In September 1997, Capitol Records made history by releasing Duran Duran’s “Electric Barbarella” as the internet’s first-ever digital single, heralding a massive shift in how the music industry operates

Twenty years ago this month, in September of 1997, Capitol Records became the first major label to sell and digitally distribute a single from a well-known artist on the internet, arguably… read more

Duran Duran is music video pioneers thanks to their elaborate ’80s clips and the way they leveraged the cutting-edge medium for promotion. But the U.K. new wavers are also online music pioneers: In 1997, they became the first major label artist to sell digital downloads of a single.

The Duran Duran tune in question was the electro-shocked “Electric Barbarella,” the lead single from the band’s LP, Medazzaland.… read more

Simon Le Bon was in fine form for the event, which saw 500-plus well-heeled fans shedding their ties to boogie on the dinghy launch ramp-turned-dance floor.

Security was tight at the Yacht Club de Monaco for Duran Duran’s “Extra Ordinary World” concert (a play on the band’s 1993 hit “Ordinary World”) on Friday, with triple security checks at the entrance and two wristbands per… read more

It’s always a sad state of affairs when your once snaked- hipped idols turn into bloated dead beats – the crypt keepers of your past. Can teen dreams ever transform into a reality? From the screams that greet the Bohemian Rhapsody-style visuals, Duran Duran attempt to put that to the test.

Worryingly, it initially looks like we’ve got Normo le Bon in a nondescript leather jacket and sensible slacks but then the lights… read more

COUNTDOWN TO ELECTRIC PICNIC: Duran Duran set to bring a treasure chest of hits to the Main Stage

When Duran Duran’s current line-up of Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Roger Taylor take to the Electric Picnic main stage, they’ll have quite some back catalogue to choose from.

Formed in Birmingham in 1978, and named after a character from Roger Vadim’s sci-fi classic Barbarella, the band have had several… read more

This summer at Abbot Hall Art Gallery our exhibitions are Painting Pop, including David Hockney’s works on canvas and a room of his etching and aquatint prints, A Rake’s Progress, celebrating Hockney’s works of the 1960s in the year of his 80th birthday. Charu Vallabhbhai, Lakeland Arts’ Curatorial Manager reminisces on her childhood in Bradford and hearing David Hockney speak when she was an art student … read more

BY: SARAH KURCHAK
AUG 10, 2017

The only thing weirder than Duran Duran’s 1984 concert film is how important it still is 33 years later

During a recent Google search to determine whether I was hearing things, or if Duran Duran really had sung about glory holes (they had, metaphorically, on a track from the 2011 album All You Need Is Now), I stumbled on a 2013 interview that keyboardist Nick Rhodes did with Rolling Stone.… read more

Happy Duran Duran Appreciation Day 2017!

To commemorate #DDAD17, Duran Duran decided to release two recently recorded videos, “Paper Gods” & “Hungry Like the Wolf.” Both songs were filmed in Oakland, CA on July 7th using 360 cameras, which allows the viewer to experience them in virtual reality!

Here are a few tips to maximize your 360-degree viewing experience:

View the Virtual Reality… read more

It has been 35 years since their first tour of Japan and nearly a decade since their last shows in the country, and now Duran Duran are back! Touring around the world with their new album, “Paper Gods,” as well as performing many of their greatest hits at sold out shows night after night, the band has just confirmed 2 shows in Tokyo & Osaka! Their show at Tokyo’s famed Nippon Budokan will include Chic featuring … read more

It took Duran Duran 37 years from the debut of their classic lineup before the band performed in Hawaii for the first time Sunday night at the Blaisdell Arena. It took less than 0.37 seconds for its Hawaii fans to show their aloha.

After a nearly four-decade wait that included a canceled show in 1994, Duran Duran’s Hawaii fans were primed. When the lights went down and some silhouettes made their way onto the stage, the … read more

There aren’t many more firsts for this band, but July 16, 2017 will be their first concert performance in Hawaii at the Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall! Coincidentally, Duran Duran’s 1st performance with the classic 5 member lie-up (Simon/John/Nick/Roger/Andy) at the Rum Runner in Birmingham was also on July 16 (1980).

#Aloha #DuranDuranHI #duranduran #papergodsontour

… read more

Following the charge of the Thin White Duke, this second British Invasion came across the ocean, its bands as disparate as Billy Idol, Def Leppard and Gary Numan. To pulverize our charts, what they and others like Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Eddy Grant and Wham! — even Iron Maiden — had over our continental efforts was an overall superior video savvy at the dawn of MTV, when absolutely nothing mattered more.

