Original Paul Rodgers era (1973–1982) Bad Company was formed in
Westminster,
London. The band's 1974 debut album,
Bad Company, was recorded at
Headley Grange, Hampshire, in
Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio. The album reached number one on the
Billboard 200 in the US, and number 3 in the
UK Albums Chart, spending 25 weeks in the UK charts. The album has been certified five times platinum in the US, and became the 46th–best-selling album of the 1970s. The singles "
Can't Get Enough" and "Movin' On" reached No. 5 and No. 19 on the
Billboard Hot 100. In 1975, their second album,
Straight Shooter, reached No. 3 in both the UK and the US and also went platinum in the US. The album also spawned two hit singles, "
Good Lovin' Gone Bad" at No. 36 and the slower "
Feel Like Makin' Love" at No. 10. Their third album,
Run with the Pack, was released in 1976 and reached No. 4 in the UK and No. 5 in the US. Bad Company scheduled a British tour with the band of former Free member
Paul Kossoff,
Back Street Crawler, to support the album, as well as a new album by Back Street Crawler. This double headline tour was scheduled to commence on 25 April 1976 but was halted due to Kossoff's death on 19 March 1976. Released in 1977, ''
Burnin' Sky'' fared the poorest of their first four records, reaching No. 15 in the US and No. 17 in the UK. A three-year hiatus from the studio ended with the release of
Rough Diamonds in August 1982. This would be the sixth and final LP in the group's original incarnation until four new songs were recorded in 1998. The album was the worst-selling Bad Company album of those featuring Paul Rodgers as the front man. The album peaked at No. 15 in the UK and No. 26 in the US. Despite being famous for their live shows packing the largest stadiums for almost a decade, Bad Company did not release an official live album of performances from this period until they recorded
What You Hear Is What You Get: The Best of Bad Company on the
Here Comes Trouble tour during the
Brian Howe era. The album was released in November 1993 and featured live versions of hits from both the Paul Rodgers era and the Brian Howe era. In 2006, the album
Live in Albuquerque 1976 was released, compiled from recordings made by Mick Ralphs, who regularly taped the group's shows during the Rodgers era and used the tapes to critique the band's performances.
Bootlegs of Bad Company's live performances from this period were also available, including "Boblingen Live" (1974), "Live in Japan" (1975) and "Shooting Star Live at the L.A. Forum" (1975).
Brian Howe era (1986–1994) In 1985, Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke, having just worked together the previous year on Ralphs' solo album
Take This, decided to reteam for a new project. But in 1986, their label,
Atlantic Records, insisted they resume the Bad Company name. However, Paul Rodgers was already engaged with a new supergroup called
The Firm. With Rodgers gone, the remaining two members partnered with new managers Bud Prager and
Phil Carson and teamed up with ex-
Ted Nugent vocalist
Brian Howe (who was introduced to them by
Foreigner's
Mick Jones) as the new lead singer. In addition, Steve Price joined the band as the new bass player and Greg Dechert (ex-
Uriah Heep) joined on keyboards. Howe's vocal style brought more of a pop-rock sound to the band, which Atlantic Records was looking for to bring the band back up to arena status after declining turnouts to previous live performances and the dismal sales of
Rough Diamonds. The band hired Foreigner producer
Keith Olsen to produce the new line-up's initial album, 1986's
Fame and Fortune. Burrell agreed to rejoin the band and was name checked on the
Fame and Fortune album, even though he didn't play on it. But just before the supporting tour, he left once again (Steve Price then returned) to play with a jazz outfit called The Tam White Band. Reflecting the musical style of the mid-1980s,
Fame and Fortune was laden with keyboards, unlike previous Bad Company albums, but was only modestly successful. The single "This Love" managed to reach No. 85 on the Singles chart but was not the success the band hoped for. In 1987 Dechert was dropped from the line-up as the group decided not to play up the keyboards in their sound as much. They toured that year supporting
Deep Purple. For the next Howe-era album, 1988's
Dangerous Age, the band replaced Olsen with producer
Terry Thomas, who got rid of most of the keyboards and returned the band to a guitar-driven sound. Thomas also added small amounts of keyboards as well as rhythm guitars and backing vocals and wrote most of the songs with the band.
