Eddie Rabbitt

He was named the Top New Male Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in 1977, and he won an American Music Award for Best Pop Male Vocalist in 1981. Manzanera and Thompson also recorded and toured with Ferry on his 2002 album Frantic. During his career, Rabbitt scored 26 #1 hits on the country charts, and had 8 Top-40 songs. Notably, the only significant one-time member missing was Brian Eno. Rabbitt himself died of lung cancer on May 7, 1998 at the age of only 56. The original line-up - Ferry, Manzanera, Mackay, and Thompson - reformed in the early 2000s and toured extensively for a couple of years. After his son died, Rabbit became active in raising money for organizations that aid sick children. After that all of the band members pursued simultaneously extensive solo careers.

He recorded very little during the 1990s, in part because of the illness and subsequent death of his young son. This culminated in the sombre perfectionism and beautifully sculpted soundscapes of their final album Avalon (for which Paul returned). During the late 80's, Rabbitt was one of many pop-influenced country stars who lost ground on the charts to more traditional-sounding artists. Generally, their later music is slicker and musically less adventurous than that of the earlier albums; however, Ferry's apparently effortless elegance and the musical abilities of Mackay, Manzanera and Thompson, are always much in evidence. He was also well-known for writing and recording the theme song for the Clint Eastwood movie "Every Which Way But Loose.". Instead the album was recorded as a trio and a host with touring musicians. He scored some of his biggest hits with tunes such as "I Love a Rainy Night" (1980), "You Don't Love Me Anymore (1978), and "Step by Step" (1980). During sessions of Flesh and Blood, Thompson briefly left the band because he broke his thumb during a motorcycle incident.

His early pieces were strongly C&W, such as "Two Dollars in the Jukebox." Later, his music began to be influenced by R&B and pop. Following their fifth album, Siren, Roxy Music disbanded temporarily, to come back together with the Manifesto album (minus Jobson) which marked a return to their roots whilst ringing the changes with musical arrangements that predicted their future direction. In 1975, he signed on with Elektra Records, who had recently created a country music division. Notably when the band was together as a four-piece. He came to the attention of recording companies when he penned Elvis Presley's hit song "Kentucky Rain". Often, Manzanera, Mackay and Thomspon took part in the recordings of some of his work. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1968, hoping to earn a living as a songwriter and performer. However, his solo career began in 1973, when still very much a member of the band, and solo albums alternated with Roxy's releases.

He was born in Brooklyn New York, and raised in New Jersey. Bryan Ferry is also noted as a solo performer, usually of lounge-lizard style ballads, an art form which he seems to have made his own in recent times. Eddie Rabbitt (November 27, 1941-May 7, 1998) was a country music singer and songwriter who reached the peak of his popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In spite of this, though, right up until their final split in 1982 all of Roxy's singles were written either wholly or jointly by Ferry, with the exception of their only number one hit, Jealous Guy, which they recorded as a tribute to John Lennon shortly after his death. The other three members elected to remain, however, and gradually their songwriting was allowed by Ferry to become more integral to the band's direction. Instead, they hired new bassists for each record and tour.

The bassist position was vacant. Manzanera, Thomspon and Mackay were permanent members. Eno's concerns were shared by other key members such as the classically trained Andy Mackay (saxophone, oboe), the experienced progressive rock guitarist Phil Manzanera and talented and skillful drummer Paul Thompson. The main element in the dispute concerned the amount of control that Ferry exercised over the band.

He was replaced on keyboards by Eddie Jobson, late of Progressive rockers Curved Air. Eno left after the group's second album - For Your Pleasure - amidst some differences of opinion with Ferry. Their influence was significant upon the early British punk movement, as well as the New Romantic and experimental electronic groups of the early 1980s, and is still felt today to some degree. During that decade, they emerged as one of the foremost bands of the time.

Their first single Virginia Plain, which reached the top three in the British charts, was typical of the band's blend of highly literate lyrics and musical inventiveness, combined with a powerhouse glam rock backbone. This juxtaposition of nostalgic and contemporary, even futuristic-sounding themes, was a distinctive feature of the band's style of music and general appearance. The group's name was partly a homage to the titles of old cinemas and dance halls, and partly a pun on the word 'rock'. Roxy Music were a British Art-rock group founded in the early 1970s as a collaborative project between art school graduate Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards) and electronic music wizard Brian Eno.

The Thrill Of It All (1995). Ladytron (1979). Viva! (Live) (1976). Avalon (1982).

Flesh and Blood (1980). Manifesto (1978). Siren (1975). Country Life (1974).

Stranded (1973). For Your Pleasure (1973). Roxy Music (1972).