| Roger Taylor | |
|---|---|
Taylor in 2008 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Roger Meddows Taylor |
| Born | 26 July 1949 Dersingham, Norfolk, England |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupations | Musician, singer-songwriter, producer |
| Instruments | Drums, vocals, keyboards |
| Years active | 1968–present |
| Associated acts | Queen, Queen + Paul Rodgers, The Cross, Smile, Felix & Arty, Yoshiki |
Roger Meddows Taylor (born 26 July 1949), known as Roger Taylor, is a British musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the drummer, backing vocalist and occasional lead vocalist of British rock band Queen. As a drummer he is known for his "big" unique sound[1] and is considered one of the most influential rock drummers of the 1970s and '80s.[2] As a songwriter, Taylor contributed songs to the band's albums from the very beginning, composing at least one track on every album, and (in the early days) usually sang lead vocals on his own compositions. He also wrote four of the band's hits, "Radio Ga Ga", "A Kind of Magic", "The Invisible Man",[3] and "These Are the Days of Our Lives".[4] He plays multiple instruments, including guitar, bass and keyboards, as heard on his debut solo album in which he played all instruments and sang all vocals. He has played with such artists as Eric Clapton, Roger Waters, Roger Daltrey, Robert Plant, Phil Collins, Genesis, Jimmy Nail, Elton John, Gary Numan, Shakin' Stevens, Foo Fighters, Al Stewart, Steve Vai, Yoshiki Hayashi, Cherie, and Bon Jovi. As a producer he has produced albums by Virginia Wolf, Jimmy Nail and Magnum. He currently resides in Guildford, Surrey.
In addition to his drum work, Taylor routinely played the guitars and bass on his own songs. During the 1980s, in addition to his work with Queen, he formed a parallel band known as The Cross, in which he was the singer and rhythm guitarist.
In 2005 he was voted by UK fans as the 8th greatest drummer in classic rock music history in a poll conducted by Planet Rock Radio.[5] According to The Sunday Times Rich List he was worth £65 million as of 2009.[6]
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Born in East Anglia, Roger Taylor moved to Truro, Cornwall, south west England, with his mother Winifred, father Michael and younger sister Clare. When he was seven years old he and some friends formed his first band, the Bubblingover Boys, in which he played the ukulele. At the age of 15 Taylor became a member of The Reaction, a very busy semi-pro rock band formed mainly of boys from Truro School. In 1967, he went to London to study dentistry at the London Hospital Medical College. By the time News of the World came out, Taylor met his future girlfriend Dominique Beyrand. She was working for Richard Branson at the time, who was at the helm of Queen's free concert at Hyde Park. They lived together from 1980–1987, raising their two children, Felix Luther and Rory Eleanor. They decided to get married for reasons relating to his estate, to protect his children's interest in the future. At the time, Taylor was seeing another girl, Debbie Leng (also seen in the "Breakthru" video); he moved in with her a month after his marriage of convenience to Dominique. Before Freddie Mercury's death, Roger and Debbie had their first child, Rufus Tiger, who was born in March 1991. He ended up having two more children with Debbie: Tiger Lily (1994), and Lola Daisy May (2000). In late 2002, they decided to break up. Taylor remarried on 3 October 2010, to Sarina Potgieter, his girlfriend of six years.[7]
Taylor met Brian May and Tim Staffell in 1968 after seeing an advert on a noticeboard at Imperial College for a drummer. Smile included May as lead guitarist, Staffell as lead vocalist and bassist, and later Taylor on drums. The band only lasted for two years before Staffell departed to join Humpy Bong, leaving the band with only a catalogue of nine songs:
Smile reunited for several songs on 22 December 1992. Taylor's band The Cross were headliners and he brought May and Staffell on to play "Earth" and "If I Were a Carpenter".[8]
In 1969, Taylor was working with Freddie Mercury at the Kensington Market (they were living in an apartment around the same time). Mercury, then known as Freddie Bulsara, was an avid fan of Smile. After the band split up in 1970, Bulsara convinced the remaining two members to continue, and he eventually joined the band. In 1971 they found bassist John Deacon and brought him into the group, before going on to release their debut album in 1973. Taylor was a prominent songwriter for the band, usually contributing one or two tracks per record. His compositions for Queen include:
Songs written by Taylor, but credited the band collectively include:
Many of these feature Taylor on vocals. His voice was very recognisable, for both its high range (he would often reach a E5 in full voice during live performances) and raspiness. His extremely high falsetto, sometimes going above a A5, was characteristic of Queen's vocal harmonies, and was often thought to be a woman's voice, or a synthesiser effect (most notably his screams on "In the Lap of the Gods", written by Mercury). His vocal range spans four octaves (E2-E6). Taylor's lead and partial vocal credits include:
Taylor has had a productive solo career, releasing four albums. His first single was his 1977 cover of The Parliaments' "I Wanna Testify". He recorded it during Queen's sessions for the News of the World album. The A-side, although a cover, was completely different from the original. The B-side was a self-penned song "Turn On The TV".
