Duran Duran

Duran Duran (/djʊˌræn djʊˈræn/) are an English pop rock band. Formed in Birmingham in 1978 by keyboardist Nick Rhodes, guitarist (later bassist) John Taylor and singer/bassist Stephen Duffy, the band went through several early changes before the band's line-up settled in May 1980 as Rhodes, Taylor, singer Simon Le Bon, guitarist Andy Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor.

Emerging as one of the most successful bands of the New Romantic scene in the early 1980s, they were innovators of the music video and a leading band in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US. By 1984, the band had achieved a level of popularity likened to Beatlemania. The band's first hit was "Planet Earth", which peaked at no. 12 in early 1981. That summer, they achieved a Top 5 hit with "Girls on Film", the popularity of which was enhanced by a controversial music video. Both tracks were taken from their 1981 self-titled debut album, which reached no. 3 and went Platinum in the UK. The band's second album, Rio (1982), went on to greater success and became a worldwide hit. The songs "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Save a Prayer" and "Rio" featured cinematic music videos directed by Australian filmmaker Russell Mulcahy and became three of their biggest hits. In 1983, the band scored their first UK number one single with "Is There Something I Should Know?". Their third album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, became their first and only UK number one album. A remix of "The Reflex" became a US and UK number one single. In 1985, the band topped the US charts with the single "A View to a Kill" from the soundtrack of the James Bond film of the same title.