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'''Nicholas James Bates''' (born [[Birmingham]], [[England]], [[June 8]], [[1962]]) is a keyboardist for [[Duran Duran]].
{{short description|English musician and keyboardist of Duran Duran (born 1962)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2010}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{BLP sources|date=December 2008}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Nick Rhodes
| image = Nick Rhodes - DuranO2 1 010523 (26 of 74) (52873249778) (cropped).jpg
| caption = Rhodes in 2023
| landscape = yes
| image_size =
| birth_name = Nicholas James Bates<ref name="stannit2">{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-5250676.html|title=Duran Duran cofounder Nick Rhodes is Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's latest flame.|last=Clark|first=Pete|date=14 December 1999|work=[[London Evening Standard]]|access-date=30 January 2010}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
| alias =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1962|6|8}}
| birth_place = [[Birmingham]], [[Warwickshire]], England
| genre = {{hlist|[[Pop music|Pop]]|[[pop rock]]|[[synth-pop]]|[[New wave music|new wave]]|[[hard rock]]|[[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]]}}
| occupation = {{hlist|Musician|producer}}
| instrument = {{hlist|Keyboards|vocals}}
| years_active = 1978–present
| current_member_of = [[Duran Duran]]
| past_member_of = [[Arcadia (band)|Arcadia]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Julie Anne Friedman|18 August 1984|1992|end=divorced}}
}}


'''Nick Rhodes''' (born '''Nicholas James Bates''', 8 June 1962) is an English keyboardist and producer, best known as a founding member and the keyboardist of the band [[Duran Duran]].<ref name="rollingstone">{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/rollingstoneency00holl |url-access=registration |title=The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll|year=2001 |publisher=Touchstone |last1=George-Warren|first1=Holly|first2=Patricia |last2=Romanowski|first3= Jon |last3=Pareles|magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=30 January 2010 | isbn=978-0-7432-0120-9}}</ref>
==Background==


Rhodes has been involved in several side projects outside of, but related to, Duran Duran: he released albums with [[Arcadia (band)|Arcadia]] in 1985 (featuring Duran Duran members Le Bon and [[Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer)|Roger Taylor]]),<ref name="billboard">{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KSQEAAAAMBAJ&q=%2B%22Nick+Rhodes%22+%2B%22arcadia%22&pg=PT62 |title=Arcadia:The Rest of Duran Duran|journal=[[Billboard magazine|Billboard]] |date=12 October 1985 |last=Gillis|first=Kathy|access-date=30 January 2010}}</ref> and recorded and performed as [[the Devils (band)|the Devils]] in 2002 with [[Stephen Duffy]], longtime musical friend and the original lead singer of Duran Duran. In March 2013, he released the [[TV Mania]] side project with former Duran Duran guitarist, [[Warren Cuccurullo]].
Nick Rhodes and his art school friend [[Nigel John Taylor|John Taylor]] founded Duran Duran in 1978. At about the same time as the name [[Duran Duran]] was chosen for the band, Nick decided to change his name, for "aesthetic reasons", to Rhodes (possibly after the [[Rhodes piano]], or his hair, which was vividly red at the time).


==Early history==
Rhodes and singer [[Simon Le Bon]] are the only members to have been with the band throughout its 25-year career.
Nicholas James Bates is the only child of affluent parents who were the owners of a [[Birmingham]] toy shop. He attended [[Woodrush High School]] in [[Wythall]], north [[Worcestershire]]. Bates left school in 1978 at the age of sixteen, and founded Duran Duran with his childhood friend [[John Taylor (bass guitarist)|John Taylor]] (who then played lead guitar) and Taylor's art school friend [[Stephen Duffy]] (vocals, bass, guitar). Having considered band names such as 'RAF', 'Arabia', 'Industry' and 'Arcadia', they named their band after "Dr. Durand Durand", [[Milo O'Shea]]'s character from the sci-fi film ''[[Barbarella (film)|Barbarella]]'' the day after the movie had been broadcast by BBC 1 on 20 October 1978.<ref name="c1">{{cite web|url=https://durancompilations.com/early1.html |title=Duran Duran - The Early Days Chapter 1 |publisher=durancompilations.com |access-date=26 May 2022 }}</ref> The three of them made their first recordings on a cassette tape recorder above Bates' parents' toy shop and played their first gig on 5 April 1979 at [[Birmingham Polytechnic]], and were joined by Simon Colley (clarinet and bass) soon after.<ref name="c1" /> In June 1979 Duran Duran opened for the band [[Fashion (band)|Fashion]] at the [[Barbarella's]] club in Birmingham, but following the departure of Duffy and Colley reformed soon after with vocalist Andy Wickett and drummer [[Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer)|Roger Taylor]]. At this point Bates' stage name was Dior Bates.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://durancompilations.com/early2.html |title=Duran Duran - The Early Days Chapter 2|publisher=durancompilations.com |access-date=26 May 2022 }}</ref> After several personnel changes Duran Duran finally settled on the line-up including guitarist [[Andy Taylor (guitarist)|Andy Taylor]] and lead singer [[Simon Le Bon]] in May 1980 and were eventually signed to [[EMI]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://durancompilations.com/early4.html |title=Duran Duran - The Early Days Chapter 4 |publisher=durancompilations.com |access-date=26 May 2022 }}</ref>


