Power Station:

Power Station was a pop group made up of singer Robert Palmer, bassist John Taylor and guitarist Andy Taylor of Duran Duran, and former Chic drummer Tony Thompson; two other Chic members, Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers were also involved on the studio side. The band was formed in New York City late in 1984 during a break in Duran Duran's schedule, and were named after the Power Station recording studio where their album was conceived and recorded.

The group began as something of a whim -- it was a one-time gathering of friends to provide backing to model and would-be singer Bebe Buell who wanted to record a cover of the T. Rex song "Bang A Gong (Get It On)". Both Taylors were eager to branch out from the synthesizer-heavy pop of Duran Duran and play some Led Zeppelin-flavored rock'n'roll; the participation of their idols from Chic lent the project a horn-inflected funk that meshed surprisingly well with the crunching guitars and booming drums.

Soon the project evolved into the idea of a revolving supergroup; a tentative name for the band was Big Brother. The original plan for the one-album project was for the three musicians (Taylor, Taylor and Thompson) to provide musical continuity to an album full of material, with a different singer performing on each track. Those who were approached included Mick Jagger, Billy Idol, Mars Williams and Richard Butler (of The Psychedelic Furs), and Mick Ronson.

The group then invited eclectic soul singer Robert Palmer to record vocals for the track "Communication". When he heard that they had recorded demos for "Bang A Gong", he asked to try out vocals on that one as well, and by the end of the day, the group knew that they had found that elusive chemistry which distinguishes successful bands. Before long, they had decided to record the entire album with Palmer.