Roxy Music are an English rock band formed in 1970 by lead vocalist and principal songwriter Bryan Ferry and bassist Graham Simpson.

By the time the band recorded their first album in 1972, Ferry and Simpson were joined by saxophonist and oboist Andy Mackay, guitarist Phil Manzanera, drummer Paul Thompson and synthesizer player Brian Eno.

Although Eno was a non-musician, he could operate a synthesizer and owned a Revox reel-to-reel tape machine, so Mackay convinced him to join the band as a technical adviser.

Rounding out the original sextet were guitarist Roger Bunn (who had issued the well-regarded solo studio album Piece of Mind earlier in 1970)[9] and drummer Dexter Lloyd, a classically trained timpanist.

Williams became an enthusiastic fan after meeting Ferry and being given a demonstration tape during mid-1971, and wrote the first major article on the band, featured on Melody Maker's "Horizons" page in the edition of 7 August 1971.

In early February 1972, guitarist O'List quit the group abruptly after an altercation with Paul Thompson, which took place at their audition for David Enthoven of E.G. Management.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, Manzanera had learned their entire repertoire and as a result, he was immediately hired as O'List's permanent replacement, joining on 14 February 1972.

Manzanera, the son of an English father and a Colombian mother, had spent a considerable amount of time in South America and Cuba as a child, and although he did not have the same art school background as Ferry, Mackay and Eno, he was perhaps the most proficient member of the band, with an interest in a wide variety of music.

Manzanera also knew other well-known musicians, such as Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, who was a friend of his elder brother, and Soft Machine's Robert Wyatt.

A few days later, however, Clark and Enthoven were standing in the hallway of the Island offices examining cover images for the album when Blackwell walked past, glanced at the artwork and said "Looks great!

Although some fans lamented the loss of the experimental attitude and camp aesthetic that Eno had brought to the band, the classically trained Jobson was an accomplished musician.

Although this persona undoubtedly began as a deliberately ironic device, during the mid-1970s it seemed to merge with Ferry's real life, as the working-class miner's son from the north of England became an international rock star and an icon of male style.

Country Life was met with widespread critical acclaim, with Rolling Stone referring to it "as if Ferry ran a cabaret for psychotics, featuring chanteurs in a state of shock".

The album cover featured American model Jerry Hall, who became Ferry's girlfriend and eventual fiancé before leaving him for Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones in 1977.

Jobson was reportedly not contacted for the reunion; at the time, he was touring and recording with his own band, U.K., alongside fellow ex-Roxy Music member John Wetton.

In place of Jobson, Paul Carrack now played keyboards for Roxy Music, while bass duties were split between Alan Spenner and Gary Tibbs.

Both these tracks are significantly different from the album versions, as "Dance Away" was remixed for single release, and "Angel Eyes" was entirely re-recorded, with a disco, rather than rock, arrangement.

[21] At this point, the band officially became a core trio of Ferry, Mackay and Manzanera, augmented by a variety of musicians over the next few years including Alan Spenner, Gary Tibbs, Paul Carrack, drummer Andy Newmark and guitarist Neil Hubbard.

During 2002, Image Entertainment, Inc., released the concert DVD Roxy Music Live at the Apollo featuring performances of 20 songs plus interviews and rehearsal footage.

During early 2006 a classic Roxy Music track, "The Main Thing", was remixed by Malcolm Green and used as the soundtrack to a pan-European television commercial for the Opel Vectra featuring celebrated football referee Pierluigi Collina.

[33] Over the summer of 2010, Roxy Music headlined various festivals across the world, including Lovebox at London's Victoria Park, Electric Picnic in Stradbally, County Laois, Ireland, and Bestival on the Isle of Wight.

"[38] On 29 March 2019, Roxy Music were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Ferry, Mackay, Manzanera and Eddie Jobson performing a six-song set at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Eno studied at Winchester School of Art and although his iconoclastic style became apparent early and caused some conflict with the college establishment, it also resulted in him meeting important artists and musicians including Cornelius Cardew and Gavin Bryars.

[54] Ferry later attributed the band's look to his interest in American music and popular culture icons including Marilyn Monroe, Motown and Stax Records artists.

He also stated he wanted to create an alternative image to publicity shots of pop and rock groups at the time which would feature artists "in a dreary street, looking rather sullen.

The album artwork imitated the visual style of classic "girlie" and fashion magazines, featuring high-fashion shots of scantily clad models Amanda Lear, Marilyn Cole and Jerry Hall, each of whom had romances with Ferry during the time of their contributions, as well as model Kari-Ann Moller who appears on the cover of the first Roxy Music studio album but who was not otherwise involved with anyone in the band, and who later married Mick Jagger's brother Chris.

He wrote, "Somehow, in a landscape dominated by Led Zeppelin at one end and the Osmonds at the other, they managed to reach the Top 10 with a heady mixture of futurism, retro rock'n'roll, camp, funny noises, silly outfits, art techniques, film references and oboe solos.

"[5] In 2019, The Economist also described them as "the best British art-rock band since the Beatles", arguing that "among English rock acts of that time, their spirit of adventure and their impact" was "surpassed only" by David Bowie.

[72] Sofia Coppola's 2003 film Lost in Translation features Bill Murray's character Bob Harris singing an off-key version of "More Than This" in a karaoke club.

[74] Cover versions of "2HB," "Ladytron," and "Bitter-Sweet" are performed by the fictional band in Todd Haynes' 1998 film about the glam rock scene, Velvet Goldmine.