1962–1967: Formative years Status Quo were formed in 1962 under the name the Paladins by
Francis Rossi (vocals, guitar) and
Alan Lancaster (bass) at
Sedgehill Comprehensive School,
Catford, London, along with classmates Jess Jaworski (keyboards) and Alan Key (drums). In 1965, when Rossi, Lancaster and Jaworski left school, Jaworski opted to leave the band and was replaced by Roy Lynes. During 1965, the band played a summer season residency at
Butlins Holiday Camp in Minehead, during which they met
Rick Parfitt, who was playing guitar with a cabaret band called the Highlights. By the end of the residency, Rossi and Parfitt – who had become close friends – made a commitment to stay friends and work together at some point in the future. On 18 July 1966, the Spectres signed a five-year deal with
Piccadilly Records, releasing two singles that year, "
I (Who Have Nothing)" (first recorded by
Joe Sentieri and most famously covered by
Tom Jones) and "
Hurdy Gurdy Man" (an original song by Alan Lancaster), and one the next year called "
(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet" (originally recorded by New York psychedelic band the
Blues Magoos). In 1967, the group's sound began moving towards
psychedelia and they renamed themselves Traffic, but were soon forced to change it to Traffic Jam to avoid confusion with
Steve Winwood's new band
Traffic, following an argument over who had registered the name first.
1968–1970: Breakthrough and development of classic style ,
John Coghlan,
Rick Parfitt, Roy Lynes,
Alan Lancaster In January 1968, the group released the
psychedelic-flavoured "
Pictures of Matchstick Men". In 1976, Bown also began playing live with the band and was eventually made an official member of Status Quo in 1981.
1970–1981: "Frantic Four" era in London, 1978 The first recording by the four-piece line-up, often referred to as "the Frantic Four", was the late 1970 single "
In My Chair", followed by Status Quo's fourth album
Dog of Two Head in 1971. In 1972 the band left Pye Records and signed with the heavy rock and progressive label
Vertigo Records. "Down Down" topped the UK singles chart in January 1975, becoming their only
UK number one single to date. From 1977 onwards, the band's sound became more polished as they began to employ outside producers.
Roger Glover of
Deep Purple and
Rainbow was the first outside producer to work with Quo since
Pye's
John Schroeder in the early 1970s, and produced the non-album single "Wild Side of Life" and its
B-side "All Through The Night" in 1976. The next three studio albums, ''
Rockin' All Over the World (1977), If You Can't Stand the Heat... (1978) and Whatever You Want'' (1979), were produced by
Pip Williams, while the band's first two albums of the 1980s, ''
Just Supposin' (1980) and Never Too Late (1981), were produced by John Eden. All five of these albums went top five in the UK. The title track of Rockin' All Over the World'', a minor hit for its writer
John Fogerty (formerly of
Creedence Clearwater Revival), became one of Status Quo's most enduring anthems. Although contracted to record more albums, 1984 saw the band set out on what was intended to be their last tour, dubbed the 'End of the Road'. To coincide with the tour, the band released their second greatest hits album,
12 Gold Bars Vol. 2, for which they recorded a cover of "
The Wanderer" by
Dion. The song was issued as a single and reached number seven, while the album reached number 12. "Deciding to retire from the road – all that was about was getting Francis a solo career," declared Lancaster. "Nobody on the outside knew it, but he didn't want to work with me or Rick anymore." Status Quo's final appearance with the Kircher line-up opened the
Live Aid charity event at Wembley Stadium in July 1985. The injunction also prevented the release of a single, "Naughty Girl", for which a catalogue number was issued by Vertigo. An out-of-court settlement was made in January 1986, giving Rossi and Parfitt the rights to the band's name, enabling the new line-up to continue work on the
In the Army Now album, for which "Naughty Girl" was reworked as "Dreamin'". Lancaster remained in Australia, and in 1986 joined an Australian
supergroup,
the Party Boys, featuring
Angry Anderson of
Rose Tattoo,
John Brewster of
the Angels and
Kevin Borich, but achieved little success outside Australia. In 1986, Quo supported
Queen on the latter's
Magic Tour. The commercially successful
In the Army Now album was released later that year, peaking at number seven on the UK Albums Chart. Its title track became one of the band's biggest UK singles, reaching number two. 1992 brought the band's third live album,
Live Alive Quo. The next studio album, 1994's
Thirsty Work, included a cover of the
Jennifer Warnes song "
I'm Restless" revealing an alternative and lighter sound to the band. However, the growths in Parfitt's throat were found to be
benign and were successfully removed. In May 2006, a fully recovered Parfitt and the band returned to the NEC Birmingham to play the show that they had postponed in December. This was their 40th show at the venue, and was filmed for a DVD, entitled ''Just Doin' It''. in London On 1 July 2007, they performed in front of 63,000 people at the newly built
Wembley Stadium as part of the
Concert for Diana. Their twenty-eighth studio album,
In Search of the Fourth Chord, was released in September 2007, on the band's own Fourth Chord label in the UK, and on Edel Records in the rest of Europe. The title is a self-satirical response to the frequent criticism that they are a
three-chord band. Produced by
Pip Williams, who had worked with Quo on and off in the studio since 1977, the album was only moderately successful. In 2008, they teamed up with German
techno group
Scooter to record a
jumpstyle version of their 1979 single "
Whatever You Want" entitled "
Jump That Rock (Whatever You Want)". In December 2008, they released their 75th single and first Christmas single, entitled "
It's Christmas Time", which peaked at number 40 in the UK Singles Chart. The track was from the new
Pictures – 40 Years of Hits greatest hits album. The following year a new live album and DVD,
Pictures – Live at Montreux, was released.
