Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band. Formed in Birmingham in 1978 by keyboardist Nick Rhodes, guitarist (later bassist) John Taylor and singer/bassist Stephen Duffy. The band went through several early changes before the band's line-up settled in May 1980 as Rhodes, Taylor, singer Simon Le Bon, guitarist Andy Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor.
Emerging as one of the most successful bands of the New Romantic scene in the early 1980s, they were innovators of the music video and a leading band in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US. By 1984, the band had achieved a level of popularity likened to Beatlemania.Multiple sources: The band's first hit was "Planet Earth", which peaked at no. 12 in early 1981. That summer, they achieved a Top 5 hit with "Girls on Film", the popularity of which was enhanced by a controversial music video. Both tracks were taken from their 1981 self-titled debut album, which reached no. 3 and went Platinum in the UK. The band's second album, Rio (1982), went on to greater success and became a worldwide hit. The songs "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Save a Prayer" and "Rio" featured cinematic music videos directed by Australian filmmaker Russell Mulcahy and became three of their biggest hits. In 1983, the band scored their first UK number one single with "Is There Something I Should Know?". Their third album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, became their first and only UK number one album. A remix of "The Reflex" became a US and UK number one single. In 1985, the band topped the US charts with the single "A View to a Kill" from the soundtrack of the James Bond film of the same title.
Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor both left the band before the recording of their fourth album, Notorious (1986), which yielded the top ten title track. Le Bon, Rhodes and John Taylor initially continued as a core trio, before adding guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and drummer Sterling Campbell as full-time members in 1989, though Campbell departed in 1991. The band's records in the late 1980s and early 1990s found only moderate success. However, their 1993 album Duran Duran (commonly called The Wedding Album), featured two top ten worldwide hits "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone". John Taylor left the band in 1997, though four years later, in 2001, a full reunion of the classic 1980–1985 line-up of Le Bon, Rhodes and all three Taylors took place, which led to a number of highly successful concert tours and the 2004 album Astronaut, which reached number three in the UK and top 40 in numerous other countries. The album's lead single "(Reach Up for The) Sunrise" was an international dance hit, and reached number five in the UK. Andy Taylor left again in 2006, and the band have since released five albums, with the most recent being Danse Macabre in 2023.
According to Billboard, Duran Duran have sold over 100 million records. They achieved 30 top 40 singles in the UK singles chart (14 of them top 10) and 21 top 40 singles in the US Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, they have achieved consistent success on the albums chart with top five albums in five consecutive decades. The band have won numerous awards throughout their career: two Brit Awards including the 2004 award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, two Grammy Awards, an MTV Video Music Award for Lifetime Achievement and a Video Visionary Award from the MTV Europe Music Awards. They were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.
History
1978–1980: Formation and early years
Childhood friends John Taylor and Nick Rhodes formed Duran Duran in 1978 in Birmingham, England, together with Taylor's art school friend Stephen Duffy, naming their band after "Dr. Durand Durand", Milo O'Shea's character from the science fiction film Barbarella (1968), the day after the film was broadcast on BBC on 20 October 1978. The three of them (Taylor on guitar and vocals, Rhodes on synthesizer and tapes, Duffy on vocals and bass) played their first gig on 5 April 1979 at the Birmingham Polytechnic. Soon after, they were joined by Simon Colley on clarinet and bass. John (then going by his first name Nigel) Taylor was the guitarist at this point. After a few gigs, including a performance at Barbarella's in Birmingham opening for the band Fashion, Duffy and Colley left the band in June 1979.
Taylor and Rhodes then recruited lead vocalist Andy Wickett (formerly frontman of TV Eye) and decided that they needed a live drummer. They hired Roger Taylor, a former member of various local bands (most recently The Scent Organs who also played at Barbarella's), while John Taylor switched to bass guitar. In September 1979, this incarnation of the band recorded a four-track demo including an early version of "Girls on Film" co-written by Andy Wickett. Soon afterwards Alan Curtis was recruited as lead guitarist. After a few gigs with this line-up Wickett left the band in late 1979.
Wickett was replaced by Roger Taylor's friend and former singer of The Scent Organs Jeff Thomas. In early 1980, they became the resident band at the city's Rum Runner nightclub.They worked at the club and regularly rehearsed and performed there. Curtis was unhappy with the Rum Runner club scene and left the band to form Dif Juz with his brother. Thomas was fired shortly after following disagreements and repeated arguments. The three remaining members started to look for a new lead vocalist and guitarist. The owners of the club, brothers Paul and Michael Berrow, became the band's management, paying them to work as doormen, disc jockeys (DJs) and barmen when they were not rehearsing, and also formed the Tritec Music company.
