Roger Meddows Taylor was born on the 26th July 1949 in Kings Lynn,
Norfolk (his middle name has been passed through the generations).
He decided to teach himself to play the ukulele at the age of eight
after watching his cousin. His first band, called The BubblingOver
Boys, was formed with some friends, though Roger admits that none
of them could play properly. At the age of eleven, when Roger was
awarded a choral scholership to the Truro Cathedral School, he had
saved enough to buy an inexpensive acoustic guitar, but soon found
percussion was for him, - after forming the band Cousin Jacks and
playing rhythm guitar initially, he moved to the more enjoyable
drums. A year later, he joined another band called Johnny Quale
and the Reaction (later changed to Reaction), which Roger played
and sang with for several years.

Roger was a good medical student, and was at the London Hospital
Medical School studyng dentistry when a friend told him of a notice
on the Imperial College bulletin board. Brian May and Tim Staffell
were looking for a dummer, so Roger applied. Brian and Tim were so
impressed with him, they took him on (Brian was once quoted saying
"we saw him tuning a hihat and thought he was perfect"). Smile was
born.

Over time Smile became Queen when Tim left and Freddie Mercury and
John Deacon joined, and since then Roger has had a number of hits.
Always known for his powerful influence on girls and the strange
names given to his children, Roger wrote three out of the four UK
number one songs for Queen (though all three, Under Pressure,
Innuendo and These Are The Days Of Our Lives were released as
"written by Queen"), as well as the famous Radio Ga Ga and the more
recent Heaven For Everyone.

Roger has released a number of solo albums, three of which are with
The Cross, the band he was with between 1988 and 1991. Admittedly,
however, he has never been as successful as Freddie and Brian with
his solo songs, the highest being number 22 with Nazis 1994.