INTERVIEW:
QUEEN'S ROGER TAYLOR AND HIS DAUGHTER, RORY!Excerpt from the interview for those who can't access it in the link below...:
Rory:
I always knew what Dad did for a living, and I looked up to him with a feeling of awe — and I loved the music — but I was generally quite shy and never talked about him. At school people did find out eventually, of course, and there was some teasing, kids clapping to the beat of a particular Queen hit, for example. Not great to have to endure, perhaps, but that was the extent of it.
I knew I wanted to become a doctor from an early age. With my dad in music, and my mum [Dominique Beyrand, Roger’s first wife] working for Virgin Records back then — she’s a bereavement counsellor now — they were always clear that I should do whatever I wanted. I knew that I wanted to help people, so I studied medicine and qualified as a GP in 2011.
There’s a lot of pressure in a job like this, and very long hours, but I love it, and Dad has always been so supportive.
I’ve always gone to see Queen play live and I love that they still do it with such passion and that they are such perfectionists. And Dad is still incredibly healthy at 70, but then drumming is like a proper workout. He’s very fit.
When he told me that Queen were rerecording We Are the Champions, retitled You Are the Champions in support of healthcare workers on the front line, I was so proud of him. So when he asked if I’d be in the video, I said: “Sure, why not?” I’ve never wanted to be in the limelight, so to find myself in a pop video, it’s strange.
I grew up in London with my older brother, Felix, and Dad was in the country with his second wife and three children, my half-siblings. But we would see each other a lot, and it was always the five of us. I think we saw one another as a unit and Mum was really good at making that happen. There were lots of family holidays, lots of weekends together.
Dad used to take me out on our own little Wednesday night dates to the cinema, and then to have a massive burger. He took me to the Venice Film Festival when I was nine. We saw Sleepers, which is pretty violent. I was far too young for it. We were sitting next to Kevin Bacon, who plays a baddie in the film. He kept covering my eyes and telling me that he wasn’t a bad man really. I was, like, “I have no idea what’s going on, it’s fine.”
I’ve always had a very close relationship with my dad, and we meet up regularly — for dinner or to go and watch Chelsea play — so life in lockdown right now is difficult. I work as a GP in west London, but my average working day has become very different: lots of phone and video consultations, and when I do meet patients in person, personal protective equipment is absolutely necessary. I had very mild symptoms of the coronavirus several weeks ago, before testing was available for health workers, so I self-isolated.Whenever I speak to Dad on the phone now, the first thing he asks about is my PPE.
I’m looking forward to life getting back to normal, as we all are. I want to go down to Cornwall, where he lives with his wife, Sarina [Potgieter], and have a good Cornish Rattler with him in the pub — it’s a type of cider from the part of Cornwall he grew up in. It’s quite potent and a lot of fun. It always is with him.
Roger:
Rory was the perfect child. She was quite shy and incredibly modest. She had a French education — her mother is French — and it was a very hard-working school, which gave her a tremendous work ethic. Of all my children, she has been perhaps the hardest working. She always applied herself and I’m so proud of what she does today. It’s not easy becoming a doctor. You have seven or eight years of basic training, constant exams, and it’s hard work, but Rory has dealt with it all very stoically. She has an innate goodness and is probably a much better person than I am.
She has fun as well, though. Oh, she’s a party girl, Rory. They say that about medics, don’t they? “Do as I say, not as I do.” I’d love to think that my children always thought of themselves as a gang. Growing up, they were always there for one another. Obviously they have spats, but we had such lovely summers together, and we’d go out on the family boat, which gave us some of our closest times. It was essential for me, back then, to be there for my kids.
In Queen we never really wanted to involve the public in our private lives, and I think we were quite successful in doing that, even Freddie [Mercury] in the old days. We didn’t want to be in the red tops — that wasn’t what we were about. We were about music and entertaining people, and we didn’t want any of this modern celebrity stuff, which I don’t like. It’s very shallow.
One of my sons, Rufus, is a drummer with the Darkness, but the others were never really interested in the limelight very much and have followed their own path. They’ve never said: “Oh, do you know who my dad is?” In fact, they rarely mentioned who I was to friends. It can be difficult for the children of famous people. John Lennon’s kids? That must have been hard — how do you live up to that?
It was great watching the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody with Rory. I’ve never really spoken much about the band over the years, I suppose because it was always in the background of the kids’ lives, so their interest was sated. But Rory seemed to enjoy it. Although she did say that her mother would be furious that the lady who played her in the film didn’t look anything like her.
Rory has often come on tour with me — all my kids have. When I’m on the road, I’m in a selfish bubble. You have to have your rest and they know my routine, so they organize themselves around that, but they always have a lot of fun.
I’ve learnt that a doctor should not treat members of their own family, but Rory gives me tips of course. Whenever we speak, and we speak all the time these days, she tells me I need to take more vitamin D to strengthen my … whatever. And we often talk about the garden I have here at home in Cornwall. In difficult times like this, it’s nice to be taken away from it all by the beauty of the natural surroundings. But children are still the most important thing in life, and hopefully I’ve looked out for mine OK. They’ve all turned out well.
Queen + Adam Lambert’s You Are the Champions is available to download now. Proceeds go to the Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization
STRANGE HABITS:
Rory on Roger: He has a special “joke face”. We always know when he’s about to tell a joke, because he pulls it. He can’t help himself
Roger on Rory: She has a codeword for when either of us drinks too much: “Meat pies”