Paul Bernard Rodgers is an English-Canadian rock singer-songwriter, best known for his
success in the 1960s and 1970s as vocalist of Free and Bad Company.
After stints in two less successful bands in the 1980s and early 1990s, The Firm and
The Law, he became a solo artist.
He has more recently toured and recorded with another popular band, Queen.
Rodgers has been dubbed "The Voice" by his fans.
A poll in Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 55 on its list of the "100 Greatest
Singers of All Time".
Rodgers has been cited as a significant influence on a number of notable rock singers, including
David Coverdale, John Waite, Steve Overland, Lou Gramm, Jimi Jamison, Eric Martin, Steve
Walsh, Joe Lynn Turner, Paul Young, Robin McAuley, Jimmy Barnes, Richie Kotzen and Joe
Bonamassa.
In 1991, John Mellencamp called Rodgers "the best rock singer ever."
Freddie Mercury, the original Queen vocalist, in particular liked Rodgers and his aggressive
style.
Early career Paul Rodgers was born in Middlesbrough, and
played bass in local band The Roadrunners, which just before leaving Middlesbrough for
the London music scene changed its name to The Wildflowers.
Other members of this band were Micky Moody and Bruce Thomas.
Free
Rodgers made a mark on the British music scene in 1968 as singer/songwriter for bluesy rockers
Free.
In 1970, they shot up the international radio charts with "All Right Now", which Rodgers
wrote with the group's bassist Andy Fraser.
It was a number one hit in more than 20 territories and acknowledged by ASCAP in 1990 for having
received over a million radio plays in the US.
The song played a role in introducing Rodgers's vocal style, while helping to establish the
sound of the British blues/rock invasion.
For a short time, Free were alongside Led Zeppelin as among the highest grossing British
acts though Free's status did not sustain.
Free released four albums with a combination of blues, ballads and rock that were Top Five
successes in the UK.
When in 2000, the song "All Right Now" achieved the mark of two million radio plays in the
UK, an award was given to Rodgers as one of the two writers.
After the first break-up of Free in the spring of 1971, Rodgers briefly formed a three-piece
band called Peace.
Alongside bassist Stewart McDonald and drummer Mick Underwood, Rodgers played guitar and
sang lead vocal.
Peace supported Mott the Hoople's UK tour in 1971, but broke up when Free reformed at
the start of 1972.
Two songs by Peace were eventually included on the fifth disc of the 2000 Free compilation
Songs of Yesterday, along with a song that Rodgers recorded with the Maytals.
A bootleg has circulated of a 22 December 1971 appearance by Peace on the BBC's Top
Gear program.
1970s: Bad Company
Rodgers formed his next band, Bad Company, with Mick Ralphs, former guitarist of Mott
the Hoople.
The lineup also included Rodgers' band mate from Free, drummer Simon Kirke, as well as
Boz Burrell, former vocalist and bassist of King Crimson.
Rodgers said: "Mick and I were trying to come up with names for the band.
When I called him and said 'Bad Company', he dropped the phone."
Bad Company was the first act signed to Led Zeppelin's new record label, Swan Song.
They toured successfully from 1973 to 1982, and had several hits such as "Feel Like Makin'
Love", "Can't Get Enough", "Shooting Star", "Bad Company", and "Run with the Pack".
Rodgers also showcased his instrumental talents on several tracks: "Bad Company" and "Run
With The Pack" featured him on piano; "Rock and Roll Fantasy" on guitar; and on the ballad
"Seagull" Rodgers played all of the instruments.
Bad Company earned six platinum albums until Rodgers left in 1982 at the height of their
fame stating that he wanted to spend time with his young family.
It was revealed in April 2011 that after Jim Morrison's death, the rest of The Doors wanted
Rodgers to replace him.
Rodgers has said that he was unreachably rural at the time, and the moment passed.
1980s: Solo career and The Firm In the early 1980s, it was rumoured that Rodgers
would sing with The Rossington-Collins Band.
In October 1983, Rodgers released his first solo LP Cut Loose.
He composed all of the music and played all of the instruments.
The album reached number 135 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart.
