Bryan Ferry

About

Also known as: B. Ferry, Brian Ferry

Best known as the frontman and chief songwriter of Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry came to music after studying fine art and working as a secondary school teacher. He began assembling the band in London in 1970, and their 1972 self-titled debut made an immediate international impact with its wide-ranging mix of sounds. A second album, For Your Pleasure, sharpened the band's visual identity and cemented Ferry's status as a cultural icon. He ran a solo career in parallel from the start, with These Foolish Things (1973) helping popularize the idea of a contemporary artist recording an album of standard covers — a sharp contrast to his Roxy work. The band's mid-70s trilogy of Stranded, Country Life and Siren broadened their reach further, while Ferry reinvented his stage persona in costumes from gaucho outfits to military uniforms. After Roxy Music's best-selling Avalon, he disbanded the group in 1983, and his 1985 solo album Boys and Girls hit No. 1 in the UK. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide, counting both his solo output and his work with Roxy Music, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the band in 2019.