In April 1980, guitarist Andy Taylor came from Newcastle upon Tyne to audition after responding to an advertisement in Melody Maker. Andy already had a lot of experience from playing with cover bands for years and although he came from a totally different rock music background his versatile playing style was seen as a perfect complement to the band. In May 1980, London vocalist and drama student Simon Le Bon was recommended to the band by an ex-girlfriend who worked at the Rum Runner. The band were immediately impressed by Le Bon and soon completed their first composition with the new line-up, "Sound of Thunder", featuring lyrics by Le Bon. Duran Duran's first performance with the lineup of Le Bon, Rhodes and the three Taylors was on 16 July 1980 at the Rum Runner.
Duran Duran spent the next months writing, developing and demoing their songs and performed in clubs around Birmingham and London. In September 1980 they had written all of what would become their debut album. Touring as an opening act for Hazel O'Connor, the band attracted critical attention, resulting in a bidding war between the record companies EMI and Phonogram. "A certain patriotism" toward the label of the Beatles led them to sign with EMI in December. A week later, the first article about Duran Duran in a national magazine appeared in Sounds. The members of Duran Duran had noticed that Betty Page (pen name for Beverley Glick) was writing about a new movement called New Romantic that would fit the band perfectly and invited her to meet them at the Rum Runner.
Shortly after signing the recording contract with EMI, Duran Duran went to London to record their debut album with producer Colin Thurston, and initial plans for an independent release of the songs "Planet Earth" and "Is There Anyone Out There?" on the Tritec Music label were scrapped.
1981–1982: Self-titled debut, Rio and Second British Invasion The band's debut album, Duran Duran, was released on the EMI label in June 1981. The first single, "Planet Earth", had reached the United Kingdom's top 20 at number 12 in February. A follow-up, "Careless Memories", released in April, stalled at number 37. The third single, "Girls on Film", was released in July and went to number 5 in the UK. The video, featuring topless women mud wrestling, pillow fighting and stylised depictions of other sexual fetishes, was made with directing duo Godley & Creme in August. The video was filmed just two weeks after MTV was launched in the United States. The band expected the "Girls on Film" video to be played in the newer nightclubs that had video screens or on pay TV channels like the Playboy Channel. Kevin Godley explained the thinking behind it:
The video was heavily edited for MTV. The album also included "Tel Aviv", a track with lyrics Simon Le Bon wrote in 1980 after working on a kibbutz in Israel. The song was later reworked into a Middle Eastern-influenced instrumental before appearing on the album.The album peaked in the UK top twenty at number three. Later in 1981 the band embarked on their first United States club tour followed by more dates in Germany and the UK. This second tour of Britain coincided with a wave of riots sparked by unemployment and racial tension, including those of Moss Side and Toxteth. The band played Birmingham the day after the Handsworth riots. The band also began writing and demoing songs for a new album. In November 1981, they released a new single, the disco-influenced "My Own Way", that reached number 14 in the UK, followed in early 1982 by the recording of their second album at AIR Studios in London.
In May 1982, Duran Duran released their second album, Rio, which entered the UK Albums Chart at number four and peaked at number two the following week. The band scored three UK top 10 hits on the singles chart from the album with "Hungry Like the Wolf" at number five in June, "Save a Prayer" at number two in September and the title song "Rio" at number nine in December, while the earlier top 20 hit "My Own Way" was included in a re-recorded version on the album.
With the album Duran Duran also began to achieve worldwide recognition. A headlining tour of Australia, Japan and the US was followed by a stint supporting Blondie during that band's final American tour. Diana, Princess of Wales declared Duran Duran her favourite band, and the band were dubbed "the Fab Five" by the British press, comparing them to the Beatles whose nickname was the Fab Four.
At first, the Rio album did not do well in the United States. EMI in the UK had promoted Duran Duran as a New Romantic band, but the New Romantic movement was barely known in the US, and EMI's American subsidiary Capitol Records was at a loss about how to sell them. After Carnival (an EP of Rio dance remixes) became popular with DJs in the autumn, the band arranged to have most of the album remixed by David Kershenbaum. In June 1982, Duran Duran appeared for the first time on American television, performing "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" on Dancin' on Air, the forerunner to the national hit show Dance Party USA.
Now promoted as a dance album, Rio was re-released in the US in November and began to climb the American charts six months after its European success. MTV placed "Hungry Like the Wolf" and several other Duran Duran videos into heavy rotation, pushing the single and album into the US top twenty in early 1983. The ballad "Save a Prayer" also did well. "The band was a natural for music television," noted Rolling Stone. "They may be the first rock group to ride in on a video wave." The album ultimately peaked at number six in the US and remained on the charts there for 129 weeks. In 2003, Rio was listed at number 65 in the NME list of the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Duran Duran were among the earliest bands to work on their own remixes. Before the days of digital synthesizer and easy audio sampling, they created multi-layered arrangements of their singles, sometimes recording entirely different extended performances of the songs in the studio. These "night versions" were generally available only on vinyl as b-sides to 45 rpm singles or on 12-inch club singles until the release of the compilation Night Versions: The Essential Duran Duran in 1998.