English singer-songwriter Bryan Ferry was BOTD in 1945. Born in Sunderland, County Durham to a working class family, he studied fine art at Newcastle University, and had his early paintings exhibited at the Tate Gallery. After graduating, he moved to London in 1968, working as a high school art teacher while pursuing a music career. In 1970 he formed the New Wave band Roxy Music with his art school friend Graham Simpson, later joined by Andy Mackay and Brian Eno. Their 1972 self-titled debut album became an international hit, establishing them at the centre of Britain’s glam rock movement. Their 1974 album For Your Pleasure adopted a sophisticated, highly art-directed visual image, referencing classic Hollywood and avant-garde art, accompanied by highly theatrical live performances. As the band’s lead singer and songwriter, Ferry adopted the persona of a suave, jaded sophisticate, typically dressed in a white dinner jacket and bow tie. After a long-term rift with Ferry, Eno left the band in 1973. Their subsequent albums Stranded, Country Life and Siren increased the band’s international appeal, though led to a de-queering of their earlier image. Ferry simultaneously launched a solo career, having successes with the albums These Foolish Things and Another Time, Another Place. Roxy Music’s eighth album Avalon, released in 1983, spawned the hit single More Than This, marking their transition into a smoother, synth-based New Romantic sound. Ferry dissolved the band in 1983 to concentrate on his solo career. His subsequent solo albums Boys and Girls and Bête Noire were international successes, generating the hit singles Slave to Love and Kiss and Tell. He reunited with Eno for the album Mamauna, recorded over six years and eventually released in 1994. During the 2000s, Ferry led a series of Roxy Music reunion concerts, and recorded several solo albums covering the Great American Songbook and the songs of Bob Dylan. Admired for his elegant dress sense and smooth laconic delivery, he has frequently been compared to Frank Sinatra and Cary Grant, and inspired a 2007 menswear collection by Belgian designer Dries van Noten. Married three times and with three children, he is perhaps best known for his high-profile relationship with Jerry Hall, ending when Hall left him for sexually polymorphous Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. He earns Honorary SuperGay status for his early-career flirtations with camp and sexual ambiguity, now sadly replaced by his support for the British Conservative party and pro fox-hunting advocacy.