Background and career
Paul Bernard Rodgers (born 17 December 1949) is an English singer. He was the lead vocalist of numerous successful rock bands, including Free, Bad Company, the Firm and the Law. He also has performed as a solo artist and collaborated with the remaining active members of Queen under the name Queen + Paul Rodgers, from 2004 to 2009. A poll in Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 55 on its list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". In 2011, Rodgers received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. Rodgers has been cited as a significant influence on various rock singers. In 1991, John Mellencamp called Rodgers "the best rock singer ever". Freddie Mercury in particular liked Rodgers and his aggressive style. Rodgers holds joint citizenship, after becoming a Canadian citizen in 2011. In 2025, Rodgers was inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Bad Company.
Rodgers was born in Middlesbrough, England. He played bass for a band named The Roadrunners. Colin Bradley originally had the lead vocal slot, but convinced Rodgers to sing and front the band as Colin was primarily interested in playing rhythm guitar and his oldest brother Joe (who managed the band) supported the idea. Just before leaving Middlesbrough for the London music scene, the band changed its name to the Wildflowers. Other members of the band were Micky Moody (later of Whitesnake) and Bruce Thomas (later of Elvis Costello and The Attractions).
In 1968, Rodgers joined bluesy rockers Free as singer and songwriter. In 1970, they shot up the international radio charts with "All Right Now", which Rodgers wrote with the group's bassist Andy Fraser. It was a number one hit in more than 20 territories and acknowledged by ASCAP in 1990 for having received over a million radio plays in the US. For a short time, Free were alongside Led Zeppelin as among the highest grossing British acts, though Free's status was not sustained. Free released four albums with a combination of blues, ballads and rock which were Top Five successes in the UK. When in 2000, the song "All Right Now" achieved the mark of two million radio plays in the UK, an award was given to Rodgers as one of the two writers. After the first break-up of Free in the spring of 1971, Rodgers briefly formed a three-piece band called Peace. Alongside bassist Stewart McDonald and drummer Mick Underwood, Rodgers played guitar and sang lead vocals. Peace supported Mott the Hoople's UK tour in 1971, but broke up when Free reformed at the start of 1972. The Peace song "Lady" was later included on the Free compilation The Free Story in 1973, while two more tracks were eventually released on the fifth disc of the 2000 Free box set Songs of Yesterday, along with a song that Rodgers recorded with the Maytals. A bootleg has circulated of a 22 December 1971 appearance by Peace, live in studio, on BBC Radio 1's Top Gear program.
Rodgers formed his next band, Bad Company, with Mick Ralphs, former guitarist of Mott the Hoople. The line-up also included Free drummer Simon Kirke, and Boz Burrell, former vocalist and bassist of King Crimson. Rodgers said that he and Ralphs were still trying to come up with a name for the band. Rodgers had just written the song Bad Company and mentioned the new song he had written, "and I just said 'Bad Company', and there was this scuffling noise and he said, 'Sh_, I dropped the phone—that's it!'" Bad Company was the first act signed to Led Zeppelin's new record label, Swan Song. They toured from 1973 to 1982, and had several hits including "Feel Like Makin' Love", "Can't Get Enough", "Shooting Star", "Bad Company", and "Run with the Pack". Rodgers played instruments on several tracks: "Bad Company" and "Run with the Pack" featured him on piano; "Rock and Roll Fantasy" on guitar; and on the ballad "Seagull" Rodgers played all of the instruments. Bad Company earned six platinum albums until Rodgers left in 1982, stating that he wanted to spend time with his young family. It was revealed in April 2011 that after Jim Morrison's death in 1971, the rest of The Doors wanted Rodgers to replace him. Robby Krieger flew to England to personally offer him the job. However, Rodgers has said that he was off the grid in a very rural area at the time, and the moment passed. In late 1973, Rodgers was asked to become the singer of Deep Purple when Ian Gillan had left the band. He rejected their offer in order to start Bad Company.
In October 1983, Rodgers released his first solo LP Cut Loose. He composed all of the music and played all of the instruments. The album reached number 135 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. When his friend Jimmy Page started to come around to his house, guitar in hand and Led Zeppelin at an end, the duo's first live pairing was on the US ARMS (Action Research into Multiple Sclerosis) Tour, which had first been mooted by Eric Clapton and besides Rodgers and Page included Jeff Beck, Joe Cocker, Steve Winwood and others. The inspiration behind ARMS had been former Small Faces/Faces member Ronnie Lane's own struggle with MS. That led to Rodgers and Page's further teaming in the group The Firm, which resulted in two albums and two tours. Critics' reception of the band was sometimes scathing (one review used the term "supersludge") and also mixed. Even so, the Firm's two albums, The Firm and Mean Business, achieved moderate sales success and produced the radio hits "Radioactive", "Satisfaction Guaranteed", and, in the UK, "All The King's Horses". During that same period, a series of albums were produced called Willie and the Poor Boys. Rodgers and Page were briefly part of this and recorded "These Arms of Mine", an Otis Redding tune. The recording also became a video promoting the CD.
The Law, Rodgers' 1991 musical venture with former the Who and Faces drummer Kenney Jones, produced Billboard's number one AOR chart hit "Laying Down the Law" written by Rodgers, but the album peaked at number 126 on the Billboard 200 chart. A second album can be found on the bootleg market, which is often referred to as The Law II. It is believed that this collection of songs were leftovers from the first album. Rodgers acknowledged the influence of Jimi Hendrix by collaborating with Steve Vai, Hendrix's Band of Gypsys (Buddy Miles and Billy Cox) and the London Metropolitan Orchestra and recording the track "Bold As Love", on the Hendrix tribute album In From The Storm. Then Rodgers teamed with Journey guitarist Neal Schon and drummer Deen Castronovo for his release The Hendrix Set, a live 5-track CD, recorded in 1993 with Rodgers' interpretations of Hendrix songs. A Canadian and US tour followed. His Grammy-nominated solo CD, Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters was released in 1993. Rodgers wrote the title track and was backed by guitarists Brian May, Gary Moore, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Buddy Guy, Richie Sambora, Brian Setzer, Slash, Neal Schon, and Trevor Rabin. For Woodstock's 25th anniversary in 1994, Rodgers pulled together drummer Jason Bonham, bassist Andy Fraser (from Free), guitarists Slash and Schon at the last moment to perform as the Paul Rodgers Rock and Blues Revue. In 1995, he formed a new band consisting of Jaz Lochrie on bass, Jimmy Copley on drums and Geoff Whitehorn on guitar. The band (The Paul Rodgers Band) toured extensively in Europe, US and in the UK until 1998 and released three albums – Live: The Loreley Tapes, Now and Electric. Now charted internationally in the Top 40. The single "Soul of Love" remained in rotation on more than 86 US radio stations for six months but was not a sales success. His 1997 world tour included Russia, Japan, Canada, US, UK, Germany, France, Romania, Bulgaria, Israel, Brazil, Greece and Argentina. Rodgers and Bad Company were on Billboard's US BDS charts with the number one single "Hey, Hey" in 1999, one of four new tracks off Bad Company's The 'Original' Bad Co. Anthology. The second single release, Rodgers's "Hammer of Love", reached number two. For the first time in 20 years, all the original members of Bad Company toured the US.
