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STATUS QUO BAND PAGE
 STATUS QUO
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CURRENT NAME
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Status Quo | |
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FORMER NAMES
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ORIGIN
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United Kingdom | |
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STATUS
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Active | |
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FORMED IN
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LABEL
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Sanctuary Records | |
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GENRE
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Hard rock | |
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STYLE
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LYRICAL THEME
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| BAND ADDED | 2005-08-09, 00:00 | |
| LAST UPDATE | 2005-08-09, 00:00 | |
Biography | Band members | Discography | Shows | Forum
| Band biography |
1963 - While the Spectres rehearse at the nearby Air Cadets base in Dulwich, they meet John Coghlan, then drumming in a band called The Cadets. John soon replaces Barry on the drums and the band start to write their own material.
1964 - After a year of solid rehearsals, the band begin to attract a wider audience. Roy Lynes joins the band playing a Vox Continental organ. They meet Pat Barlow, a local gas fitter who claims to have contacts in the music business. Pat becomes their manager and encourages them to travel further afield for gigs. A residency at the legendary Cafe Des Artistes in London's Fuham Road follows.
1965 - The Spectres and Rick Parfitt who was playing with his band 'The Highlights' first meet at Butlin's in Minehead while playing summer seasons. At the end of the season Rick and Francis, who have become firm friends, decide to work together in the future.
1966 - Songwriter Ronnie Scott, who writes with Rock 'n Roll singer Marty Wilde plays a tape of The Spectres singing the Lieber/Stoller song 'I (Who Have Nothing)' to John Schroeder, a producer and talent scout and the band sign a five year deal with Piccadilly Records on July 18th .They release two singles, the first one being 'I (Who Have Nothing)' and the second 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' written by Alan Lancaster, both of which sink without trace. The Highlights meanwhile, undertake a European Cabaret tour.
1967 - Rick Parfitt quits The Highlights following an after gig argument in Liverpool when his twin sister co-stars attack him with their stillettos. The Spectres complete a spectacular hat trick of flops with their third single 'We Ain't Got Nothing Yet'. They change their name to Traffic Jam, release another flop, a song entitled 'Almost But Not Quite There' (the first release written by Francis Rossi) and then settle on the name Status Quo. Rick gets a call from Francis and joins the band in time for the November release of 'Pictures Of Matchstick Men'.
1968 - Status Quo score their first hit singles with two Top Tens -'Pictures of Matchstick Men' (No.7) written by Francis and 'Ice In The Sun' (No.8). written by Ronnie Scott and Marty Wilde. The band embark on a massive British package tour headlined by Gene Pitney prior to the release of their debut album 'Picturesque Matchstickable Messages'.
1969 - Release of a minor hit single 'Are you Growing Tired of My Love' (No46) and the bands second album 'Spare Parts'. Bob Young meets Quo and becomes their road manager, he also starts to write songs with the band as they record the third album. Quo decide its time to dispense with the frilly gear and wear what they all feel comfortable in... Jeans.
1970 - The Quo sound hardens with the release of the 'Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon' album and a further two hit singles - 'Down The Dustpipe' (No12) and 'In My Chair' (No21). Keyboard player Roy Lynes leaves the band. The reaction to the new long haired Quo is initially one of shock, but after a while they start to command a different, more rock audience.
1971 - Release of the first hard rockin' Quo album 'Dog Of Two Head', giving the band fresh life with a new pounding no-nonsense approach.
1972 - After two years of constant touring Quo are now accepted as a genuine hard rock band. Following triumphant appearances at the Great Western and Reading Festivals, the band sign a major recording deal with Phonogram's Vertigo label.
1973 - For the first time, Quo decide to make their new album 'Piledriver' without a producer, the intention being to capture the new live sound on record.The album enters the Album Chart at Number Five. Quo release two huge hit singles. 'Paper Plane' (No.8), 'Mean Girl' (No20) .Later in the year the classic 'Hello' album enters the album chart at Number One, and 'Caroline' a song written by Francis and Bob Young simultaneously enters the Chart at Number five.
1974 - The British tour takes Quo to Londons Wembley Arena where they do three sell out nights. 'Break The Rules' reaches Number 8. 'Down Down' hits Number One and the 'Quo' album crashes in to the Album Chart at Number Two.
