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John Taylor biography

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Bassist John Taylor first rose to fame in the 1980s as a member of the internationally successful band Duran Duran.

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Synopsis

Born in 1960, John Taylor co-founded the band Duran Duran with Nick Rhodes in the late 1970s. The group scored its first hit in 1981 and went on to become one of the top musical acts of the 1980s. He also played with the Power Station in the mid-1980s. In 1996, Taylor left Duran Duran, but rejoined the group in 2001. The band continues to tour and record. They released All You Need Is Now in 2011.

 

Quotes

"I'm no virtuoso, but I am an honest and sincere person who takes performing very seriously."
– John Taylor

Early Career

A co-founder of one of the top bands of 1980s, bassist John Taylor started out as an art student in Birmingham, England. He formed an experimental, punk-influenced group with friends Nicholas Bates (who renamed himself Nick Rhodes) and Stephen Duffy in 1978. Taylor and Rhodes later brought drummer Roger Taylor into the fold.

After a while, Duffy left to work on other projects, and John Taylor, Roger Taylor and Rhodes pressed on. They met vocalist Simon Le Bon through one of Le Bon's ex-girlfriends who worked at the Rum Runner, a Birmingham night club where their group performed. Guitarist Andy Taylor soon joined the band, which soon became internationally known as Duran Duran.

The band took their name from a character, "Dr. Durand Durand," in Roger Vadium's 1968 sci-fi film Barbarella, starring Jane Fonda. Their music contained futuristic elements, as well as dance and punk influences. "We have always strived to be apart from the mainstream, that's the punk ethic," Taylor told Music Week. The resulting sound was meant to be "night music"—edgy and interesting, yet vibrant enough to get people moving at a club. Their fashion, hairstyle and make-up choices were theatrical, reflecting a glam-rock aesthetic.

"Planet Earth," released in 1981, proved to be their first hit single in Britain. Following the album's release, Taylor and his bandmates traveled to the United States for their first American tour. Duran Duran sold more than 2.5 million copies.

Music Superstardom

With some help from MTV, Taylor and his bandmates became one of the top music acts of the 1980s. The videos for "Rio" and "Hungry Like the Wolf" got heavy airplay on the cable music channel, and the songs both became Top 20 hits in the United States in 1983. The album Rio (1982) went multiplatinum, and Duran Duran developed quite a following, especially among young listeners. Images of the tall, lanky, floppy-haired Taylor appeared often in teen magazines.

More success for Duran Duran followed with the release of Seven and the Ragged Tiger later in 1983. The album featured such smash singles as "New Moon on Monday" and "The Reflex." The band maintained a heavy tour schedule while continuing to make new music. They scored their first No. 1 hit in the United States with the theme song for the James Bond film A View to a Kill in 1985. Both Andy and Roger Taylor left the group in mid-1980s, but John Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Simon Le Bon continued on as Duran Duran.

By the mid-1990s, however, Duran Duran's enormous popularity had waned. Taylor was battling his own demons during this time.

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