30 Portraits of a Young Roger Taylor of Queen in the 1970s

Roger Taylor (born July 26, 1949) was Queen’s blond, baby-faced drummer, high-harmony vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and regular songwriter during the band’s rise in the 1970s. He was often described (including by himself) as “the pretty one” of the group, something he later called a mixed blessing because it risked them being taken less seriously as musicians.

Taylor had already played with Brian May in the late-1960s band Smile. In 1970, after Smile’s singer left, Freddie Mercury (then Farrokh Bulsara) joined, the group became Queen, and John Deacon completed the classic lineup in 1971. Taylor and Mercury had shared a flat and worked a Kensington Market stall together around that time. The band’s self-titled debut album came out in 1973 while Taylor was finishing biology studies; they followed with Queen II (1974), Sheer Heart Attack (1974), A Night at the Opera (1975), A Day at the Races (1976), News of the World (1977), and Jazz (1978).

He had natural blond (sometimes bleached) hair that was medium-to-long, a youthful face, and a relatively straightforward rock look compared with Mercury’s theatrical costumes. On stage he focused on powerful, physical drumming rather than elaborate outfits; he once tried a hot Zandra Rhodes costume and quickly abandoned it as impractical for a drummer.

Taylor favored large, tuneful Ludwig kits (big bass drums, deep toms) played with a natural room sound and strong presence that matched Queen’s big production. He contributed at least one song per album in this era and usually sang lead on his own tracks. His piercing falsetto/high range was essential to Queen’s stacked harmonies (including the famous “Galileo” lines in “Bohemian Rhapsody”). He also handled some of the more aggressive screams and higher parts.

The 1970s rock scene was hedonistic, and Taylor has said it was “part of the job to have an outrageously decadent good time.” Early on the band was resourceful and often short of money due to contracts despite growing success; by the later 1970s fame and touring were intense. He met Dominique Beyrand (Richard Branson’s PA) in 1976 around the Hyde Park free concert planning; they later had two children together. He released his first solo single, “(I Wanna) Testify,” in 1977 during News of the World sessions.