1975 - 'Roll Over Lay Down' hits the Top Ten while 'On The Level' enters the Album Chart at Number One.
1976 - 'Blue For You' becomes another Number One album. Three further hit singles with 'Rain' (No.7) 'Mystery Song' (No.11) and 'Wild Side Of Life' (No.9). Andrew Bown Joins the band on keyboards.
1977 - 'Quo Live' - recorded at Glasgow Apollo - enters the Album Chart at Number Three. The band decide to use producer Pip Williams for their new album and they embark on a massive world tour to coincide with the release of the 'Rockin All Over The World' single (No.3) and album (No.5), taking them to the Far East, Australia, New Zealand and Europe.
1978 - Quo headline the Reading Festival and the 'If You Can't Stand The Heat' album, their second with producer Pip Williams enters the Album Chart at Number Three.The years hit singles are 'Again And Again' (No.13) and 'Accident Prone' (No.36).
1979 - 'Whatever You Want' hits Number four in both the Single and Album Charts while 'Living On an Island' reaches Number Sixteen. Quo as always are on the road, doing a European tour of 28 shows in 30 days in hazardous weather conditions and a forty date UK tour starting at Wembley Arena and finishing at the Odeon, Hammersmith with all the dates sold out.
1980 - '12 Gold Bars' - a compilation of the Quo hits to date enters the Album Chart at Number Five while the 'Just Supposin' Album goes one better at Number Four. Further hit singles are notched up with 'What Your Proposing' (No.2) and 'Lies/Don't Drive My Car' (No.11)
1981 - Quo are awarded the coveted Music Therapy Silver Clef Award for services to British Music. 'Never Too Late' debuts at Number Two in the Album Chart. Two further Top Ten hits are secured with the release of 'Something 'Bout You Baby I Like' (No.9) and 'Rock 'n' Roll' (No.8) .
1982 - Quo's long serving drummer John Coghlan leaves the band and is replaced by former 'Original Mirrors' drummer Pete Kircher. The '1+9+8+2' album enters the Album Chart at Number One. Quo become the first Rock band to play a charity attended by Royalty - A televised show at Birminghams' NEC before HRH Prince Charles to launch his Prince's Trust charity. Quo's hit singles for the year are 'Dear John', 'She Don't Fool Me' and 'Caroline (Live at the NEC)'. Quo headline the giant Monsters of Rock Festival at Castle Donnington.
1983 - 'Back To Back' provides another Top Ten album and the band release a further hat trick of hit singles with 'Ol' Rag Blues' (No.9), 'A Mess of The Blues' (No.15) and 'Marguerita Time' (No.3)
1984 - Quo release their thirteenth hit single with 'Goin Down Tonight' (No.20) before announcing that the band will quit live work following the massive 'End Of The Road' world tour. 'The Wanderer' reaches Number Five in the Singles Chart. Francis and Rick take part in the Band Aid single 'Do They Know It's Christmas'. '12 Gold Bars-volume 2' provides another Top Ten album while the 'End of the Road' video becomes the fastest selling music video ever.
1985 - Quo reform to open Live Aid with 'Rockin' All Over The World', the song which was to become the anthem for the biggest live event in music history.
1986 - Quo returns with a new line-up. Joining Rossi, Parfitt and Bown for the recording of 'In The Army Now' are John 'Rhino' Edwards (bass) and Jeff Rich (drums). The band enjoy the sessions so much that they decide to go out on the road again. A giant European tour even includes three shows in different countries within 24 hours in Denmark, England (Knebworth) and Switzerland. The Top Ten 'In The Army Now' album includes four hit singles with 'Rollin Home' (No.9), 'Red Sky' (No.19), 'In The Army Now' (No.2) and 'Dreamin' (No.15)
1987 - It's a year on the road as the band play a huge world tour that includes a string of headline European and Scandinavian festival dates. The bands only British Show is to headline the 25th anniversary Reading Festival.
1988 - During a sell out European tour, Quo play a record breaking fourteen shows to over 300,000 people at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow. 'Ain't Complaining' (No.19), 'Who Gets The Love' (No.34), 'Running All Over The World' (No.17) and 'Burning Bridges' (No.5).
