howard Leese (Heart), bassist Lynn Sorenson and drummer Jeff Kathan. BBC TV/Radio host (pianist
and songwriter) Jools Holland invited
Rodgers to record "I Told The Truth". An original song for Holland's
third CD, Small World Big Band. The CD also
featured Eric Clapton, Ronnie
Wood, Peter Gabriel, Michael McDonald, Ringo
Starr and others. This led to Rodgers performing two sold-out
nights at London's Royal Albert Hall with Holland and
his 18-piece rhythm and blues orchestra, and several UK TV appearances.
2004-present
In autumn 2004, Rodgers participated in an all-star line up of
some of the world's greatest guitarists and thousands of fans gathered
at London's Wembley Arena to celebrate the
fiftieth birthday of the Fender Stratocaster guitar. In
2005, he participated in the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the Four Tops,
wherein he was credited with assisting that band's popularity in the UK.
Early in 2004,
Rodgers joined Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox
(Hendrix's Band of Gypsies), Buddy Guy, Joe
Satriani, Kid Rock's Kenny Olson, Alice in Chain's Jerry
Cantrell, Double Trouble, Indigenous, Kenny
Wayne Shepherd and blues legend Hubert Sumlin (Howlin' Wolf and Muddy
Water) and performed three sold-out shows in Seattle, Portland
and San
Francisco as "Experience Hendrix". Once again, Rodgers only played 25
concerts in the US and Canada. He performed at Wembley for the fiftieth
anniversary celebration for the Fender
Stratocaster, along with David Gilmour who played
Strat #001, Ronnie Wood, Brian
May, Joe Walsh, Gary
Moore, Rodgers sang and played a custom designed Jaguar Fender Strat.
Rodgers was invited by The Four Tops to be part of their
fiftieth anniversary TV/DVD concert celebration at Motown's Opera House
and performed along side Aretha Franklin, Dennis Edwards
& The Temptations Revue, Sam Moore, Mary
Wilson, Ashford and Simpson and The Four
Tops. "The call from THE TOPS' Duke Fakir just about knocked me out.
I've been a fan since I was a boy and had no idea that they even knew I
existed!" exclaimed Rodgers. For years the media and fellow musicians
have referred to Rodgers as "The Voice"'. But The Four Tops' Duke Fakir
says, "Paul Rodgers is the soul of Rock!"
In late 2004, Paul Rodgers was asked by British rock group Queen
to sing lead vocals on their European tour. Rodgers has joined Brian
May and Roger Taylor on
stage, and the group is billed as Queen + Paul Rodgers.
Paul Rodgers toured with Queen in 2005 and 2006 as "Queen + Paul
Rodgers". It was stated, including on Brian
May's own website, "that Rodgers would be "featured with"
Queen as: "Queen + Paul Rodgers", not replacing the late Freddie
Mercury", and they released a live album with songs from
Queen, Bad Company and Free, called Return of the Champions,
and a DVD of the same name. Both featured live recordings from their Sheffield Hallam
FM Arena concert on 9 May 2005. The DVD features "Imagine"
from Hyde
Park.
Queen + Paul Rodgers have also released a single featuring "Reaching
Out", "Tie Your Mother Down" and "Fat
Bottomed Girls". There are many bootlegs
from nearly every show of the 2005/2006 tour in audio, as well as a few
in video form of the 2005 European tour, and in October 2005 in the US
(two concerts) and Japan;
then the US and Canada in March/April 2006 playing 23 venues, including
Chicago,
Detroit,
Toronto,
Seattle,
Vancouver
and Portland. From the show in Japan,
they released a DVD in 2006 Called Super
Live in Japan, with Paul Rodgers and Queen version of "All
Right Now" being a fan favorite.
The summer of 2006 saw Rodgers, now 56, again focused on his
solo career with a world tour. The tour started in Austin Texas, USA in June, then to Japan, and finished
in Glasgow,
Scotland,
in October of 2006.
On August 15, 2006, Brian May confirmed through his website
that "Queen + Paul Rodgers" will begin producing a new studio album
beginning in October, to be recorded at Roger Taylor's home.[1]
In April 2007 Rodgers released a live album of his 2006 tour,
recorded in Glasgow, Scotland October 13, 2006 a DVD of the same show
is also scheduled to be released in May 2007.
