Two south London fellows called Alan Lancaster (bass) and Francis Rossi (guitar) founded the band "The Spectres" in 1962 (see Spectres, The (2)). At that time, Mr. Rossi preferred to call himself Mike after one of his second names.
In 1966, the band changed their name to "Traffic", shortly thereafter to "Traffic Jam" (see Traffic Jam (5)). The lineup consisted of Lancaster, Rossi, John Coghlan (drums) and Roy Lynes (keyboard).
A year later, the band changed name once again to "The Status Quo". Rick Parfitt (guitar) joined the band. Their first hit record, "Pictures of Matchstick Men", was released. "The" was soon omitted from the name of the band, known thereafter as just "Status Quo"
In 1970, an LP, "Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon", was released. The album showed that the band was heading towards a heavy rock'n'roll style. Roy Lynes had now left the band.
The first release of an album on Vertigo came in 1972, "Piledriver" showed that Quo intended to play a heavy, guitar-dominated boogie-rock'n'roll. (A decision that made them one of the greatest bands ever.)
The release of "Hello!" in 1973 made it clear that their rock'n'roll intention wasn't an accident. In my opinion, this album is one of the greatest rock'n'roll ones ever recorded.
The seventies went on, with Status Quo releasing albums, of which one was the wonderful "Live".
In 1982, the band member John Coghlan quit, and the record "1+9+8+2" released this year had a drummer called Pete Kircher. Andy Bown, a keyboardist who had been playing with Quo since 1977, was from now on considered an official member of the band (As well as Kircher).
In 1984 the band announced that they were going to break up. The "End of the Road Tour" was a total success.
In 1985, the band reunited for one night to play the opening of the "Live Aid" show.
When everyone thought that the story was over, the band released an album called "In The Army Now" in 1986. The line-up was now Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Andy Bown, John 'Rhino' Edwards (bass) and Jeff Rich (drums).
1986-2000, the line-up didn't change.
In May 2000, the drummer Jeff Rich quitted Quo. New drummer is Matthew Letley.
Status Quo is still going strong.