Veteran singer and Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry has entered into a partnership with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group “to develop and expand the renowned artist’s musical legacy to new generations of fans,” according to the announcement.
The deal sees the company acquiring 50% of Ferry’s sound recording, publishing, and name, image and likeness rights from his solo work and Roxy Music catalog, which reaches back to the group’s galvanizing 1972 debut album and includes such hit songs as “Love Is the Drug,” “More Than This,” “Avalon,” “Virginia Plain,” “Dance Away,” “Slave to Love” and more. Further terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Ferry said, “I’m pleased to be working with everyone at Iconic on finding new ways to share my music with the world. I’m excited to see what possibilities unfold.”
“Bryan’s unique voice and genre-defying music have earned him a place among the most influential artists of our time,” said Beth Collins, co-president of the Azoff Company. “We are honored to work with him to ensure his legacy continues to inspire and resonate with audiences.”
“Bryan Ferry is a true musical pioneer who blended art, fashion, and rock & roll into a captivating and enduring sound. Iconic is deeply honored to celebrate his enduring influence and share his legendary catalog with the world,” said Iconic president Jimmy Edwards.
Born in 1945 in County Durham in northern England, Ferry studied fine art at Newcastle University, which profoundly influenced his vision for Roxy Music. The group rode the early 1970s glam wave to popularity but soon proved themselves to be something else entirely, with Ferry’s esoteric and multi-genre songs brought to life by the fiery and unusual band including saxophonist Andy Mackay, guitarist Phil Manzanera, drummer Paul Thompson and, crucially, sound-doctor Brian Eno.
The group’s sound became more conventional as the years progressed — Eno left after two albums —and Ferry embraced the traditionalism in his background with a series of solo albums filled with cover versions, beginning with his eponymous solo debut in 1973, which spawned a U.K. hit with his version of Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall.” The group went on hiatus in 1976 after scoring its biggest hit single to date, the proto-disco anthem “Love Is the Drug,” but reunited two years later for a trio of hit albums that concluded with “Avalon” in 1982.
Ferry launched a solo career that scored early success with “Boys and Girls” and “Bete Noire,” and has continued to release albums of originals as well as covers in the years since, along with tours under his own name and a pair of Roxy Music reunion tours.
In 2011 Ferry was awarded a CBE for his contribution to British music. In 2012, he received the French national honor of Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2014 he was made an Honorary Doctor of Music by Newcastle University. Roxy Music was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
Ferry’s deal with Iconic follows the company’s acquisitions of catalogs from Rod Stewart, the Beach Boys, Cher, Dean Martin, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Nat King Cole, Linda Ronstadt, and Joe Cocker.
