Roxy Music made him famous: Popicone Bryan Ferry turns 80 and doesn’t want to sing anymore

He is a rock star, Crooner and Dandy. With Roxy Music and Songs such as “Love Is the Drug” or “Avalon” Bryan Ferry significantly shaped the pop music of the 70s and 80s. As a solo artist, he was as successful with hits like “Slave to Love”. From extravagant art rock to smooth pop to nostalgic sounds in the style of the 1930s – Ferry can do anything. Most recently, he even released albums on which he did not sang. On September 26, the British pop genius turns 80.

Ferry: “I wanted to be a painter”

Ferry, who was born in the English small town of Washington near Newcastle as the son of a working -class family in 1945, did not have a career as a musician. “Oh no, I wanted to be a painter,” he says in the interview of the German Press Agency. But then he tramps for a concert by the Soulikons Otis Redding and Sam & Dave to London and is blown away.

“It sounded incredible, they looked fantastic, so much energy,” recalls Ferry. “The audience loved it. I thought: I have to try that. I liked this physicality of the music and the audience. So I started writing songs, and when I founded Roxy, I suddenly thought: this is my art, pictures with songs.”

The band Roxy, founded in 1970, later becomes Roxy Music. Ferry usually only says Roxy today. The name comes from a cinema. Old film classics, the film Noir and the so-called golden Hollywood era are a passion for the nostalgic. He is inspired by it in his work. “Everything builds on things that I have loved since childhood. I like to watch old films, such as” Dancing in the Dark “with Fred Astaire,” enthuses Ferry. “You can learn so much from the past.”

“Standing on stage was always a challenge”

With her first single “Virginia Plain” Roxy Music land in 4th place on the British hit parades; In Germany they come in 20th place. The danceable, intellectually stuck art rock anthem stands out from the music of other glam rock representatives such as T.Rex or The Sweet. Visually, the group stands out with its extravagant costumes.

Ferry is a counter -design to the singers of other rock bands. He often wears a white jacket, mostly a shirt and a tie. It is not only visually similar to the great Crooners of the 40s, 50s and 60s. His slimming, almost seductive singing is also reminiscent of icons such as Perry Como or Dean Martin.

First of all, the front man has to overcome his stage fright. “I think I think a very shy person and it was always,” says Ferry. “In this respect, it is not the best job. At least this part of being on stage was always a challenge for me.”

“I wanted to reach a wider audience”

Almost simultaneously with the rise of Roxy Music, Ferry begins his solo career and published “Thesis Foolish Things” in 1973, an album with cover versions. “It was refreshing to do something completely different from Roxy,” he says.

“Maybe I wanted to reach a broader mainstream audience with my music, because the audience of Roxy was very niche at the beginning-especially Arrock fans and students. That was great, but I was more ambitious and wanted to reach more people. And I think I actually managed to give Roxy Music a larger audience.”

Roxy Music cannot stop that the influential sound tinkered Brian Eno leaves the band after the second album. From then on, Ferry dictates the course as a songwriter and front man. With success: The albums “beached” (1973) and “Country Life” (1974) are considered a classic with their mixture of refined skirt and elegant pop.

“We put the bar pretty high”

For Roxy Music, the eighth and last studio album “Avalon” with the hiding “More Than This” is the most successful work. From the initially progressive, partly pompous rock ‘n’ roll sound, Roxy Music has developed into a stylish pop group, which becomes a model for later success bands of the New Wave and New Romantic, including Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet or Human League. The band reformed several times later. In 2022, Roxy Music celebrated the 50th anniversary with a short tour.

Ferry continues the music style on his solo album “Boys and Girls”. “Because” Avalon “was such a great success for me, the band and everyone involved, we felt the pressure to create something even better. We had put the bar pretty high,” says Ferry. The single “Slave to Love” will be a world hit. “And I think that opened the doors for everything else.”

Ferry: “I love to construct music.”

Ferry recorded 16 studio albums, eight with Roxy Music. Its typical, elegant pop sound can be heard on “Avonmore” last in 2014. He tries a lot. For example, he arranges solo and Roxy Music songs in the style of the 1920s for “The Jazz Age” without singing a single tone.

His voice is also hardly used on his latest album “Loose Talk”. The artist Amelia Barratt speaks the texts, he delivers the accompanying music. It seems as if Bryan Ferry has finished singing. “I just have the feeling that I have already sung so much,” he says in a dpa conversation.

“I would rather focus on the other part of the music. For me, it was – strangely – only a small part of it. For most records that I made, it was like an iceberg: singing was only the top, and the rest was making music. I love to construct music. That fascinates me endlessly.”