Born Nicholas Bates, he decided to change his name for aesthetic reasons. The decision was finally made during Duran Duran's first official interview when the journalist asked his name and he made a snap decision based upon options he had been considering, he answered Nick Rhodes and never questioned it again.
After leaving school at 16, Rhodes worked as a [[DJ]] at a local [[Birmingham]] club called "[[Rum Runner nightclub|The Rum Runner]]". As the band coalesced into its final lineup in [[1979]]-[[1980|80]], Duran Duran started playing at the club, and the owners ended up as the band's managers.
As the band coalesced into its final line-up in 1979–1980, Duran Duran started playing at a local [[Birmingham]] club called the [[Rum Runner (nightclub)|Rum Runner]]. The club owners became the band's managers, and Rhodes began working at the club as a disc jockey.<ref name="rollingstone"/>


Rhodes reportedly owns the Duran Duran name; this was mentioned in the [[The Andy Warhol Diaries|Andy Warhol diaries]]. In the entry for October 5, 1986, Warhol told his diarist [[Pat Hackett (writer)|Pat Hackett]]: "One of the Taylors isn't in the group anymore but Nick owns the name so it's still Duran Duran."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Warhol |first1=Andy |url= |title=The Andy Warhol Diaries |last2=Hackett |first2=Pat |date=1989 |publisher=Warner Books |isbn=978-0-446-51426-2 |location=New York, NY |pages=764}}</ref> [[Duran Duran#1986–1989: Le Bon, Rhodes and John Taylor trio|In 1986]], Andy and Roger Taylor left the band, returning in 2001 to reunite and create the ''[[Astronaut (Duran Duran album)|Astronaut]]'' album.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Parker |first=Lyndsey |date=2023-10-12 |title=Andy Taylor talks beating stage 4 cancer, returning to the live stage… and what really happened with Duran Duran's lost 'Reportage' album |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/andy-taylor-beating-cancer-duran-duran-shelved-reportage-album-001126224.html |access-date=2024-04-03 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref>
The band achieved rapid success, and Rhodes was a driving force throughout. He studied production techniques in the studio, eventually helping to mix several tracks on the ''[[Rio (album)|Rio]]'' album, and was a co-producer on many of the band's later albums. He was also quick to recognize the potential of the [[music video]], and pushed the band to put more effort into their early videos than seemed warranted at the time (before the advent of MTV).


==Contributions to Duran Duran==
His contributions to the band were sometimes underestimated by contemporaries and critics. Barely twenty when the band hit major stardom, he cultivated an androgynous and sometimes flamboyant image, wore heavy makeup, changed his hair color at whim, and spoke with a deep, deceptively lazy Birmingham drawl. As the band "grew up" in the public eye, however, Nick's intelligence, determination, and incisive dry humour became well-known to fans and fellow musicians, and he has become known as the "keeper of the Duran flame." Indeed, he owns the rights to the "Duran Duran" name.
[[File:Nick Rhodes - Duran Duran 1986 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Rhodes in 1986]]
{{BLP unsourced section|date=May 2019}}
The band achieved rapid success, and Rhodes was a driving force throughout. An unschooled musician, he experimented with the sounds his [[analogue synthesiser]]s were capable of, but shied away from the "novelty" sounds of some other early synth bands. The distinctive warble of "[[Save a Prayer]]", the keyboard stabs of "[[A View to a Kill (song)|A View to a Kill]]", and the string sounds of "[[Come Undone (Duran Duran song)|Come Undone]]" and "[[Ordinary World (song)|Ordinary World]]" are some of his most recognisable creations, as well as the futuristic oscillating synth that characterised Duran Duran's self-titled first album. He popularised the [[Crumar]] Performer on the early records.