When his friend Jimmy Page started to come around to his house, guitar in hand and Led
Zeppelin at an end, the duo's first live pairing was on the US ARMS Tour, which had first been
mooted by Eric Clapton and, besides Rodgers and Page, would include Jeff Beck, Joe Cocker,
Steve Winwood and others.
The inspiration behind ARMS had been former Small Faces/Faces member Ronnie Lane's own
struggle with M.S.
This led to Rodgers and Page's further teaming in the group The Firm, which resulted in two
albums and two tours.
Both Firm world tours managed only average attendance.
Despite being panned by critics, The Firm's two albums, The Firm and Mean Business, achieved
moderate sales success and produced the radio hits "Radioactive", "Satisfaction Guaranteed",
and, in the UK, "All The King's Horses".
During this same period, a series of albums were produced called Willie and the Poor Boys.
Rodgers and Page were briefly part of this and recorded "These Arms of Mine", an Otis
Redding tune.
This recording also became a video promoting the CD.
1990s: The Law and solo career The Law, Rodgers' 1991 musical venture with
former The Who and Faces drummer Kenney Jones, produced Billboard's number one AOR chart
hit "Laying Down the Law" written by Rodgers, but the album peaked at number 126 on the
Billboard 200 chart.
A second album can be found on the bootleg market, which is often referred to as The
Law II.
It is believed that this collection of songs were leftovers from the first album.
Rodgers acknowledged the influence of Jimi Hendrix by collaborating with Steve Vai, Hendrix's
Band of Gypsys and the London Metropolitan Orchestra and recorded the track "Bold As
Love", on the Hendrix tribute album In From The Storm.
Then Rodgers teamed with Journey guitarist Neal Schon and released The Hendrix Set, a
live 5-track CD, recorded in 1993 with Rodgers' interpretations of Hendrix songs.
A Canadian and US tour followed.
His Grammy-nominated solo CD, Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters was released
in 1993.
Rodgers wrote the title track and was backed by guitarists Brian May, Gary Moore, David
Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Buddy Guy, Richie Sambora, Brian Setzer, Slash and Trevor
Rabin.
For Woodstock's 25th anniversary in 1994, Rodgers pulled together drummer Jason Bonham,
bassist Andy Fraser, guitarists Slash and Schon at the last moment to perform as the
Paul Rodgers Rock and Blues Revue.
In 1995 he formed a new band consisting of Jaz Lochrie on bass, Jimmy Copley on drums
and Geoff Whitehorn on guitar.
The band toured extensively in Europe, US and in the UK until 1998 and released three
albums – Now, Now and Live and Electric.
Now charted internationally in the Top 40.
The single "Soul of Love" remained in rotation on more than 86 US radio stations for six
months but was not a sales success.
In 1996, he went to Australia and decided to play congas for The Wiggles' Wake Up Jeff!
album.
His 1997 world tour included Russia, Japan, Canada, US, UK, Germany, France, Romania,
Bulgaria, Israel, Brazil, Greece and Argentina.
Rodgers and Bad Company hit Billboard's US BDS charts with the number one single "Hey,
Hey" in 1999, one of four new tracks off Bad Company's The Original Bad Company Anthology.
The second single release, Rodgers's "Hammer of Love", reached number two.
For the first time in 20 years, all the original members of Bad Company toured the US.
2000s: Solo career, Queen and Bad Company reunion
Rodgers focused on his solo career in 2000 and released Electric, his sixth solo CD.
In its debut week, the single "Drifters" was US rock radio's number one on the Most Added
FMQB Hot Trax list, number two on Most Added R&R Rock and number three on Most Added Album
Net Power Cuts.
"Drifters" remained in the top 10 for eight weeks on Billboard's Rock charts.
That year, he played sold-out concerts in England, Scotland, Australia, United States
and Canada.
After his appearance on TV's Late Show with David Letterman in New York, he met and jammed
with B.B.
King.
That same year, Rodgers, Jimmie Vaughan, Levon Helm, bluesmen Hubert Sumlin, Johnnie Johnson,
James Cotton and others performed a sold out concert in Cleveland as a Muddy Water Blues:
A Tribute to Muddy Waters.
