Roxy Music-History

History
Formation and early years (1970–71)
In November 1970, Bryan Ferry, who had recently lost his job teaching ceramics at a girls school for holding impromptu record listening sessions, advertised for a keyboard player to collaborate with him and Graham Simpson, a bass player he knew from his Newcastle art college band, The Gas Board, and with whom he collaborated on his first songs. In early 1970 Ferry had auditioned as lead singer for King Crimson, who were seeking a replacement for departed vocalist Greg Lake. Although Robert Fripp and Pete Sinfield decided that Ferry's voice was unsuitable for King Crimson's material, they were impressed with his talent and they subsequently helped the fledgling Roxy Music to obtain a contract with E.G. Records.
Andy Mackay replied to Ferry's advertisement, not as a keyboard player but a saxophonist and oboist, though he did have a VCS3 synthesizer. Mackay had already met Brian Eno during university days, as both were interested in avant-garde and electronic music. Although Eno was a non-musician, he could operate a synthesizer and owned a Revox reel-to-reel tape machine, so Mackay convinced him to join the band as a technical adviser. Before long Eno was a member of the group. When Dexter Lloyd, a classically-trained timpanist, left the band an advertisement was placed in Melody Maker magazine saying "wonder drummer wanted for an avant rock group".Paul Thompson responded to the advertisement and joined the band in June, 1971. The group's name was partly an homage to the titles of old cinemas and dance halls, and partly a pun on the word rock Ferry had named the band Roxy originally, but after learning of an American band with the same name he changed the name to Roxy Music.
In October 1971 Roxy advertised in the periodical Melody Maker seeking the "Perfect Guitarist" and Phil Manzanera was one of about twenty players who auditioned. Manzanera, the son of an English father and a Colombian mother, had spent a considerable amount time in South America and Cuba as a child and although he did not have the same art school background as Ferry, Mackay and Eno, he was perhaps the most proficient member of the band, with an interest in a wide variety of music. Manzanera also knew other well-known musicians, such as David Gilmour, who was a friend of his older brother, and Soft Machine's Robert Wyatt. However, Manazanera would not initially make the band as a guitarist; the successful applicant was David O'List, former guitarist with The Nice. The group was impressed enough with Manzanera that he was invited to become Roxy Music's roadie, an offer which he accepted.
The band's fortunes were greatly increased by the support of Melody Maker journalist Richard Williams and broadcaster John Peel. Williams became an enthusiastic fan after meeting Ferry and being given a demonstration tape during mid-1971, and wrote the first major article on the band, featured on Melody Maker's "Horizons" page in the 7 August 1971 edition. This line-up of Roxy Music (Ferry/Mackay/Eno/Simpson/Thompson/O'List) recorded a BBC session shortly thereafter.
First two albums (1972-1973)
In early February 1972, guitarist O'List quit the group abruptly after an altercation with Paul Thompson which took place at their audition for David Enthoven of EG Management. When O'List didn't show for the next rehearsal, Manzanera was asked to come along, on the pretext of becoming the band's sound mixer. When he arrived he was invited to play guitar and quickly realised that it was an informal audition. Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, Manzanera had learned their entire repertoire and as a result, he was immediately hired as O'List's permanent replacement, joining on 14 February 1972. Two weeks later Roxy Music contracted with EG Management.
With this team, EG Management financed the recording of the tracks for their first album, Roxy Music, recorded in March-April 1972 and produced by King Crimson lyricist Peter Sinfield. It is notable that both the album and its famous cover artwork were apparently completed before the group signed with Island Records. A&R staffer Tim Clark records that although he argued strongly that Island should contract them, company boss Chris Blackwell at first seemed unimpressed and Clark assumed he was not interested. A few days later however, Clark and Enthoven were standing in the hallway of the Island offices examining cover images for the album when Blackwell walked past, glanced at the artwork and said "Looks great! Have we got them signed yet?" The band signed with Island Records a few days later. The LP was released in June to good reviews and became a major success, reaching #10 on the UK album chart in September 1972.
During the latter half of 1971 bassist Graham Simpson became increasingly withdrawn and uncommunicative, which led to his leaving the band almost immediately after the recording of the debut album. He was replaced by Rik Kenton.
To garner more attention to their album, Roxy Music decided to record and release a single. Their debut single was "Virginia Plain", which scored #4 in the British charts. The band's eclectic visual image, captured in their debut performance on the BBC's Top of the Pops, became a cornerstone for the glam trend in the UK; the TOTP video of "Virginia Plain" was later parodied by the British comedy series Big Train. The single caused a renewed interest in the album. (it's significant to note that all of their singles have interesting B sides; instrumentals, experimental and weird and nothing like the music they were releasing on their albums. These B sides can be found on disc 4 of their box set "The Thrill Of It All".)
Soon after "Virginia Plain", Rik Kenton departed the band, who would never again have a permanent bass player. John Porter, John Gustafson, John Wetton, Gary Tibbs, and Alan Spenner—among others—would fill the revolving role.
The next album, For Your Pleasure was released in March 1973. It marked the beginning of the band's long, successful collaboration with producer Chris Thomas and recording engineer Bill Price, who worked on all of the group's classic albums and singles in the 1970s. The album was promoted with the non-album single "Pyjamarama", but no album track was released as a single. At the time, Ferry was dating French model Amanda Lear, who was photographed with a black jaguar for the cover of For Your Pleasure (Ferry appears on the back cover as a dapper chauffeur standing in front of a limousine). For this album, John Porter (credited as a guest) played bass, while Sal Maida played bass for subsequent live shows.
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