Dangerous Age fared better than its predecessor, spawning several MTV videos and the AOR hits "
No Smoke Without a Fire" (No. 4), "One Night" (No. 9) and "Shake It Up" (No. 9, also No. 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart). The album went gold and hit the Top 60. For the
Dangerous Age tour, the band was augmented by Larry Oakes (keyboards, guitar), who had also played with Foreigner. Price and Oakes both left at the conclusion of the tour. The band's next album,
Holy Water, written mostly by Brian Howe and Terry Thomas, was released in June 1990. The album, also produced by Thomas, was enormously successful both critically and commercially, attaining Top 40 and platinum status by selling more than one million copies.
Holy Water was the band's first album on the Atlantic subsidiary
Atco. The album spun off the singles: "If You Needed Somebody" (No. 16), the title track "Holy Water" (No. 89) and "Walk Through Fire" (No. 28). "Holy Water" also hit No. 1 for 2 weeks on the AOR charts with "If You Needed Somebody" reaching No. 2. The album received significant radio airplay (five songs made the AOR charts in all) and spawned several video hits. Felix Krish played bass on the CD while Paul Cullen was recruited for live shows. Ralphs, who was taking care of personal and family matters, sat out for most of the
Holy Water tour, although he did perform on the album. Beginning in June 1990, Ralphs was replaced on the road and in the videos by ex-Crawler guitarist
Geoff Whitehorn and producer Thomas guested on rhythm guitar and keyboards. Ralphs returned later on during the tour (in April 1991) and Whitehorn went on to join
Procol Harum in December 1991, with whom he played up till their 2022 dissolution after
Gary Brooker's death. Also joining at this time was ex-ASAP guitarist
Dave "Bucket" Colwell as the second guitarist. Their subsequent tour, supported by
Damn Yankees, was one of the top five grossing tours of 1991. The final studio album of the Howe era, 1992's
Here Comes Trouble, featured the Top 40 hit "How About That" (No. 38) and "This Could Be the One" (No. 87). The album went gold. Before touring in support of
Here Comes Trouble, the band added ex-Foreigner,
Roxy Music and
Small Faces bassist
Rick Wills and Colwell, a protégé of Ralphs, was now a full-time member. The band toured with several acts, including
Lynyrd Skynyrd, and recorded a live album,
What You Hear Is What You Get: The Best of Bad Company on the
Here Comes Trouble tour. The album, released in November 1993, featured live versions of hits from both the Rodgers and Howe eras of the band. Howe left the band in 1994. Regarding his departure from the band, Howe stated: "Leaving Bad Company was not a difficult decision. It had got to the point where nobody was contributing anything to songwriting and quite frankly, the band was getting very very sloppy live. I quite simply, along with Terry Thomas, got tired of doing all the work and then getting nothing but resentment for it from Mick and Simon."
