Bryan Ferry on his early artistic inspirations
Before beginning his music career with Roxy Music in 1970, Bryan Ferry had ambitions to be an artist and studied fine art at university. However, the microphone’s beckoning call proved too much, and Ferry founded the band with a group of friends in London.
Opening up on some of his early musical experience, Ferry detailed an interesting story. “My road to Damascus experience was in 1967 when I hitchhiked from Newcastle to London to see the Stax/Volt Revue,” he said. “I didn’t have any money, but somebody might give you a lift for 50 miles, then 20… It was a pilgrimage and a very powerful experience, seeing incredible musicians, one after another: Eddie Floyd, Steve Cropper.”
The Stax singers left quite an impression on Ferry. He remembers: “Really powerful singing, and it was very visual…Sam and Dave came on in canary yellow suits. Otis Redding strode across the stage in a bright red suit, grabbing the audience from the first note. It was like all these great records coming to life in front of you.”
Arguably that was the moment at which Ferry believed that he could make a career from singing. He noted: “I’d sung for a couple of years in college [in local band the Gas Board] and had sort of retired by then to concentrate on my art studies, but that show changed my life. I thought: ‘This is something I wish I could do‘.”
Ferry had studied art under the artist Richard Hamilton and claims that he, too, was a significant influence on his career. “He was such a cool and charismatic figure,” Ferry said. “I remember being quite in awe of him at tutorials as he paced the room, cigar in hand, intense and eloquent.”
He added: “He was the most intellectual of artists, and it was inspiring to be around him in the mid-1960s when he was doing such great work. His enthusiasm for American pop culture had a big impact on me at an impressionable age, and his well-known collage ‘Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?’ led to my own interest in making collages of sound.”
Perhaps the most important influence in anyone’s life, though, is where they are born, and Ferry notes a particular pride at having grown up in the North East of England. “As a family, we were poor, but everyone worked hard, got on with life and had a good time,” he said.
“I learned a lot from both of [my parents],” he added. “Especially that strong work ethic. After graduating from art school in Newcastle, I moved to London to do what I had to do. I love my trips back north. A sense of humour is important up there, and it’s something I have in common with Roxy’s Paul Thompson, a fellow Geordie.”
