Francis Rossi

Last updated

Francis Rossi
OBE
Status Quo - 2017215182037 2017-08-03 Wacken - Sven - 1D X MK II - 0687 - AK8I8353 (cropped).jpg
Performing with Status Quo at Wacken Open Air festival, 2017
Background information
Birth nameFrancis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi [1]
Also known asMike Rossi, Frame, The GOMOR (The Grand Old Man of Rock)
Born (1949-05-29) 29 May 1949 (age 74)
Forest Hill, London, England
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • songwriter
Instrument(s)
  • Guitar
  • vocals
Years active1962–present
Member of Status Quo
Website francisrossi.com

Francis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi, OBE (born 29 May 1949) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, lead singer, lead guitarist and the sole continuous member of the rock band Status Quo.

Contents

Early life

Rossi was born on 29 May 1949 in Forest Hill, London. His father's side of the family were Italian ice cream merchants and had an ice cream business in South London, and his mother was a Northern Irish Roman Catholic from Liverpool. [2] [ failed verification ] [3] He grew up in a household with his parents, grandmother, and "lots of aunts and uncles" and was given a Roman Catholic upbringing, having been named after Saint Francis of Assisi. [4] He spent his summer holidays as a child with an aunt in Waterloo, Merseyside. He attended Our Lady and St Philip Neri Roman Catholic Primary School in Sydenham, and then Sedgehill Comprehensive School, from which he was expelled on his last day for having allowed his classmates to deface his school uniform. [5] His desire to become a musician began after seeing The Everly Brothers live on television at a young age, after which he asked his parents to buy him a guitar for Christmas. [4]

Career

Early career

In 1962, while attending Sedgehill Comprehensive School, Rossi became close friends with future Status Quo bassist Alan Lancaster while playing trumpet in the school orchestra. [6] [7] The two, along with other classmates Alan Key (drums) and Jess Jaworski (keyboards), formed a band called the Scorpions, who played their first gig at the Samuel Jones Sports Club in Dulwich. Key was later replaced by Air Cadets drummer [6] and future Quo member John Coghlan, and the band was renamed the Spectres. The Spectres wrote their own material and played live shows; the line-up soon included Redhill-based keyboard player Roy Lynes, whom they had seen performing with a band called the Echoes who were also based in Redhill.[ citation needed ] In 1965, the Spectres played at a Butlins holiday camp in Minehead. There Rossi met his future long-time Status Quo partner Rick Parfitt, who was playing as part of another band, the Highlights. The two became close friends and agreed to continue working together. In 1966, the Spectres signed a five-year deal with Piccadilly Records, releasing three singles that failed to chart. The group again changed their name, this time to Traffic Jam, after embracing psychedelia. [7] [8] [9]

Status Quo

Rossi (far left), with Status Quo in 1978 Status Quo1978.jpg
Rossi (far left), with Status Quo in 1978

In 1967, Traffic Jam changed its name to The Status Quo, but eventually dropped the definite article. Shortly afterward Parfitt joined the band, completing the original line-up, and beginning an almost 50-year partnership with Rossi until Parfitt's death in 2016. Rossi had written a song called "Pictures of Matchstick Men", which hit the charts in both the UK and the US in 1968, launching their hit-making career. After some years of minor success, the band reached #5 in the album charts in 1972 with Piledriver . Released on Vertigo Records, it included "Paper Plane", a song penned by Rossi and Bob Young, which was released as a single. Status Quo continued to enjoy major success in the UK, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand through the 1970s and 1980s. [6] They were the opening act of 1985's Live Aid, and Rossi wrote and co-wrote some of their biggest hits, including "Caroline" and the band's only number one single, "Down Down".

Rossi and Parfitt were the only remaining original members in the band until Parfitt's death in 2016. In 2013 and 2014, Rossi and Parfitt reunited with original Quo bandmates Lancaster and Coghlan for a series of reunion concerts. Over their career, Status Quo have sold over 128 million albums worldwide. [6]

Other projects

In 1984, the year before Quo opened Live Aid, Rossi and Parfitt appeared on the Band Aid charity single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Rossi has also pursued solo projects outside Status Quo. In 1985 when the band was on hold, he recorded two singles with his longtime writing partner Bernie Frost. The single releases were "Modern Romance (I Want to Fall in Love Again)" (UK No. 54 [10] ), and "Jealousy". In 1996 he issued a solo album, King of the Doghouse , which was not a commercial success, although it produced a UK No. 42 single, "Give Myself to Love". [10] Some years earlier, in 1976, he had appeared on the soundtrack album and film All This and World War II comprising cover versions of songs by the Beatles. Although the album sleeve credits the performance of "Getting Better" to Status Quo, the track featured Rossi's vocals and the London Symphony Orchestra.[ citation needed ] In 1977, he produced and played guitar on John Du Cann's solo album The World's Not Big Enough . 3 May 2010 saw the release of his second solo album, One Step at a Time, including a re-recording of Quo's 1973 single "Caroline".[ citation needed ]

In 2013, Rossi starred as himself alongside Quo bandmate Parfitt in the adventure comedy film Bula Quo! , which followed the duo on an adventure in Fiji, getting involved in local Mafia operations on the island.