Robert Hart era (1994–1998) In 1994, ex-
Distance frontman
Robert Hart was approached by Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke and asked if he would like to join them as the third lead vocalist for Bad Company, following
Paul Rodgers and Brian Howe. Hart performed with Bad Company, including in the USA and Canada. In July 1994 a contract was drawn up by Alliance Artists and Legend Management and signed by the then Bad Company line-up, Mick Ralphs, Simon Kirke, Hart, Dave Colwell and Rick Wills giving Hart the right to perform, write and record songs and albums and receive
royalty payments as a full Bad Company member. In 1995, a self-produced Bad Company album was released with Hart,
Company of Strangers. It contained five tracks self-penned or co-written by Hart and Ralphs. Many of these were recorded in Nashville and featured guest appearances by country stars such as Vince Gill. The band made a promotional tour of the US with
Bon Jovi. Griffin Music of America also re-issued Ralphs' solo album
Take This! on CD. In 1996, another Bad Co album,
Stories Told & Untold, featured Hart with seven new compositions and seven acoustic versions including "Can't Get Enough" and "Ready For Love". For their 1996 tour, the Bad Company line-up was: Kirke, Hart, Rick Wills, and Dave "Bucket" Colwell. Ralphs sat out this tour due to health issues, which he had also done frequently during the Brian Howe era. On 2 July 2008 it was announced that the original remaining line-up of Bad Company would do a one-off gig at the
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida on 8 August 2008. For this show, the surviving three were joined by
Howard Leese (guitar, formerly of
Heart) and bassist Lynn Sorenson. According to Paul Rodgers, they did this gig to "protect the legacy they have built and cement the rights to the trademark Bad Company for touring." The live performance was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and CD on 9 February 2010 and the tracks include 17 Bad Company hits. Rodgers dedicated "Gone, Gone, Gone" to original bassist Boz Burrell, who died in 2006. Paul Rodgers, Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke (again joined by Leese and Sorenson) performed together again during the summer of 2009, playing 10 shows throughout the United States. The band then played shows in the UK during April 2010 before embarking on tours through North America and Japan that lasted from July to October. Mick Ralphs was forced to pull out of the Japan dates, as he was undergoing hip replacement surgery. Leese handled lead guitar for the Japanese tour. In March 2011 a budget live release
Extended Versions was issued, taken from the band's UK tour in 2010. The CD debuted at No. 139 on the
Billboard 200 and featured 10 selections, peaking at No. 84 on the chart. This became the first Bad Company album to chart in 12 years. In March 2012 it was announced that Bad Company would be performing a short run of European festival dates beginning on 9 June at the
Sweden Rock Festival in
Sölvesborg. This would mark the first time in 37 years the band had performed in the European continent, outside the UK. However, it was announced in May that the German festival dates were cancelled but that the Sweden Rock Festival show was still on. In June 2012 Todd Ronning, from Rodgers' solo band, took over bass, playing alongside second guitarist Howard Leese, who was celebrating his fourth year with the band. In March 2013 Bad Company and
Lynyrd Skynyrd announced a joint 40th Anniversary Tour commemorating the 40th anniversary of Skynyrd's first album release and Bad Company's formation. On 10 June 2013,Bad Company appeared on
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, kicking off their commemorative tour throughout the United States and Canada. And in 2014, Bad Company once again announced a joint summer tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Bad Company's first two studio albums,
Bad Company (1974) and
Straight Shooter (1975), were re-released on CD, digital and vinyl on 7 April and 1 July 2015 respectively. The release encompassed the original albums newly remastered in 2015, alongside single b-sides, studio demos, interviews and previously unreleased songs from vault. In 2016 Bad Company announced a US tour with
Joe Walsh. Ralphs initially said that he would not participate in this tour and that
Rich Robinson of
the Black Crowes would stand in for him. In June 2016 the group announced a UK arena tour with special guests
Richie Sambora and
Orianthi, culminating in a show at London's
O2 Arena on 29 October. Ralphs rejoined the band for the duration of the tour. But after the band's concluding performance in London, it was reported that Ralphs had been hospitalized after suffering a stroke. He never returned to the band and his lead guitar parts were played by second guitarist
Howard Leese and keyboard parts by Rodgers. In 2017 Bad Company resumed touring with Rodgers, Kirke, Todd Ronning on bass and Howard Leese on lead guitar. Bad Company once again teamed with Lynyrd Skynyrd for Skynyrd's
The Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour, which started on 4 May 2018 at the
Coral Sky Amphitheater in
Palm Beach, Florida and ran through the summer. Former lead singer Brian Howe died 6 May 2020, aged 66. In November 2023 Kirke stated in an interview on the
Bob Lefsetz Podcast that Bad Company were "pretty much over", citing Rodgers' recent health problems as a factor. In 2025, Bad Company was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by
Mick Fleetwood. Rodgers had previously rejected offers for induction, stating that "I don't think rock 'n' roll belongs in a museum". Ralphs died of complications from his stroke on 23 June 2025, aged 81, leaving Kirke and Rodgers as the only surviving members of the original line-up of Bad Company. == Musical style ==