2010–2013: Hello Quo, "Frantic Four" reunion tours and Bula Quo! Rossi and Parfitt were each awarded the
OBE in the
2010 New Year Honours for services to music and their long-standing charity work, including for
The Prince's Trust,
British Heart Foundation and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy.
Classic Rock magazine reported on 17 March 2010 that the band had patched up their relationship with Lancaster, and were discussing the possibility of a future collaboration. The article stated "While the band are back on friendly terms with Alan, it's unlikely we'll see any future reunion, with Quo continuing as normal and Lancaster busy with charity events and overseeing the activities of his son's band The Presence". Later that month, on 26 September, a new version of "In the Army Now", titled "In the Army Now (2010)", was released through Universal / UMC as a single, with all profits from the single donated equally to the
British Forces Foundation and
Help for Heroes charities.
Live at the BBC, a
box set of sessions, live concerts and TV appearances at the BBC was released on 24 October 2010. The set was released in various formats: a full 7CD and 1DVD version covering almost all appearances, while the 2CD and 4CD versions present some highlights; the DVD was also released individually. The album peaked at number 10 on the UK chart. it screened in cinemas on 22 October 2012, and was released on
Blu-ray and DVD the following week. The documentary included contributions from
Brian May,
Jeff Lynne,
Cliff Richard,
Joe Elliott,
Paul Weller,
Joe Brown,
Jim Lea,
Andy Scott, and
Steve Diggle. In April 2012, Status Quo announced they were shooting their first feature film, over several weeks in
Fiji. A 90-minute action comedy, entitled
Bula Quo!, taking its name from the islanders' traditional Fijian greeting, and also referencing the title of the band's best-selling album,
Hello! featuring the band as themselves, and also starring
Jon Lovitz,
Craig Fairbrass and
Laura Aikman. The film was directed by Stuart St. Paul, produced by Tim Major and was released in cinemas on 5 July 2013. The film was accompanied by a soundtrack album of the same name, the band's 30th studio album, released on 10 June. It featured nine new songs and ten re-records and live tracks.
Bula Quo! debuted in the UK chart at number 10. On 9 July 2012, the band released the single "The Winner" for the
2012 Summer Olympics. In July 2012
Coles, an Australian national supermarket chain, signed Status Quo to record a version of "Down Down" using Coles' tag line 'Down, down, prices are down'. In September 2012, the band performed at Hyde Park for BBC Radio 2
Live in Hyde Park. In November 2012, Coles continued their association with Status Quo, producing a series of television adverts with the band appearing and performing "It's Christmas Time". In 2013, new adverts were released by Coles with Quo using "Whatever You Want" as the new jingle. In December that year, Quo toured under the Quofest banner for a second year, this time supported by
Bonnie Tyler and
Eddie and the Hot Rods. In December 2012, Letley announced his decision to leave the band after 12 years, and subsequently departed following completion of their 2012 winter tour. However, Letley toured with Quo on their Australia and Mexico tour in March and April 2013, due to limited time to find a new drummer after the Frantic Four Tour. The 1970–1981 line-up (Rossi, Parfitt, Lancaster and Coghlan) reunited as "The Frantic Four" in March 2013 for a series of dates in Manchester, Wolverhampton, Glasgow and London. Three live albums were issued from the tour, covering the O2 Academy in Glasgow (9 and 10 March 2013), the Hammersmith Apollo (15 and 16 March 2013) and the last date of the tour at Wembley Arena (17 March 2013), with the Wembley show also being filmed for a DVD. In May 2013, Leon Cave became Quo's new drummer. On 25 November 2013, it was announced that Status Quo would headline the second stage at the
Download Festival in June 2014.
