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Why Free broke-up according to Paul Rodgers
Formed in London, England back in 1968, Free had Paul Rodgers (Vocals), Paul Kossoff (Guitar), Andy Fraser (Bass, piano) and Simon Kirke (Drums). The group existed for five years, until 1973, releasing six studio albums with hits like “All Right Now”, “Wishing Well” and “Fire And Water”.
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There had a lot of potential to become even bigger but they broke-up and Rodgers went on to form Bad Company alongside Simon Kirke. But why did Free come to an end? Rodgers tried to explain that in an interview with Brian Johnson on his TV show “Life On The Road” back in 2019.
Why Free broke-up according to Paul Rodgers
(Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) “I look back and I actually do wonder myself (Why we broke-up), because (the band) was a really perfect outfit in many ways, you know. We loved each other, we loved the music that we created. But I think what happened was that Andy (Fraser) and myself, we were the main driving force I think, with the organization.”
“Andy was very strong in getting the business together and we wrote these songs together. And we differed over the future of the band, I think. To me, Andy wanted to take it to a more commercial direction and I wanted to go back to the Blues.”
“I thought Kossoff would sort of back me up in this but he sort of didn’t and Simon was like ‘whatever you wanna do’. We didn’t realize what we had,” Paul Rodgers said.
Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke are the only original members of Free who are still alive. The guitarist Paul Kossoff passed away in 1976 at the age of 25 from a pulmonary embolism.
The bassist Andy Fraser left Free in 1973 and in the following decades released albums with Sharks, Andy Fraser Band and as a solo act. The final one was “On Assignment” in 2005, he passed away in 2015 of a heart attack caused by atherosclerosis.