His first solo album, Fun In Space, was released in 1981. Taylor performed all vocals and played all instruments aside of about half of the keyboards, which were done by engineer David Richards. With Queen still touring heavily and recording at the time of release, Taylor was unable to promote the album to its fullest extent, so he appeared on some European TV shows to promote the single, "Future Management", including Top Of The Pops. The only other single to come from the album was "My Country". The only US single released from the album was "Let's Get Crazy".
His next venture, Strange Frontier, came in July 1984. The three singles from the album were the title track, "Beautiful Dreams" (in Portugal only) and "Man On Fire", the latter becoming a live favourite for him in later years. No attempts to promote the singles were made since Queen toured to promote The Works, and Taylor did not perform on any TV shows. Strange Frontier included guest appearances by bandmates Freddie Mercury and John Deacon. Mercury sang backing vocals on "Killing Time", Deacon remixed the B-side "I Cry For You" and Rick Parfitt co-wrote and played on "It's An Illusion". David Richards, Queen's engineer and producer at the time, also co-wrote two of the tracks. The album includes covers of Bruce Springsteen's "Racing in the Street" and Bob Dylan's "Masters of War".
After Queen finished their 1986 Magic Tour, Taylor started a new band, The Cross, which released three albums over their six years of existence. In 1993 the band split up, after performing one final gig at the Gosport Festival.
In 1994 Taylor worked with Yoshiki Hayashi, drummer and pianist of X Japan and released the song "Foreign Sand" and a reworking of The Cross' "Final Destination". The album Happiness? was "Dedicated to the tasmanian tiger – thylacinus cynocephalus, but most especially... for Freddie". "Nazis 1994" from this album became Taylor's first hit single in England and was followed by two other top 40 UK hits, "Happiness" and "Foreign Sand."
In 1998 he released his fourth solo album Electric Fire. He supported it with a small tour in the spring of 1999, on which Brian May joined him at the gig in Wolverhampton. Taylor also performed one of the first Internet-gigs – for which he got a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.[9]
In 2010, after nearly twelve years between solo albums, Taylor planned to release a new studio album titled The Unblinking Eye (Everything Is Broken). The first single, of the same name, was released on 23 November 2009 as a digital download, but due to popular demand it was released as a limited edition single.[10] Originally leaked to the official Queen fan club's website for members only, it still managed to be on YouTube within hours of the early bird release.
The Cross were a side project of Taylor's that existed from 1987 to 1993 and released three albums. While still the drummer for Queen, Taylor fronted The Cross as rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist. On its debut release, The Cross incorporated dance influences which they dropped on their remaining two albums. The band never enjoyed much commercial success, except in Germany.
After Queen's 1986 Magic Tour, the band members went their separate ways to do various solo work. Taylor decided to form a new band with whom he could tour. He had already written and recorded the album himself before finding a band to play the songs with. He eventually placed an ad for band members in a national newspaper, hinting he was a famous rock musician. The position of keyboard player was duly offered to Spike Edney after two successful Queen tours in which Edney had played. When the auditions were over, the line-up was completed by Peter Noone on bass, Clayton Moss on guitar and Josh Macrae on drums. Taylor himself would take the responsibility on lead vocals and rhythm guitar.
