Biography on Rogers Taylor in the band Queen?

Answer 1

Roger Meddows-Taylor was born on Tuesday, 26th July 1949 to parents Michael and Winifred. He met the Queen Mother aged only six days old, and lived in Norfolk until his younger sister Clare was born, when his family moved to Truro in Cornwall. He attended Truro School as a day boy, and showed academic promise. When he was 18, he began education at London Hospital Medical College, training as a dentist. He became disaffected with the idea, and switched to biology, obtaining a B.Sc. He joined Brian May, Tim Staffell and Chris Smith's band, Smile as the drummer and backing vocalist. Brian May advertised a 'Ginger Baker/ Mitch Mitchell type drummer', and Taylor got the job after an audition.

A young Farrokh 'Freddie' Bulsara (later Freddie Mercury) was waiting in the wings, an avid follower of Smile. In 1970, Tim Staffell left the band, leaving Taylor and May without a lead singer. They tried Freddie and employed him as lead singer of the new band, which they called Queen. They began with bassist Mike Grose and second bassist Barry Mitchell. Mitchell left in January 1971, and Grose followed. Doug Ewood Bogie served as bassist in February 1971, but was replaced by the traditional bassist John Deacon on March 1st 1971.

Queen received their first taste of fame with the song 'Seven Seas of Rhye' promoted with an appearance on Top of the Pops in 1974; it reached #10 in the charts. They achieved their first #1 single with the blockbuster Bohemian Rhapsody, a six-minute, three sectioned masterpiece with no chorus, Taylor contributing the famous gong hit at the end of the song, in 1975. They performed a free concert at Hyde Park in September 1976 to an audience of over 150,000 people, one of them being Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters, a sort-of hero's homecoming after a victorious stint in Japan.

Taylor met organiser and promoter Richard Branson's PR, Dominique Beyrand, who was French. This began a twelve-year relationship with Dominique, which produced two children, Felix Luther (born 22nd May 1980) and Rory Eleanor (born 29th May 1986), before marrying on 3rd January 1988. They separated 25 days later, after she found out he had been cheating on her with a model, Deborah Leng, who can be seen in the video for Queen's 1989 single, Breakthru. Beyrand and Taylor didn't properly divorce until 2010, when his relationship with Leng had been over for eight years. Debbie and Roger had three children together, and a sex tape.

Freddie Mercury died from AIDS in 1991, and Taylor emotionally told the story in a BBC4 documentary celebrating Queen's 40th anniversary, about how he was on the way to see Freddie for what probably would have been the last time, and receiving a phone call from Mercury's personal assistant Peter 'Phoebe' Freestone, informing him he had died.

May and Taylor still perform together, staying firm friends after their 45 years of knowing each other, a friendship you have to admire.