Bad Company

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=175565" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=125 BGCOLOR="#AAAAAA" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03c467d1euxmic.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Kristi Singer</b></FONT><B>     </b><B>|     </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kristi Singer"><U><B>home</b></U></A></div> <div> <B>Bad Company</b>   |   <A HREF="id239.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BBMak"><U>BBMak</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id242.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bebo Norman"><U>Bebo Norman</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Blues Traveler"><U>Blues Traveler</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id205.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Boston"><U>Boston</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id155.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bush"><U>Bush</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writing Samples"><U><B>Back to Articles</b></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=355 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Bad Company</div> <bR> <div> <B>Shooting Star Still Burns Brightly</b></div> <div> <B>Rock legend Paul Rodgers talks about how he's kept his vocal cords free, yet firm for more than thirty years. Hint: It's not the company he keeps.</b></div> <bR> <div> By Kristi Singer</div> <div> <I>Singer Magazine</I></div> <div> Cover story: Jan. 2003 Issue</div> <bR> <div> Paul Rodgers first took hold of a microphone when he was thirteen. He was hanging out at a practice session with a band of eighteen-year-olds that he idolized. The moment the mic freed up, Paul grabbed the opportunity to cut loose on Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally." The band was in awe. "I had their respect and I thought 'wow, I can do this," Paul remembers.</div> <bR> <div> Early in his musical journey, Paul was greatly inspired by R&B artists like Otis Reddings, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and B.B. King among others. "It was another world, a fantastic world," he recalls. "It was unusual in England because we didn't have too much of that blues/soul thing going on. It opened up a whole world... the Mississippi Delta and the railroad songs and the stories, the actual stories of what their lives were like and I thought 'wow, people actually live like this.' It set me free from my little hometown in Middlesborough, which is a heavy industry town. You're born there and you go into industry and that's your life, it's all set."</div> <bR> <div> <B>Becoming a Company Man</b></div> <div> Rodgers started his own band and moved to London in 1967 to pursue a music career. "I didn't really set out to be a rock star. I wasn't looking for the swimming pools or the mansions. I liked the idea of being a singer and a songwriter. People like Bob Dylan appealed to me - just the power of the sons and the power to change lives and say something, be out there making a difference. That's really stayed with me."</div> <bR> <div> After his first band split up, Paul wanted to put a blues band together. He met guitarist Paul Kossoff during a blues bar jam session and the artists clicked immediately. Drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Andy Fraser joined shortly after and Free began in 1968. </div> <bR> <div> Free's signature song, "All Right Now" was an international hit. The single has been played over a million times on U.S. radio alone. The band parted ways in 1973 due to a riff between Paul and Andy. Paul moved on, ironically, to a band called Peace, before starting Bad Company. While touring with Mott the Hopple he met guitarist Mick Ralphs. Mick played "Can't Get Enough," the future Bad Company hit, for Paul. "I said 'give me that song, I love that song, it's totally a hit.' So we started writing together..." and the rest is history, as they say.</div> <bR> <div> Paul and Mick searched for a new band name, calling each other in the middle of the night with crazy ideas. "One night I called him up and said 'Bad Company.' I heard this scuffling at the other end of the phone because he had dropped the phone," Paul said.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Led to Success</b></div> <div> Bass player Boz Burrell and Simon Kirke completed Bad Company. After learning from his experience in Free, Paul's first goal was to find good management for his new band. "We had managed ourselves and there wasn't anyone to mediate any kind of friction... I thought, 'Who's the biggest manager in the world apart from Elvis Presley's management?' At the time, Led Zeppelin was the biggest band in the world, so I called their manager."</div> <bR> <div> Timing was perfect for Bad Company. Led Zeppelin had recently formed its own record label, Swan Song, which was in the process of scouting talent. Led Zeppelin's manager, Peter Grant, went to a Bad Company rehearsal and made a deal with a handshake. Bad Company's debut album was recorded in only ten day sand included the #1 hit single "Can't Get Enough."</div> <bR> <div> Straight Shooter followed in 1975, Run With the Pack in 1976, Burnin' Sky in 1977, Desolation Angels in 1979 and Rough Diamonds in 1982. After the success of the Rough Diamonds single Electricland, the band took a break from almost a decade of touring.