List of Status Quo members

The group has had a career spanning almost 60 years, their current line-up includes consistent member Rossi, keyboardist Andy Bown (official member since 1981, previously an auxiliary musician with the band since 1973), bassist John "Rhino" Edwards (since 1985), drummer Leon Cave (since 2013) and rhythm guitarist Richie Malone (since 2016).

According to Rossi, the group was Key's idea, and they practiced in Jaworski's bedroom, playing covers such as The Shadows' version of Jerry Lordan's "Apache, "Wake Up Little Susie" by The Everly Brothers and The Beatles' "Love Me Do".

While playing a stint at Butlin's Holiday Camp in Minehead, the band formed a friendship with future Quo rhythm guitarist and vocalist Rick Parfitt, then known as Ricky Harrison, performing with a cabaret trio called The Highlights.

They initially wanted to call themselves "Traffic", but were unable to due to a dispute with Steve Winwood who had also registered the name for his own group.

The lineup went on to release two more albums, now known as "Status Quo" (dropping the definite article): Spare Parts (1969) and Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon (1970), as well as the single "Down the Dustpipe" (1970), which reached number 12 in the UK charts.

[12] They were often joined on stage by road manager and songwriter Bob Young, who played the harmonica,[13] and was jokingly referred to as Status Quo's "unofficial fifth member".

[15] In 1981, Coghlan infamously quit the band after destroying his drum kit during a recording session for the 1+9+8+2 album, bringing an end to the "Frantic Four" lineup.

(originally as part of a box set titled From the Makers of... and re-released separately in 1984), with 1983 bringing another studio album entitled Back to Back, containing the Rossi/Frost single "Marguerita Time" whose pop rock direction was a point of contention for both fans of the band and Lancaster (Lancaster stating "Nobody but Francis [Rossi] wanted to record it[...] All it did was advertise that we were a bunch of nerds.").

Rossi, Parfitt, Bown, Edwards and Rich would release eight studio albums together, starting with In the Army Now (1986) and ending with Famous in the Last Century (2000), as well as the live album Live Alive Quo (1992), and saw hits such as "In the Army Now" (1986), "Burning Bridges (On and Off and On Again)", "The Anniversary Waltz" (1990), and "Come On You Reds", a 1994 version of "Burning Bridges" performed with the Manchester United football team, with lyrics changed to a football theme.

In April 2000, Rich retired from the group after 15 years citing family commitments,[19] and was replaced with Matt Letley.

With Letley, the group released six studio albums starting with Heavy Traffic (2002) and ending with Bula Quo!

After a concert in Antalya, Turkey on 14 June 2016, Parfitt suffered a heart attack and was hospitalised, and retired from touring.