2014–present: Aquostic, Parfitt's death and Backbone In January 2014,
Wychwood Brewery announced they would be releasing a Status Quo brand of beer, named after their 1972 album
Piledriver, exclusively in
JD Wetherspoon pubs across the UK in February, before going on general sale in April. March 2014 saw the second 'Frantic Four' reunion tour featuring Rossi and Parfitt with original members Lancaster and Coghlan with their last gig being at
The O2 in Dublin, which was recorded and filmed for album and DVD release, both titled ''The Frantic Four's Final Fling''. Rossi indicated that this would be the last reunion tour of the 'Frantic Four' line-up. On 8 March 2014, Rossi and Parfitt appeared on ITV show ''
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' performing "Rockin' All Over the World" with
McBusted. In August 2014, it was reported that founding keyboardist Jess Jaworski had died. In October 2014, Parfitt and Rossi appeared on BBC's
The One Show, performing an acoustic version of "
Pictures of Matchstick Men". On 22 October 2014, the band launched their
Aquostic – Stripped Bare album with a 90-minute performance at London's
Roundhouse, with the concert recorded and broadcast live by
BBC Radio 2 as part of their
In Concert series. A live album and DVD of the concert, both titled
Aquostic – Live at the Roundhouse, were issued in 2015. Footage from the concert was later used, interspersed with interviews with Rossi and Parfitt, in
BBC Four's
Status Quo: Live and Acoustic, in January 2017. On 9 May 2015, the band performed "
In the Army Now" at the
VE Day 70: A Party to Remember. On 5 June that year, Status Quo were the headline act at
Palmerston Park in
Dumfries, at the stadium of
Queen of the South and were supported by Reef and
Big Country, in the first ever live concert at the venue. in Germany (pictured in 2015) On 1 February 2016, it was announced that Status Quo, in addition to the spring and summer dates already scheduled, would tour Europe starting in October. The final dates would take place in the UK towards the end of the year, after which the group would retire from playing 'electric' tours. The 'Last of The Electrics' tour was subsequently extended into 2017, with additional concerts outside the UK. The band performed in Aquostic line-up at BBC Radio 2's
Live in Hyde Park, in September 2016. Their next album ''
Aquostic II – That's a Fact!'' was released on 21 October that year. On 28 October 2016, Parfitt permanently retired from live performances after suffering a heart attack earlier the same year. On 24 December, he died in hospital in
Marbella, Spain as a result of severe infection, after suffering an injury to his shoulder. Parfitt's funeral was held at
Woking Crematorium on 19 January 2017. Irish guitarist
Richie Malone, who had substituted for Parfitt during some 2016 live shows, took his place in the group on rhythm guitar, playing on both recorded material and at live shows. The band had to postpone a concert in June 2017 after frontman Rossi became ill. 2017 and 2018 saw the releases of three new live albums,
The Last Night of the Electrics,
Down Down and Dirty at Wacken and
Down Down and Dignified at the Royal Albert Hall, with the former two also having companion DVD releases. In June 2019, Status Quo were the special guests for
Lynyrd Skynyrd, on their UK farewell tour. On 14 June 2019, the band announced that they were working on
Backbone, their 33rd studio album – the first Status Quo studio album not to feature Parfitt. On 25 August 2019, the band appeared on ITV show
The Sara Cox Show where Rossi spoke about the new album
Backbone and his autobiography
I Talk Too Much, after which they performed an upcoming track called "Liberty Lane" as well as "Rockin' All Over the World".
Backbone was released on 6 September 2019 and reached number six in the UK Albums Chart. On Christmas Day 2019, the band appeared on Channel 4's
The Great British Bake Off, performing "Rockin' All Over the World". In August 2020, Status Quo cancelled their forty-date
Backbone UK and European tour because of the COVID-19 pandemic; various commitments for the following year meant the band were unable to reschedule the shows in 2021. On 26 September 2021, co-founder Alan Lancaster died at the age of 72 following a battle with
multiple sclerosis. The band's next tour,
Out Out Quoing, took place in 2022, starting off in the UK, followed by concerts in Germany. In 2024, the band completed a UK and European tour. ==Touring data==