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Cutting Loose</b></div> <div> Paul left Bad Company around 1980. He said it was a "hectic roller coaster ride" and was ready to come off the road to be "normal for a bit." He has since released eight solo albums and received a Grammy nomination for his tribute to Muddy Waters, 1993's Muddy Water Blues.</div> <bR> <div> Following Cut Loose, Paul formed The Firm with Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist Tony Franklin and AC/DC drummer Chris Slade. "We had a connection anyway, so it was pretty natural for Jim to come out and see what I was up to and play me a couple of his things," says Paul. "One thing led to another and we started writing songs."</div> <bR> <div> Paul and Jimmy received a call from Eric Clapton's management to participate in 1984's ARMS tour, a charity tour in aid of multiple sclerosis. "They called us and said, 'Can you put something together? Because Joe Cocker's going out there and Eric Clapton and all these people.' So we just threw something together for that. We played half an hour every night and that was the birth of what became The Firm."</div> <bR> <div> During his time with The Firm, Paul said he didn't really keep in touch with the members of Bad Company. "We had seen enough of each other. We were very close, closer than family in some respects. If you knew the person was all right, you didn't really have too much need to communicate," Paul said.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Paul's Secrets to Success</b></div> <div> Through his years as an entertainer, Paul has heeded the advice of a few industry gurus. One piece of advice Paul received from jazz musician Alexis Corner, was that "it's the silence between the notes that's the most important thing. It's not about a million notes... vocally, or on an instrument. It's about the pauses and the delivery when you actually hit the note - your timing."</div> <bR> <div> Paul learned about the importance of taking care of business from Peter Grant. "I only ever really wanted to be the singer in the band, but you do have to keep things together. The music business seems to attracts a lot of people who are undesirable, strangely enough. You have to watch the accountants, the lawyers and record company contracts, because they'll give with one hand and take with the other. I don't mean to be too cynical, but you have to have a healthy sense of cynicism, and not be too lightheaded about it."</div> <bR> <div> "You don't want to be a slave. I thought they abolished slavery years ago, but some of the contracts that are in existence today with record companies amount to slavery if you want to be a musician. Sure you can go off to be a plumber, but that's not what you want. Some of them tie you down that strongly, it's either you work for me for the next five years or until you make these records or  you don't work and that shouldn't be legal."</div> <bR> <div> <B>All Right Now</b></div> <div> As an artist with over 125 million albums sold to date, any aspiring rock singer would do well to heed the advice of Paul Rodgers. To keep his voice in star condition, Paul doesn't just focus on his vocal cords, but on his entire being.</div> <bR> <div> "You don't just sing with your voice. You sing with your head, your heart, your body and your soul. And it's a good idea to keep all of those things together. I exercise and I keep my body in shape as much as I can. I meditate and I think that keeps my spirits somewhat connected," Paul said.</div> <bR> <div> In addition to yoga and deep breathing techniques, Paul uses homeopathic remedies such as silver, honey, tea tree oil and ginger tea to comfort his chords. "Silver is very good for the throat. They used to use it in the old days. Apparently, if you threw a silver dollar into a pail of milk it would stop it from turning rancid. So it's a very cleansing thing and it works in your system too," Paul said. "I'm sort of like a walking medicine cabinet when I'm on the road."</div> <bR> <div> Company Back in Business</div> <div> Bad Company came together in 1998 when Peter Grant passed away. "We hadn't spoken to each other in all those years but we all got together for that because he was someone we all respected. It was nice to see the old boys again. We all sat around and had a few drinks and a few laughs and the idea came up about doing a box set," Paul said.</div> <bR> <div> The band approached its record company, which agreed a Bad Company box set was a good idea but wanted to add unique material. Paul and Mick started writing again and created four new songs - tow of which were released as singles. "Hey Hey" went to #1 on the rock charts and "Hammer of Love" went to #2. A 33-song double CD anthology was released, and in 1999, for the first time in nineteen years, the original group united and went on a sold-out 40-concert tour. "We were very well received when we went out on tour," Paul reports. "But for Mick and Boz, they fount it a little too hectic, I think... they opted out (but) we decided we'd keep going." Paul is dedicating the next few years to the Bad Company reunion to "see where we can take it."</div> <bR> <div> For more on Bad Company and Paul Rodgers, log onto www.bad-company.com and www.paulrodgers.com.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>