1989 - With the release of the 'Perfect Remedy' album comes the news that Quo's total world wide sales have now topped 100 million units.
1990 - Quo play the giant Knebworth Music Therapy festival and together with the likes of Paul McCartney, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Dire Straits and Genesis, help to raise over £6 million for Music Therapy and the Brits School for performing arts. Quo celebrate their 25th anniversary by returning to Butlin's in Minehead for a giant anniversary party. 'The Anniversary Waltz (Part1)' single hits Number Two while part two reaches Sixteen. The 'Rockin' All Over The Years' album becomes the fastest selling Quo album ever, achieves triple platinum sales and sells over a million in Great Britain alone.
1991 - The 'Anniversary Waltz' video follows the 'Rockin' All Over The Years' video by hitting Number One in the Video Charts. Quo are presented with the 'Outstanding Contribution to British Music' at the Brit Awards which is followed by the presentation of a similar award by HSH Prince Albert of Monaco at the World Music awards in Monte Carlo. Francis and Rick unveil the Rossi and Parfitt waxworks at Madame Tussauds. Quo co-headline an eight date UK stadium tour with Rod Stewart and then go inside for a day when they open a music workshop at HM's Pentonville Prison. The release of the 'Rock Till You Drop' album coincides with the band entering the Guiness Book of Records by playing four shows in 11 hours and 11 minutes at Sheffield Arena, Glasgow's SE & CC, Birmingham NEC and Wembley Arena.
1992 - Quo headline Radio One's 'Party In The Park' 25th anniversary celebrations at Sutton Park in Birmingham. the audience of 125,000 took Quo's total audience for 150 gigs over the preceding 15 months to over 2.5 million people. The Sutton Park gig was recorded for the 'Live Alive Quo' album and 'Roadhouse Medley' single which saw the band notch up their 45th hit single. The band are presented to HM The Queen when they play at 'The Last Tattoo' in Berlin.
1993 - Rossi and Parfitt hit the Top Ten bestsellers list with the Status Quo autobiography 'Just for The Record'. The band are invited to switch on the Blackpool illuminations and attract a crowd of 25,000 - the biggest since Jayne Mansfield flicked the switch in 1959! The Royal Doulton china company produce limited edition Rossi and Parfitt character jugs.
1994 - The band play a special one off charity show at London's Royal Albert hall attended by HRH Prince Charles in aid of the Princes Trust. Quo produce a Number One single for the Manchester United Football Squad when they re-work 'Burning Bridges' as 'Come On You Reds'. 300,000 people se the band perform at the 'Farewell Party' hosted by the Allied forces of Great Britain, France and the USA in Berlin. 'Thirsty Work' is the first new Quo studio album for three years.
1995 - Quo play to over 1.25 million during a series of summer European and Scandinavian Festival appearences. The band hits thirty with the news of the 'Don't Stop' album and world tour. The band also celebrate their 400th week in the UK Singles Chart with the entry of 'When You Walk In The Room'. The 30th anniversary is also celebrated with the publication of 'Quotographs' - a book featuring over 250 rare and classic photographs from all eras of the bands history, personally captioned by Francis and Rick.
1996 - Quo mark the release of the 'Don't Stop' album with the 30th anniversary show at Brixton Academy specially for the members of the Quo fan club 'From the Makers Of...'. the band played the entire 'Don't Stop' album alongside some very special guests including The Beach Boys, Queen's Brian May, Steeleye Span's Maddy Prior and Eric Clapton's backing vocalist Tessa Niles. The show was filmed for the video release of 'Don't Stop' for which all participating artists donated their royalties to the music industry charity Nordoff Robins Music Therapy. The 'Don't Stop' album entered the UK Album Chart at Number Two, giving the band their biggest UK album since 1990's 'Rockin' All Over The Years' compilation. The single 'Fun, Fun, Fun' entered the UK Charts at Number 24. Quo embarked on the 'Can't Stop' tour starting in Europe and the UK.
1997 - The 'Can't Stop' tour carries on to Japan, Australia, the USA and the middle east. In April Rick Parfitt was rushed into hospital for a quadruple heart bypass and tour plans throughout the summer months were cancelled. Quo returned to the live circuit with a show at Norwich F.C in August, and continued with the annual UK tour in December, which had ex-Free singer Paul Rodgers and his band as special guests. October saw the release of "Whatever You Want - the greatest hits." featuring all of Quo's 41 hits on 2 CD's.