Fashionista… read more

As Simon Le Bon crooned and the capacity crowd swooned, one thing became abundantly clear during the Duran Duran show on July 7 at the Fox Theater in Oakland:

This band most definitely belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

And it’s absolutely baffling that it still has yet to be enshrined, despite being eligible for induction for over 10 years now.

Want me to name names? OK, fine. I’d vote for Duran Duran above Cheap… read more

It might be the least-surprising celebrity revelation ever.

But it seems Simon Le Bon could get a little randy in the early days of Duran Duran.

The lead vocalist is on the line waxing nostalgia about his band’s salad days hanging out at the Rum Runner. It was before the wild 1970s drifted into the not-so-wild 1980s, and the Birmingham nightclub was a booming hot spot where Le Bon would first meet his bandmates and, apparently,… read more

Steve Jobs. Elon Musk. Nick Rhodes?

While the Duran Duran founding member and keyboardist might not be one of the first names you’d think to mention when listing innovators, he certainly deserves to be. That’s because his band, the one best known for its good looks, impeccable fashion, and monster hits such as “Hungry Like the Wolf,” have also long been shrewd observers of the next big thing.

In 1979, before the… read more

Syn Music Tokyo and LA has released “Closer to Your Bed,” a song developed by Simon Le Bon and Nick Wood for their seminar at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. During the seminar, which centered around creative collaboration and took place on Saturday 17th June, Le Bon and Wood invited the audience to record themselves performing finger snaps and singing the main chorus of the song … read more

Syn Music announced the release of “Closer to Your Bed,” a song developed by Simon Le Bon and Nick Wood for their seminar at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. During the seminar, which centered around creative collaboration and took place on Saturday 17th June, Le Bon and Wood invited the audience to record themselves performing finger snaps and singing the main chorus of the song on their phones.… read more

Upon the passing of Ann Marie Le Bon last week, we have received lots of inquiries about where to send flowers or donations. With much gratitude and love, Simon and the Le Bon family have suggested that, as an alternative to sending flowers, a donation be made to The Royal Trinity Hospice in the name of Ann Marie Le Bon. The team at the hospice went above and beyond during the last days of Ann’s life. Their care, respect… read more

For Duran Duran’s 2015 studio disc Paper Gods (WB), the band invited some friends along for the ride. That’s 21st-century dance diva Kiesza joining Simon Le Bon on lead vocals for “Last Night in the City.” “Pressure Off” features Janelle Monae and Nile Rodgers, and delivers on the funk. On “Danceophobia,” Lindsay Lohan appears as a doctor. She’s not that… read more

PARIS — When Becca Cason Thrash was organizing her Liaisons au Louvre fund-raising gala, she couldn’t have predicted it would take place on the hottest day of the year.

As thermometers in Paris shot up to 35 degrees Centigrade, the quick-thinking Texan socialite decided the day before Tuesday’s event to move the dinner, initially planned under the glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei, into the basement housing… read more

10 Awesome Bass Performances by Duran Duran’s John Taylor
by Annie Zaleski June 20, 2017 3:57 PM

At Duran Duran concerts, chances are at some point you’ll hear frontman Simon Le Bon leading a chant of “Play the f–king bass, John! Play the f–king bass, John!” This isn’t a case of intra-band turmoil, however: It’s a complimentary rallying cry for stalwart bassist John Taylor.

The Birmingham, England,… read more

JUNE 20, 2017 – 12:10 PM
Dr. Nancy Berk

Legendary Duran Duran drummer Roger Taylor is well aware of the power of music. Along with bassist John Taylor, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and singer Simon Le Bon, Taylor has been a force behind a band that has rocked the music industry for over three decades. So when the band’s manager asked if he wanted to use a short break during their tour to work in-studio with at-risk youth in the… read more

Why BBDO and Simon Le Bon are unpicking the creative process to put music at its heart

By Katie Deighton-18 June 2017 12:00pm

After creating a string of successful ads soundtracked by Simon Le Bon’s Syn, BBDO Asia cemented a partnership with the commercial music studio aiming to alleviate creatives’ proclivity to think of music as an afterthought.

For the agency, it’s a unique proposition that enables its clients… read more

Today in rock history, on this date in 1979. Manchester rock band Joy Division released its debut album, Unknown Pleasures. Arguably one of the most important and influential albums to ever come out of Great Britain, the album and the band almost single-handedly created the genre known as post-punk. Featuring a striking, iconic cover featuring a minimalist depiction of radio waves, the album features Joy Division… read more

Led Zep and the Stones liked to up the tempo, Blondie blazed a trail that led to Duran Duran and the Gossip … but was it all dreamed up by George Harrison?

