Francis Rossi

Born: 29 May 1949 From: Forest Hill, South London. Now Lives: South London. Personal: Married to Eileen, eight children from two marriages. Plays: Lead guitar, vocals, songwriting. Francis is the front man. His instantly recognizable voice and the twin guitars of Rossi and Parfitt are the main ingredients of Status Quo. Known to everyone in the band as 'Frame' or 'The Gomorr' (the grand old man of rock and roll), he is married to Eileen, has eight children from two marriages, and lives in Surrey, England. A typical Gemini, Francis on stage is an outgoing and charismatic showman but has been labelled a recluse because he rarely goes to parties or big social occasions, preferring to stay at home (If you saw his house you'd understand why!). Musically he still loves playing, performing and writing as much as ever and is always involved in the production of Quo records. When not touring, Francis keeps fit by swimming and exercising. He is a collector of Koi Carp, likes Clay pigeon shooting and is probably the English pasta-eating record holder...

Equipment The Green Fender Telecaster... is an original 1957 model, which Francis bought for £70 in 1968 and has been his main guitar ever since. Over the years he has had some of the original Telecaster fittings replaced, using G&L parts which help the sustain and the intonation. It now has three pickups, which work in a Stratocaster configuration. The gauge of the strings Francis uses are: .09 .11 .16 .26w 34w 46w. He is currently using two 4x12" 8 ohm Marshall cabinets, a JCM 800 Lead Series amp and sometimes a JCM 900. For effects, Francis uses a Roland GP8 which boosts the signal to the amplifier, has five different overdrive patches and one patch which is a very tight straight double effect with some echo. Between the output of the amp and the speakers are Palmer speaker simulators. The output of these goes out-front and is mixed with the miked signal from the Marshall cabinets and a miked signal from a Vox AC30 which is one of the new ones made by Marshall using exactly the same components as were originally used when they were first made in the sixties. You won't see the AC30's on the stage because they are kept behind the Marshalls. Francis and Rick love the sound of the original AC 30's. In the old days these were loud enough to be the main stage amps but now the miked signal is sent out front to give the sound that extra fatness. Francis uses Samson Radio systems on the guitar and for Radio headphones.

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