1998 - The year started with promotional activities throughout Europe to promote the greatest hits album, followed by a month long tour of Australia in March/April. Quo will be touring in Germany in late April/May, and the rest of the year will be spent playing Festivals throughout Europe and the UK tour at the end of the year and continuing the recording of their next studio album in preparation for release in early 1999.
1999 - A very busy year for Quo, after spending January putting the final touches to the new album, the first gig of the year was in Ramsdau in Austria in early February. The first single from the new album "The Way It Goes" was released in the UK on March 8th, closely followed by the "Under The Influence" album itself on March 29th. Quo played their first pub tour in many years when as a result of competitions in the "Sun" Newspaper in the UK and "Das Bild" in Germany, where fans were asked to nominate a pub for Quo to perform in, they played pubs throughout Britain, the Nederlands and Germany as a promotional campaign for the album. June saw Quo playing two huge concerts with Michael Jackson and Friends in Munich and Korea, in aid of the children of Kosovo, and from July they toured throughout Sweden, and parts of Denmark. The usual UK tour was brought forward to October, and straight afterwards, Quo went to Belgium to join a collection of pop and classical artists for 35 shows of "Night Of The Proms" in Belgium, Germany, and the Nederlands.
2000 - Quo started the year by returning to the studio to start work on the 'Famous In The Last Century' album. In March they performed an exclusive show for FTMO members at the Shepherds Bush Empire and filmed a playback preview of the new album for release as a DVD. The BBC recorded interviews with the band for a special BBC documentary which was broadcast on April 30th. Shortly after the Shepherds Bush show, Quo's drummer Jeff Rich decided to leave the band to spend more time with his family and concentrate on his drum master classes. Quo appeared in April at The Eddison Awards in Holland, where they were awarded the events prestigious top award for 'Outstanding Contribution to Music'.
After being recommended to the band by Rhino, Matt Letley joined Quo on drums in May. Shortly afterwards Andrew Bown announced that due to family reasons, he would be unable to join the band for the rest of the year, so a temporary keyboard player, Paul Hirsh, also recommended by Rhino, went into rehearsals with the band. Quo rehearsed in May with two new members! May also saw a 40 minute ITV special, 'Stars In their Eyes', a tribute to Rick, hosted by Carol Vorderman. The new look Quo began a major 18 date tour in Germany on May 19th. In June and July, Quo played shows in Portugal and Spain, then onto several major European festivals throughout the summer, including appearances at Aalberg and Skandeborg in Denmark in August. The single 'Old Time Rock and Roll' was released in September, before Quo embarked upon a lengthy 29 date UK tour which was split into two legs, the first in October and the second in December, November was taken up with a visit to Australia and a 13 date tour that was launched with a trip for a over 100 guests on The Great South Pacific Express to a remote hamlet called Granchester, where Quo performed a 45 minute set on a flatbed carriage. Quo finished the year in a somewhat colder climate, completing the UK tour in December.
2001 - February saw Quo play a one off show to a capacity crowd of 5000 at Expo Centrum in Leeuwarden and two German shows before an eight date tour of Denmark and Sweden. The band also flew to Belfast to perform on the John Daly TV show. In the UK, the BBC broadcast a major hour long Radio Two documentary on Quo. March saw the band performing live recordings for Japan's 'London Calling' and Ireland's 'Ri Ra TV' shows. Francis and Rick presented the programme 'Top Ten Guitar Heroes' for C4's top ten series. In April Quo played shows in the Channel Islands and headlined Belgium's Schwung Festival, before playing three sell out shows at Dublin's Olympia. In may Quo flew to Oslo to make a surprise appearance at the Norwegian version of Big Brother, the Famous In The Last Century album was at number 2 in the Norwegian charts.