The first album, Shove It, was released in 1988. In Europe, Heaven for Everyone (later a Queen song) contained Freddie Mercury on lead vocals and Taylor on backing vocals. However, on the single version and American album version the roles were switched. The European CD contained an extra track (compared to cassette and LP) in The 2nd Shelf Mix, the US version having "Feel The Force" as its extra track. The band promoted hard (especially in Germany), with many TV performances of singles including an appearance at the Montreux Golden Rose festival in 1988. The tour took in dates in the UK and Germany. Three singles were released from the album: "Cowboys and Indians", "Heaven for Everyone" and "Shove It". Another single, "Manipulator," was released in 1988, but it was not included on any album. It was also the only song from the time that had joint writing credits, Taylor sharing them with Edney and Steve Strange.
After finishing Queen's 1989 album The Miracle, Taylor went into the studio with the rest of The Cross for the first time to record Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know. The band composed the opening track "On Top Of The World Ma" with a riff bearing a resemblance to the Led Zeppelin track Whole Lotta Love. The rest of the album consisted mainly of individually written songs, except for "Power To Love" which was the result of the combined effort of Macrae, Noone and Moss. Clayton Moss sang lead vocals on his own track "Better Things", and Spike Edney played mandolin on "Final Destination", which was written by Taylor. "Final Destination" was released as a single, as were "Liar" and "Power To Love", the latter being the last single to be released in the UK by the group. "Final Destination" came with a live rendition of Taylor's song "Man On Fire" as a B-side, and "Liar" (Noone) had a brand new track, "In Charge Of My Heart", which was also penned by Taylor. The 12" single and CD of "Liar" also included extended remixes of both "Liar" and "In Charge of My Heart". The instrumental section at the beginning of "In Charge Of My Heart" was used as the opening to concerts on the accompanying tour. "Closer To You" (Edney) had been planned to be released in America, but never was. The group having seemingly given up on the UK market, the accompanying tour only included dates in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Ibiza. Unusual for such tours, every song from the new album was played live.
Made at a time when Taylor's efforts were concentrated on Queen and Mercury himself, Blue Rock gave the other members of the band a chance to take control of the upcoming album. It was in fact mostly written by Edney, who contributed three of his own tracks and contributed to four more. Once again the opening track was penned by the entire band, "Bad Attitude" was written (although not complete) by the Christmas fan club party of 1990. The album itself contained a lot of vocals not from Taylor, but mainly of Edney and Noone. Examples of this can be heard in "Put It All Down To Love" (Edney), "Life Changes" (Moss, Noone, Edney and Macrae) and "Heartland" (The B-side to Life Changes, penned by Noone). Blue Rock itself was only released in Germany (although promo copies were released in Italy and Japan), so copies are somewhat rare. "New Dark Ages" (Taylor) was released in Germany with another live version of "Man On Fire", whilst "Life Changes" was released with the B-side "Heartland". It was however immediately withdrawn due to Freddie Mercury's passing. The tour was in support of Magnum, so the concert lengths were short (45 mins.) and very few bootlegs have survived. The tour pace was rapid, covering 20 dates in one month.
The band broke up in 1993 after performing a final show. Taylor continued working with Queen and produced solo albums. Drummer Macrae accompanied Taylor on his solo tours and also played percussion at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Both Taylor and keyboardist Edney participated in the Queen + Paul Rodgers tours, while Macrae worked behind the scenes as co-producer, sound engineer and Pro Tools engineer for them. In the late 1990s, Edney formed the SAS Band ("Spike's All Stars"), a group with an ever-changing line-up of popular '80s musicians.
