Concert stage lures Status Quo again

Press, 5 March 1987, Page 26

Concert stage lures Status Quo again

The London-based pop group, Status Quo, have been going for more years than some of their fans have lived. They have sold more than 100 million records, and gone through fortunes more than once. In 1984 they decided they had had enough of lengthy world tours — which led to broken marriages — and would retreat to recording studios. But when they opened Bob Geldofs sensational Live Aid concert in Wembley Stadium they were hooked again on live shows. Now, with two hit singles and an album called “In the Army Now,” they are ready to go on parade on a new world tour, including Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and perhaps the United States, the DUO writer, JOHN SMALLWOOD, has the story.

A band that has been on the go for longer than many of its fans have lived; that is Status Quo. After two years mostly out of the public eye, it has now taken on a new lease of life, with two hit singles, “Rolling Home” and “Dreamin’,” the album “In the Army Now,” and a start to the new year with a huge tour taking in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and perhaps ending in the United States.

The leading light, the guitarist, and vocalist, Francis Rossi, said, “I really don’t mind where we go, just so long as we have a few laughs on the way.” Where they will be for Status Quo’s twenty-first birthday celebrations is anyone’s guess. It needs a long look back through pop’s history books to find the beginnings of the Lon-don-based group who have been a force to be reckoned with for so many years. Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt (guitar and vocals, like Rossi) are the two old-stagers. They first met in the summer of 1964 at a Butlin’s holiday camp at Minehead, in the west of England; Rossi was with a group called The Spectres and Parfitt was doing cabaret with The Highlights. It was two years later that Parfitt joined the group which then took its name Status Quo. They first hit the mark in 1968 with “Pictures of Matchstick Men,” which reached No. 7 in the British charts and No. 12 in the United States, the only recorded time they have hit the American listings. That was followed by “Ice in the Sun,” which stuck at No. 8 in Britain and was a failure in the United States. In 1970 Status Quo adopted their trademark of denim wear on stage, because it was cheap and they were broke. They brought on a harder, boogie-style approach to their music, which was reflected in two hit singles, “In My Chair,” and “Down the Dustpipe,” and toughened up further for the "Dog of the Two Heads” album which really signalled success.

‘ONE OF BOYS’

Rossi remembers how he got drawn into the rock scene, even when he was at school. “I was a wretched little weed,” he said.

“I had great difficulty in making friends, especially girl friends. I remember practising swearing on the way home from school, just to give the impression I was a tough guy. “Once I got into my first group — I’ve been in several in my time — everything changed. I’d always wanted to be ‘one of the boys’ and that’s what I became.” He also became a magnet for women. He found that there were pitfalls after the joys of what he called “razzling.” He said, “I got into it a lot to begin with. You couldn’t help it. There’d be all these girls hanging around backstage after the gigs, and most of them had only one thing in mind. “It was hilarious at first, but then it simply got to be a habit, and a bad one at that, which turned into a nightmare. “I’d wake up the morning feeling awful, and look at the naked body of someone I didn’t know lying next to me. And I’d think, ‘What have I done? Why did I do it again?’ “But I got it under control. I gave up razzling after about four years on the road.” Parfitt, who worked as a baker and then as a clerk in an office before taking the plunge into the pop world, was also “a bit of a lad.”

Over the years Status Quo record sales have topped 100 million copies and Messrs Rossi and Parfitt, founding members, have made millions of pounds over and over again, and spent the lot.

To get that sort of financial success the group spent literally years touring the world, living in hotel rooms and side-stepping endless lines of “groupies.” In the process, both Rossi and Parfitt have admitted falling foul of the demons drink and drugs. They are the only music-men of

the old times still with the group; the other members are now Andy Bown (keyboards), Jeff Rich (drums), and John “Rhino” Edwards (bass). Alan Lancaster (bass) chose to go to Australia to live, and the long-serving drummer, John Coghlan, quit after behind-the-scenes disagreements. MARRIAGE BREAK-UP Both Rossi and Parfitt have had troubled personal lives. Rossi split with his wife, Jean, after 14 years of marriage, and was divorced at the beginning of 1984; there are three sons, Simon, aged 19, Nicholas, 14, and Kieran, 7. Rossi said, “I wanted to get married young, and when I did — I was just 17 — it seemed to give me a lot of respect because I had a wife and child.”