In spring 2001, Rodgers returned to Australia, England and Scotland for the second run of
sold-out shows.
That summer he toured the US with Bad Company.
Rodgers and Bad Company released their first official live CD and DVD, In Concert: Merchants
of Cool, in 2002.
It included all the hits and a new single, "Joe Fabulous", penned by Rodgers, which hit
number one at Classic Rock Radio and Top 20 on mainstream rock radio in the US.
In its debut week, the DVD sales sound scanned at number three Canada, and number four in
the US.
The Joe Fabulous Tour kicked off in the US and sold out in the UK.
While in London, Rodgers performed with Jeff Beck at the Royal Festival Hall.
Rodgers was invited by long-time fan Tony Blair to perform at the Labour Party Conference.
"I had the entire Labour Party singing the chorus of "Wishing Well", a song I wrote and
shared with Free, ...'love in a peaceful world'.
'Love in a peaceful world'... over and over and over hoping the words would sink in but
we went to war" recalled Rodgers.
Twice in 2002, Rodgers performed on Britain's TV show Top of the Pops 2.
In 2003, Rodgers toured as a solo artist for the first time in two years playing 25 US
dates.
In his solo band were guitarist Howard Leese, bassist Lynn Sorensen and drummer Jeff Kathan.
Jools Holland invited Rodgers to record "I Told The Truth" for Holland's album Small
World Big Band.
The CD also featured Eric Clapton, Ronnie Wood, Peter Gabriel, Michael McDonald, Ringo
Starr and others.
This led to Rodgers performing two sold-out nights at London's Royal Albert Hall with
Holland and his 18-piece rhythm and blues orchestra, and several UK TV appearances.
He also appeared with Jeff Beck, performing some songs from Beck's back catalogue for
part of a week-long series of charity concerts put on by Jeff Beck at the Royal Festival
Hall in London.
Early in 2004, Rodgers joined Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox, Buddy Guy, Joe Satriani, Kid
Rock's Kenny Olson, Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell, Double Trouble, Indigenous, Kenny
Wayne Shepherd and blues legend Hubert Sumlin and performed three sold-out shows in Seattle,
Portland and San Francisco as "Experience Hendrix".
Once again, Rodgers only played 25 concerts in the US and Canada.
He performed at Wembley for the fiftieth anniversary celebration for the Fender Stratocaster, along
with David Gilmour who played Strat No. 001, Ronnie Wood, Brian May, Joe Walsh, Gary Moore,
Rodgers sang and played a custom designed Jaguar Fender Strat.
Rodgers was invited by The Four Tops to be part of their fiftieth anniversary TV/DVD
concert celebration at Motown's Opera House and performed alongside Aretha Franklin, Dennis
Edwards & The Temptations Revue, Sam Moore, Mary Wilson, Ashford and Simpson and The Four
Tops.
In late 2004, after a successful live television performance, two of the four members of the
British rock group Queen proposed a collaboration with Rodgers, in which he would sing lead
vocals on a European tour.
Rodgers thus joined Brian May and Roger Taylor, with the group billed as Queen + Paul Rodgers
and they subsequently toured worldwide in 2005 and 2006.
The participants clearly stated, including on Brian May's own website, "that Rodgers
would be "featured with" Queen as: "Queen + Paul Rodgers", not replacing the late Freddie
Mercury".
The group subsequently released a live album with songs from Queen, Bad Company and Free,
called Return of the Champions, and a DVD of the same name.
Both featured live recordings from their Sheffield Hallam FM Arena concert on 9 May 2005.
The DVD features "Imagine" from Hyde Park.
"For one glorious summer" opined music critic Sean Michaels "we were all Paul Rodgers".
Another DVD was released in 2006 from a live performance in Japan, called Super Live in
Japan.
Queen + Paul Rodgers also released a single featuring "Reaching Out", "Tie Your Mother
Down" and "Fat Bottomed Girls".
The summer of 2006 saw Rodgers again focused on his solo career with a world tour, which
commenced in Austin, Texas, US in June, then on to Japan, finishing in Glasgow, Scotland,
in October 2006.
