Le Bon delighted with Duran Duran stamp collection

Simon Le Bon has said the new Royal Mail stamp collection featuring Duran Duran is a "massive visual validation of the band and its history".

The stamps are being released to celebrate the award-winning group's almost 48-year career and feature album artwork that charts their rise from the Birmingham club scene.

Le Bon said the stamp collection was a "pinch yourself" moment and added: "Having stamps is a bit far out. Nobody would have anticipated this at any time."

The band is famed for hits such as Rio, Hungry Like The Wolf and Ordinary World and achieved two UK number one singles and one chart-topping album.

The collection also includes a miniature sheet featuring their tour posters from the 1980s until the 2020s.

Le Bon said: "For so many years, we were struggling against the negativity. We're not a flash in the pan, and the stamps really vindicate us."

The 67-year-old also said: "When you see those album covers all lined up, all eight of them, you look at it [and] say, 'we've done a lot of work'.

"And we've done it together – we've stayed together – and it reminds us of that. I just feel so happy and fortunate to be part of all that."

The singer joined the group in 1980 alongside keyboardist Nick Rhodes, bassist John Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor.

Founder John described the collaboration as "a Duran Duran legacy project", while Roger said it made the band feel like "part of the cultural furniture".

"The band is almost set in stone now. Once you start getting things like this, there's an immortality," Roger added.

The group initially worked and rehearsed at the Rum Runner club on Broad Street, Birmingham, which was demolished in the 1980s.

Royal Mail is selling a range of Duran Duran products along with the stamp release and said they were "celebrating Duran Duran's many firsts and achievements in music and technology".

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