The marriage broke up after he moved across to Ireland for a year as a tax exile in 1979. He left his wife and sons at home. “It was the biggest mistake

I’ve ever made,” he said,

“Arid being in a band means being, parted from your family for considerable periods of the year. It doesn’t work.”

After the break-up Nicholas went with his father, while the baby of the family stayed with his mother. Simon was at a boarding school, and divided his holidays between his parents. Rossi was not lonely for long; a succession of women saw to that. Eventually a bubbly Irish concert promoter, Liz Gernon, won his heart. They moved in together, and a baby girl is now two years old. There is now another woman in Rossi’s life, a model, Paige Taylor, aged 23, of Manchester. Rossi said he did not start drinking or taking drugs until his marriage broke down. Although he said there were never any drugs when the band was touring in the early days — they were taboo — he certainly went to town later.

He was said to be spending up to $4500 a month on cocaine until a mild heart attack made him stop in 1982.

Last February the pony-tailed star was fined $l7OO after police found cocaine in his car parked at London’s Heathrow Airport. After the case he said, “I will never touch drugs again. And take a tip from me— leave them alone.”

Marietta, walked out of the 13year marriage saying he was always the worse for whisky and cocaine when he was at home.

That episode dampened things down between the group and the Royal family. Status Quo were favourites with Prince Charles and Princess Diana,' and appeared at Roval charity shows. TRAGEDY Parfitt has undoubtedly had more of tragedy in his life. In 1980 he lost his daughter, Heidi, aged two, in a swimmingpool accident at home. She was playing happily by herself in the garden chasing the family pet dog, and apparently slipped into the pool and drowned. Then his German-born wife,

He said he had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds hiring planes instead of travelling by scheduled services, buying cars (and crashing .them) and getting drugs.

Twice he has earned a million pounds and got through most of it. First he bought a magnificent $1.5 million house for himself and Marietta. It had two swimming pools, tennis courts, saunas, a jacuzzi, and a recording studio, all set in eight acres of Surrey countryside.

He had a passion for expensive cars, so he bought himself a $120,000 Porsche Turbo, a Mercedes, a Corvette Stingray, a Studebaker Hawk, a Scirocco, and a Messerschmidt. He also at one time bought a four-seater private plane and a luxury cabincruiser which could sleep six.

Life became one long-running party. He went to the most expensive nightclubs almost every night, ordering buckets of. champagne, and taking drugs. He used to spend $3OOO a week at the clubs, then between $2OOO to $3OOO a week on cocaine.

“My marriage broke up, and I lost everything,” he said. “Every possession had to go. I couldn’t even afford a car, and, anyway, I was banned from driving. I actually woke up one morning and realised, ‘My God. I’m broke,’ I hung on by a thread, just avoiding going bankrupt.” After parting ways with his wife and their son, Richard, aged 12, Parfitt lived for two years with a dancer, Debbie Ash, of the Hot Gossip group. “We had a couple of lovely years together. I just don’t know how something so good went so bad.” he said. LIVE AID CALL Back in 1984 Status Quo de-

cided not to tour any more. After all those years on the road they decided they had had enough of the concert platform, though they would make the occasional record.

In 1985 they answered the call from Bob Geldof and opened the huge Live Aid concert for Africa’s starving with a resounding version of “Rockin’ All Over the World” which had the thousands crammed into the Wembley Stadium in London and the millions watching television around the world realising that Status Quo were still among the tops of pop. Since 1974, every new Status Quo LP on the Vertigo label has made the Top Five in the British charts at least. The Live Aid show had them hooked again. The crowds, the lights, the applause, got them planning for a second visit to the venues round the world where they had risen to fame. Copyright DUO, 1987.