In 2019, Rossi released a joint album with UK singer and violinist Hannah Rickard, entitled We Talk Too Much on the earMusic label. [11] The same year, he released his autobiography I Talk Too Much (published by Little, Brown), as well as announcing a spoken word tour of the UK of the same name. [12]

Musical equipment

Rossi's guitar of choice is the Fender Telecaster, and he has used several over the years including his trademark green 1957 model with a maple fretboard, which he purchased in 1968. [13] It was originally sunburst, but was painted green in 1970. Through the years several parts had been replaced with G&L parts, and a third pickup had been installed in a configuration much like a Stratocaster.

He also owns two other green Fender Telecasters that are both brighter in colour and feature rosewood fretboards. One is used for the song "Down Down" and the other for "Whatever You Want". Like his main guitar they are both in a three-pickup configuration.

In December 2014, Rossi was said to be "heartbroken" when his green 1957 Telecaster, after 46 years of use, became worn beyond use—the wood having become too soft to be able to properly tune the instrument. [14] The guitar was sold at auction in 2019 for £118,813. [15]

For amplification Rossi uses Marshall JCM800 or JCM900 Lead series amplifiers with 4x12 cabinets and a Roland GP8 to boost his signal. The sound from his Marshall rig is blended with Vox AC30 amplifiers that are kept behind his Marshall setup. He also uses software like Amplitube in the studio. [16]

Style

Rossi performing in 2014 20140801-122-See-Rock Festival 2014--Francis Rossi.JPG
Rossi performing in 2014

Rossi, along with the rest of Status Quo, has often been described as "uncool", including by Rossi himself; in March 2013, he called the Status Quo of c. 1974 "the most uncool band in the world". [17] On stage, Rossi normally sported a black waistcoat, blue jeans and a pair of white trainers. In a December 2000 review of a Status Quo concert at Wembley Arena, Andrew Gilchrist writing for The Guardian called the white trainers "the only "visual" [the band] really have". [18]

Interviewed by Simon Hattenstone for The Guardian in 2007, Rossi said that he had idolised Little Richard, saying: "I think that's where we got the energy. To me it's synonymous with doing rock'n'roll. If you don't commit physically, rock'n'roll doesn't really work." [19]

Personal life

Early Status Quo albums, up to 1971's Dog of Two Head , credited him as Mike Rossi. [20] Interviewed in 1996, he explained that his own name was deemed "too poncey" by the band's original manager, "so I had to change it to Mike, a real man's name, apparently". [21] Within the band, he is known as "Frame" or "The Gomor" (The Grand Old Man of Rock). [22]

After years of excess, Rossi is teetotal and no longer takes drugs. Rossi claimed to have spent £1.7 million on cocaine in the 1980s. [23] This heavy cocaine use resulted in a piece of his nasal septum falling out, leaving a hole inside his nose which he once "pushed a cotton bud through during a TV interview" in order to demonstrate the dangers of drug addiction to young people. [24] In October 2014, Rossi told BBC's HARDtalk that alcohol was the gateway that led to his cocaine habit. [25] Despite no longer drinking alcohol, in 2010 Rossi became chairman of the 196-year-old Glen Rossie brand of whisky, which the band used to drink whilst on tour. [26]

Rossi (right) and long-time Status Quo partner Rick Parfitt in 2013, at the premiere of Bula Quo! Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi, Bula Quo, London, 2013 (crop).jpg
Rossi (right) and long-time Status Quo partner Rick Parfitt in 2013, at the premiere of Bula Quo!

