Roger Taylor

Roger Taylor biography

Roger Meddows-Taylor (born 26 July 1949), known as Roger Taylor, is a British musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the drummer, backing vocalist and occasional lead vocalist of British rock band Queen. As a drummer he is known for his "big" unique sound and is considered one of the most influential rock drummers of the 1970s and '80s. As a songwriter, Taylor contributed songs to the band's albums from the very beginning, composing at least one track on every album, and (in the early days) usually sang lead vocals on his own compositions. He also wrote four of the band's hits, "Radio Ga Ga", "A Kind of Magic", "The Invisible Man", and "These Are the Days of Our Lives". He plays multiple instruments, including guitar, bass and keyboards, as heard on his debut solo album in which he played all instruments and sang all vocals. He has played with such artists as Eric Clapton, Roger Waters, Roger Daltrey, Robert Plant, Phil Collins, Genesis, Jimmy Nail, Elton John, Gary Numan, Shakin' Stevens, Foo Fighters, Al Stewart, Steve Vai, Yoshiki Hayashi, Cherie, and Bon Jovi. As a producer he has produced albums by Virginia Wolf, Jimmy Nail and Magnum. He currently resides in Guildford, Surrey.

In addition to his drum work, Taylor routinely played the guitars and bass on his own songs. During the 1980s, in addition to his work with Queen, he formed a parallel band known as The Cross, in which he was the singer and rhythm guitarist.

In 2005 he was voted by UK fans as the 8th greatest drummer in classic rock music history in a poll conducted by Planet Rock Radio.

According to The Sunday Times Rich List he was worth £65 million as of 2009.

Biography

Born in East Anglia, Roger Taylor moved to Truro, Cornwall with mother Winifred, father Michael and younger sister Clare. When he was seven years old he and some friends formed his first band, the Bubblingover Boys, in which he played the ukulele. At the age of 15 Taylor became a member of The Reaction, a very busy semi-pro rock band formed mainly of boys from Truro School. In 1967, he went to London to study dentistry. By the time News of the World came out, Taylor met his future girlfriend Dominique Beyrand. She was working for Richard Branson at the time, who was at the helm of Queen's free concert at Hyde Park. They lived together from 1980-1987, raising their two children, Felix Luther and Rory Eleanor. They decided to get married for reasons relating to his estate, to protect his children's interest in the future. At the time, Taylor was seeing another girl, Debbie Leng (also seen in the "Breakthru" video); he moved in with her a month after his marriage of convenience to Dominique. Before Freddie Mercury's death, Roger and Debbie had their first child, Rufus Tiger, who was born in March 1991. He ended up having two more children with Debbie: Tiger Lily (1994), and Lola Daisy May (2000). In late 2002, they decided to break up. Taylor remarried on 3 October 2010, to Sarina Potgieter, his girlfriend of six years.

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