7. Duran Duran: Hungry Like the Wolf
Most pop-culture movements reach a natural end, but disco is perhaps unique in having had a direct hit put out on it. While some may still deny it, the subtext to the “Disco Sucks!” campaign was an effort to reassert the supremacy of… read more

It is with a sad heart I tell you that yesterday I had to leave the Modena Cento Ore early.News from home meant I had to cut short the rally & head back to London to be with my mother & rest of the Le Bon family.

I want to express my gratitude to the rally orgainsers, all especially to Luigi – who has managed to create a motoring event which is top class. It is super competitive, but all done with a great spirit of friendship,… read more

Duran Duran had established themselves as a new force to be reckoned with in the UK with their self-titled debut. It was a smash hit in Europe but failed to gain any traction in the United States. When Rio was released it reached #2 on the charts and banished any worries about the dreaded sophomore jinx. Hoping the album would do just as well in the United States, Capitol released Rio with absolutely no idea how to market the… read more

Arriving at the dawn of MTV in the early 1980s, no one symbolized the New Romantic and music video revolutions like Duran Duran. They were the British masters of style, from their well-coiffed hair and colorful glam to their funk-laced pop-rock that cross-pollinated genres into a dynamic brew.

Singer Simon LeBon, guitarist Andy Taylor, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, bassist John Taylor, and drummer Roger Taylor offered… read more

Was there ever any album that embodied all things grand and glamorous about the escapist, excessive, exotic, erotic, aspirational ’80s more than Duran Duran’s Rio? The vivid cover art alone — its pale Patrick Nagel creature, with her beguiling cherry ice-cream smile, a sort of Mona Lisa for the New Romantic Age — lent the album instant icon status. And the nightclub-meets-Club-Med classics contained within… read more

On this date in 1982, five young British lads who’d grown up listening to equal parts Roxy Music, Chic and David Bowie released the album that would change their lives. And the lives of their passionate fan base. Forever.

Forerunners of the music video age, Duran Duran had gotten a taste of airplay and record sales in their native England and in Japan but success hadn’t come in the States…yet. The band’s sophomore… read more

What’s the most seminal, classic, 1980s pop song you can think of? What’s the song that perfectly encapsulates the musical trends and styles of the decade? This is a question that will get a multitude of answers from people, but at least a fair number of people would answer “Hungry Like the Wolf”, by Duran Duran from the band’s 1982 album Rio. More than just “Wolf,”

Rio is a quintessentially 1980s album, … read more

Wednesday, 10 May 2017 Written by Graeme Marsh

When Duran Duran released their second album, ‘Rio’, in May of 1982, the power of the music video as a promotional tool had barely taken off. Aside from the legendary Queen video for Bohemian Rhapsody – put together in a matter of hours and subsequently aired on Top Of The Pops – the marketing possibilities had yet to be adequately explored, particularly in relation… read more

When Duran Duran convened to record the balance of Rio at George Martin‘s storied AIR Studios in the beginning of 1982, they couldn’t have known the major leap they were about to make both in their own career and in pop music as a whole. The sound and stance the album represented would help push them toward the worldwide superstardom that came to full fruition with 1983’s Seven and the Ragged Tiger, and would provide… read more

Duran Duran recently sat down with Richard Blade to discuss the making of their seminal album RIO, released on May 10, 1982. Here they go through the 9 tracks that for many became the soundtrack of the 1980s.

… read more

Happy 35th Anniversary to Duran Duran’s Rio, originally released May 10, 1982.

On May 10th, 1982, Duran Duran released their second long player Rio. Their world―and ours―was irrevocably changed. The sensation that swept the world and propelled five English lads―Taylors John (bass guitar), Roger (drums), and Andy (guitar), along with Nick Rhodes (synthesizers, keyboards) and Simon Le Bon (vocals)―into… read more

English band Duran Duran will return to Croatia for the first time in 16 years to play in the capital Zagreb this summer.

Duran Duran will play at the open-air spectacle at Zagreb’s Šalata on 29 August 2017.

The new wave and synthpop band first formed in the late 1970s and developed to become mainstream pop stars by the mid-1980s.

The group was a leading band in the MTV-driven “Second British Invasion” of the US. They… read more

[4 out of 5 spills]

An interesting EP from Warner Music arrived, containing four remixes of Duran Duran’s “Last Night in the City” featuring Keisza, from their latest album Paper Gods. The remixes are by four of the world’s greatest dance producers and production teams, and it also includes a Canadian connection.

The first mix is by L.A. Producer Tokimonsta (aka Jennifer Lee) and the second, more club friendly… read more

Iconic British rock band DURAN DURAN to perform at the Village Stage on Saturday, 16 September , 2017 and the Padang Stage on Sunday, 17 September, 2017

Since their debut in 1981, DURAN DURAN have released fourteen albums, garnered sales of more than 100 million records, and been honoured with numerous prestigious accolades, including two Brit Awards, two Grammy Awards, seven Lifetime Achievement Awards and a star… read more

Bigger than One Direction?

