| Roger Taylor Queen Tribune |
| Queen Tribune |
| Picture Project |
| Archives |
 |
 |
| Roger Meddows-Taylor, a.k.a Roger Taylor, was born on 26 July 1949 in Norfolk, United Kingdom. He was best known as the drummer/percussionist and vocalist with Queen. He contributed songs to the band's albums from the very beginning, composing at least one track on every album, and usually sang the lead on his own tracks, in addition to playing most of the instruments, including guitar and bass parts.
Roger moved to Cornwall at a young age and joined the local choir there. Before learning drums he taught himself how to play the ukulele and guitar. He built up his first drumset while attending Truro School, a selective private school to which he won a free place. In 1967 he attended London Hospital Medical College, with hopes of being a dentist. Eventually he grew bored with this and studied biology at North London Polytechnic, leaving the school with a BSc in the subject. He formed the band Smile with Brian May in 1968, which eventually grew into Queen, adding Freddie Mercury and later John Deacon to the lineup. Being one of Queen's three vocalists, his voice is notable for its raspiness, which has been compared to Rod Stewart's. Also, his ability to sing intense high notes added a distinctive tone to many of Queen's memorable vocal harmonies; notable examples of this are found in the Queen hits "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Somebody To Love". Another fine example of his vocal talents is in the music hall-esque 'Seaside Rendezvous' when he and Freddie Mercury imitate tubas, clarinets and kazoos through mere voice manipulation. His compositions include the hits "Radio Ga Ga", "Heaven for Everyone" and "A Kind of Magic", as well as other tunes that did not receive as much airplay, such as "Modern Times Rock & Roll" (Queen), "Tenement Funster" (Sheer Heart Attack), and "I'm In Love With My Car" (A Night at the Opera), which he also sings. The UK #1 hit These Are The Days Of Our Lives, though credited to all the band, was actually written by Taylor, as well as Invisible Man, Breakthru (except the intro), You Don't Fool Me (with lyrics by Mercury). A big part of the lyrics in Queen's epic Innuendo are by Roger, too, even though the music is Freddie's. He released several solo albums and even formed a separate group in the 1980s, The Cross. In 1994 he worked together with Yoshiki, the leader/drummer/pianist of X Japan and released the song "Foreign Sand" and "Final Destination" which were a big hit in the UK. Roger, along with Freddie, was one of the party animals of the group. A heavy smoker until recently, he has been known for his love for fast cars, drink and women. He has also been known to be one of the most politically inclined members of Queen, having in 1994 released a single condemning neo-Nazism. Interestingly, 10 years earlier, the music video for his song "Radio Ga Ga", in which a uniformed crowd numbering several hundred raise both fists and clap in unison, was attacked by one critic for looking "like a Nuremberg rally". Whenever he played live, Roger would always drink two shots of Scotch before going on stage, "no more, no less". Roger, a natural blond, was fond of using bleach to lighten his hair. One day in 1979 while doing so he accidentally dyed his hair green. Since it was just before a show, Roger had to go on with green hair, much to Freddie's amusement. Roger also temporarily grew a beard shortly before Queen was formed, because he did not appreciate being mistaken for a woman. In 1999 Taylor appeared in the background of a Royal Mail stamp commemorating the life of Freddie Mercury. This caused controversy as it was an understood rule that the only living people allowed to appear on British stamps could be members of the Royal family. In 2002, Taylor appeared on the "Twelve Drummers Drumming" Chrismas card in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" set sold at Woolworths to raise money for the NSPCC � alongside the "other" Roger Taylor, the drummer for Duran Duran. Discography Singles (not included on albums) � I Wanna Testify/Turn On The TV (1977) � Manipulator (1988) Solo Albums � Fun In Space (1981) � Strange Frontier (1984) � Happiness? (1994) � Electric Fire (1998 The Cross Albums � Shove It (1988) � Mad Bad And Dangerous To Know (1990) � Blue Rock (1991) |