WELCOME

Jun 25th, 2009

Welcome to the new official Bryan Ferry website. It has been several months since our last update, and we are sorry that you have been so out of the loop.

Since the Dylanesque tour, BF has been in the studio working on a new album. During this period he was awarded the prestigious BMI icon award as well as a life-time achievement award in Moscow. He performed at the opening ceremony for the Cannes Film Festival and has appeared in numerous private concerts from Siberia to St. Tropez.

The new site’s aim is to offer the complete guide to Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music. You can listen to the entire BF / RM catalogue in the Discography section, view exclusive pictures in the Gallery, and watch previously unseen performances in the Video section. In addition to this, there will also be exclusive unseen studio footage, bonus tracks and interviews that you can only access by signing up to the newsletter……

The online shop is still in development but we aim to have it up and running within the next few months.

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DAVID WILLIAMS 1957-2009

May 20th, 2009

David Williams - - Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music 1986 - 2009

The sudden death of David Williams has been a great shock to Bryan Ferry, his family, and all the musicians and studio staff here in London. David has been a key part of his recording and touring band since the Bete Noires essions in 1986. As well as being an outstanding player, David had become a close part of his musical family. His warmth of personality, infectious humour and enthusiasm will be greatly missed by all who knew him. David had played extensively on his forthcoming album, and was expected to be a key part of his future touring plans.

Link to video of David in the studio
Link to video of David on tour

After playing on the 2007 album Dylanesque, David encountered some unexpected legal problems which unfortunately kept him stranded in the USA, and made it impossible for him to join the touring band. We at the studio were in close touch and were very hopeful that his travel restrictions were about to be lifted and that he would soon be able to work abroad again. There were also plans for him to do further recording with us in the next few months.

Music had always been a part of David’s life. Born in Virginia and schooled in Jazz on the works of Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery, one of his first professional gigs was with the legendary group, The Dells. He toured with them extensively, until the Vietnam War took him off the road and into a much different tour of duty. He served until 1972.

David then moved to Los Angeles to continue his musical career. He rejoined The Dells, and word began to spread about his outstanding abilities. He worked with the Temptations, and also started his own band, Chanson, with whom he scored a top ten hit, ‘Don’t Hold Back’ - a song that showcased his writing and vocal abilities. David became much in demand as a road and studio musician, and soon met up with Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson. David performed on the Off The Wall, Thriller, Triumph, Victory, Bad and Dangerous albums - the most successful albums in recorded history. Michael was even quoted as saying “I can hardly work without you”. David toured with Michael Jackson extensively, and was the producer and musical director of his Super Bowl 1993 appearance, one of the most watched television events in the last twenty years.

From coordinating the musicians for Madonna’s 1990 Blonde Ambition Tour, to writing and/or producing cuts for Earth, Wind & Fire, The Jacksons, George Howard and Boz Scaggs, David established himself not only as a rhythm guitar player of unparalleled talent, but also as a writer and producer.

David Williams was introduced to Bryan Ferry by Pat Leonard during the recording of the Bete Noire album in 1986, and they had worked closely ever since. His distinctive guitar lines became a major part of the Bryan Ferry sound. He is credited on the albums Bete Noire, Taxi, Mamouna, Frantic, and Dylanesque. His guitar performance is an integral part of tracks like ‘Don’t Want To Know’, ‘Kiss And Tell’, ‘Limbo’ and most notably ‘I Put A Spell On You’. He also did backing vocals on ‘N.Y.C.’ David toured extensively with Bryan Ferry and even joined the Roxy Music Tour of 2005, giving a new dimension to the live Roxy Music sound. Many long-time fans came away from the Liverpool show raving about David’s impromptu solo during ‘The Bogus Man’, claiming it to be one of the best Roxy Music moments they had seen in over 30 years of following the band.

Our deepest sympathies go to his family, and all who knew him.

FERRY OPENS CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

Apr 15th, 2009

On Wednesday the 13th May Bryan performed at the opening ceremony of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival with his own version of Charles Aznavour’s song ‘She’.

In December 2008 Aznavour released an album of duets entitled ‘Duos’. This featured a version of ‘She’ in which the French star duetted with Ferry.

Bryan was asked in late April if he would consider opening the festival with his own acoustic rendition of the song. After a quick rehearsal in London he flew to Cannes with Oliver Thompson (guitar) and Colin Good (piano).

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Link to video of the performance at Cannes.
Link to Aznavour’s album ‘Duos’ on Amazon

THE BETE NOIRE TOUR DVD

Mar 4th, 2009

We are very pleased to announce the long awaited DVD release of Bryan Ferry’s ‘The Bete Noire Tour’.

Originally released as ‘New Town’ on VHS in 1989, this classic live concert is taken from various performances filmed during the ’Bete Noire’ European Tour Of 1988 and 1989. The DVD is a fascinating insight into Ferry’s moody and mysterious live sound of that period. 

Click here to see a clip from the DVD

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Mixed in 5.1 surround sound, the tracks blend into each other via a melting pot of guitars, percussion and synthesizers. Promoting his 1987 album Bete Noire, the show was a mixture of that album, plus other BF solo and Roxy Music tracks.

The musicians on stage are:
Bryan Ferry, Andy Newmark, Neil Hubbard, Luico Hopper, Clifford Carter, Steve Scales, Jeff Thall, Michelle Cobbs, Ednah Holt and Yanick Etienne

Also included in the package is the previously unavailable ‘Konixxtreffen 2002′ concert in Munich, which celebrated Virgin Germany’s 25th Birthday. 

This show was filmed in front of a huge audience outside the historic Konigsplatz in the centre of Munich.

Please click on the picture below to buy the DVD from Amazon.