Rossi was estranged from his daughter Bernadette for seventeen years after his relationship with rock publicist Elizabeth Gernon broke up. They reunited in 2007, and her band Bernadette and The North supported Status Quo on that year's tour. [27]

Rossi was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to music and charity, along with Parfitt. [1] [28] Rossi said "It's one thing going out to play in front of 50,000 people but talking to the Queen – well that's quite another. We were both so humbled by the experience. I mean, this is the Queen after all. She is England, isn't she? We have grown up with her as our figurehead since we were tiny children and she's still going strong at 83. Not a very rock and roll thing to say I know, but she is simply amazing." [29]

Rossi married his second wife Eileen in 1989 [30] and has eight children from his two marriages. Interviewed in 2011, he said that all of his children played music professionally. [4] [21]

In 2019 his autobiography, I Talk Too Much, was published by the Little, Brown Book Group. [31] Rossi refers to himself as a lapsed Catholic. [32]

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Status Quo (band)</span> British rock band

Status Quo are a British rock band. The group originated in London and was founded in 1962 by Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster while they were still schoolboys. After a number of name and lineup changes, which included the introduction of John Coghlan in 1963 and Rick Parfitt in 1967, the band became The Status Quo in 1967 and Status Quo in 1969. As of 2022, the group have been active for 60 consecutive years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Parfitt</span> British rock musician (1948–2016)

Richard John Parfitt, was an English musician, best known as a rhythm guitarist, singer and songwriter with rock band Status Quo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Bown</span> English musician

Andrew Steven Bown is an English musician, who has specialised in keyboards and bass guitar. He is a member of the rock band Status Quo.

<i>Quo</i> (Status Quo album) 1974 studio album by Status Quo

Quo is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Status Quo. Issued in May 1974, it features Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan, and reached #2 in the UK. Like its predecessor Hello!, it consisted entirely of songs written or cowritten by the group. The only guest musicians were Bob Young and Tom Parker, who played harmonica and piano respectively on "Break the Rules".

<i>Rockin All Over the World</i> (album) 1977 album by Status Quo

Rockin' All Over the World is the tenth studio album by British band Status Quo. It is their first to be produced by Pip Williams and the first to feature Andy Bown as a regular contributor to the band; he would later join the band officially in 1982. Released in November 1977, it reached #5 in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Lancaster</span> British bassist and singer (1949–2021)

Alan Charles Lancaster was an English musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the rock band Status Quo, playing with the band from 1967 to 1985, with brief reunions in 2013 and 2014. As well as contributing to songwriting, he was also one of the lead vocalists on albums and live concerts, taking the lead on tracks such as "Backwater", "Is There a Better Way", "Bye Bye Johnny", "High Flyer" and "Roadhouse Blues".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Coghlan (drummer)</span> English drummer

John Robert Coghlan is an English musician, best known as the original drummer of the rock band Status Quo.

<i>Live!</i> (Status Quo album) 1977 live album by Status Quo

Live! is the first live album by British rock band Status Quo. The double album is an amalgam of performances at Glasgow's Apollo Theatre between 27 and 29 October 1976, recorded using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio.

<i>Just Supposin</i> 1980 studio album by Status Quo

Just Supposin' is the thirteenth album by Status Quo. Co-produced by the group and John Eden, it was recorded at Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin. Released on 17 October 1980, it entered the UK albums chart at number 4.

<i>Aint Complaining</i> 1988 studio album by Status Quo

Ain't Complaining is the eighteenth studio album by British rock band Status Quo. Initially released on the Vertigo label on 6 June 1988, it was the group's first album on that label to fall short of the UK Top 10, breaking a streak of 12 studio albums in the process. It reached no higher than its entry position of No. 12. The band, however, reentered the Top 10 just three years later with Rock 'Til You Drop in 1991.

<i>Rock til You Drop</i> 1991 studio album by Status Quo

Rock 'til You Drop is the twentieth studio album by English rock band Status Quo and their last on the Vertigo label after nearly 20 years. Singer and guitarist Francis Rossi produced the album.

<i>Never Too Late</i> (Status Quo album) 1981 studio album by Status Quo

Never Too Late is the fourteenth studio album by English rock band Status Quo, coproduced by the group and John Eden. Released on 13 March 1981, it had been recorded at the same sessions – at Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin – as its predecessor Just Supposin'. It reached number 2 in the UK Albums Chart.

<i>In Search of the Fourth Chord</i> 2007 studio album by Status Quo

In Search of the Fourth Chord is the twenty-eighth studio album by English rock band Status Quo, released on 17 September 2007. The title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the rumour that the group always plays the same three chords, and a reference to the album In Search of the Lost Chord by British rock band the Moody Blues. The album's artwork is a parody of the Indiana Jones films.

Robert Keith Young is an English musician and author, who became famous for being the unofficial fifth member of the rock band Status Quo.

<i>Bula Quo!</i> (album) 2013 soundtrack album by Status Quo

Bula Quo is the thirtieth studio album and the first soundtrack album by English rock band Status Quo, it was released on Monday 10 June 2013. It is the last Status Quo album recorded with drummer Matt Letley, who announced his departure from the band before the album had been released.

