Roxy Music is an English art rock group founded in the early 1970s by art school graduate Bryan Ferry (vocals and keyboards). The other members are Phil Manzanera (guitars), Andy Mackay (saxophone and oboe) and Paul Thompson (drums and percussion). Former members are Brian Eno (synthesizer and "treatments"), later a famous producer and musician, and Eddie Jobson (synthesizer and violin), replacing Eno. Extant from 1971 through 1983, they reunited for a concert tour in 2001, and have announced that they are recording a new album for a yet-to-be-confirmed release date.
Roxy Music attained mainstream popular and critical success in the UK and Europe through the 1970s and early 1980s, beginning with their chart-topping debut album, Roxy Music in 1972. . In the USA, Australia and other regions, however, while their albums sold well, the band only achieved mainstream top 40 success with the 1975 hit Love Is The Drug and their 1982 album Avalon, featuring the hit song by the same name.
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 first named the band Roxy, but learning of an American band with the same name prompted the alteration of the name. The juxtaposition of nostalgia with contemporary or futuristic themes was a distinctive feature of the band, particularly in their earliest incarnation. The group is noted for their combination of idiosyncratic experimentation and sophisticated wit, evident in their literate lyrics, restrained instrumental virtuosity, and highly developed visual presentation, mainly directed by Ferry, that expropriated imagery from the realms of high fashion, kitsch, and commercial photography.
