This book, titled Duran Duran, was written by Maria David, first published in 1984 (Great Britain by Colour Library Books Ltd), my edition was published in 1984 by Crescent Books and distributed by Crown Publishers Inc. ISBN # 0 517 460122.

Lots of great pictures in this. It has a gossipy tone to it. You know, how they were laughed at in the beginning because of how they dressed (frilly shirts) and then in a few short years became a vision of decadent jet setters with poster boy looks that were hounded by the press. There is a background history of the individuals and of the group. The usual mention of Simon's pink leopard skin pants; Roger's runaway elephant during the filming of 7 & The Ragged Tiger; MTV, Andy's wedding; Andy's near collapse from exhaustion during their extensive touring; a so-called tax exile for a year; their unstated yet fierce competition with Culture Club; their poor performance during the Prince's Trust gala, bad feelings and publicity from MENCAP; Simon's engagement to Claire Stansfield, Nick's girlfriend, Julie Anne and John's girlfriend, Janine Andrews; the expensive photo session for the 7 & The Ragged Tiger cover; and John's second love in life, cars.

All in all there were very few surprises in here for me. One of them was when the author stated that John is the heartthrob of the group, however, Simon gets more media attention. She also went on to say that he handles it well, except his feathers were ruffled over the press his engagement garnered. The reason this surprised me is because I had the impression that Simon was considered the heartthrob even though I prefer John. This book was pretty much fluff.