Ferry attends Newcastle University and is taught Fine Art by Richard Hamilton, the founder of Pop Art and a visionary who outlined its aims and ideals. A lollipop from one of his early collages ‘Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing’ furnished the movement with its title. This painting would later be an inspiration for Ferry’s 1973 song ‘In Every Dreamhome a Heartache’.
Having left Newcastle Bryan Ferry arrives in London and moves into a flat with bassist Graham Simpson. The two had played together in the Gas Board, a college band that covered 1950’s soul music.
Simpson could play violin, cello and guitar as well as bass guitar, and after the two had moved to London in 1968, when Ferry was 23, he helped his friend to master the rudiments of the piano, enabling the younger man to make his first attempts at songwriting while earning a living as a van driver, an antiques restorer and as a teacher of ceramics at a secondary school for girls in Hammersmith.
“The band would never have happened without Graham,” Ferry says, “because he gave me such great encouragement when I was writing the first songs. For a while there was just the two of us, me and him, in a house on Kensington High Street.”
Ferry recalls “I remember telling Tim Head, who was one of my friends from college, that I was wanting to work with a synthesiser,” he says. “I wanted to incorporate electronic sounds into the music I was doing with Graham. Tim said, ‘Ah, I know a guy who’s got a synthesiser – he’s called Andy Mackay.”
“It didn’t feel like a band for a couple of months,” Mackay recalls. “To start with it was Bryan and Graham, and John Porter would come round every now and then.” Porter was a Newcastle associate who had featured on guitar with the Gas Board. “I don’t know why he didn’t become part of the band. He’d come along with his Les Paul and do a bit of playing.”
Having brought along a piece of crucial hardware, it was Mackay who also introduced the next significant element into the mix. During his time at Reading he had developed an interest in experimental music, and on a visit to Winchester College of Art he had struck up a friendship with Brian Eno. Soon after meeting Ferry and Simpson, Mackay bumped into Eno on a Bakerloo Line train at Elephant and Castle and told him about the new project. “Brian Eno had a tape recorder,” Ferry says. “We didn’t have one. So he came with this tape recorder to record the first demos – and he saw Andy’s synthesiser and so he stayed and played that, while Andy concentrated on other things.”
The first complete line up of the band was: Bryan Ferry (vocals & keyboards), Graham Simpson (bass), Andy MacKay (sax & oboe), Roger Bunn (guitar), Dexter Lloyd (real name James Strebing) (timpani & percussion) and Brian Eno (synthesizer treatments & tapes)
In search for a band name Bryan and Andy went through a list of cinema names and stopped when they got to Roxy. This had to change slightly when they were alerted that a band in USA had used the name Roxy. The word Music was added.
During June 1971, Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay, Graham Simpson, Brian Eno, Dexter Lloyd and Roger Bunn record a demo tape on some home recording equipment of the earliest versions of The Bob Medley, Ladytron, Grey Lagoons, Chance Meeting and 2HB.
Roxy Music have their first press in an interview with Bryan Ferry by Richard Williams for Melody Maker published on 7th August 1971.
Roger Bunn leaves Roxy Music in September 1971 and David O’List from The Nice joins the band as his replacement.
Dexter Lloyd also leaves in November 1971 to return to the orchestral world and after answering an advert for a ‘wonder drummer’ Paul Thompson joins on drums. The “wonder drummer” turned out to be a Geordie who had played with Billy Fury’s backing band but was now working on a building site in London and turned up for the audition in a photographer’s studio in Chalk Farm in his work clothes, covered in brick dust. On a borrowed kit, the 20-year-old Paul Thompson nailed down the beat in a way that would quickly give the band a new sense of security. Much more of a traditional rock musician than his new bandmates, he kept the volatility of the other creative elements in check – or at least provided a kind of centripetal force that held them together.
Roxy Music play their first two shows ever at the Friends of the Tate Gallery Christmas show in London, and the Union Ball at Reading.
Roxy Music record a session for John Peel’s ‘Sounds Of The Seventies’ on Wednesday 4th January 1972. for BBC Radio 1 ‘Re-make/Re-model’, ‘If There Is Something’, ‘The Bob (Medley)’, ‘Would You Believe’, ‘Sea Breezes’. The session is broadcast on 21st January 1972.
David O’List leaves Roxy Music and is replaced by Phil Manzanera – who answers an advertisement for the ‘Perfect Guitarist’. He joins the band on 4th February 1972.
“I rang up and went round to the little house in Battersea that Bryan and Andy were sharing,” Manzanera remembers. “Being in a room with Bryan Ferry, Brian Eno and Andy Mackay – they were so cool. They were a bit older than me.
Some time in 1970 Ferry had auditioned as a potential lead singer for the band King Crimson, following Greg Lake’s departure. Although he had not been the right man for that particular job, the occasion had brought him into contact with EG Management, “E” was David Enthoven, “G” was John Gaydon.
