This weekend The Frederick Brown, Jr. Amphitheater will play host to the kickoff of the 2007 Lexus of South Atlanta Summer Concert Series. Legendary Brit-rocker Paul Rodgers will open the series with a two night stint at the Peachtree City amphitheater.

Platinum selling singer, songwriter and self-taught multi-instrumentalist, Paul Rodgers has written, recorded, produced and released 28 albums since 1968 and sold over 90 million records.

Rodgers’ career began in the northern English town of Middlesbrough, where the rocker was born in 1949, with his band The Roadrunners. The band changed its name to The Wildflowers before relocating to London in an attempt to break into the music scene there. Two of Rodgers’ band-mates, Micky Moody and Bruce Thomas, went on to be apart of such well known bands as Whitesnake and Elvis Costello and The Attractions, respectively.

Rodgers first premiered onto the British music scene in 1968 as a singer/songwriter for bluesy rockers Free. In 1970, the band shot up the international radio charts with the Rodgers/Fraser rock classic "All Right Now," a number one hit in over 20 territories and recognized by ASCAP in 1990 for garnering over 1 million radio plays in the U.S. alone. The song played a pivotal role in introducing Rodgers' stylistic metier, while helping to establish the sound of the British blues/rock invasion. At the time, Free and Led Zeppelin were the biggest grossing British acts. Free released four top five albums with a combination of blues, ballads and rock. The Multi Million Award was given to Paul Rodgers in 2000 by the British Music Industry when "All Right Now" passed 2 million-plus radio plays in the UK.

Rodgers then formed his next band, Bad Company, one of rock's first supergroups. Bad Company toured from 1973 to 1982 and had hits like “Feel Like Making Love,” “Can't Get Enough,” “Shooting Star” and “Bad Company” to their credit.

Rodgers’ talent extends past his singing and song-writing duties and can be heard on tracks like “Run with the Pack” which featured him on piano, and “Rock and Roll Fantasy” with Rodgers on guitar. On the band’s ballad “Seagull,” Rodgers was literally a one man band- he played all instruments on the track. Bad Company earned six platinum albums before Rodgers left the band in 1982, at the height of their fame, to spend time with his young family.

In 1984, Rodgers released his first solo album, “Cut Loose.” Once again, Rodgers composed all of the music and played all of the instruments for the album.

Rodgers and Jimmy Page of Led Zepplin formed The Firm in the 1984 and produced two albums, “The Firm” and “Mean Business,” and participated in two top-grossing tours.

After a reunited tour with his Bad Company band-mates in the late ‘90s, Rodgers refocused on his solo career in 2000. He released his sixth solo album, “Electric,” which produced the song “Drifters,” which stayed in the Top Ten for eight weeks on Billboard's Rock Charts M.H.

Paul Rodgers and Bad Company released their first live CD and DVD, “Merchants of Cool,” in 2002.

After a recent two year world tour with Queen, Rodgers will be performing just 10 U.S. concerts this spring that coincide with his DVD and CD release, ”Live In Glasgow,” out May 28. As a Grammy nominated solo artist, Rodgers has worked with many other artists including, Bryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, and Eric Clapton.

“We are excited to have such a world-renowned and talented artist kick of the 2007 Season at The Fred,” said Lauren Yawn, executive director for the Peachtree City Tourism Association.

Tickets for the performances are $48 for reserved seats and $32 for lawn seats and can be purchased at the box office or through Ticketmaster. For more information, please visit www.amphitheater.org or call 770-631-0630.

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