Rhodes was also quick to recognise the potential of the music video, and pushed the band to put more effort into their early videos than seemed warranted at the time (before the advent of MTV). Barely twenty when the band hit major stardom, he cultivated an androgynous and sometimes flamboyant image, wore heavy makeup, and changed his hair colour at whim. By the late 1990s, Rhodes had begun writing lyrics for Duran Duran, as well as music. His digitally altered voice is heard on the title track to the 1997 album ''[[Medazzaland]]''.
An unschooled musician, Rhodes loved experimenting with the sounds his [[analog synthesizer]]s were capable of, but shied away from the "novelty" sounds of some other early synth bands. The distinctive warble of "Save A Prayer", the keyboard stabs of "A View To A Kill", and the elegant string sounds of "Come Undone" are some of his most recognizable contributions. His arrangements were rich, multi-layered, and unique, and although he has continued to explore the cutting edge of [[digital synthesizer]] technology, he has an enduring love for the analog synths of his early days, using them even on albums released in the [[2000s]].


==Record production==
In early [[1983]], he discovered the band [[Kajagoogoo]] and produced their debut album "White Feathers". He jokingly said he would never do so again because their hit single "Too Shy" was the song that bumped Duran's "[[Hungry Like The Wolf]]" out of the #1 spot on the UK charts.
[[File:Nick Rhodes on stage (2015).JPG|thumb|Rhodes performing on stage in 2015]]
Rhodes studied production techniques while in the studio with Duran Duran, eventually helping to mix several tracks on the ''[[Rio (Duran Duran album)|Rio]]'' album, and was a co-producer on many of the band's later albums.


In early 1983, he discovered the band [[Kajagoogoo]] and co-produced their debut single "Too Shy" which became a UK no. 1 (prior to any of Duran's singles reaching no. 1).<ref name="movers">{{cite book|last1=Rees|first1=Dafydd|first2=Luke |last2=Crampton|title=Rock movers & shakers|publisher=ABC-Clio Inc|year=1991|page=1944|isbn=978-0-87436-661-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t5oYAAAAIAAJ&q=%2B%22Nick+Rhodes%22+%2B%22duran+duran%22}}</ref>
Rhodes met [[Julie Anne Friedman]] (heiress to the Iowa, USA [[Younkers Department Store]] fortune) at a yacht party while on an American tour in [[1983]], and they were married [[August 18]], [[1984]]. They had one daughter together, Tatjana Orchid (born in August 1986). Nick and Julie Anne filed for a divorce in 1993.


Rhodes and [[Warren Cuccurullo]] wrote and produced three tracks for the [[Blondie (band)|Blondie]] reunion album in 1996;<ref name="rollingstone2">{{cite journal|issn=0006-2510|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zA4EAAAAMBAJ&q=%2B%22Nick+Rhodes%22+%2B%22blondie%22&pg=PA12|title=The Beat|last=Newman|first=Melinda|date=1 February 1997|volume= 109|number=5|journal=[[Billboard magazine|Billboard]]|access-date=30 January 2010}}</ref> the tracks were not used, but one song called "Pop Trash Movie" was later recorded by Duran Duran for the 2000 album ''[[Pop Trash]]''.
Rhodes became enamored of the art world, making friends with [[Andy Warhol]] and [[The Factory]] crowd, and attending exhibitions worldwide. He once described a highlight of this period of his life as "buying a Picasso on my American Express card". At the end of 1984, he released his own book of art photographs called "Interference", many of which were displayed at the Hamilton Gallery in [[London]].


