Roger Taylor (Queen drummer)

Roger Meddows Taylor (born 26 July 1949) is an English musician, songwriter and record producer.

He achieved international fame as the drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Queen.

Roger Meddows Taylor was born on 26 July 1949 at West Norfolk and Lynn Hospital in King's Lynn, Norfolk.

The new maternity ward was opened by Princess Elizabeth (the future queen, Elizabeth II), where she was introduced to 16 new mothers including Winifred Taylor, his mother.

Taylor first lived at 87 High Street in King's Lynn and later moved to Beulah Street in the town.

Taylor's first school was Rosebury Avenue school.

Taylor moved to Truro, Cornwall, in south west England, with his mother Winifred, father Michael and younger sister Clare.

When he was seven years old, he and some friends formed his first band, the Bubblingover Boys, in which he played the ukulele.

He briefly attended Truro Cathedral School; at the age of 13, he joined Truro School as a day boy.

At the age of 15, Taylor became a member of the Reaction, a semi-professional rock band formed mainly of boys from Truro School.

Taylor had originally learned guitar, but became a drummer when he realised he had a more natural aptitude for it.

Taylor taught himself to tune his drums, inspired by Keith Moon of the Who because of the "great drum sounds" on the early Who records.

Another key influence on Taylor was Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, who Taylor stated was his early role model.

In 1967, Taylor went to London to study dentistry at the London Hospital Medical College, but he became bored with it and changed to biology obtaining a BSc at East London Polytechnic.

Taylor met Brian May and Tim Staffell in 1968 after a friend saw an advert for a drummer on a noticeboard at Imperial College.

Smile included May on lead guitar, Staffell on lead vocals and bass, and later Taylor on drums.

The band lasted for two years before Staffell departed to join Humpy Bong, leaving the band with a catalogue of nine songs.

In 1969, Taylor was working with Freddie Mercury at Kensington Market in London (they were sharing a flat at around the same time).

Mercury, then known as Farrokh “Freddie” Bulsara, was a fan of Smile.

The band split up in 1970.

In the same year, Taylor turned down the chance to become drummer for Genesis, which led to Phil Collins joining instead.

Bulsara convinced the remaining two members of Smile to continue and he eventually joined the band, which he renamed Queen.

In 1971, they recruited bassist John Deacon, before going on to release their self-titled debut album in 1973.

Taylor is the third most credited songwriter for the band, usually contributing one or two tracks per album.

Taylor has had a productive solo career, releasing six albums.

His first single was "I Wanna Testify" in 1977, recorded during Queen's sessions for the News of the World album.

The A-side, although a cover of the Parliaments song of the same name, was completely different from the original.

The B-side was a self-penned song "Turn on the TV".

During the 1980s, in addition to his work with Queen, he formed a parallel band known as the Cross, in which he was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist.

During the early 1980s, Taylor was also a panellist on the UK quiz show Pop Quiz, hosted by Mike Read.

Smile reunited for several songs on 22 December 1992.

Taylor's band the Cross were headliners and he brought May and Staffell on to play "Earth" and "If I Were a Carpenter".

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 as a member of Queen.

As a songwriter, Taylor composed at least one track on every Queen album, and often sang lead vocals on his own compositions.

He wrote or co-wrote three UK number ones ("These Are the Days of Our Lives", "Innuendo" and "Under Pressure") and wrote a further five major hits ("Radio Ga Ga", "A Kind of Magic", "Heaven for Everyone", "Breakthru" and "The Invisible Man").

He has collaborated with such artists as Eric Clapton, Roger Waters, Roger Daltrey, Robert Plant, Phil Collins, Genesis, Jimmy Nail, Kansas, Elton John, Gary Numan, Shakin' Stevens, Foo Fighters, Al Stewart, Steve Vai, Yoshiki, Cyndi Almouzni and Bon Jovi.

As a producer, he has produced albums by Virginia Wolf, Jimmy Nail and Magnum.

As a singer, Taylor employs a falsetto vocal range.

As a drummer, Taylor was recognised early in his career for his unique sound and was voted the eighth-greatest drummer in classic rock music history in a listener poll conducted by Planet Rock in 2005.

In 2014, he appeared in The Life of Rock with Brian Pern as himself.