Duran Duran has been named as a performer for the Billboard Music Awards, where the group will premiere a new single remotely from England, bringing in as their collaborator a fellow Brit, Blur’s Graham Coxon.
Their appearance May 23 will be the first on a BBMAs telecast by the group, the fourth artist to be named for a performance slot following announcements for BTS, the Weeknd and Pink.
The single Duran Duran will be premiering will advance a new album, the band’s first since 2015’s “Paper Gods.”
“Before the pandemic struck, there was a new Duran Duran almost finished,” Nick Rhodes told Vogue in April. “We were gearing up with a lot of shows, like a lot of other artists, and had to put everything on hold.” The keyboard player was doing the interview to promote an ambient side project he is doing with Wendy Bevan, “Astronomia.”
Besides Coxon, other collaborators that have been mentioned for the upcoming album include Mark Ronson (who co-produced their previous effort), Erol Alkan, Giorgio Moroder and Lykke Li.
Duran Duran will be getting its performing sea legs back in preparation for an appearance this September at the Isle of Wight Festival, where they’ll headline the final night of the four-day fest. Others on the bill include fellow headliners Liam Gallagher, Snow Patrol and David Guetta, plus Tom Jones, Supergrass, Primal Scream and Sam Fender.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Duran Duran’s first album, “Rio,” which is the subject of a just-released book in the 33 1/3 series by Annie Zaleski, also titled “Rio.”
The Billboard Music Awards, hosted for the first time this year by Nick Jonas, will broadcast live on NBC in all time zones from L.A.’s Microsoft Theater on May 23 at 8 p.m. ET/5 PT.