Queen
Queen were an English rock band formed in London in 1970. The band was made up of front man Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, bassist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor. The band was well-known for their musical diversity, vocal harmonies and multi-layered arrangements. Their Live Aid performance of 1985 was voted the best live rock performance of all time in a poll conducted by the music industry.
Queen released their debut self-titled album in 1971 to much critical acclaim but little commercial success. Their second release, 'Queen II', was released in 1972 and reached No. 5 in the charts with the lead single, 'Seven Seas of Rhye', reaching No. 10 in the UK singles chart giving them their first hit single. 1974 saw the release of their third album, 'Sheer Heart Attack', which met with commercial success. Single, 'Killer Queen', reached No.2 in the UK chart and No. 12 in the US. In 1975 the band went on their first world tour. Later in the same year, 'A Night at the Opera' was released and had great success in the UK and went triple platinum in the US. The album included hit single, 'Bohemian Rhapsody', which topped the UK charts for 9 weeks and has been voted the best single of all times on numerous occasions.
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1976 saw them back in the studio recording, 'A Day at the Races'. In the same year they also played a free concert in Hyde Park which had an attendance of over 150,000 people. 'News of the World' was released the following year and included 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are the Champions' which were tailor made for live performance, something the band were well known for with Freddie Mercury at the helm. 1978 and 1979 saw albums 'Jazz' and 'Live Killers' released.
The 1980s began with Queen releasing, 'The Game', which went to No.1 and included No.1 singles 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' and 'Another One Bites the Dust'. They also recorded 'Under Pressure' with David Bowie which was a No.1 hit in the UK. 1982 saw the release of funk album, 'Hot Space' and 1984 saw the release of, 'The Works' which included the likes of 'Radio Ga Ga' and 'I Want to Break Free'.
In 1985 Queen performed at Live Aid in what is considered their best ever live performance and the year ended with them releasing single 'One Vision'. Their next album, 'A Kind of Magic' contained several songs written for the film 'Highlander' and produced a string of successful hits. 1989 saw the band release album, “The Miracle” which contained “I Want It All”.
From 1988 onwards it was noticed that Mercury was looking increasingly gaunt and rumours spread that he was suffering from HIV, he strenuously denied this. In 1991 whilst on his deathbed he confirmed that he had HIV and died 12 hours later from bronchial pneumonia brought on by his condition.
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