John Taylor

John was born Nigel John Taylor on June 20, 1960, in Birmingham, England. He later switched his name around because he liked the way it sounded. Photos of him as a baby show someone already tall for his age, with an angelic smile and a wicked gleam in his eye.

Dark-haired, dark-eyed John is an only child. His father is a white-collar worker at a car-parts factory. His mother works part-time in a school cafeteria. They still live in the same house in the Birmingham suburb of Hollywood that John was raised in.

Like the other members of the band, John showed little interest in school, preferring to listen to David Bowie records with his friends and read the English music paper, the New Musical Express. One bright spot for John was his discovery that music lessons were given at school. But when he asked the teacher for guitar lessons, he was informed that only "proper orchestra instruments" were taught. Soon after that, he got his first guitar and taught himself to play. He later switched to bass when he became fascinated with funk.

John now says he wishes he'd learned to play the piano and paid more attention in language classes, but he still recalls, "I'd be sitting there and I'd think, 'Well, what's the point of this? I wish they'd teach me to drive instead.'"

He next went on to art college. At first, he did very well, earning top grades for his first project. "I did the whole thing on black plastic," he says, "and only used red, black, and white, 'cause I was on a red, black, and white trip at the time."

He was not as fortunate the next time, though, when he attempted to make his final presentation of the year the first Duran Duran demo tape. "They didn't know quite how to handle it," he grins, "but they had to give me the benefit of the doubt and pass me for the course."

John, who still lives in Birmingham, is a James Bond fanatic who owns video copies of all the Bond movies, though the ones starring Sean Connery (especially Goldfinger) are his favorites. He confesses that he is hooked on Bond "to the point of obsession."

His obsession with Bond even affects his other obsession, cars--he recently bought a Bond-type gold Aston Martin. He also loves Porsches, BMWs, and any kind of Mercedes-Benz.

John loves to go out to nightclubs and parties in whatever city he happens to be in, and describes himself as "a pretty cheerful sort of chap."

He also has a secret fondness for Big Macs.

Photo captions: p. 22 "John is quite outspoken, and his views are sometimes controversial."; p. 23 "John gets very excited when he plays live."; p. 24 "John says he'd really like to stop smoking."