In 2002, Rhodes co-produced and played additional synthesizers in nine tracks of the album ''[[Welcome to the Monkey House (album)|Welcome to the Monkey House]]'' by [[the Dandy Warhols]]. In 2004 he produced British-based pop group [[Riviera F]] for their debut EP ''[[International Lover]]'', published on Pop Cult/Tape Modern (Rhodes' & Stephen Duffy's label).
With his bandmates [[Simon Le Bon]] and [[Roger Andrew Taylor|Roger Taylor]], Rhodes formed the side project [[Arcadia (band)|Arcadia]] while Duran was on hiatus in 1985. The band had a moody, keyboard-heavy sound, far more atmospheric than Duran Duran (or the hard rock of the other Duran splinter group of 1985, [[Power Station]]). The band scored hits with "Election Day", "Say The Word" and "Goodbye Is Forever". The band's only album ''So Red The Rose'' went multiplatinum, but the band never toured and was dissolved when Duran reunited in 1986.


==Side projects==
Since the early nineties, Rhodes has been working on a massive side project called [[TV Mania]] with Duran bandmate [[Warren Cuccurullo]]. They have created a self-described "social junk culture triptych opera" composed of music, dialogue, samples, and "found sound". They hope to make it into a Broadway play. The music and packaging have reportedly been finished, but they have not found a label to release it.
{{BLP unsourced section|date=December 2017}}
With Le Bon, Rhodes formed the side project [[Arcadia (band)|Arcadia]] while Duran Duran was on hiatus in 1985. The band had a moody, keyboard-heavy sound, far more atmospheric than Duran Duran (or the hard rock of the other Duran splinter group of 1985 [John and Andy Taylor], [[The Power Station (band)|the Power Station]]).


The band scored a major hit with "Election Day" and the band's only album, ''[[So Red the Rose]]'', went platinum in the US but was less successful in their native UK. The band never toured and was dissolved when Duran Duran regrouped in 1986. In 1999, Rhodes reunited with Duran Duran's original vocalist, Stephen Duffy, to create new music based on some of the earliest Duran music the two had written together. The result was the album ''Dark Circles'', released under the name [[The Devils (band)|the Devils]]. Also in 1999, Rhodes had a small guest appearance (in voice only) as a Canadian bomber pilot in ''[[South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut]]''.
Rhodes and Cuccurullo also wrote and produced three tracks for the [[Blondie (band)|Blondie]] reunion album in 1996; due to shifting label politics, the tracks were not used, but one called "Pop Trash Movie" was later recorded by Duran Duran for the [[2000]] album ''Pop Trash''.


In 2006 Rhodes and John Taylor collaborated on the compilation album ''[[Only After Dark (album)|Only After Dark]]''. In 2011 Rhodes along with [[Andrew Wyatt]] and [[Mark Ronson]] remixed [[Depeche Mode]]'s "[[Personal Jesus]]" for the British electronic band's remix compilation ''[[Remixes 2: 81–11]]''. Also in 2011, Rhodes wrote the afterword to the award-winning '80s [[7-inch]] vinyl cover art book ''[[Matthew Chojnacki|Put the Needle on the Record]]''.
Although Duran Duran credit their songwriting as a group & all members do contribute, It is widely believed that Rhodes pens most of the melodies.


In March 2013, [[TV Mania]] made up of Rhodes and ex-Duran Duran guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, released ''Bored with Prozac and the Internet?''. Throughout the 1990s, Rhodes worked on this side project with Cuccurullo. To support the launch of the project, Rhodes had an exhibition of his photography, BEI INCUBI (Beautiful Nightmares) at the Vinyl Factory in [[Chelsea, London]] on 7 March 2013.
By the late [[1990s]], Rhodes had begun writing lyrics for Duran Duran, as well as music. His digitally altered voice is heard on the title track to the [[1997]] album ''[[Medazzaland]]''.


In 2021, Rhodes collaborated with [[Stewart Bevan]]'s daughter Wendy Bevan on the series of ''Astronomia'' albums.
In [[1999]], he reunited with one of Duran Duran's early singers, [[Stephen Duffy]], to create new music based on some of the earliest Duran music the two had written together; the result was the album ''Dark Circles'', released under the name [[The Devils (band)|The Devils]].


