Nick Rhodes in 1981.

Nick Rhodes (born Nicholas James Bates in Moseley, West Midlands, England, June 8, 1962) is the keyboardist for Duran Duran. Rhodes and singer Simon Le Bon are the only members to have been with the band throughout its 25-year professional career (beginning in 1980). Furthermore, Rhodes is the only member that has been with the band since its creation in 1978. Image File history File links Nick_rhodes_promo. ... Image File history File links Nick_rhodes_promo. ... Moseley village green Moseley is a suburb of Birmingham, England, located 2 miles to the south of the city centre. ... The County of West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England, the United Kingdom, formed in 1974. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Duran Duran are an English New Romantic band notable for a long series of catchy, synthesizer-driven hit singles and vivid music videos. ... Simon John Charles Le Bon (born October 27, 1958) is the lead singer and lyricist of the pop band Duran Duran. ...

Early history

Nick Bates was the only child of well-off parents, the owners of a Birmingham toy store. In 1978, Bates left school at the age of sixteen, and founded Duran Duran with his art school friend John Taylor. At about the same time as the name Duran Duran was chosen for the band, he 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). This article is about the city in England. ... Taylors first solo recording was a hit single for the 9½ Weeks movie soundtrack. ... A Rhodes piano is a musical instrument, a brand of electric piano. ...

As the band coalesced into its final lineup in 1979-80, 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. For the Smashing Pumpkins song, see 1979 (song). ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... This article is about the city in England. ... The Rum Runner nightclub was opened on Broad Street in the Birmingham city centre in 1979. ... For other meanings of DJ, see DJ (disambiguation). ...

Contributions to Duran Duran

The band achieved rapid success, and Rhodes was a driving force throughout. Although Duran Duran credit their songwriting as a group and all members do contribute, it is widely believed that Rhodes pens most of the melodies.^{[citation needed]}

An unschooled musician, he loved experimenting with the sounds his analog synthesizers 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" are some of his most recognizable creations. 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^{[citation needed]}, using them even on albums released in the 2000s. He also popularized the Crumar Performer on the early records. An analog synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog computer techniques to generate sound electronically. ... Save A Prayer was a 1982 hit single for Duran Duran. ... A View to a Kill is the 13th single recorded by Duran Duran, released in May 1985. ... For other uses of this title see Come Undone Come Undone is the second single from the album Duran Duran (The Wedding Album) by British band Duran Duran, and is their twenty-fourth single overall. ... A digital synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses digital signal processing (DSP) techniques to make musical sounds. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Crumar is an Italian company which manufactured synthesizers and keyboards in the 70s and 80s. ...

Rhodes 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). A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song. ...

Nick Rhodes in 2003.

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, Rhodes'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". Rhodes owns the rights to the "Duran Duran" name. Image File history File links Nick_rhodes_haughton. ... Image File history File links Nick_rhodes_haughton. ...

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. This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The follow-up to the poorly received Thank You, an album of covers, this album finally made John Taylor leave the band. ...

In 2001, the original five members of Duran Duran reunited to record new music; see Duran Duran for details. 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Duran Duran are an English New Romantic band notable for a long series of catchy, synthesizer-driven hit singles and vivid music videos. ...

Record production

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. Rio is an album by Duran Duran, originally released worldwide on May 10, 1982 (see 1982 in music), but re-released in November in the United States. ...

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 kept Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf" out of the #1 spot on the UK charts. 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Kajagoogoo was a British pop band best known for its first single, Too Shy, which reached Number 1 in the UK and Number 5 in the U.S in 1983. ... Hungry Like the Wolf was the breakout hit for the new wave group Duran Duran. ...

Rhodes and Cuccurullo wrote and produced three tracks for the Blondie reunion album in 1996; the tracks were not used, but one song called "Pop Trash Movie" was later recorded by Duran Duran for the 2000 album Pop Trash. Blondie is a 12 time Grammy Award-winning American rock band that first gained global fame in the late 1960s. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Pop Trash is an album released in 2000 by Duran Duran. ...

In 2002, Rhodes co-produced and played some keyboard tracks on the album Welcome To The Monkeyhouse by The Dandy Warhols. For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Welcome To The Monkey House is the fourth album produced by The Dandy Warhols. ... The Dandy Warhols are an alternative rock band formed in Portland, Oregon by Courtney Taylor-Taylor (formerly Courtney Taylor) (vocals, guitar), Zia McCabe (keyboard), Peter Holmström (guitar), and Eric Hedford (drums). ...

Side projects

With his bandmates Simon Le Bon and Roger Taylor, Rhodes formed the side project 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. Simon John Charles Le Bon (born October 27, 1958) is the lead singer and lyricist of the pop band Duran Duran. ... Roger Andrew Taylor (born April 26, 1960) is the drummer for the pop band Duran Duran. ... Arcadia (Nick Rhodes & Simon Le Bon). ... left to right: Robert Palmer, Andy Taylor, John Taylor, and Tony Thompson Power Station was a pop group made up of singer Robert Palmer, bassist John Taylor and guitarist Andy Taylor of Duran Duran, and former CHIC drummer Tony Thompson; two other CHIC members, Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers were...

Throughout the 1990s, Rhodes worked on a massive side project called TV Mania with Duran bandmate Warren Cuccurullo. They created a self-described "social junk culture triptych opera" composed of music, dialogue, samples, and "found sound", and hoped 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. This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... TV Mania was an electronic band founded in 1995 that consisted of keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, both of Duran Duran. ... Warren Bruce Cuccurullo (born December 8, 1956 in Brooklyn) is a rock and pop guitarist who has worked with Frank Zappa, Duran Duran, and Missing Persons. ...

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. 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Stephen Anthony James Duffy (born May 30, 1960 in Birmingham, West Midlands, England) is a British songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist. ... The Devils is the name of an odd electronic pop project formed by Nick Rhodes and Stephen Duffy. ...

Also in 1999, Rhodes had a small guest appearance as a Canadian bomber pilot in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is a 1999 motion picture based on the cartoon television series of South Park. ...

Personal life

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. Younkers is a department store chain in the Midwestern United States. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 18 is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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 abstract art photographs called Interference. Many of the photos were displayed at an exhibition at the Hamilton Gallery in London. Warhol in 1977 Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 — February 22, 1987) was an American artist associated with the definition of Pop Art. ... The Factory was Andy Warhols original New York studio from 1963 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

Influenced by the health-conscious Cuccurullo, Rhodes became a vegetarian in the early 2000s. Since his divorce, he has dated several prominent women from the London social scene. He has been with actress/model Meredith Ostrom since 2001.