Roxy Music reunites for tour

Bryan Ferry (left) says the group could record new songs

LONDON, England -- Seventies rock group Roxy Music have reformed for a world tour -- 18 years after they split up.

Singer Bryan Ferry will reunite with guitarist Phil Manzanera and saxophonist Andy Mackay to perform in 12 countries this summer, their publicist said.

The three, all aged in their 50s, are original members of the band, which first formed in 1970 and scored with hits such as Love is A Drug and Virginia Plain.

The group's only number one hit was a cover version of John Lennon's Jealous Guy, recorded as a tribute to the murdered former Beatle.

The tour kicks off in Dublin on June 9. Other confirmed stops include London, Glasgow, Toronto, Montreal, Washington, New York and Los Angeles.

The band also held out the possibility of recording new songs when the world tour is over.

Ferry said: "We've got no plans with regard to recording. Who knows?. Ask us again in September when we finish the tour."

Founding member Brian Eno, now a successful music producer for groups such as U2, is not taking part in the reunion tour.

Eno, who quit the line-up in 1974, had been asked to join the tour but did not feel comfortable on stage.

Ferry said: "Brian was the first to say that he is a studio animal and so not really for the touring game.

"I did ask him about three years ago if he would do a show we were asked to do together, and he said `No, I don't like going on stage, I don't want to do that'. I do hope that if we did any new stuff he would be there," Ferry added.

Guitarist Phil Manzanera (right) says group has unfinished business

The band last played together in May 1983 as they toured the hit album, Avalon. Since then they have pursued their own paths with Ferry releasing a string of solo albums and Manzanera and Mackay briefly collaborating as The Explorers.

Manzanera said: "We had a play together a few weeks ago and it sounded as if we had been playing together constantly for the last 20 years."

They plan to pick up to four songs from each of their eight studio albums, but have not decided exactly which of the hundred-plus tracks will make it into the live show.

Manzanera added: "We only decided to do this definitely about two and a half weeks ago, so it's early days."

Of their wish to reform, Manzanera said: "There was always the sense of unfinished business from my point of view.

"We always had a lot more to give and these songs don't get an airing a lot. I have looked in the back of magazines and there are no Roxy tribute bands, so I realised you couldn't cover these songs very well."

Ferry said: "The tour was proposed and we are all in a position where we have time to do it. I've been on tour myself a lot in the last year so I have got into the habit of being on stage again.

"I've been doing quite a few songs from the Roxy years in my show and so I thought the logical extension of that was to put the band together."

Ferry was in the news in December when he was a passenger on a Nairobi-bound British Airways flight that nearly crashed when a man broke into the cockpit and tried to grab the controls.

Ferry joked about his terrifying experience. "I don't believe in flying myself, but I think we are going to have a lot more flights in the next few months - hopefully there will be no dramas like that again."

Panic as man storms cockpit of Nairobi-bound jet
December 29, 2000

The Official Roxy Music Tour 2001 Home Page
Roxyrama! A Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music Archive

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.