At Live Earth in 2007, Taylor opened the concert with Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters and Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Taylor has appeared along with May for various other events and promotions, including Queen's 2001 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame[11] (sans John Deacon, but with Jer Bulsara, Mercury's mother, present) and the "Party at the Palace", celebrating the golden jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Taylor and May, performing as Queen, also appeared twice on the American singing contest television show American Idol, once on 11 April 2006, during which week contestants were required to sing a Queen song, (which included "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "The Show Must Go On", "Who Wants to Live Forever", and "Innuendo"), and the second time on the show's Season 8 finale in May 2009, performing "We Are the Champions" with finalists Adam Lambert and Kris Allen.
In November 2009, Taylor appeared on the popular reality TV show The X Factor with May as Queen mentoring the contestants, then later performing Bohemian Rhapsody. Also in that month, Taylor confirmed he is planning to tour with Taylor Hawkins, which Taylor described as a "quick tour".[12]
From his last solo album Electric Fire in 1998 Taylor has been performing as a solo artist, as part of ensembles, and infrequently as Queen with May.
At the end of 2004, May and Taylor announced that they would reunite and return to touring in 2005, with Paul Rodgers (founder and former lead singer of Free and Bad Company). May's website also stated that Rodgers would be 'featured with' Queen as Queen + Paul Rodgers, not replacing the late Freddie Mercury. The retired John Deacon would not be participating.[13]
Between 2005 and 2006, Queen + Paul Rodgers embarked on a world tour, the first leg being Europe, the second Japan and the US in 2006. On 15 August 2006, May confirmed through his website and fan club that Queen + Paul Rodgers would begin producing their first studio album beginning in October, to be recorded at a "secret location".[14] The album, titled The Cosmos Rocks, was released in Europe on 12 September 2008 and in the US on 28 October 2008. Following the album release the band embarked on a tour through Europe and South America, opening on Kharkov's freedom square in front of 350,000 Ukrainian fans. This performance was shown in cinemas on 6 November 2008 for one airing only, and later released on DVD.
Taylor has stated that his main influence as a rock drummer is the late John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. Speaking of Bonham, Taylor said, "The greatest Rock`n`Roll drummer of all time was John Bonham who did things that nobody had ever even thought possible before with the drum kit. And also the greatest sound out of his drums - they sounded enormous, and just one bass drum. So fast on it that he did more with one bass drum than most people could do with three, if they could manage them. And he had technique to burn and fantastic power and tremendous feel for rock`n`roll".[15] In a 2009 interview, Taylor also stated that Mitch Mitchell, the drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was also a major influence of his.
| Happiness? Tour | |
|---|---|
| Tour by Roger Taylor | |
| Start date | 28 July 1994 |
| End date | 29 January 1995 |
| Date | City | Country | Venue | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | |||||
| 28 July 1994 | Gosport | England | Gosport Festival | ||
| 15 September 1994 | London | Shepherds Bush Empire | |||
| Asia | |||||
| 26 September 1994 | Tokyo | Japan | Sun Plaza Hall | ||
| 28 September 1994 | Kawasaki | Club Citta | |||
| 30 September 1994 | Nagoya | Club Quatro | |||
| Europe | |||||
| 14 October 1994 | Cologne | Germany | Altes Presswerk | ||
| 24 October 1994 | Milan | Italy | City Square | ||
| 19 November 1994 | London | England | Shepherds Bush Empire | ||
