Nick Rhodes

Nick Rhodes (born Nicholas James Bates, 8 June 1962) is an English keyboardist and producer, best known as a founding member and the keyboardist of the band Duran Duran.

Bates left school in 1978 at the age of sixteen, and founded Duran Duran with his childhood friend John Taylor (who then played lead guitar) and Taylor's art school friend Stephen Duffy (vocals, bass, guitar).

Having considered band names such as 'RAF', 'Arabia', 'Industry' and 'Arcadia', they named their band after "Dr. Durand Durand", Milo O'Shea's character from the sci-fi film Barbarella the day after the movie had been broadcast by BBC 1 on 20 October 1978.

The three of them made their first recordings on a cassette tape recorder above Bates' parents' toy shop and played their first gig on 5 April 1979 at Birmingham Polytechnic, and were joined by Simon Colley (clarinet and bass) soon after.

In June 1979 Duran Duran opened for the band Fashion at the Barbarella's club in Birmingham, but following the departure of Duffy and Colley reformed soon after with vocalist Andy Wickett and drummer Roger Taylor.

At this point Bates' stage name was Dior Bates.

As the band coalesced into its final line-up in 1979–1980, 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.

Rhodes reportedly owns the Duran Duran name; this was mentioned in the Andy Warhol diaries.

After several personnel changes Duran Duran finally settled on the line-up including guitarist Andy Taylor and lead singer Simon Le Bon in May 1980 and were eventually signed to EMI.

Born Nicholas Bates, he decided to change his name for aesthetic reasons.

The decision was finally made during Duran Duran's first official interview when the journalist asked his name and he made a snap decision based upon options he had been considering, he answered Nick Rhodes and never questioned it again.

In early 1983, he discovered the band Kajagoogoo and co-produced their debut single "Too Shy" which became a UK no. 1 (prior to any of Duran's singles reaching no. 1).

Rhodes has been involved in several side projects outside of, but related to, Duran Duran: he released albums with Arcadia in 1985 (featuring Duran Duran members Le Bon and Roger Taylor), and recorded and performed as the Devils in 2002 with Stephen Duffy, longtime musical friend and the original lead singer of Duran Duran.

With Le Bon, Rhodes formed the side project Arcadia while Duran 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 [John and Andy Taylor], the Power Station).

The band scored a major hit with "Election Day" and the band's only album, So Red the Rose, went platinum in the US but was less successful in their native UK.

Warhol told his diarist Pat Hackett that Duran Duran had split up (in 1986, Andy and Roger Taylor left the band, returning in 2001 to reunite and create the Astronaut album) "but Nick owns the name so it's still Duran Duran".

The band achieved rapid success, and Rhodes was a driving force throughout.

An unschooled musician, he experimented with the sounds his analogue synthesisers 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" and "Ordinary World" are some of his most recognisable creations, as well as the futuristic oscillating synth that characterised Duran Duran's self-titled first album.

He popularised the Crumar Performer on the early records.

Rhodes was also quick to recognise 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).

Barely twenty when the band hit major stardom, he cultivated an androgynous and sometimes flamboyant image, wore heavy makeup, and changed his hair colour at whim.

The band never toured and was dissolved when Duran Duran regrouped in 1986.

By the late 1990s, Rhodes had begun writing lyrics for Duran Duran, as well as music.

Rhodes and Warren 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.

His digitally altered voice is heard on the title track to the 1997 album Medazzaland.

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.

In 1999, Rhodes reunited with Duran Duran's original vocalist, 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.

Also in 1999, Rhodes had a small guest appearance (in voice only) as a Canadian bomber pilot in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

In 2002, Rhodes co-produced and played additional synthesizers in nine tracks of the album Welcome to the Monkey House by the Dandy Warhols.

He is also informally monikered as "the Controller", after being introduced as such on stage by bandmate Simon Le Bon during the Astronaut album world tours of 2004–2005.

In 2004 he produced British-based pop group Riviera F for their debut EP International Lover, published on Pop Cult/Tape Modern (Rhodes' & Stephen Duffy's label).

In 2006 Rhodes and John Taylor collaborated on the compilation album Only After Dark.

In 2011 Rhodes along with Andrew Wyatt and Mark Ronson remixed Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" for the British electronic band's remix compilation Remixes 2: 81–11.

In March 2013, he released the TV Mania side project with former Duran Duran guitarist, Warren Cuccurullo.

Nicholas James Bates is the only child of affluent parents who were the owners of a Birmingham toy shop.

He attended Woodrush High School in Wythall, north Worcestershire.