In honour of Roger Taylor’s 58th birthday, what better way to celebrate the man himself than with a look back on the fantastic career of the drummer of Queen and stadium rocker himself!
Since first teaming up with Brian May, and later Freddie Mercury, in the late 60s, Roger Taylor has become one of rock’s most successful musicians, combining his role as the world-renowned drummer/singer for Queen with that of accomplished singer and songwriter in his own right. Born in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, on July 26th 1949, Roger became fascinated with music in the early 50s, when his family moved to Cornwall. He learned his first instrument, the ukulele, at a tender age, and enjoyed a brief taste of things to come in a pre-teen skiffle band whose collective talent survived just two public performances.
His music took on a different direction in 1960, when he became an unwilling member of the Truro Cathedral School choir — a prerequisite of his scholarship. He taught himself the guitar around this time, but by the following year had moved over to drums.
By 1966 Roger had not only progressed to drumming in Cornwall’s most popular band, the Reaction, but had also become their lead singer, with his drum kit placed - where else? - in the principal position, at the front of the stage. That year, the Reaction won a hotly-contested local talent contest and, according to newspaper reports, were duly “mobbed by young girls”.
While maintaining his keen interest in music, Roger decided his professional career lay in dentistry, and in 1967 moved to London to enrol at the London Hospital Medical College, where he studied biology, obtaining a BSc in the subject.
In 1968 Roger met Brian May and Tim Staffell at University and formed Smile. Smile played sporadically over the next few years and even issued a single in the United States. By 1971, Roger had long abandoned any desire to become a dentist, and with new additions to the line-up John Deacon and Freddie Mercury, Smile became known as Queen.
Roger began writing songs for Queen from day one, and each of the band’s fifteen studio albums included at least one of his compositions. His most famous credits include “I’m In Love With My Car” (a live favourite and the original B-side to “Bohemian Rhapsody”) and the hit singles “Radio Ga Ga” and “A Kind Of Magic”.
1977 was the landmark year in which Queen released “We Are The Champions” and “We Will Rock You”. Roger bought a Ferrari, and became the first member of Queen to launch a solo career with the release of the single “I Wanna Testify”.
His hit début album “Fun In Space” followed in 1981, and was succeeded by 1984’s rock-based “Strange Frontier”. Both LPs reached the Top 30. In 1987 Roger formed his own band The Cross, in which after more than 20 years he finally resumed the role of lead singer. The Cross released three distinctive albums and toured extensively in the UK and Europe.
After the tragic death of Freddie Mercury, Roger returned to his solo career with 1994’s “Happiness?”, an album on which he explored the theme of “dealing with life and looking for happiness”. The success of the album prompted further tours of the UK and Italy.
Roger Taylor’s last album, “Electric Fire”, was released in the UK and Europe on September 28th 1998 and featured eleven self-penned songs, together with his version of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero”
With Brian May, Roger is a producer and musical supervisor of the hugely successful stage musical, “We Will Rock You”, created with Ben Elton, and currently playing to capacity audiences in London’s West End, Melbourne, and in Spain.