Metro, Monday October 11, 2004
Notorious again...after 21-year wait

Eighties supergroup Duran Duran were celebrating last night after crashing into the singles chart for the first time in 10 years.

The band reached no. 5 with (Reach Up For The ) Sunrise. And they hope to repeat the success next week with the release of Astronaut - the first album featuring the original line-up for 21 years.

The no. 1 spot was taken by Robbie Williams with his single Radio, which ironically was co-written with Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy, who left Duran Duran to be replaced by Simon Le Bon.

It was the singer, together with Duran Duran bassist John Taylor, who decided to get the original band back together.

Le Bon, Taylor, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Andy Taylor were first reunited in an office in London.

'We sat around a table and started talking,' Rhodes said recently.
'Within ten minutes, it was as if all the space between us, over all these years, had melted away.

'We were arguing about the same things, like where are we going to do the album, when, how, who is going to take care of what?'

Named after a character in the 1968 psychedelic sci-fi movie Barbarella, Duran Duran formed in Birmingham in 1978. With hits such as Girls On Film, Rio and Notorious they quickly became a pop phenomenon but parted in 1985.

Courtesy Metro, UK, www.metro.co.uk