HISTORY

In 1978 Nick Rhodes (Nicholas Bates) and John Taylor formed the band Duran duran (a personality from the SF-movie "Barbarella" starring Jane Fonda). The original members of the band were: John Taylor, Nick Rhodes, Simon Colley on drums and Stephen Duffy (who became a solo artist with only one minor hit in the eighties with "Kiss me") as the singer.

After Simon Colley left he was replaced by Andy Wicket. Also Roger Taylor joined the band. Andy Wicket was replaced with Alan Curtis. Stephen replaced with Jeff Thompson. Then they started performing for the Rum Runner in Birmingham. A tape with four tracks including: "Girls on film" and "Late bar" was sent to record companies. Alan Curtis and Jeff Thompson left. Finally to be replaced by Andy Taylor and Simon Le Bon

In 1981 Duran duran signed with EMI Records. Their debut single "Planet earth" was a hit in the UK. Their second single "Careless memories" went without a trace but their debut album did well on the sales. With their third single "Girls on film" they again had a hit and from that moment nothing could go wrong.

In 1982 they recorded the album "Rio" with some tropical videos filmed in tropical places like Sri Lanka and Antigua.

The worldwide breakthrough came in 1983 with "Is there something I should know?" and their album "Seven and the ragged tiger". In 1984 "The reflex" from "Seven and the ragged tiger" was re-mixed by Nile Rodgers and released as a single it became their biggest hit. A live album was the result as well as a movie based around the movie "Barbarella" where they took their name from.

They were asked to do the theme for the new James Bond movie "A view to a kill". After that they split up for a while in Power station and Arcadia. The result was that Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor left the band.

In 1986 they released Notorious with Warren Cuccurullo (ex Zappa/Missing persion) on guitar and Steve Ferrone on drums). In 1988 Steve Ferrone was replaced permanently shortly by Sterling Campbell.

In 1993 the line up included: Simon, Nick, John and Warren. They had a worldwide hit again with "Ordinary world". In 1995 they only released a cover album and they returned in 1997 with Medazzaland. John left the band to work with a band called Neurotic outsiders and a solo career. Nick and Warren started their own production company TV Mania and wrote a rock opera called "Bored with prozac and the internet". They also produced material for the reformed Blondie in 1999.

The year 2000 is the beginning of the new millenium and a new album is released mid June called "Pop trash". Promoting performances are broadcast in April including a performance on the Dutch radio show by Ruud de Wild on the 10th. Again they started touring in the U.S.A.