The lead singer of one of Britain’s most successful rock bands ever, Status Quo, has been nominated for a Southwark Blue Plaque.
Francis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi, OBE was born in Forest Hill in 1949 and since then has never moved away from South London.
His Italian family ran Rossi’s Ice Cream business, which would have been his one day had he not pursued music.
At school at Sedgehill Comprehensive in Lewisham, Rossi became close friends with future Status Quo bassist Alan Lancaster while playing trumpet in the orchestra.
The two, along with other classmates, formed a band called the Scorpions and played their first gig at the Samuel Jones Sports Club in Dulwich.
Who has been nominated for a Southwark Blue Plaque and how to vote
During its early stages, The Scorpions went through various rebrands – first The Spectres, having found drummer John Coghlan, then Traffic, Traffic Jam and finally in 1967 the group became Status Quo.
To date, the band has sold over 128 million albums worldwide and toured the globe.
Quo has recorded 64 British hit singles – more than any other band – with classics like Caroline, Pictures of Matchstick Men, Down Down, The Wanderer and Rockin’ All Over the World, that many will know and love.
Rossi wrote many of these hits, playing them on his trademark green Fender Telecaster, which sold at auction in 2014 for £100,000.
In 1991, Status Quo won the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.
Despite indulging in all the activity common for a rockstar of that era – including his revelation that he had spent £1.7 million on cocaine in the eighties – by the millennium Rossi was used to a tamer lifestyle.
He later said in an interview with Louder – “Rock ’n’ roll to me is the music, the rest is nonsense.”
According to phone records, at one point, he lived above the chemist at 3 Shawbury Court, Lordship Lane, now a Leyland – which was where he wrote Caroline with fellow songwriter and roadie, Bob Young.
Aside from the band, individual successes have come his way too. Rossi has so far recorded two solo records, as well as a collaborative album with vocalist Hannah Rickard, titled ‘We Talk Too Much’ – a reference to his 2019 Sunday Times bestselling autobiography ‘I Talk Too Much’.
Rossi was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to music and charity, along with bandmate Rick Parfitt, who sadly died in 2016.
Over the years they raised more than £3 million for causes Nordoff Robbins, the Prince’s Trust and the Heart Foundation, as well as opening at Live Aid.
Now 74 years old he is still performing, doing ‘one man’ shows titled ‘Tunes and Chat’.
Given his ceaseless and astounding career, it is no surprise to learn that he is known in some circles as the ‘GOMOR’ – the grand old man of rock.
He currently resides in Croydon with his wife Eileen.
To vote for Francis Rossi for a Southwark Blue Plaque please email isabel@southwarknews.co.uk