Paul Rodgers
On 17/12/1949: Paul Rodgers was born in Middlesborough, England. He first took up the bass guitar. He joined Middlesborough band The Roadrunners, which also included Micky Moody and Bruce Thomas. The band changed their name to The Wildflowers and moved to London.In 1968, Rodgers joined the band Free as their vocalist. The band also included Andy Fraser on bass, lead guitarist Paul Kossoff and drummer Simon Kirke.
In 1970, Free had a big international hit with the song "All Right Now". It was written by Rodgers and Fraser. Free would release four albums.
In 1971, Free broke up. Rodgers briefly formed a band with bassist Stewart McDonald and drummer Mick Underwood called Peace. Peace supported Mott the Hoople's UK tour that year.
In 1972, Free reformed. They would only stay together for a short time, before disbanding for good in 1973.
Rodgers and Kirke formed their next band Bad Company with Mick Ralphs on guitar and Boz Burrell on bass. The band was the first act to sign to Led Zeppelin's new record label Swan Song.
From 1973 to 1982, they toured and had several hits including "Feel Like Makin' Love", "Can't Get Enough", "Shooting Star", "Bad Company", and "Run with the Pack". The band had six platinum albums. Rodgers left in 1982, to spend more time with his family.
In 1971, The Doors wanted Rodgers to replace Jim Morrison after his death. Rodgers though was unreachable at the time and the time passed.
In 1991, Rodgers joined Kenney Jones to form the band The Law. The band was formed with the idea that they would use different supporting musicians, to allow them to change their style. They released one album called "The Law", though there is also a bootleg second album made of a collection of leftover songs.
In 1993, Rodgers joined Neal Schon to record a live set of Hendrix songs, which was released as the album "The Hendrix Set". In the same year, his solo tribute album to Muddy Waters was released "Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters". It also featured Brian May, Gary Moore, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Buddy Guy, Richie Sambora, Brian Setzer, Slash and Trevor Rabin.
In 1994, Rodgers joined Jason Bonham, Andy Fraser, Slash and Schon to perform as the Paul Rodgers Rock and Blues Revue for Woodstock's 25th anniversary.
In 1995, Rodgers featured on a Jimi Hendrix tribute album called "In From The Storm". The album featured Buddy Miles, Billy Cox and Steve Vai amongst others. In the same year, Rodgers formed a new band with Jaz Lochrie on bass, Jimmy Copley on drums and Geoff Whitehorn on guitar. The band was called The Paul Rodgers Band and toured throughout Europe, the US and the UK. They released three albums. In 1998, they disbanded.
In 1999, Rodgers and Bad Company had a US BDS number 1 chart single with "Hey Hey", which was one of four new tracks on their anthology. They toured the US for the first time in 20 years.
In 2000, Rodgers was given an award to mark the two million radio plays in the UK of "All Right Now". In the same year, Rodgers released his sixth solo album called "Electric". He toured in the UK, Australia, US and Canada. After appearing on the "Late Show with David Letterman", he met and jammed with B.B. King. In the same year, Rodgers, Jimmie Vaughan, Levon Helm, Hubert Sumlin, Johnnie Johnson, James Cotton and others performed a concert in Cleveland as a "Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters".
In 2002, Rodgers went on tour. As part of the tour, he performed with Jeff Beck at the Royal Festival Hall and was invited to perform at the Labour Party Conference.
In 2004, Rodgers joined Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Buddy Guy, Joe Satriani, Kenny Olson, Jerry Cantrell, Double Trouble, Indigenous, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Hubert Sumlin to perform three shows as "Experience Hendrix". In the same year, he performed for the 50th anniversary for the Fender Stratocaster with David Gilmour, Ronnie Wood, Brian May, Joe Walsh and Gary Moore. He was also invited to play at The Four Tops to play at their 50th anniversary, which also included Aretha Franklin, Dennis Edwards & The Temptations Revue, Sam Moore, Mary Wilson, Ashford and Simpson. He was approached by Queen at the end of the year to become their new vocalist. They toured worldwide together between 2005 and 2006.
In 2006, Rodgers went on a solo world tour. In the same year, it was announced that Queen and Rodgers were producing a new studio album.
In 2007, Rodgers performed with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra for their tour in Texas.
In 2008, Queen and Rodgers performed at the "Concert for Nelson Mandela" to celebrate his 90th birthday. In the same year, Rodgers, Ralphs and Kirke reunited as Bad Company to perform a one night only performance at Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida.
In 2009, Rodgers announced the end of his collaboration with Queen but did not rule out working again with them.
In 2011, Rodgers received an Ivor Novello Award for "Outstanding contribution to British music".
In 2014, a Paul McCartney tribute album was released which featured Rodgers, Billy Joel, Garth Brooks, BB King, and KISS amongst others. Since 2014, Rodgers has been touring again with Bad Company.