Nick Rhodes(I)
- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
Nick Rhodes was born in Mosley, a suburb of Birmingham, England, son of
Sylvia and Roger Bates. Rhodes began playing guitar while still in
school, sharing the aspiration of becoming a lead guitarist with
neighbourhood friend, John Taylor. Soon after, Rhodes also began teaching
himself to play keyboards on a WASP synthesiser. Rhodes left school at
sixteen, his first and only occupation outside of a band being as the
disc jockey for the Rum Runner dance club in Birmingham, where he and
Taylor established the core that would evolve into Duran Duran. Aside
of replacing occasional band members and early changes to the band's
name, Duran Duran is the only group Rhodes had been a part of until
1985, when he and bandmates Simon Le Bon and Roger Taylor took a sabbatical from
Duran Duran to record an album as Arcadia. Rhodes, Le Bon, John Taylor,
and guitarist Warren Cuccurullo returned to Duran Duran in 1986, recording seven
more studio albums through 2000. The band still endures today, with the
2000 album Pop Trash, and work on a new album underway in 2001. Rhodes'
long-time interest in film and music production has led to the start of
his own UK-based production company, TV Mania, with Cuccurullo. Rhodes
also possesses a love of and talent for photography. A collection of
his abstract works, Interference, was published in 1984. Rhodes is a
devout fan of art and animation, a personal friend to both South Park
co-creator Trey Parker and the late Andy Warhol. Rhodes has participated in
several charity events in his career, including the 1985 Live Aid
concert, Sir Bob Geldof's BandAid project, and the Secret Policeman's
Ball, a series of performances in the UK which benefit Amnesty
International.
