Roger Meddows Taylor, who was born on 26 July 1949, is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He gained international fame as the drummer and backing vocalist with the rock band Queen. As a songwriter, Taylor composed at least one song for each of the Queen albums and frequently provided the lead vocals for his own compositions. He was responsible for writing or co-writing three UK number one singles (‘These Are the Days of Our Lives’, ‘Innuendo’ and ‘Under Pressure’) and also wrote five other major hits (‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘A Kind of Magic’, ‘Heaven for Everyone’, ‘Breakthru’ and ‘The Invisible Man’).
He has worked together with a number of artists including Eric Clapton, Roger Waters, Roger Daltrey, Robert Plant, Phil Collins, Genesis, Jimmy Nail, Kansas, Elton John, Gary Numan, Shakin’ Stevens, Foo Fighters, Al Stewart, Steve Vai, Yoshiki, Cyndi Almouzni and Bon Jovi. In his capacity as a producer he has produced albums for Virginia Wolf, Jimmy Nail and Magnum. Taylor has a countertenor voice.
In the 1980s, apart from his work with Queen, he set up another group called the Cross, taking on the role of lead singer and playing rhythm guitar. He also served as a panelist on the UK quiz programme Pop Quiz in the early 1980s, with Mike Read being the show’s host. He appeared in the 2014 film Brian Pern as himself. Rufus Tiger Taylor, the drummer for The Darkness, has him as his father.
Profile Summary CategoryInformation Full NameRoger Meddows Taylor Born26 July 1949 (age 77) BirthplaceKing’s Lynn, Norfolk, England EducationEast London Polytechnic — BSc OccupationsMusician; Songwriter; Singer Years Active1966–Present SpouseSarina Potgieter (married in 2010) Children5, including Rufus Taylor Musical GenreRock InstrumentsDrums; Vocals; Percussion; Guitar; Keyboards LabelsEMI; Elektra; Capitol; Parlophone; Hollywood; Virgin EMI; Columbia Member OfQueen; Queen + Adam Lambert Formerly OfThe Reaction; Queen + Paul Rodgers; The Cross; Smile Websiterogertaylorofficial.com Age Roger Meddows Taylor was born on 26 July 1949 [he is therefore 77 years old] in King’s Lynn, in the county of Norfolk, England.
Biography Taylor was born on 26 July 1949 at the West Norfolk and Lynn Hospital in King’s Lynn, in the county of Norfolk. The new maternity ward was opened by Princess Elizabeth, who later became Queen Elizabeth II. His first place of residence was 87 High Street in King’s Lynn, after which he moved to Beulah Street in the same town. His first school was the Rosebery Avenue school.
With his mother Winifred, his father Michael and his younger sister Clare, he moved to Truro in Cornwall, in the south west of England. When he was seven years old he and a number of his friends set up his first band, the Bubblingover Boys, for which he played the ukulele. He went to Bosvigo School and also to Truro Cathedral School; at the age of 13 he became a day boy at Truro School.
Although he had first learned to play the guitar, he eventually became a drummer since he found that he had a greater natural ability for it. Inspired by Keith Moon from The Who because of the “great drum sounds” on the early Who records, Taylor taught himself how to tune his drums. A further important influence on Taylor was Mitch Mitchell from the Jimi Hendrix Experience, whom Taylor had regarded as his early role model.
In 1967 Taylor went to London to study dentistry at the London Hospital Medical College, but as he became bored with the subject he changed to biology and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from East London Polytechnic. Career Highlights The queen co-founded the famous rock band with Freddie Mercury and Brian May; she provided strong drumming, falsetto background vocals, and wrote several huge hits that reached number one in the charts such as “Radio Ga Ga”, “A Kind of Magic”, and “These Are the Days of Our Lives”.
He released a number of solo albums, beginning with Fun in Space and going on to Fun on Earth, and was the frontman of the rock side-project band The Cross. Film work and collaborations: Acted as co-executive music producer on the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody for which it won an Oscar and has worked with music legends such as Elton John and the Foo Fighters. Personal Life Previously married to Dominique Beyrand and then married Sarina Potgieter (known as Sarina Taylor) in 2010.
He has five children: Felix, Rory, Rufus (who, like him, became a drummer), Tigerlily, and Lola. He divides his time between his houses in Guildford, Surrey, and Helford, Cornwall. Tributes In 2013 a new species of the genus Heteragrion (Odonata: Zygoptera) from Brazil was named Heteragrion rogertaylori in recognition of Taylor for his ‘powerful sound, wonderful lyrics and raspy voice’, and this was one of four species of Heteragrion flatwing damselfly that were named after the band members as a tribute to the 40th anniversary of the formation of Queen.
Taylor became the second individual alive to be included on a Royal Mail stamp, apart from members of the British Royal Family in 1999 and Francis Chichester in 1967; he appeared behind Freddie Mercury in the ‘Great Britons’ series. In 2002 Taylor was included in the ‘Twelve Drummers Drumming’ Christmas card that was part of the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ collection sold by Woolworths for the purpose of raising funds for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, together with Duran Duran’s drummer who shares his name.
At the investiture ceremony held at Windsor Castle in March 2022, he dedicated his OBE to Taylor Hawkins, the Foo Fighters’ drummer who had recently died, and mentioned that Hawkins had been a mentor to his son Rufus. Net Worth Roger Taylor’s net worth is said to be between $170 million and $250 million.