| 20 November 1994 | Cambridge | The Junction | |||
| 22 November 1994 | Nottingham | Rock City | |||
| 23 November 1994 | Newcastle | Riverside | |||
| 24 November 1994 | Leeds | Leeds Irish Centre | |||
| 26 November 1994 | Liverpool | Royal Court Theatre | |||
| 27 November 1994 | Sheffield | The Leadmill | |||
| 29 November 1994 | Glasgow | Scotland | The Garage | ||
| 30 November 1994 | Bristol | England | Bierkeller | ||
| 1 December 1994 | Milan | Italy | Mediolanum Forum | ||
| 2 December 1994 | Truro | England | City Hall | ||
| 3 December 1994 | Manchester | Manchester University | |||
| 4 December 1994 | Wolverhampton | Civic Hall | |||
| 8 December 1994 Two Shows |
Paris | France | Europe 1 Studios | ||
| 16 January 1995 | Monfalcone | Italy | Hippodrome | ||
| 17 January 1995 | Schio | Palazetto | |||
| 18 January 1995 | Genova | Teatro Verdi | |||
| 20 January 1995 | Casea | Vidia | |||
| 21 January 1995 | Firenze | Teatro Tenda | |||
| 22 January 1995 | Rome | Palladium | |||
| 24 January 1995 | Valletta | Malta | Teatro Nazionale La Valetta | ||
| 25 January 1995 | Palermo | Italy | Teatro Metropolitan | ||
| 26 January 1995 | Catania | ||||
| 29 January 1995 | Napoli | Havana Club | |||
| Electric Fire Tour | |
|---|---|
| Tour by Roger Taylor | |
| Start date | 24 September 1998 |
| End date | 3 April 1999 |
| Date | City | Country | Venue | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |||||
| 24 September 1998 | Surrey | England | Cosford Mill | ||
| 14 October 1998 | London | Shepherds Bush Empire | |||
| 15 March 1999 | Gloucester | Guildhall | |||
| 16 March 1999 | Cardiff | Wales | Coal Exchange | ||
| 18 March 1999 | Truro | England | Hall For Cornwall | ||
| 19 March 1999 | Stoke-on-Trent | The Stage | |||
| 20 March 1999 | Manchester | Manchester University | |||
| 21 March 1999 | Sheffield | The Leadmill | |||
| 23 March 1999 | Glasgow | Scotland | The Garage | ||
| 23 March 1999 | Edinburgh | The Liquid Rooms | |||
| 25 March 1999 | Newcastle | England | Newcastle University | ||
| 27 March 1999 | Liverpool | Liverpool L2 | |||
| 28 March 1999 | Cambridge | The Junction | |||
| 29 March 1999 | Norwich | The Waterfront | |||
| 30 March 1999 | Wolverhampton | Civic Hall | |||
| 31 March 1999 | Nottingham | Rock City | |||
| 2 April 1999 | Portsmouth | Pyramid Centre | |||
| 3 April 1999 | London | Astoria | |||
Until 2008, Taylor exclusively used Ludwig or Sleishman drums kits, or a combination of the two in the 2005 Return of the Champions Tour. In the recent Queen + Paul Rodgers 2008 The Cosmos Rocks tour he opted for a DW kit.
DW Natural satin Maple Kit Main kit on tour Toms - 10"x8", 12"x 10" & 14"x12"
Floor Toms - 16"x 16" & 18"x16"
Bass Drum - 26"x 18"
Snare Drum - 14"x 8" (Ludwig Classic Maple)
Roto-Toms - 12" & 14" Remo
Cymbals (all Zildjian) Hi-Hats - 15" Avedis New Beat
Crash: 17" K Dark Crash, 19" K Dark Crash & 20" K Dark Crash
Ride: 22" Avedis Ping Ride
China: 22" Oriental China Trash
Drum Pedal – DW 9002 (On all live performances with Queen, Taylor's pedal of choice was the Ludwig Speed King)
DW Black Mirra with 24 carat gold hardware Front of stage kit Toms - 10"x8", 12"x10" & 14"x12"
Floor Toms - 16"x16" & 18"x16"
Bass Drum - 24"x18"
Sub-Bass Drum - 24" x 8"
Snare Drum - 14"x6.5"
Roto-Toms - 12" & 14" Remo
Vic Firth Drumsticks X5B American Classic Extreme 5B (length : 16 1/2" | Diameter : 0.595")
In 1999 Taylor appeared in the background of a Royal Mail stamp featuring Mercury as part of a "Great Britons" issue. This caused controversy as it was an understood rule that the only living people allowed to appear on British stamps could be members of the Royal Family.[16][17]
In 2002, Taylor appeared on the "Twelve Drummers Drumming" Christmas card in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" set sold at Woolworths to raise money for the NSPCC – alongside the "other" Roger Taylor, the drummer for Duran Duran.[18]
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