On 15 August 2006, Brian May confirmed through his website that "Queen + Paul Rodgers" would
begin producing a new studio album beginning in October, to be recorded at Roger Taylor's
home.
In April 2007 Rodgers released a live album of his 2006 tour, Live in Glasgow, recorded
in Glasgow, Scotland 13 October 2006, with a DVD of the same show released the following
month.
On 27–28 December 2007, Rodgers performed with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra during their
Winter 2007 Tour in Houston, Texas and Dallas, Texas.
Unannounced, he joined the band at the end of their show to sing "Bad Company" and "All
Right Now".
Rogers was a judge for the sixth and seventh annual Independent Music Awards to support
independent artists.
On 27 June 2008, Rodgers and Queen performed at the Concert for Nelson Mandela to celebrate
Mandela's 90th birthday.
On 8 August 2008, Rodgers and original members Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke reunited as Bad
Company to perform a one-night only, sold-out performance at the Seminole Hard Rock Live
in Hollywood, Florida.
The live performance was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and CD on 9 February 2010 and the tracks
included seventeen Bad Company hits.
Rodgers dedicated "Gone, Gone, Gone" to original bassist Boz Burrell, who died in 2006.
On 14 May 2009, Rodgers announced he was ending his five-year-long collaboration with Queen,
although did not rule out the possibility of working with them again.
On 17 November 2009, it was announced he would join the other surviving members of Bad Company
for an eight date UK tour in April 2010.
2010s: Solo career and more Bad Company On 5 June 2010 he began a mini-California
tour by performing at the Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival.
One week later, on 12 June, Rodgers and his band appeared as headliners on the Grandstand
Stage at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, California, followed by casino shows
in Lemoore on 17 June and in Santa Ynez on 18 June.
Rodgers performed a solo UK tour in April 2011 with Joe Elliot's Down 'n' Outz.
The concert of 28 April at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena was filmed for a future live
DVD release.
In May 2011 Rodgers received an Ivor Novello Award for "Outstanding contribution to British
music" Rodgers announced that he would be taking
part in a Paul McCartney tribute album that would also feature contributions by Billy
Joel, Garth Brooks, BB King, and KISS.
Originally planned for a late 2010 release, the album, entitled The Art of McCartney,
will be released in late 2014.
Rodgers' contribution is a cover of the Wings song "Let Me Roll It", originally from their
1973 album Band on the Run.
As of 2014 Rodgers is once again touring with Bad Company.
Personal life Paul Rodgers married Machiko Shimizu in 1971,
and has two children from that marriage, Steve and Jasmine.
The two children are also musicians and singers who formed a band, Bôa, in the 1990s.
Rodgers and Shimizu divorced in 1996.
On 26 September 2007, Rodgers married a former model and Miss Canada, exercise physiologist
and artist Cynthia Kereluk in Canada's Okanagan Valley.
Rodgers became a Canadian citizen on 21 October 2011, and resides in Surrey, British Columbia.
Discography
Solo Cut Loose
Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters The Hendrix Set
Paul Rodgers and Friends: Live at Montreux Live: The Loreley Tapes
Now Now and Live
Electric Extended Versions
Live in Glasgow Live at Hammersmith Apollo 2009
The Royal Sessions with Free
Tons of Sobs Free
Fire and Water Highway
Free Live!
Free at Last Heartbreaker
The Free Story The Best of Free
with Bad Company Bad Company
Straight Shooter Run With the Pack
Burnin' Sky Desolation Angels
Rough Diamonds The Original Bad Company Anthology
In Concert: Merchants of Cool Hard Rock Live
Live at Wembley with The Firm
The Firm Mean Business
The Firm Live at Hammersmith 1984 Five From the Firm
with The Law The Law
with Queen + Paul Rodgers Live albums
Return of the Champions Super Live in Japan
Live in Ukraine Studio albums
The Cosmos Rocks Singles
Rock Therapy "Reaching out" "Reachin' Out" / "Tie Your Mother Down"
"Say It's Not True" "C-lebrity"
Other albums The A-Z of Queen, Volume 1
References
External links Official website
MSS Magazine interview