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‘I terribly wanted to be liked. Still do’: Status Quo’s Francis Rossi on money worries, his deepest neuroses – and sounding like Nellie the Elephant

Lampooned by critics but loved by fans, Quo turned boogie into blockbuster rock. As a live album captures their 70s peak, their frontman remembers late friend Rick Parfitt – and reconsiders his whole sense of self

Drummer John Coghlan signed up a year later and Rick Parfitt completed the “Frantic Four” when he joined after sharing a bill with the Spectres at Minehead Butlin’s in 1966. For Rossi, the boogie style – the tough, hard rock version of the 12-bar blues, exemplified by songs such as Whatever You Want or Roll Over Lay Down – also tied in with the shuffling Italian music he grew up with in south London. “He’ll say what he wants; he hasn’t got a lot of filter, like it or not.” In his autobiography, Rossi mentions his tendency to say inappropriate things and cause offence, and says he doesn’t visibly grieve the deaths of those he has loved, including Parfitt.

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