In 2022, Rhodes collaborated with [[Rob Crow]], [[Roy Mayorga]], [[Aaron Tanner]], and more on a cover of [[the Residents]]' song, "Mahogany Wood".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mykals |first=Kat |date=2024-02-08 |title=Indiana Man to Co-Release Cover of The Residents’ 'Mahogany Wood' |url=https://103gbfrocks.com/star-stunted-mahogany-wood/ |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=103GBF |language=en}}</ref>
In [[2001]], the original five members of Duran Duran reunited to record new music; see [[Duran Duran]] for details.


==Personal life==
In [[2002]], Rhodes co-produced and played some keyboard tracks on the album ''[[Welcome To The Monkeyhouse]]'' by [[The Dandy Warhols]].
Rhodes met Julie Anne Friedman (heiress to the [[Younkers Department Store]] fortune) at a yacht party while on an American tour in 1982, and married her on 18 August 1984. They have one daughter together, Tatjana Lee Orchid (born 23 August 1986). After a brief separation and an attempt to reconcile, they filed for divorce in 1992.<ref name="stannit">{{cite news|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-115890312|title=On The Grid|date=23 April 2004|publisher=[[London Evening Standard]]|access-date=30 January 2010|archive-date=13 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613004213/https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-115890312/on-the-grid|url-status=dead}}</ref> Rhodes has had several long relationships with various women but has not remarried.


Rhodes, as a former art student, became enamoured with the art world early in his career, making friends with pop-art artist [[Andy Warhol]] and [[the Factory]] crowd, and attending exhibitions worldwide. At the end of 1984, he released his own book of abstract art photographs called ''Interference''.<ref name="cc">{{cite book|title=Creative Camera, issues 241–52|year=1985|page=36|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b05WAAAAMAAJ&q=%2B%22Nick+Rhodes%22+%2B%22interference%22}}</ref> Many of the photos were displayed at an exhibition at the Hamilton Gallery in London. He continues to showcase photography on occasion, including in British magazines such as ''[[Tatler]]'' and also occasionally appears at the [[Cannes International Film Festival]].
[[Category:1962 births|Rhodes, Nick]]
[[Category:British keyboardists|Rhodes, Nick]]
[[Category:Keyboardists|Rhodes, Nick]]
[[Category:Natives of Birmingham|Rhodes, Nick]]
[[Category:Record producers|Rhodes, Nick]]
[[Category:Living people|Rhodes, Nick]]


In November 2011, Rhodes received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts degree from the [[University of Bedfordshire]], for his services to the music industry. Rhodes appears in [[Burke's Peerage]] under his second cousin's entry for the family of Lindley-Highfield of [[Ballumbie#Ballumbie Castle|Ballumbie Castle]], being related to the Highfield family through his paternal grandmother, Irene Lavinia Bates (née Highfield).<ref name="Burkes">{{cite web|url=https://www.burkespeerage.com/new_records.php?letter=l|title=Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle|date=6 October 2010|publisher=[[Burke's Peerage]]|access-date=5 June 2015}}</ref>
[[da:Nick Rhodes]]

[[it:Nick Rhodes]]
Rhodes is a long-time vegetarian, occasionally a [[Pescetarianism|pescatarian]]. In a 2012 interview for the official Duran Duran website he cited Italian, Lebanese, and Indian food as his favourites.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://duranduran.com/2012/rhodes-for-me-london-will-always-be-planet-earth/|title=Rhodes: 'For Me, London Will Always Be Planet Earth'|date=8 September 2012|website=duranduran.com|access-date=20 November 2023}}</ref> He moved to central London two years after Duran Duran's success and continues to reside there.
[[nl:Nick Rhodes]]

[[pl:Nick Rhodes]]
==Discography==
===with Duran Duran===
* ''[[Duran Duran (1981 album)|Duran Duran]]'' (1981)
* ''[[Rio (Duran Duran album)|Rio]]'' (1982)
* ''[[Seven and the Ragged Tiger]]'' (1983)
* ''[[Notorious (Duran Duran album)|Notorious]]'' (1986)
* ''[[Big Thing (Duran Duran album)|Big Thing]]'' (1988)
* ''[[Liberty (Duran Duran album)|Liberty]]'' (1990)
* ''[[Duran Duran (1993 album)|Duran Duran]]'' (1993)
* ''[[Thank You (Duran Duran album)|Thank You]]'' (1995)
* ''[[Medazzaland]]'' (1997)
* ''[[Pop Trash]]'' (2000)
* ''[[Astronaut (Duran Duran album)|Astronaut]]'' (2004)
* ''[[Reportage (album)|Reportage]]'' (2006; unreleased)
* ''[[Red Carpet Massacre]]'' (2007)
* ''[[All You Need Is Now]]'' (2010)
* ''[[Paper Gods]]'' (2015)
* ''[[Future Past (Duran Duran album)|Future Past]]'' (2021)
* ''[[Danse Macabre (Duran Duran album)|Danse Macabre]]'' (2023)

