Duran Duran
Duran Duran in 1983. Left to right: Roger Taylor (drums), Nick Rhodes (keyboards), Simon Le Bon (vocals), Andy Taylor (guitar) and John Taylor (bass)
Background information
Origin	Birmingham, England
Genres	New wave synth-pop pop rock dance-rock
Years active	1978–present
Labels	Capitol EMI Parlophone Virgin Epic Hollywood Tapemodern Warner Bros. BMG
Spinoffs	Arcadia The Power Station Neurotic Outsiders The Devils TV Mania
Members	Nick Rhodes John Taylor Roger Taylor Simon Le Bon
Past members	Stephen Duffy Simon Colley Andy Wickett Alan Curtis Jeff Thomas Andy Taylor Warren Cuccurullo Sterling Campbell
Website	duranduran.com

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.^{[nb 1]}

Emerging as one of the most successful bands of the New Romantic scene in the early 1980s,^[1][2] they were innovators of the music video and a leading band in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US.^[3][4] By 1984, the band had achieved levels of fame similar to Beatlemania.^[5] The band's first major hit was "Girls on Film" (1981), from their self-titled debut album, the popularity of which was enhanced by a controversial music video. The band's breakthrough second album was Rio (1982), a worldwide hit. The songs "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" featured cinematic music videos directed by Australian film maker Russell Mulcahy and became two of their biggest hits. Their third album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, became their only UK number one album and featured the US and UK number one single "The Reflex". 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.

Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor both left the band before the recording of their fourth album, Notorious (1986), which yielded the top ten title track. Le Bon, Rhodes and John Taylor initially continued as a core trio, before adding guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and drummer Sterling Campbell as full-time members in 1989, though Campbell departed in 1991. The band spent the late 1980s and early 1990s releasing albums and singles to only moderate success. However, their 1993 album Duran Duran (commonly called The Wedding Album), featured two top ten worldwide hits "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone". John Taylor left the band in 1997, though four years later, in 2001, a full reunion of the classic 1980–1985 line-up of Le Bon, Rhodes and all three Taylors took place, which led to a number of highly successful concert tours and the 2004 album Astronaut, which reached number three in the UK and top 40 in numerous other countries. The album's lead single "(Reach Up for The) Sunrise" was an international dance hit, and reached number five in the UK. Andy Taylor left again in 2006, and the band have since released five albums, with the most recent being Danse Macabre in 2023.

According to Billboard, Duran Duran have sold over 100 million records.^[6] They achieved 30 top 40 singles in the UK singles chart (14 of them top 10) and 21 top 40 singles in the US Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, they have achieved consistent success on the albums chart with top five albums in five consecutive decades.^[7] The band have won numerous awards throughout their career: two Brit Awards including the 2004 award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, two Grammy Awards, an MTV Video Music Award for Lifetime Achievement and a Video Visionary Award from the MTV Europe Music Awards. They were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.^[8][9]

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