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With over 70 million albums sold, Duran Duran became one of the most
popular Pop band of the '80s, the group was formed in 1978 by keyboardist
Nick Rhodes and bassist John Taylor in their native Birmingham, ENGLAND,
the pair put together a new romantic-style outfit playing gigs in their
hometown; dogged by many changes in the personnel line-up, in 1980 the
group comprised the two former members plus lead singer Simon Le Bon,
guitarist Andy Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor.
They released the first single, "Planet Earth", on EMI Records
entering the top 20 in U.K. chart, the second single, "Careless Memories",
was well received by American clubs and finally "Girls On Film",
which was supported by a video that featured nude models, rose to #5 in
British Singles chart and by the time became their first Mainstream Rock
top 20 hit Stateside; their eponymous debut album, which collected the
previous three issues, hit #3 in U.K. and reached the #10 spot in U.S.
Top 200 LPs & Tapes chart.
In 1982 the quintet released "Rio", the record made them an
international phenomenon going straight to #2 on The Official U.K. Albums
chart, eventually it reached the #6 in U.S. Pop Albums chart and generated
two U.K. top 10 hit singles, "Save A Prayer" and "Hungry
Like The Wolf" the latter of which topped the Mainstream Rock chart
and also hit the top 3 in U.S. Pop Singles chart, finally the title-track
climbed into the top 5 of the Mainstream Rock chart and peaked at #14
on the Pop Singles chart.
In spring 1983 the band issued the non-album single "Is There Something
I Should Know?", it reached for the first time the #1 spot in the
British chart, within a months time climbed into the top 3 of the Mainstream
Rock chart and peaked at #4 in U.S. Pop chart.
That same year, in November, Duran Duran released their third album, "Seven
And The Ragged Tiger", which hit #1 in the U.K. and peaked at #8
on The Billboard Top 200 chart, it included The Billboard Hot 100 top
3 smash, "Union Of The Snake", the top 10 hit single "New
Moon On Monday" and their first #1: "The Reflex".
A year later the band returned with the live set, "Arena" which
rose to #4 on The Billboard 200 Albums list on the strenght of the new
studio-track, "The Wild Boys", the single peaked at #2 on both
Billboard's Hot 100 and Official U.K. Pop charts.
During 1985, Duran Duran recorded the title-song for the James Bond 007
saga, "A View To A Kill", the track shot to #1 on The Billboard
Hot 100; Andy and John Taylor went on to form their own side-project,
The Power Station; Le Bon, Rhodes
and Roger Taylor continued to perform together under the name of Arcadia
releasing only one album; in July the band played their final show with
the original five members at Live Aid.
The next year Roger and Andy Taylor left the group, consequently Duran
Duran released as a trio their fourth studio effort, "Notorious",
although it went platinum in the States reaching the #12 on The Billboard
200 chart, the band lost many of their original fans; the title-track
peaked at #2 on The Billboard Hot 100 and the new album included another
American top 40 hit, "Skin Trade".
1988's "Big Thing" recorded in Paris with the new guitarist
Warren Cuccurullo, reached the #24 on Billboard's 200 Albums chart yielding
their first Modern Rock top 20 hit, "I Don't Want Your Love",
which also hit #4 on The Billboard Hot 100, it was followed by "All
She Wants Is", #22 in U.S. Hot 100 and #9 in U.K. charts plus another
British top 40 hit single: "Do You Believe In Shame".
Two years later the band released "Liberty", the record saw
a significant drop in sales compared to the previos efforts, it missed
the top 40 in the States and scraped the bottom of the top 20 in U.K.
Albums charts, its main single, "Violence Of Summer", peaked
at #13 on Billboard's Modern Rock list.
At the start of year 1993 the group issued another masterpiece: "Duran
Duran (The Wedding Album)", the album shot to the #4 in U.K. and
hit #7 on The Billboard Top 200 chart highlighted by the single "Ordinary
World" which peaked at #2 on Modern Rock chart and at #3 on The Billboard
Hot 100, the extracted "Come Undone" made respectively #12 and
#7 in the same charts; both the tracks also entered the top 20 in the
British chart.
Two years later appeared the covers album titled "Thank You",
despite its negative reviews, it ranked in the top 20 of both Billboard's
Top 200 and U.K. Pop Albums charts; only one single, "White Lines"
featuring the old-school rapper Grandmaster Flash, has cracked the top
20 in England.
During 1997 John Taylor left the group early in the recording of "Medazzaland",
which was issued in October but failed to capture attention like previous
records; its follow-up, 2000's "Pop Trash", released on the
Hollywood label, was another commercial failure.
In October of 2004 Duran Duran's classic line-up, Le Bon, Rhodes and the
three Taylors returned with a new album, "Astronaut", released
on Epic Records, the record includes the first single "(Reach Up
For The) Sunrise".
Duran Duran biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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