Duran Duran biography

The rising tide of pretentious foppery and new wave posing amid Britain's youth in 1980 helped our floppy-fringed heroes secure a record contract with EMI. Their debut single, Planet Earth was a No.12 hit in the Spring of 1981. Almost immediately Duran became the totemic leaders of the New Romantic movement - a clique which included Spandau Ballet and the incredibly pretentious Visage. The BBC ban for the band's third single, the topless, pillow-fight-fest of Girls On Film, ensured the band success. The single reached No.5 on the UK charts in the summer of 1981. The success of Girls On Film paved the way for the band's eponymous debut album which reached No.3 and stayed on the UK charts for 118 weeks.

By the time of 1982 follow up album Rio, the band had shed their 'pirates ahoy', foppery and turned into smart, Antony Price-suited Bryan Ferry clones. Single Hungry Like The Wolf, with it's Raiders Of The Lost Ark style video, indicated an unashamedly commercial pop edge to the band while the ballad Save A Prayer became one of the band's biggest hits. Already established in Europe as mega-stars, Rio's sense of glamour and frivolity and the accompanying cinematic videos - all supermodels, spilled champagne and wink-wink shenanigans - helped to establish the band in America with Hungry Like The Wolf becoming a US Top 10 hit in 1983 followed closely by the single Rio which sold 2m copies in the US.

The band's next single, 1983 hit Is There Something I Should Know, became Duran's first UK No.1 and the first song in history to liken a troublesome girlfriend to a nuclear war. ("Don't say you're easy on me, you're about as easy as a nuclear war." Sang the deep-thinking Le Bon ) The resulting album, Seven And The Ragged Tiger steered clear of any such fierce political invective, subsequently hitting No.1 in the UK in 1983 and No.8 in the US. Single The Reflex would give the band their first US and UK No.1. With newly acquired global superstar status there was only one thing missing. Supermodel wives! Stories of the band organising dates by skimming through model directories and picking the one they fancied have never been refuted by our rogue-ish panstick 'n' mascara heroes. In 1984 Nick Rhodes wed American model Julie Ann (They would divorce in 1993). Simon Le Bon would wait until 1985 before marrying model Yasmin Parvannah while John Taylor embarked on a relationship with 'wild child' TV presenter Amanda De Cadenet. After a lengthy world tour the band took time off broken only by recording the title track to the new James Bond movie A View To A Kill. While Duran were still temporarily inactive Andy and John Taylor formed splinter project The Power Station with Robert Palmer and Chic men Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson. The band's eponymous debut album was released in the Spring of 1985, spawning the Top 10 singles Some Like It Hot and Get It On. The remaining Durannies - Rhodes, Le Bon and Roger Taylor - responded with a side project of their own - Arcadia. They released an album, So Red The Rose, in 1985 which spawned the hit single, Election Day.

In 1986 drummer Roger Taylor quit the band, citing nervous exhaustion and a desire to flee the spotlight the band were constantly under. Simon Le Bon, perhaps taking his Rio character as 'flash sailor' a little too far was busy racing yachts (his newly acquired yacht Drum would capsize in 1985 during an Isle Of Wight race) when Andy Taylor also announced his intention to leave the band in the same year. Le Bon, Rhodes and John Taylor continued as a three-piece and completed the session work they'd begun with Andy Taylor by augmenting the group with guitarist Warren Cuccurullo who would become a full time member. The results emerged in late 1986 as the Notorious album. Produced by Chic's Nile Rodgers and displaying a much more soulful, funkier edge than the band's previous recordings, the set was one of Duran's most critically acclaimed recordings although less popular than previous efforts. The title track reached No.7 in the UK charts although the album only managed No.16.

Duran finished the '80s with something of a career dip, broken only by 1988's Big Thing album. It produced the singles I Don't Want Your Love and the Top UK Top 10 All She Wants Is. 1989's Liberty album would become the first Duran album to fail to go gold. The album's relative failure sparked a lengthy four year hiatus for the band. They returned in 1993 with the album, Duran Duran (The Wedding Album), a mature, multi layered pop/funk record which spawned the surprise hits Ordinary World and Come Undone. The album restored the band's commercial clout and earned them some of the best critical reviews of their career. However they followed The Wedding Album with one of their poorest received efforts. 1995's covers album Thank You, featured ill advised retreads of Public Enemy's 911 Is A Joke and Grandmaster Flash's White Lines. John Taylor left the band soon after the album's release leaving Le Bon, Rhodes and Cuccurullo to work as a trio. The Medazaland album was released in 1997 but failed to produce any hits. 2000's Pop Trash veered from wistful acoustic ballads to full-on Smashing Pumpkins style grunge and suffered a similar fate.

In 2001 Andy, John and Roger Taylor met up in Wales to discuss the possibility of new material. Rumours of a full-on original lineup reunion began to circulate and in 2004 the band confirmed the rumours, regrouping all of the five original members for their comeback single (Reach Out For The) Sunrise in September. An album, Astronaut, followed in October with enough flourishes and invention to suggest it wasn't a case of paunchy, ageing new romantics trying to recapture their lost youth.