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Bryan Ferry (born 26 September 1945 in Washington, Sunderland) is an English singer, musician, songwriter and occasional actor famed for his suave visual and vocal style, who came to public prominence in the 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with Roxy Music. He is also noted for his highly successful solo career.
Born into a working-class family (Ferry's father looked after pit ponies), Ferry studied fine art at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne under Richard Hamilton. He had applied to study History of Art at the world-renowned Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, but was rejected. His contemporaries included Tim Head and Nick de Ville. He became a pottery teacher in London, all the while aiming for a career in music. Ferry was, together with Graham Simpson, a member of the band The Gas Board.
Ferry, Manzanera, Mackay and Thompson re-reformed Roxy Music in 2001 and toured extensively for a couple of years while not releasing any albums. However, with the help of Manzanera and Thompson, in 2002 Ferry returned with Frantic, the long-awaited follow-up for As Time Goes By, where he was assisted on a couple of tracks by Manzanera and Thompson; the final track is a collaboration with Brian Eno. The album Frantic mixed Ferry originals with covers - something that Ferry hadn't attempted on a solo album since The Bride Stripped Bare, twenty-four years before.
Following his split from Lucy, British newspapers photographed Ferry with Katie Turner, naming her as his new 'girlfriend'. Ferry and Katie Turner met while she worked as one of the dancers during Roxy Music's concert tour in 2001. Katie is also featured on the DVD of the 2001 Hammersmith Odeon Show and has appeared with Bryan Ferry on several TV appearances to promote the Frantic album. Katie also appeared in the live show during the Frantic 2002 tour. After their break-up, Ferry had a relationship with Lady Emily Compton, a socialite, and in 2005 briefly dated ER's Alex Kingston. In 2006, he resumed his relationship with Katie Turner. In 2004, Ferry starred in the short film The Porter.Also in that year, guitarist David Williams was involved in some recording sessions for Ferry.
In 2005, it was confirmed that Roxy Music (Ferry, Eno, Mackay, Manzanera and Thompson) would be performing further shows at that year's Isle Of Wight festival and that they would also be recording a further album of new and original songs, with no indication of when such a project would reach completion. Brian Eno has confirmed that he has worked in the studio with Roxy once more and has co-written songs for the new album. He has remarked how the bands dynamic has not changed since he was a member in the early 1970s. He has also confirmed he will not tour with the band.
Ferry's most recent appearance was in Neil Jordan's 2005 movie, Breakfast on Pluto, starring Cillian Murphy as a young Irish transvestite who goes to London in the glam 1970s to find his mother. Ferry, appearing in a bit part as Mr. Silky String, plays a suave but creepy john who picks up the sexually ambiguous young man and, after a short conversation, attempts to strangle him in the front seat of his car.
In October 2006, Ferry became the face of the men's clothing range Autograph with British retailer, Marks and Spencer. His album Slave To Love: Best Of The Ballads was reissued to commemorate this. Bryan was back in the studio in 2006 recording songs from the Bob Dylan canon with the Dylan tribute album 'Dylanesque' intended for release in March 2007 with a UK tour planned to promote the album. In the fall 2006, Ferry's Don't Stop The Dance was in the Scandinavian men-clothe store's Dressman TV ad.