Discography
Solo
Free
- Tons Of Sobs
(1968)
- Free (1969)
- Fire And Water
(1970)
- Highway
(1970)
- Free Live! (live
album, 1971)
- Free At Last
(1972)
- Heartbreaker
(1973)
- The Best Of Free
(1991)
Bad Company
- Bad Company
(1974)
- Straight Shooter
(1975)
- Run With the Pack
(1976)
- Burnin' Sky
(1977)
- Desolation Angels
(1979)
- Rough Diamonds
(1982)
- The Original Bad
Company Anthology (compilation CD, 1999,
produced by Paul Rodgers for Bad Company)
- Merchants of Cool
(2002)
The Firm with Jimmy Page of Led
Zeppelin
- The Firm
(1985)
- Mean Business
(1986)
- The Firm Live at Hammersmith 1984 (DVD,
1984, limited release video)
- Five From the Firm (DVD, 1986)
The Law with Kenny Jones of The
Who
- The Law
- The Law II (Unreleased)
- Return of the Champions
(CD/DVD, 2005)
- Super Live in Japan
(DVD, 2006;
Japan only)
- A to Z of Queen vol.1 (2 DVD Tracks Only)
External links
| v • d • e Free |
| Paul
Rodgers • Paul
Kossoff • Andy
Fraser • Simon
Kirke |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: Tons
of Sobs • Free
• Fire and Water
• Highway • Free at Last
• Heartbreaker |
| Live albums: Free Live! |
| Compilation albums: The
Free Story • The Best of Free • Free
And Easy, Rough And Ready • Completely Free
• The Best of Free:
All Right Now • Molten Gold: The
Anthology • Free: All Right Now • Songs
of Yesterday • Chronicles • |
| v • d • e Bad Company |
| Paul
Rodgers • Mick
Ralphs • Boz
Burrell • Simon
Kirke |
| Brian Howe • Robert
Hart • Steve Price • Felix Krish • Rick Wills • Dave Colwell • Jaz
Lochrie • Mark Wolfe |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: Bad
Company • Straight Shooter
• Run With the Pack
• Burnin' Sky • Desolation
Angels • Rough
Diamonds • Fame
and Fortune • Dangerous
Age • Holy Water
• Here Comes Trouble
• Company of Strangers
• Stories Told & Untold
• Merchants of Cool |
| Live albums: What
You Hear Is What You Get • Live in Albuquerque 1976 |
| Films and videos: Merchants
of Cool • Inside Bad Company
1974-1982 |
| Compilation albums: 10 from 6
• The Original Bad
Company Anthology • Merchants
of Cool |
| v • d • e Queen |
| Freddie Mercury • Brian
May • Roger Taylor • John
Deacon |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: Queen
• Queen
II • Sheer
Heart Attack • A Night at the
Opera • A Day at the Races
• News of the World
• Jazz • The
Game • Flash
Gordon • Hot Space
• The Works
• A Kind of Magic
• The Miracle
• Innuendo • Made
in Heaven |
| Live albums: Live
Killers • Live Magic
• Live at Wembley '86
• Queen on Fire -
Live at the Bowl • Return of the Champions |
| Compilation albums: Greatest Hits
• At the Beeb • Greatest Hits II
• Classic Queen
• Queen Rocks • Greatest Hits III
• Stone Cold Classics
• The A-Z of Queen, Volume 1 |
| Videography |
| We Will Rock You
• The Freddie
Mercury Tribute Concert • Greatest
Video Hits 1 • Live at Wembley Stadium
• Greatest Video Hits 2
• We Are the
Champions: Final Live in Japan • Queen on Fire -
Live at the Bowl • Return of the Champions
• Super Live in Japan |
| Tours |
| Queen I Tour • Queen II
Tour • Sheer Heart Attack Tour • A
Night at the Opera Tour • A Day at the Races Tour
• News of the World Tour • Jazz Tour
• Crazy
Tour • The Game Tour • Hot
Space Tour • The Works Tour
• Magic
Tour • Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour |
| Multimedia |
| Queen: The eYe |
| Related
Articles |
| Ibex • Larry
Lurex • Smile
• The
Cross • Queen + Paul Rodgers
• We Will Rock You
(musical) • Deacy
Amp • Red
Special • The
Official International Queen Fan Club • Live performances • Songs |