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Amazon Link

Original New Town Concert:

A Selection Of Performances Filmed At A Number Of Venues During The ‘Bete
Noire’ European Tour Of 1988 and 1989, featuring:

Tracklisting:

Limbo
The Chosen One
Casanova
Slave to Love
The Bogus Man
Ladytron
While my Heart is still Beating
Don’t Stop the Dance
A Waste Land
Windswept
In every Dream Home a Heartache
New Town
Boys and Girls
Kiss and Tell
Love is the Drug
Avalon
Do the Strand

Konixxtreffen 2002 Concert - Previously unreleased
The Thrill of it All
It’s all over now, Baby Blue
Can’t Let Go
Oh Yeah! (On the Radio)
My Only Love
Both Ends Burning
Don’t Think Twice it’s Alright
Limbo
Slave to Love
Virginia Plain
Jealous Guy
Let’s Stick Together
Love is the Drug
Do the Strand

DO THE STRAND ON WARCHILD ALBUM

Feb 19th, 2009

War Child: HeroesScissor Sisters cover Roxy Music’s “Do The Strand” on the Warchild: Heroes album.  

‘War Child: Heroes’ is the ultimate covers album: an unprecedented coming together of music’s greatest ever legends and today’s best artists in support of a great cause. The album concept sees the biggest heroes in the music history select a personal favourite track from their own back catalogue, and nominate an act from the next generation to create a modern reworking of that classic song.

This album is the result: 15 exclusive and breath-taking cover versions, including a formidable version of “Do The Strand” re-worked by the Scissor Sisters.

The album was released in the UK by Parlophone and internationally by EMI on February 16. A limited edition vinyl box set has also been created, available from February 23rd. 

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More details here at the warchild website.

DJ HELL COLLABORATION

Feb 11th, 2009

djhellresizeLast year Ferry invited producer Helmut Geier AKA ‘DJ Hell’ to re-work his unreleased song ‘You can Dance’. On 27 April 2009 Hell released his remix of the track on his new album ‘Teufelswerk’.

The early responses have been good with the album peaking at number 4 in the Amazon charts.

Link to Hell’s Remix of ‘You Can Dance.mp3′

CONGO CARGO CULT

Jan 29th, 2009

ferry-shrine-pickeringI first heard of Bryan Ferry being worshipped as a god up the Congo river while in the Matonge district of Kinshasa, which is the capital of Lingala music and La Sape, short for the Society of Ambiencers and Persons of Elegance, the equivalent of the British mod movement. Matonge was originally a district where the Congolese were meant to ‘evolve’ into good Belgians complete with sensible shoes, drab clothes, lavatories and Flemish military band music. Bored silly with all this, they embraced first the cinema - The Three Musketeers being an all time dress up and imitate hit - and then the explosion of the British pop scene. One leading sapeur, who took the name of Colonel Jagger, calls Bryan Ferry: ‘My favourite Englishman.’ Ferry is as far from Belgium as it is possible to get.

Sapeurs are into the ‘griffes’ or, mostly copied, designer labels. Acting the dandy in Congo has been likened to playing the gourmet in a concentration camp. But the harder it is to find a Comme des Garcons shirt, the more power it brings to the wearer, who proves he is the master of his fate. Ask a sapeur in Lingala at Herman’s night club who his favourite couturier is: ‘Griffe oyo olingaka mingi ezali nini?’ and he will reply in a flash, ‘Versace for jackets and Girbaud for jeans.’

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The cultural and political overlap alarmingly. The last president tried to ban the outrageously obscene Ngombolo (buttocks) dance - already illegal in Cameroon as part of an anti Aids initiative - because he thought it was a comment on his weight problem. He was fatally shot before he could pass the law by a teenage guard (in the buttocks, of course), a clear lesson in ‘Don’t stop the dance.’

But in the last, war torn years Bryan Ferry’s image has travelled upriver and he has been deified. I encountered it in the sandy island village of Nganda Saisai, where I found a single picture on a makeshift bamboo altar. The tribe, the Eleko, had not seen white people in the flesh until I arrived. They make wonderful palm wine and the forest on the island is swampy, suffocating and almost impenetrable. At night they celebrated Bryan with rhythms from a twelve-foot drum and an incredible dance. They said Ferry was a ‘power’ and worshipped even more on another tributary of the Congo. I want to go back and explore this.

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‘He is a god,’ said the chief.

link to original London Times article  (October 18, 2008)

THE DEFINITIVE ROXY BOOK OUT NOW

Oct 2nd, 2008

9780571229864Roxy: The Band That Invented an Era (Paperback)

Micheal Bracewell’s “Roxy” is the fascinating and largely unknown story of the individuals and circumstances which combined to form the groundbreaking band Roxy Music.

Written with the assistance, for the first time, of all of those involved, including Bryan Ferry, Brian Eno, Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera; the fashion designer Antony Price, the founding guru of pop art, and Bryan Ferry’s tutor, Richard Hamilton, and many more, “Roxy” is also the account of how pop art, the avant garde underground of the 1960s, and the heady slipstream of London in the sixties was transformed into the fashion cults of revivalism, nostalgia and pop futurism in the early 1970s.

Link to Amazon




About the Author
Michael Bracewell is the author of six novels and two works of non-fiction, including the much acclaimed England Is Mine. His writing has appeared in The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Fashion Writing and The Faber Book of Pop, and he has written catalogue texts for many contemporary artists, including Richard Wentworth, Damien Hirst and Gilbert & George. He was the co-curator of ‘The Secret Public: The Last Days of The British Underground, 1977-1988′, at Kunstverein Munchen in 2006, and was a Turner Prize judge in 2007.