Duran Duran was formed in 1978 in Birmingham and was one of the front runners in the New Wave. They started out as a big part of the New Romantic scene with bands like Spandau Ballet but dropped that image in favor of their more refined and elegant image. They were a huge part of the MTV Second British Invasion.
Duran Duran sold over 100 million records world wide and had 14 singles in the top 10 of the UK chart and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100. You could say they were very successful. Their fans include Elton John, Kyle Minogue, Paul Youth, the Monkees, and the Bangles. Justin Timberlake has confessed to being a huge fan.
Video is where the band really showed their talent and have had some really iconic music videos. The band clearly wanted their videos to tell a story and were never just Duran Duran on stage performing. Rio, Hungry Like a Wolf, Is There Something I Should Know?, Save a Prayer, A View to a Kill, Girls on Film; the list of ground breaking videos is kind of staggering when you really look at it. They were also among the first bands to introduce large video monitors onstage for their live performance. Truly an innovator in the complete media experience.
These days the band is still touring in the USA. The current band is comprised of Simon Le Bon (lead vocals), John Taylor (bass guitar, backing vocals), Nick Rhodes (keyboards, backing vocals, vocal effects), and Roger Taylor (drums). They have a number of touring band members including Lamya (backing vocals), Dominic Brown (backing vocals), Erin Stevenson (backing vocals), MNDR (keyboards), Simon Westcroft (sax and keyboards), and Anna Ross (backing vocals).
Weird fact: before Red Carpet Massacre they had another album called Reportage that was never released. Sony hated it. There is an entire album out there that no one has ever heard. They also had a board game created called Arena after their 1984 album. 2 to 4 players and the objective was to collect video and band member cards. Kiss has nothing on them for merchandising.
Also apparently while filming the Wild Boys video Simon Le Bon was strapped to a windmill that would dunk him underwater. At one point the windmill inexplicably stopped with Simon's head under water. Divers had to save him and that is not the first time Simon was trapped underwater and nearly drowned. Truth is stranger than fiction.
