Queen (band)

British rock band formed in 1970. Known for their 1975 hit record Bohemian Rhapsody and their 1981 compilation Greatest Hits which became the biggest-selling album in UK history.

Foundations and early years

In 1968, Brian May formed the band Smile with Tim Stoffel and Roger Taylor. Just one year later, the band was signed to Mercury Records and recorded a total of six songs, the most well-known of which was the song April Lady. In 1970, however, the band was about to dissolve after the lead singer Tim Stoffel had decided to leave Smile and team up with Humpy Bong instead. However, a fellow student of Stoffel, who had become a big fan of Smile, decided to join the band as lead singer and on the piano. The new band member, Farrokh Bulsara, former member of the band Wreckage, insisted on changing the band's name to Queen. As the last member of the band, John Deacon joined in 1971. That same year, Farrokh Bulsara officially changed his name to Freddie Mercury. The band soon landed a record deal with EMI Records. Their first album Queen was released two years later in 1973 and reached number 24 in the UK charts. Just one year later, the second album Queen II was released, which was followed by a tour of Great Britain and the USA. Despite mixed reviews, the album reached number 5 in the album charts.

Rock History

The band's fourth album would write rock history. A Night at the Opera was released in 1975. The first single Bohemian Rhapsody, which was released by Queen despite EMI’s opposition, became their first number 1 hit and sold more than five million copies. The song itself was characterized by the mix of different genres such as hard rock, ballad and opera, and at 5 minutes 55 seconds it was considered too long to be played on radio stations. A music video was released to accompany the song, which also went down in history as the first promo video of a song. The album itself brought the band their first platinum award. The album's success was followed by tours in the USA and Japan. In 1977, Queen wrote rock history again with the release of the singles We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions from the News of the World album. Written by Freddie Mercury, We Are The Champions went on to become one of the most popular rock anthems of all time. In the years that followed, Queen continued to ride the wave of success and also gave concerts in Europe and South America, where they played in front of 231,000 fans. In 1982, however, the band decided to take a longer break. During this time Brian May and Freddie Mercury in particular pursued their own projects. Freddie Mercury had previously tried to advance his solo career and temporarily relocated to Munich, where he was working on the recording of his solo album Mr. Bad Guy. In 1984, Queen returned to the charts with their successful eleventh studio album The Works.

Live Aid

One of the most memorable moments of Queen's career was certainly their performance at Live Aid, a charity concert organized by Bob Geldof on July 13, 1985 to support the fight against famine in Africa. Queen had already acquired a lot of experience performing in large stadiums, and Freddie Mercury in particular had a talent for involving everyone in the audience, even in large stadiums. Although many other stars of the music scene performed at Live Aid alongside Queen, it was Queen who set the greatest accents with her 21-minute performance and once again wrote music history.

The end of an era and new beginning

Between 1986 - 1991 Queen produced further successful albums. Posthumously released in 1995, Made in Heaven would be the original line-up's last album together. Freddie Mercury died of AIDS on November 23, 1991, John Deacon retired from Queen soon after Mercury's death. Since 2012, Queen has been touring successfully in the original line-up of Roger Taylor and Brian May together with American vocalist Adam Lambert as lead singer.