Bryan Ferry (born 26 September 1945 in Washington, Sunderland) is an English singer, musician, songwriter and occasional actor famed for his suave visual and vocal style, who came to public prominence in the 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with Roxy Music. He is also noted for his subsequent solo career.Ferry formed Roxy Music with a group of friends and acquaintances, beginning with Graham Simpson. The Roxy Music line-up expanded to include Andy Mackay and his acquaintance Brian Eno, who owned tape recorders and played Mackay's synthesiser. Other early members included a timpanist and ex-Nice guitarist David O'List, who were replaced respectively by Paul Thompson and Phil Manzanera before the band recorded its first album. (Early Peel sessions for UK radio station Radio 1 feature O'List's playing.)[6]Roxy Music's first hit, "Virginia Plain", just missed topping the charts, and they followed up with several hit singles and albums, with Ferry as vocalist and occasional instrumentalist (he taught himself piano in his mid-twenties) and Eno contributing synthesiser backing.On a personal level, Ferry was known to date very beautiful women, who often appeared as cover models on the Roxy Music albums. Ferry dated singer and model Amanda Lear, who was photographed with a black jaguar for the cover of the For Your Pleasure album. She later went on to date and create music with David Bowie. [7]For many years, Ferry has collaborated with fashion designer Antony Price for clothing and image consultations. Price is famous for his London shop on King's Road. He created suits recognized worldwide for their elegance, and gained fame when celebrities and rock stars dressed in his designs.After the first two albums, Eno left Roxy Music, leaving Ferry its undisputed leader. Ferry then began a relationship with model Jerry Hall. Hall appeared in several of Ferry's music videos, including "Let's Stick Together" and "The Price of Love." Ferry first met Hall when she posed for the Roxy Music album cover for Siren, which was photographed in Wales during the Summer of 1975. Hall's autobiography ("Tall Tales") describes the photo session, and she elaborates on how the blue body paint she wore to look like a mythical siren would not wash off; Hall says that Ferry took her back to his house to help her remove the paint. Her stay at Ferry's Holland Park (London) home, following the album cover photo shoot, marked the start of their doomed affair.