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Best Known For
Nick Rhodes is the keyboardist for Duran Duran, one of the biggest bands of the 1980s.
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Duran Duran - Full Biography (45:19)
Duran Duran - Full Biography
Duran Duran, the strikingly handsome pop quintet from Birmingham, pumped out three decades of top hits including "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Rio", "Save A Prayer" and "The Reflex."
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Play NowNick Rhodes. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 08:07, May 25, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/nick-rhodes-20902879.
Nick Rhodes. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/nick-rhodes-20902879 [Accessed 25 May 2013].
"Nick Rhodes." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 25 2013, 08:07 http://www.biography.com/people/nick-rhodes-20902879.
"Nick Rhodes," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/nick-rhodes-20902879 [accessed May 25, 2013].
"Nick Rhodes," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/nick-rhodes-20902879 (accessed May 25, 2013).
Nick Rhodes [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 25] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/nick-rhodes-20902879.
Nick Rhodes, http://www.biography.com/people/nick-rhodes-20902879 (last visited May 25, 2013).
Nick Rhodes. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/nick-rhodes-20902879. Accessed May 25, 2013.
Synopsis
Born in 1962, Nick Rhodes grew up in Birmingham, England. He co-founded the band Duran Duran with John Taylor in the late 1970s. Duran Duran first made the charts in 1981 with "Planet Earth" in England. The following year, Rhodes and his bandmates had an international hit album Rio. He continues to record and tour with Duran Duran. The group released All You Need Is Now in 2010.
Contents
Quotes
I don't do casual. I never wear jeans.
Early Career
As the keyboardist for Duran Duran, Nick Rhodes became one of the top music stars of the 1980s. He grew up in Birmingham, England, as the son of building contractor. As a teenager, Rhodes started playing in a band with longtime friend John Taylor in the 1970s. Rhodes, Taylor and Stephen Duffy formed a group that would evolve into the international sensation known as Duran Duran. At Taylor's suggestion, he changed his last name from Bates to Rhodes.
After Duffy left the group, Rhodes and Taylor brought in drummer Roger Taylor. Vocalist Simon Le Bon came aboard based on the recommendation of his ex-girlfriend, a bartender at Birmingham's Rum Runner club. They found guitarist Andy Taylor through an ad in a trade newspaper. The band took their distinctive name from the villain "Dr. Durand Durand" in Roger Vadium's 1968 sci-fi cult classic Barbarella, starring Jane Fonda.
Duran Duran began their ascent to superstardom in their native England in 1981, with the single "Planet Earth." That same year, the group released the album Duran Duran, which sold more than 2 million copies. Music critics may have been less than thrilled by the band, but Duran Duran started to attract quite a following with their "sinewy stew of rock, funk and electronica," as a writer for Keyboard magazine once described their sound.
Duran Duran
With 1982's Rio, Duran Duran became one of the most popular rock acts in the world. The videos for such songs as "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" got frequent airplay on MTV, which gave fans a chance to see the band in action. A big part of Duran Duran's image was their personal style and artistic sensibilities. Rhodes became famous for his dyed locks and heavy use of eyeliner. All of the band members found themselves the subject of adoration by their teenage fans and their images often adorned the pages of teen magazines.
Duran Duran continued to win over listeners with their danceable modern rock with Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983). Outside of the group, Rhodes pursued other interests. He published a collection of his abstract photography, Interference, around this time. Rhodes also became famous for dating models, frequenting nightclubs and hanging out with artist Andy Warhol.
By 1985, however, the band's nonstop touring and recording schedule was causing internal problems. Both Roger and Andy Taylor had walked away from the band by the time the group released 1988's Big Thing. The album proved to be a commercial disappointment, but Duran Duran continued to soldier on.
With 1993's Duran Duran (also known as the "Wedding Album"), the group returned to the charts with such singles as "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone." Even after John Taylor left the group in 1996, Rhodes stayed on with band mate Simon Le Bon.
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