Quo appeared at a special charity festival for Jim Davidson's British Forces Charity in Paderborn, Germany in front of 12,000 troops in June, after which they played a 20 date tour of Germany and Switzerland, with both indoor and outdoor shows throughout the summer, including the biggest gig of the year, to 67,000 at the Antenne Festival in Ingoldstadt. After the German tour Francis filmed a profile of his life for a BBC TV special: 'You Only Live Once', hosted by Nick Hancock. A tour of UK Castles followed in the summer with Quo appearing once again with The Beach Boys in Edinburgh, Warwick, Liverpool and London's Hyde Park. Quo returned to Norway in August to headline three festivals.
On August 31st, Quo's manager of thirteen years, David Walker died suddenly at the age of 57. The band spent some of September in the studio working on their next album, to be titled Heavy Traffic. They took time out from the studio to perform live on Sweden's 'Bingo Lotto' TV programme. Before the annual UK winter tour Universal released a 4-CD 68 track anthology titles 'Quo In Time 1972-2000'. Mow with their new manager Simon Porter, Quo finished the year with shows in Denmark and Amsterdam and then straight into a 38 date UK tour named 'Never Say Never' after one of the tracks recorded for the Heavy Traffic album.
2002 - The band started the year with a few re-scheduled gigs that were cancelled from the December UK tour due to illness. The last of these at Oxford was the last show with Paul Hirsh. With Andrew Bown back working with the band following his extended time out, Quo headed off to Europe for five shows in Germany, three in France, two in Spain and finally, six remaining UK gigs. Rick sustained a serious injury when he awoke with a trapped nerve in his left arm, which meant that all 16 shows had to be cancelled. Further recording took place for the Heavy Traffic in March and April, and Quo went back on the road on April 25th with re-scheduled shows in Spain and France. Further shows took place in Holland and Germany and an appearance in Sweden to promote 'The Swedish Collection' a special Swedish 'Best Of'. Towards the end of May, Quo were back in Ridge Farm studios in Surrey, working on tracks for another album which would eventually become 'Riffs'.
In June the band played four shows in Denmark, three in Norway, two in Sweden, five more in Germany and one in Austria. On June 18th and 19th, Quo visited HMS Ark Royal, the monumental aircraft carrier, to film a video for the upcoming single 'Jam Side Down' On June 22nd the band made an appearance at the pre-game show of World Bowl X, the highlight of the tenth season of the NFL Europe. In July the album launch for Heavy Traffic took place. 100 devoted fans and press where treated to a special Orient-Express journey from London's Victoria station to Southampton and then onto Portsmouth where HMS Ark Royal was docked. Quo played a special live concert on the deck of the ship. On July 4th, the band recorded a special live show at BBC Television centre: 'The One and Only' which was broadcasted on September 22nd, the day before the release of the Heavy Traffic album.
The single, 'Jam Side Down' was released on August 5th and jumped straight into the charts at number 17 making Quo the first band to have top twenty hits across five decades. After summer shows in the UK and a festival in Switzerland, on Friday September 13th Quo were invited to perform on the 200th edition of Top Of The Pops. The Heavy traffic album came out on September 23rd and went straight into the UK album chart at number 15. Before the annual UK tour, Quo played shows in Paris, the Forest National in Brussels and the Heineken Hall in Amsterdam. The 40 date 'Heavy Traffic' UK tour had a special intro for the shows recorded by none other than BBC Radio Two's Sally Traffic.
2003 - The Heavy Traffic tour continued from October 2002 to August 25th 2003, a total of 120 shows, including shows in Europe, the UK, Brazil, Mexico, USA, Canada and Australia. The year started in February, with shows in Sao Paulo and Rio in Brazil, followed by two huge sell out gigs in Neza City, Mexico. The second leg of the tour took Quo to San Francisco, two shows in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Toronto and two shows in New York. In March Quo played 14 shows in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, before returning to Australia for their third tour in six years, beginning in Melbourne on April 17th.
After the 10 date Australian tour, the band returned to Germany and Denmark for another series of shows. Quo were back in the UK in June for the start of the Forest Tour, a series of mainly National Trust forest venues started with a show at Sherwood Forest. On June 27th Quo appeared at the Arrow Classic Rock Festival in Lichtenvoorde, Holland in front of a crowd of 30,000, and in July the band played at The British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Other festival gigs in Europe followed including the Heitere Festival in Switzerland on August 10th. In November Quo's third covers album 'Riffs' was released. The UK tour from October to Christmas took in 40 UK shows.
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