===with Arcadia===
* ''[[So Red the Rose]]'' (1985)

===with the Devils===
* ''[[The Devils (band)#Dark Circles|Dark Circles]]'' (2002)

===with TV Mania===
* ''[[TV Mania|Bored with Prozac and the Internet?]]'' (2013; recorded in 1996)

===Compilation albums===
* ''[[Only After Dark (album)|Only After Dark]]'' {{small|with John Taylor}} (2006)

===Nick Rhodes and Wendy Bevan===
* ''Astronomia I: The Fall of Saturn'' (2021)
* ''Astronomia II: The Rise of Lyra'' (2021)
* ''Astronomia III: Heaven and Hell in the Serpent's Tail'' (2021)
* ''Astronomia IV: The Eclipses of Algol'' (2021)

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|title=Duran Duran: Notorious|first=Steve|last=Malins|publisher=André Deutsch|location=London|year=2005|isbn=9780233001371|oclc=59138001}}

==External links==
* [https://duranduran.com/ Official Duran Duran website]

{{Duran Duran}}
{{2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhodes, Nick}}
[[Category:1962 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:British synth-pop new wave musicians]]
[[Category:Duran Duran members]]
[[Category:English new wave musicians]]
[[Category:English pop keyboardists]]
[[Category:English record producers]]
[[Category:Ivor Novello Award winners]]
[[Category:Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands]]
[[Category:People from Moseley]]
[[Category:TV Mania members]]
[[Category:The Devils (band) members]]

Latest revision as of 07:33, 16 September 2024

For other people named Nick Rhodes, see Nick Rhodes (disambiguation).

Nick Rhodes
Rhodes in 2023
Rhodes in 2023
Background information
Birth nameNicholas James Bates[1]
Born (1962-06-08) 8 June 1962 (age 62)
Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • producer
Instruments
  • Keyboards
  • vocals
Years active1978–present
Member ofDuran Duran
Formerly ofArcadia
Spouse
Julie Anne Friedman
​
​
(m. 1984; div. 1992)​

Nick Rhodes (born Nicholas James Bates, 8 June 1962) is an English keyboardist and producer, best known as a founding member and the keyboardist of the band Duran Duran.[2]

Rhodes has been involved in several side projects outside of, but related to, Duran Duran: he released albums with Arcadia in 1985 (featuring Duran Duran members Le Bon and Roger Taylor),[3] and recorded and performed as the Devils in 2002 with Stephen Duffy, longtime musical friend and the original lead singer of Duran Duran. In March 2013, he released the TV Mania side project with former Duran Duran guitarist, Warren Cuccurullo.

Early history

[edit]

Nicholas James Bates is the only child of affluent parents who were the owners of a Birmingham toy shop. He attended Woodrush High School in Wythall, north Worcestershire. Bates left school in 1978 at the age of sixteen, and founded Duran Duran with his childhood friend John Taylor (who then played lead guitar) and Taylor's art school friend Stephen Duffy (vocals, bass, guitar). Having considered band names such as 'RAF', 'Arabia', 'Industry' and 'Arcadia', they named their band after "Dr. Durand Durand", Milo O'Shea's character from the sci-fi film Barbarella the day after the movie had been broadcast by BBC 1 on 20 October 1978.[4] The three of them made their first recordings on a cassette tape recorder above Bates' parents' toy shop and played their first gig on 5 April 1979 at Birmingham Polytechnic, and were joined by Simon Colley (clarinet and bass) soon after.[4] In June 1979 Duran Duran opened for the band Fashion at the Barbarella's club in Birmingham, but following the departure of Duffy and Colley reformed soon after with vocalist Andy Wickett and drummer Roger Taylor. At this point Bates' stage name was Dior Bates.[5] After several personnel changes Duran Duran finally settled on the line-up including guitarist Andy Taylor and lead singer Simon Le Bon in May 1980 and were eventually signed to EMI.[6]