<i>Aquostic II – Thats a Fact!</i> 2016 studio album by Status Quo

Aquostic II – That's a Fact! is the thirty-second studio album by English rock band Status Quo, released on 21 October 2016. It is the last album to feature guitarist and vocalist Rick Parfitt prior to his death on 24 December 2016. Hannah Rickard, with whom Francis Rossi collaborated on their 2019 duet album We Talk Too Much, can be heard as violinist and background singer.

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Richie Malone is an Irish musician who plays rhythm guitar for English rock band Status Quo. Malone first played with the band in July 2016, when previous guitarist Rick Parfitt was no longer able to tour due to a heart attack. Parfitt died in December 2016, and Malone became his permanent replacement.

"Forty Five Hundred Times" is a song by British rock band Status Quo. It is the final track on their 1973 album Hello!, almost ten minutes long and regularly performed live. The group's frontmen, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt, have said it is one of their favourite songs by the band, with Parfitt using a special dropped tuning. While never released as a single, the song was #1 as voted by fans.

<i>Backbone</i> (Status Quo album) 2019 studio album by Status Quo

Backbone is the 33rd studio album by British rock band Status Quo. It was released on 6 September 2019 and debuted at number six on the UK Albums Chart. It was the band's 25th UK top ten album and their highest-charting album of original material since 1+9+8+2 (1982). Backbone also entered the Swiss album charts at number two, and the German album charts at number six, giving the band their highest album chart position in the latter, despite a long history of enduring popularity.

References

  1. 1 2 "No. 59282". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2009. p. 11.
  2. ↑ "Interview: Status Quo's Francis Rossi". Nottingham Post. 7 August 2014. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "Francis Rossi, a man's man". The Independent. 20 July 1996. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 "Francis Rossi: My family values". The Guardian. 11 June 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Francis Rossi, lead guitar player and singer of Status Quo". The Independent. 28 September 2006. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Parker, Alan (2012). "Hello Quo". BBC.
  7. 1 2 Young, Bob (2000). Status Quo: Just Doin' It! (1st ed.). London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 27. ISBN   1-84403-562-X.
  8. ↑ Roberts, David (1998). Guinness Rockopedia (1st ed.). London: Guinness Publishing Ltd. p.  417. ISBN   0-85112-072-5.
  9. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 927–929. ISBN   1-84195-017-3.
  10. 1 2 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 471. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  11. ↑ "We Talk Too Much – Hannah Rickard, Francis Rossi | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic .
  12. ↑ "Front Page, Francis Rossi official website". Francis Rossi official website. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  13. ↑ "Francis Rossi's classic Status Quo Fender Telecaster sells at auction". Music Radar. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  14. ↑ "EXCLUSIVE: Quo star Rossi forced to ditch guitar he's played for 46 years". Daily Express. 6 December 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  15. ↑ "Francis Rossi's classic Status Quo Fender Telecaster sells at auction". 19 December 2019.
  16. ↑ "Official Rossi at the official Status Quo website". statusquo.co.uk. Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  17. ↑ "The Making Of… Status Quo's Down Down". Uncut. 12 December 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  18. ↑ "Quo do the hokey cokey". The Guardian. 18 December 2000. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  19. ↑ Hattenstone, Simon (3 November 2007). "Better the denim you know". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  20. ↑ Dog of Two Head (Media notes). Pye Records. 1971. SLDPY 818.
  21. 1 2 Walsh, John (20 July 1996). "Francis Rossi, a man's man". The Independent . Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  22. ↑ "Francis Rossi". Status Quo (official website). Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  23. ↑ "Francis Rossi: 'I spent £1.7m on cocaine in the Eighties'". The Telegraph. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  24. ↑ "Status Quo Singer Washed His Nose Off During $2.5m Coke Habit". MusicFeeds. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  25. ↑ "Alcohol led me to cocaine says Status Quo's Francis Rossi". BBC News. 30 October 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  26. ↑ [hthttps://www.scotsman.com/news/status-quo-star-francis-rossi-to-head-glen-rossie-whisky-2509523 "Status Quo star Francis Rossi to head Glen Rossie whisky"]. The Scotsman. 25 April 2010. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  27. ↑ "Meeting Dad strikes a chord". Daily Echo. 30 October 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  28. ↑ "Status Quo stars and Formula One champion honoured". BBC News. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  29. ↑ "Knighthood: Status Quo stars Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi recieve[sic] OBE". iranian.com. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  30. ↑ "Francis Rossi spills the beans – Independent.ie". 25 April 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  31. ↑ Rossi, Francis (2019). I Talk Too Much. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN   978-1-4721-3019-8. OCLC   1033573877.
  32. ↑ Mears, Jo (10 June 2011). "Francis Rossi: My family values". the Guardian. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
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