Bigger.

Bigger than Justin Bieber?

Bigger.

Bigger than Taylor Swift?

Bigger.

Trying to describe Duran Duran to a teenager in 2017 is like trying to explain why nearly every human loves coffee and chocolate – it’s not the science behind the reasoning, it’s the taste behind the desire.

Kids today are armed with mountains of data, so they can easily Google chart positions and recording … read more

The ’80s icons proved they’re no mere nostalgia act with an epic performance.

By John Staton StarNews Staff
Looking and sounding like they haven’t skipped a beat since the 1980s, the veteran English band Duran Duran wowed an Azalea Festival crowd Friday night with an energetic show that was an aural and visual feast.

The crowd started out small and sedate. But not long after an opening set by Athens, Georgia, band… read more

It was a fairly warm spring evening in South Florida but inside the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood the temperature was on fire, as world famous English band Duran Duran played their trademark pop-rock to a packed audience made up of new and older fans.

The show part of the “Paper Gods” World Tour, kicked-off with loud cheers from the crowd as band members Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Roger Taylor, Nick Rhodes and fill-in guitarist… read more

Duran Duran will headline The Roundup MusicFest July 11 at Shaw Millennium Park.

“I’ve been looking forward to announcing the headliner for what is sure to be the concert event of the summer,” said Sarah Geddes, communications director of The Roundup MusicFest.

“We’re also very excited to partner with corporate Calgary to raise funds for our charity partner, the Calgary Military Family Resource Centre… read more

Visiting Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood these days is a bizarre experience. The mammoth entertainment and gaming property is undergoing a massive face-lift that has left much of the site a desolate landscape. Gone are Bongos, the Fort Lauderdale Improv, and Murphy’s Law Irish Pub. In their place stand, well, very little. Demolition and construction are underway for an overhaul… read more

Longtime drummer Roger Taylor says the mix of the fresh and the familiar keeps the ’80s icons going.

By John Staton StarNews Staff

If you’d told a teenage Roger Taylor back in 1980 that the band he was drumming for would be going strong nearly 40 years later, he wouldn’t have believed you.

But that’s just where Taylor finds himself with pop stalwarts Duran Duran, who headline a concert for the N.C. Azalea Festival… read more

Roger Taylor talks circus acts and closing the generational gap, ahead of Azalea Fest concert

Since their 1981 self-titled debut record, Duran Duran has released more than a dozen studio albums with countless hits across generations: “Rio” (1982), “Is There Something I Should Know?” (1983), “Notorious” (1986), “Ordinary World” (1993), “Electric Barbarella” (1997). The band rode new-wave… read more

One of N.C.’s oldest annual celebrations, complete with a coronated queen, celebrities, Azalea Belles and a renowned ‘who’s who’ Garden Party can be a tough act to follow. That’s where pop phenoms Duran Duran come in.

The multi-platinum band’s Friday (4/7) show in Wilmington is among the top attractions during the 70th Annual N.C. Azalea Festival. The performance is part of the band’s… read more

Duran Duran hits Hard Rock Live.

If a Duran Duran show sounds like a throwback to the “Greed Is Good” era, well, you’re half right. The five-person act fronted by singer Simon Le Bon emerged in the early ’80s as part of the New Wave movement that bifurcated from punk rock; in the following decade, Duran Duran became one of the best-known bands in the world, achieving mainstream success in America… read more

The second day of Lollapalooza Argentina 2017 was almost a carbon copy of the previous one on the surface: bright hours of sunlight and the same level of attendance. The taste of the audience, however, was completely different.

After the fierce sets that Metallica and Rancid delivered the previous night, the next day was primarily one for the newer generations. Nevertheless, Duran Duran hit Main Stage 2 with its swagger… read more

Duran Duran
March 22, 2017
Smart Financial Center
by Cory Garcia

There was a time, however brief in the long arc of history, when the then lads of Duran Duran were one of the biggest acts in music. Rad songs, good looks and being one of the first acts to really embrace the emerging medium of music videos had the group playing some of the biggest venues around the world in the mid-’80s. Did you know they played after Phil Collins,… read more

The XX headline Friday night, A Tribe called Quest headline Saturday night and Duran Duran headline Sunday night, September 3.

Allow us to transport you from an Ordinary World to an extraordinary place filled with music, culture, laughter and magic – Electric Picnic 2017. From the mundane to the insane, from your house to Our House – Stradbally Hall, on the stunning 600 acre estate. Ain’t Nobody not going … read more