Born Nicholas Bates, he decided to change his name for aesthetic reasons. The decision was finally made during Duran Duran's first official interview when the journalist asked his name and he made a snap decision based upon options he had been considering, he answered Nick Rhodes and never questioned it again. As the band coalesced into its final line-up in 1979–1980, Duran Duran started playing at a local Birmingham club called the Rum Runner. The club owners became the band's managers, and Rhodes began working at the club as a disc jockey.[2]

Rhodes reportedly owns the Duran Duran name; this was mentioned in the Andy Warhol diaries. In the entry for October 5, 1986, Warhol told his diarist Pat Hackett: "One of the Taylors isn't in the group anymore but Nick owns the name so it's still Duran Duran."[7] In 1986, Andy and Roger Taylor left the band, returning in 2001 to reunite and create the Astronaut album.[8]

Contributions to Duran Duran

[edit]
Rhodes in 1986

The band achieved rapid success, and Rhodes was a driving force throughout. An unschooled musician, he experimented with the sounds his analogue synthesisers were capable of, but shied away from the "novelty" sounds of some other early synth bands. The distinctive warble of "Save a Prayer", the keyboard stabs of "A View to a Kill", and the string sounds of "Come Undone" and "Ordinary World" are some of his most recognisable creations, as well as the futuristic oscillating synth that characterised Duran Duran's self-titled first album. He popularised the Crumar Performer on the early records.

Rhodes was also quick to recognise the potential of the music video, and pushed the band to put more effort into their early videos than seemed warranted at the time (before the advent of MTV). Barely twenty when the band hit major stardom, he cultivated an androgynous and sometimes flamboyant image, wore heavy makeup, and changed his hair colour at whim. By the late 1990s, Rhodes had begun writing lyrics for Duran Duran, as well as music. His digitally altered voice is heard on the title track to the 1997 album Medazzaland.

Record production

[edit]
Rhodes performing on stage in 2015

Rhodes studied production techniques while in the studio with Duran Duran, eventually helping to mix several tracks on the Rio album, and was a co-producer on many of the band's later albums.

In early 1983, he discovered the band Kajagoogoo and co-produced their debut single "Too Shy" which became a UK no. 1 (prior to any of Duran's singles reaching no. 1).[9]

Rhodes and Warren Cuccurullo wrote and produced three tracks for the Blondie reunion album in 1996;[10] the tracks were not used, but one song called "Pop Trash Movie" was later recorded by Duran Duran for the 2000 album Pop Trash.

In 2002, Rhodes co-produced and played additional synthesizers in nine tracks of the album Welcome to the Monkey House by the Dandy Warhols. In 2004 he produced British-based pop group Riviera F for their debut EP International Lover, published on Pop Cult/Tape Modern (Rhodes' & Stephen Duffy's label).

Side projects

[edit]

With Le Bon, Rhodes formed the side project Arcadia while Duran Duran was on hiatus in 1985. The band had a moody, keyboard-heavy sound, far more atmospheric than Duran Duran (or the hard rock of the other Duran splinter group of 1985 [John and Andy Taylor], the Power Station).

The band scored a major hit with "Election Day" and the band's only album, So Red the Rose, went platinum in the US but was less successful in their native UK. The band never toured and was dissolved when Duran Duran regrouped in 1986. In 1999, Rhodes reunited with Duran Duran's original vocalist, Stephen Duffy, to create new music based on some of the earliest Duran music the two had written together. The result was the album Dark Circles, released under the name the Devils. Also in 1999, Rhodes had a small guest appearance (in voice only) as a Canadian bomber pilot in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

In 2006 Rhodes and John Taylor collaborated on the compilation album Only After Dark. In 2011 Rhodes along with Andrew Wyatt and Mark Ronson remixed Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" for the British electronic band's remix compilation Remixes 2: 81–11. Also in 2011, Rhodes wrote the afterword to the award-winning '80s 7-inch vinyl cover art book Put the Needle on the Record.

