Culture | Music Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera has become an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). The 73-year-old English songwriter and record producer was mentioned in the King’s Birthday Honours List for his services to music. His most well known band, including singer Bryan Ferry , oboist Andy Mackay and drummer Paul Thompson, is famed for hits like Virginia Plain and Love is The Drug and topped the singles charts just once with a cover of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy.
Born in London in 1951 to a British father and Colombian mother, Manzanera spent a chunk of his early life in South America . Earlier this year, his memoir Revolucion to Roxy was released which explored him growing up in 1950s Cuba, Hawaii and Venezuela amid changing Governments and Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s rise before he began his music career. He was part of Quiet Sun along with Charles Hayward and Bill MacCormick, who had worked with Robert Wyatt as part of the Canterbury scene with Matching Mole.
In 1972, aged 21, Manzanera became lead guitarist in the line-up of Ferry, Brian Eno , Thompson and Mackay and the band released their self-titled debut album Roxy Music. They followed that up with 1973’s For Your Pleasure before Eno quit, and the band came out with Stranded, Country Life, Siren, Manifesto and Flesh And Blood. However, they went on hiatus in 1983 following the release of their chart-topping record Avalon, one of the band’s four UK number ones.
They reunited in 2001 f.
