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Fashions, Fans and Females | ||
Duran Duran – On Stage and Off
Stage – Private and Personal |
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| Fashion and fans are an enormous part of a rock star’s world, and Duran Duran are no exceptions. If anything they’re more fashion conscious and have more fans than most other bands. They all admit that they’re very much into clothes (so to speak). Sometimes they even participate in the designing of their stage clothes. On their last U.S. Tour even the stage crew was decked out in designer clothes. Though it’s certainly possible to over-dress, Duran Duran have seemed to keep most of their apparel on the plus side of good taste. This was probably not as simple a task as it sounds, for the "new romantic" image they were associated with, during their earlier existence through their ‘Rio’ album, was closely related to some terribly blatant clothes. A prime example of this would be Visage’s Steve Strange. Other bands, as well, were over-laden with furclad, frilly-shirted constituents who were radical believers in the phrase, "clothes make the man," (or in this case, "the band"). Eventually people saw through the clothes and found that these bands spent more time composing their wardrobes than their music. |
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| As well as fashion there are also fans. This strange breed of people who would sacrifice life and limb to get a glimpse of their idols. Fans have kept Duran Duran going strong from the beginning ‘til now, and they’re not about to stop giving the band support, no matter what the critics might say. The masses relentless fixation with Taylor, Taylor, Taylor, Lebon and Rhodes has been equaled only by the followings of the Beatles and Elvis Presley. "We love our fans and we know we’d be nothing without them," Nick states sincerely. They’ve also said that it can be a drag to constantly have people badgering them for autographs, a few words or whatever. There are times when they’re thrilled to have millions of fans across the world; but there are also times when they wish they were still just five more faces in the crowd. |
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Another tribulation that comes with being a star is the
female. Yes, that perfectly awful horror of having to fight off women wherever you might
go. Though the number of available Duran bachelors is dwindling their female fans
aren’t. If you’re wondering just who in the band is married, well right now there’s just Andy, but both Simon and Nick are engaged. Simon is pledged to a Toronto model, Claire Stansfield. In fact they’re searching for a house in her home town right now. If you live in Canada, you might get lucky and have them move in next door to you. Of course then you wouldn’t get any steep for all of Simon’s fan making a racquet outside. You can tell that Simon is a family man because he spends such a large amount of time with his father and brother in England. One thing’s for sure. Simon is not taking his engagement for granted. He still exhibits the polite manners he grew up with, like holding chairs out, and opening doors, and all that rot. Poor Claire though, she’s really paying the price for Simon. She receives death threats from Simon’s more fanatic fans! I’ve heard that Simon is a lady killer, but this is too much! |
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| As said before, the married one is Andy. He and his wife, Tracey Wilson, live in a three story house in Wolverhampton, England. They also have residences in Birmingham and London. ("Let’s see… where should we stay this month?") They enjoy riding horses during Andy’s sparse free time. If they’re not doing that they’ll usually relax, or spend some time with their dog Charlie. When Andy proposed to Tracey about two years ago, it was 4:00 in the morning. Tracey told him to stop kidding around, but in the morning she said yes. Maybe she had some sort of premonition, or dream telling her what to do! It obviously worked out. When they were married some people thought that it might impair the band’s working relationship. Luckily that’s one thing that Duran Duran does not have in common with the Beatles. Models seem to be the ‘in thing’ with Duran right now. John Taylor’s present girlfriend is a model too. Her name is Janine Andrews. Supposedly John is trying to make a popstar of her. (Perhaps for some back-up work on their next album?) John is known as the romantic one in the band, I guess that’s a good thing for Janine. Things seem pretty serious for John and Janine; they spent Christmas at each other’s parent’s houses! They’ve known each other for three years now, and they were born only three miles from one another – small world, ain’t it? He loves children and can’t wait to have a family of his own. But right now he’s to busy with the band to settle down. "Some day though, I’ll settle down and start a family … I hope." The big news is Nick Rhodes! Yes girls, you’ve let another one slip through your fingers. Nick’s getting married to his long-time girlfriend Julieanne Friedman. They haven’t set the date yet, but word is they’ll get married as soon as they have the time for a wedding and a nice honeymoon. |
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| This earth-shattering news was kept a secret from the band and the record company until after their world-tour was finished. It wasn’t until Nick told his close friend Andy Warhol, who then printed the wedding announcement in his own magazine, that everyone else knew about it. Oh, by the way, Julieanne is a model too. So that leaves only Roger as the completely unattached bachelor in the band. Roger is the shy guy in the band. "I was a late started with girls," he states uncomfortably. "I really don’t like talking about these things though. It’s sort of personal for me." He really prefers not being in the limelight like the rest of his mates. Maybe that’s why he hides behind all those drums. It’s not that he rejects the attention given him by his fans, he just likes his privacy, and he likes to have a say in who he hangs out with. Maybe the only way Duran Duran will ever find out how many fans love them for their music, and how many love them for their good looks, is for all of them to get married. Then the girls who say, "Yea, I like their songs too;" might stop going to their concerts and they can find out who their real fans are. (Or maybe not.) Anyway, if you’re looking to latch on to one of these guys you’d better hurry up. It looks like single Duran members are becoming an endangered species. |
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