In March 2013, TV Mania made up of Rhodes and ex-Duran Duran guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, released Bored with Prozac and the Internet?. Throughout the 1990s, Rhodes worked on this side project with Cuccurullo. To support the launch of the project, Rhodes had an exhibition of his photography, BEI INCUBI (Beautiful Nightmares) at the Vinyl Factory in Chelsea, London on 7 March 2013.

In 2021, Rhodes collaborated with Stewart Bevan's daughter Wendy Bevan on the series of Astronomia albums.

In 2022, Rhodes collaborated with Rob Crow, Roy Mayorga, Aaron Tanner, and more on a cover of the Residents' song, "Mahogany Wood".[11]

Personal life

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Rhodes met Julie Anne Friedman (heiress to the Younkers Department Store fortune) at a yacht party while on an American tour in 1982, and married her on 18 August 1984. They have one daughter together, Tatjana Lee Orchid (born 23 August 1986). After a brief separation and an attempt to reconcile, they filed for divorce in 1992.[12] Rhodes has had several long relationships with various women but has not remarried.

Rhodes, as a former art student, became enamoured with the art world early in his career, making friends with pop-art artist Andy Warhol and the Factory crowd, and attending exhibitions worldwide. At the end of 1984, he released his own book of abstract art photographs called Interference.[13] Many of the photos were displayed at an exhibition at the Hamilton Gallery in London. He continues to showcase photography on occasion, including in British magazines such as Tatler and also occasionally appears at the Cannes International Film Festival.

In November 2011, Rhodes received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts degree from the University of Bedfordshire, for his services to the music industry. Rhodes appears in Burke's Peerage under his second cousin's entry for the family of Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle, being related to the Highfield family through his paternal grandmother, Irene Lavinia Bates (née Highfield).[14]

Rhodes is a long-time vegetarian, occasionally a pescatarian. In a 2012 interview for the official Duran Duran website he cited Italian, Lebanese, and Indian food as his favourites.[15] He moved to central London two years after Duran Duran's success and continues to reside there.

Discography

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with Duran Duran

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with Arcadia

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with the Devils

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with TV Mania

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Compilation albums

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Nick Rhodes and Wendy Bevan

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  • Astronomia I: The Fall of Saturn (2021)
  • Astronomia II: The Rise of Lyra (2021)
  • Astronomia III: Heaven and Hell in the Serpent's Tail (2021)
  • Astronomia IV: The Eclipses of Algol (2021)

References

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  1. ^ Clark, Pete (14 December 1999). "Duran Duran cofounder Nick Rhodes is Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's latest flame". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 30 January 2010.[dead link‍]
  2. ^ a b George-Warren, Holly; Romanowski, Patricia; Pareles, Jon (2001). "The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll". Rolling Stone. Touchstone. ISBN 978-0-7432-0120-9. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  3. ^ Gillis, Kathy (12 October 1985). "Arcadia:The Rest of Duran Duran". Billboard. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  4. ^ a b "Duran Duran - The Early Days Chapter 1". durancompilations.com. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  5. ^ "Duran Duran - The Early Days Chapter 2". durancompilations.com. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  6. ^ "Duran Duran - The Early Days Chapter 4". durancompilations.com. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  7. ^ Warhol, Andy; Hackett, Pat (1989). The Andy Warhol Diaries. New York, NY: Warner Books. p. 764. ISBN 978-0-446-51426-2.
  8. ^ Parker, Lyndsey (12 October 2023). "Andy Taylor talks beating stage 4 cancer, returning to the live stage… and what really happened with Duran Duran's lost 'Reportage' album". Yahoo Entertainment. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  9. ^ Rees, Dafydd; Crampton, Luke (1991). Rock movers & shakers. ABC-Clio Inc. p. 1944. ISBN 978-0-87436-661-7.
  10. ^ Newman, Melinda (1 February 1997). "The Beat". Billboard. 109 (5). ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  11. ^ Mykals, Kat (8 February 2024). "Indiana Man to Co-Release Cover of The Residents' 'Mahogany Wood'". 103GBF. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  12. ^ "On The Grid". London Evening Standard. 23 April 2004. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  13. ^ Creative Camera, issues 241–52. 1985. p. 36.
  14. ^ "Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle". Burke's Peerage. 6 October 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  15. ^ "Rhodes: 'For Me, London Will Always Be Planet Earth'". duranduran.com. 8 September 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2023.

Further reading

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