BRYAN FERRY
June 5, 2004 - 8:00 pm

www.bryanferry.com


BIOGRAPHY

Born on September 26, 1945 in Washington (England), Ferry, the son of a coal miner, began his musical career as a singer with the rock outfit the Banshees while studying art at the University of Newcastle. Bryan Ferry rose to fame in the early Seventies as singer, songwriter and designer for those pioneering pop peacocks, Roxy Music. Roxy, now of course icons, began as iconoclasts, revolutionising notions of where the boundaries of rock music lay. They initiated a seismic shift, utilizing glamour and sensual visuals: their 1972 debut album (dressed in the first of a series of archly sexy covers) is habitually hailed as one of the greatest opening salvos of all time.

Bryan Eno who treated electronically the band’s sound, exited Roxy’s ranks to embark on a series of ambitious side projects.

Within a few years, Roxy Music had become phenomenally successful, affording Bryan Ferry the opportunity to cut his first solo LP in 1973. Far removed from the group’s arty glam-rock, “These Foolish Things” established the path which all of Ferry’s solo work would take, focusing on elegant ability to remake and remodel classic songs while still exploring fresh territory with his own writing.

Roxy, with each member hugely prolific and busy (Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay) then took a three-year break. Ferry’s solo career flourished: “Another Time, Another Place”, “Let’s stick together”, “In Your Mind” and his own favourite “The Bride Stripped Bare” (1978) a work inspired by his broken romance with top model Jerry Hall.

In 1979, Roxy Music returned with their poignant version of John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” who gave the band their first U.K number one.

In 1982, Avalon was the final Roxy Music album.

Ferry did not record another solo album until 1985’s “Boys and Girls”.

For 1987’s “Bte Noire”, he was joined by former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and notched U.S Top 40 with “Kiss and Tell”.

Another covers collection “Taxi” followed in 1993. “Mamouna” and LP of originals, appeared a year later, and in 1999 Ferry returned with a collection of standards “As Time Goes By” to be studied and subverted by the man, who across three decades, has been named -to his wry amusement – “the Godfather of style” and the “coolest living Englishman”.

The recording of “Frantic” (2002) was interrupted by Roxy Music reunion tour.

Timely and timeless, Bryan Ferry’s music continues to seduce and surprise.

The 5th of June date, opening Byblos International Festival, will be his first appearance in the Middle East.

DISCOGRAPHY

  • 1972 Roxy Music
  • 1973 For Your Pleasure
  • 1973 Stranded
  • 1973 These Foolish Things
  • 1974 Country Life
  • 1974 Another Time Another Place
  • 1975 Siren
  • 1976 Viva!
  • 1976 Let’s Stick Together
  • 1977 Greatest Hits
  • 1977 In Your Mind
  • 1978 The Bride Stripped Bare
  • 1979 Manifesto
  • 1980 Flesh + Blood
  • 1982 Avalon
  • 1983 The High Road
  • 1983 The Atlantic Years
  • 1985 Boys and Girls
  • 1986 Streetlife
  • 1987 Bête Noire
  • 1988 B. Ferry The Ultimate Collection
  • 1990 Heart Still Beating
  • 1993 Taxi
  • 1994 Mamouna
  • 1995 Psalm
  • 1995 More Than This
  • 1998 Concert Classics
  • 1998 The Greatest
  • 1999 As Time Goes By
  • 2000 Valentine
  • 2000 Slave to Love
  • 2000 The Early Years
  • 2001 The Best of Roxy Music
  • 2001 Concerto
  • 2002 Frantic