He was the lead vocalist of numerous successful rock bands, including Free, Bad Company, the Firm and the Law.

When in 2000, the song "All Right Now" achieved the mark of two million radio plays in the UK, an award was given to Rodgers as one of the two writers.

After the first break-up of Free in the spring of 1971, Rodgers briefly formed a three-piece band called Peace.

Alongside bassist Stewart McDonald and drummer Mick Underwood, Rodgers played guitar and sang lead vocals.

A bootleg has circulated of a 22 December 1971 appearance by Peace, live in studio, on BBC Radio 1's Top Gear program.

The line-up also included Free drummer Simon Kirke, and Boz Burrell, former vocalist and bassist of King Crimson.

They toured from 1973 to 1982, and had several hits including "Feel Like Makin' Love", "Can't Get Enough", "Shooting Star", "Bad Company", and "Run with the Pack".

Bad Company earned six platinum albums until Rodgers left in 1982, stating that he wanted to spend time with his young family.

[13] When his friend Jimmy Page started to come around to his house, guitar in hand and Led Zeppelin at an end, the duo's first live pairing was on the US ARMS (Action Research into Multiple Sclerosis) Tour, which had first been mooted by Eric Clapton and besides Rodgers and Page included Jeff Beck, Joe Cocker, Steve Winwood and others.

The inspiration behind ARMS had been former Small Faces/Faces member Ronnie Lane's own struggle with MS. That led to Rodgers and Page's further teaming in the group The Firm, which resulted in two albums and two tours.

The Law, Rodgers' 1991 musical venture with former the Who and Faces drummer Kenney Jones, produced Billboard's number one AOR chart hit "Laying Down the Law" written by Rodgers, but the album peaked at number 126 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Rodgers wrote the title track and was backed by guitarists Brian May, Gary Moore, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Buddy Guy, Richie Sambora, Brian Setzer, Slash, Neal Schon, and Trevor Rabin.

In 1995, he formed a new band consisting of Jaz Lochrie on bass, Jimmy Copley on drums and Geoff Whitehorn on guitar.

His 1997 world tour included Russia, Japan, Canada, US, UK, Germany, France, Romania, Bulgaria, Israel, Brazil, Greece and Argentina.

Rodgers and Bad Company released their first official live CD and DVD, In Concert: Merchants of Cool, in 2002.

"I had the entire Labour Party singing the chorus of "Wishing Well", a song I wrote and shared with Free, ...'love in a peaceful world'.

In his solo band were guitarist Howard Leese (formerly of Heart), bassist Lynn Sorensen, and drummer Jeff Kathan.

The CD also featured Eric Clapton, Ronnie Wood, Peter Gabriel, Michael McDonald, Ringo Starr and others.

That led to Rodgers performing two sold-out nights at London's Royal Albert Hall with Holland and his 18-piece rhythm and blues orchestra, and several UK TV appearances.

Early in 2004, Rodgers joined Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox (Hendrix's Cry of Love), Buddy Guy, Joe Satriani, Kid Rock's Kenny Olson, Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell, Double Trouble, Indigenous, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and blues legend Hubert Sumlin (Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters) and performed three sold-out shows in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco as "Experience Hendrix".

He performed at Wembley for the fiftieth anniversary celebration for the Fender Stratocaster, along with David Gilmour who played Strat No.

He was invited by the Four Tops to be part of their fiftieth anniversary TV/DVD concert celebration at Motown's Opera House and performed alongside Aretha Franklin, Dennis Edwards & The Temptations Revue, Sam Moore, Mary Wilson, Ashford & Simpson, and the Four Tops.

The group then released a live album with songs from Queen, Bad Company and Free, called Return of the Champions, and a DVD of the same name.

Queen + Paul Rodgers also released a single featuring "Reaching Out", "Tie Your Mother Down" and "Fat Bottomed Girls".

In the summer of 2006, Rodgers again focused on his solo career with a world tour, which commenced in Austin, Texas in June, went to Japan, and ending in Glasgow, Scotland, in October 2006.

The live performance was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and CD on 9 February 2010 and the tracks included seventeen Bad Company hits.

On 17 November 2009, it was announced he would join the other surviving members of Bad Company for an eight-date UK tour in April 2010.

The concert of 28 April at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena was filmed for a future live DVD release.

In 2018 a CD/DVD set was released which recorded the final show from the 'Free Spirit' tour; it was filmed at the Royal Albert Hall on 28 May 2017.