Ferry felt an immediate affinity with the young managers. “They were intelligent and they weren’t Tin Pan Alley at all. They were quite cool guys. They collected Harley Davidson motorbikes, and they had the whole Easy Rider thing that went with it, biker jackets and cowboy boots. I remembered David always had his boots up on his desk. Interesting character.”
Roxy Music perform at Bristol University on Friday March 3rd 1972, this would be the last show that Graham Simpson would play with the band.
From 14th-29th March 1972 Roxy Music record their debut album for £5,000 at Command Studios, in Piccadilly with producer Pete Sinfield. Now the BAFTA theatre, the space was also a cinema back then – with the band playing on stage and the recording equipment in the projection room!
“It was fantastic, being on the edge of Soho,” Mackay says. “Through his friends, Bryan had got to know his way around central London quite well, so we’d nip out to Great Windmill Street to get salt beef sandwiches from Carroll’s. The Hard Rock Café had just opened – it was very hip in those days, and for some reason they let us in. And there were still music shops in Shaftsbury Avenue. During the sessions I bought a tenor sax from a shop called Take Five, a very nice Selmer Mk 6. I went back to the studio and I think we did something with it right away. It may have been ‘2 HB’ or possibly ‘Would You Believe’.”
Roxy Music mix their debut album starting on Monday 3rd April and is finished by Friday 7th April 1972.
Steeped in the music of Jamaica and black America, label boss Chris Blackwell could not be expected to show great enthusiasm for Roxy’s art-school experiments. When the album was first played to him, he made no comment. The worst was assumed. But there were also times when Blackwell could recognise potential that existed beyond the boundaries of his own preferences, and this was one of them.
The following day he bumped into his head of production Clark, who was carrying a mock-up of the projected album cover. “Have we signed them yet?” Blackwell said. On May 2nd they agree the terms with EG Management.
Roxy Music’s original bassist Graham Simpson leaves the band and is replaced by Rik Kenton, a friend of Pete Sinfield.
Roxy Music record their second session for BBC Radio’s ‘Sounds Of The Seventies’ with John Peel on 23rd May 1972. Tracks performed: Bitters End, 2 HB, Chance Meeting, Ladytron.
Roxy Music begin an extensive tour of England. Their first festival appearance is Great Western Express, Bardney Lincoln on 27th May 1972.
Roxy Music’s first appearance on TV is on 20th June 1972 on BBC’s ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’ performing an extended version of ‘Ladytron’.
Richard Williams writes an article called ‘Roxy: They’ve Only Just Begun’ for Melody Maker published 24th June 1972.
A promo film of ‘Re-make/Re-model’ is shot by students at the Royal College Of Art.
Roxy Music are booked into Command Studios 2PM-10PM to record their first single ‘Virginia Plain’ and the b-side ‘The Numberer’ (original title First Kiss) 10th-12th July 1972.
The band head from the studio after mixing the single to record a third session for John Peel. They record ‘If There Is Something’ and ‘Virginia Plain’.
The album enters the UK album charts for the first time at number 22 on 29th July 1972.
Roxy Music continue their live dates throughout England. During these dates Roxy perform at Crystal Palace Bowl.
Roxy Music are recorded live for the BBC’s ‘In Concert’ radio programme. Tracks performed: The Bob (Medley), The Bogus Man Part 2, Sea Breezes, Virginia Plain, Chance Meeting, Re-make/Re-model.
Roxy Music release their debut single ‘Virginia Plain’ c/w the Andy Mackay instrumental ‘The Numberer’ on Friday 4th August 1972 one week later than intended.
Roxy Music make their first appearance on Top Of The Pops on 24th August 1972 performing ‘Virginia Plain’.
‘Virginia Plain’ peaks in the UK singles charts to number 4 on 12th September 1972.
Roxy Music record their 4th session for John Peel’s ‘Sounds of the Seventies’ on 6th November 1972. Tracks: ‘The Bob (Medley)’, ‘For Your Pleasure’, ‘The Bogus Man Part 2’ (Grey Lagoons) The BBC sessions recorded 3 days earlier are broadcast on BBC Radio on 9th November 1972.
Roxy Music appear on BBC’s ‘Full House’ on 25th November 1972. The band perform ‘For Your Pleasure’, ‘Ladytron’ & ‘The Bogus Man Part II’ (Grey lagoons).
Roxy Music perform their first overseas concert at The Bataclan in Paris on 26th November 1972. The performance was filmed by one cameraman, and until now has been largely unseen.
The band arrive in America and appear at a press reception hosted by their US record label Warner Brothers.
Roxy Music perform in the USA for the first time in Athens, Ohio on 7th December 1972.
Roxy Music spend most of the month performing throughout USA as the support band to various bands including: Jethro Tull, Humble Pie, J Giles Band, Steve Miller Band, Jo Jo Gunne, Allman Brothers, Dr. John, Edgar Winters, Ten Years After & Wild Turkey.
