Roger Meddows Taylor Biography


Roger is world renowned as Queen's drummer, but is also a successful songwriter, having written some classic Queen tracks, including 'Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll', 'Tenement Funster', 'I'm In Love With My Car', 'Sheer Heart Attack', 'Radio Ga Ga', 'A Kind Of Magic' and 'Heaven For Everyone'. He is also the most active solo artist, having released a total of 7 albums, including three with The Cross.

Roger was born in Norfolk but moved to Truro in 1957, at the age of eight. He joined his first group in 1965, called 'Johnny Quale and The Reaction', but when lead singer Johnny Quale left the same year, Roger took over lead vocals for 'The Reaction', which lasted until July 1968. Later in 1968, Roger decided he wanted to become a dentist, and enrolled on a course at London Hospital Medical School. However, he eventually left to study Plant and Animal Biology at North London Polytechnic

It was in 1968 that Roger auditioned for Tim Staffell and Brian May, who were looking for a 'Ginger Baker type drummer'. Roger passed the audition and became the drummer for 'Smile', who played many concerts until 1970, when Tim Staffell left. Freddie Mercury then joined the group, and later John Deacon was chosen as bass player, and Queen was born

In August 1977, Roger became the first member of Queen to produce solo work, by a clear six years. His debut single was a reworking of a track titled 'I Wanna Testify', but this failed to make an impact on the chart. His next solo venture was his 'Fun In Space' album, in 1981, which reached no 18 in the chart, the first single from which gave Roger his first singles chart entry (albeit only no. 49)

Roger's second solo album came in 1984, titled 'Strange Frontier'. It featured eight own compositions and two covers, with guest appearances by Freddie and Status Quo's Rick Parfitt. The first single, 'Man On Fire', gave Roger his second chart entry, but only a disappointing no 66, while the second single 'Strange Frontier' fared even worse, stalling at no 98.

In 1987 Roger decided that for his new album, the tracks had to be performed live in the studio, so he embarked on selecting four musicians for the band, and the result, 'The Cross', released three albums between 1988 and 1991, touring throughout the UK and Germany.

It wasn't until 1994 that Roger's next album was released. 'Happiness?' reached no 22 in the chart and gave Roger three top-30 hit singles. The first, 'Nazis 1994' was banned from advertising and commercial airplay, and many shops refused to stock it, but despite this it reached no 22 in the chart (just like the album). Roger followed the release with a tour of the UK and, in 1995, Italy.

Roger's next album did not come until 1998, mainly due to other projects, such as the final Queen album, 'Made In Heaven', and the first post-Freddie song, 'No-One But You', on which Roger sang some lead vocals. 'Electric Fire' was released in September 1998, and spawned two singles, 'Pressure On' and 'Surrender', although neither the album nor singles made any significant impact on the charts. Roger followed the album with a tour of the UK, including an internet concert from his home in Surrey which broke the world record for viewers of an online concert.

In 2006, Roger recorded a song with his son, Felix, under the name 'Felix & Arty', a play on his initials. The track, 'Woman You're So Beautiful', had huge download exposure in the Summer of 2006, but sadly failed to make much impact when later released as an official download. In 2008, Roger's other son Rufus played drums for Kerry Ellis and Brian May at the 2008 Royal Variety Performance and subsequently played drums for the UK Touring production of 'We Will Rock You', and numerous appearances with Queen or solo projects.

In November 2009 a second one-off single was released, 'The Unblinking Eye (Everything Is Broken)', a song about the state of society, followed up in July 2011 by 'Dear Mr Murdoch', a reworked version of his track from 'Happiness', as a response to the phone hacking scandal. Also in 2011 he launched 'The Queen Extravaganza', a talent search to find a group of musicans to appear in a tribute band to tour the USA in 2012. Roger continues to work on solo projects and collaborations, aswell as live performances with Brian, and continued productions of the 'We Will Rock You' musical.

Roger was asked by VH1 in 1996/7 to name his favourite songs, and the tracks he chose were:

  1. Jealous Guy (John Lennon)

  2. Walk This Way (Aerosmith)

  3. Creep (Radiohead)

  4. Oh Superman (Laurie Anderson)

  5. Streets Of Philadelphia (Bruce Springsteen)

  6. Free As A Bird (The Beatles)

  7. Paradise City (Guns 'n' Roses)

  8. Ashes To Ashes (David Bowie)

  9. Ironic (Alanis Morisette)

  10. Dazed And Confused (Led Zeppelin)

contents

Personal life
smile
solo career