Queen are a rock band from from the United Kingdom, having founded in London in 1970. The band included Freddie Mercury on lead vocals and piano, Brian May on guitar and vocals, Roger Taylor on drums and vocals, and John Deacon as the bassist and vocalist (bass). Their first works were inspired by progressive rock, hard rock, and heavy metal; nevertheless, the band later went into more conventional and radio-friendly compositions by introducing other forms, such as arena rock and pop rock. These styles were added to their repertoire.
May and Taylor had already shared the stage as members of the band Smile before to the formation of Queen. Mercury was a fan of Smile and urged them to explore with more complex performance and recording approaches. Mercury also produced several of Smile’s early albums. He joined the band in 1970 and was responsible for suggesting the name “Queen.” Before the band’s self-titled first album was released in 1973, the band decided to add Deacon to their lineup in February of 1971. In 1974, Queen had their first chart success in the UK with the release of their second studio album, titled Queen II. Success on a global scale came to them as a result of the albums Sheer Heart Attack, which was released later that year, and A Night at the Opera, which was released in 1975. The latter contained “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which spent nine weeks at the top of the UK singles chart with “Bohemian Rhapsody” and helped popularize the music video genre.
Both “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” were included in the band’s album News of the World, which was released in 1977. Both of these songs have become popular at sports events. By the beginning of the 1980s, Queen had established themselves as one of the most successful arena rock bands in the world. Their compilation album Greatest Hits, which was released in 1981, is the best-selling album in the UK and has been certified nine times platinum in the US. Their track “Another One Bites the Dust,” which was included on the album The Game (1980), became their best-selling single. The performance that they gave at the Live Aid event in 1985 is considered to be one of the best in the history of rock by a number of publications. Mercury made his last performance with Queen in August 1986 in Knebworth, which was located in England. He passed away in 1991 from bronchopneumonia, which was a consequence of AIDS. In 1997, Deacon took early retirement. Since 2004, May and Taylor have been touring under the moniker “Queen Plus,” which also features Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert on vocals.
For more over four decades, Queen have been a ubiquitous presence in popular culture all across the world. They are one of the best-selling music acts in the world, with record sales estimated to be somewhere between 170 and 300 million, putting them in the top spot. Queen was honored with the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music the year that it was presented (1990). They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the year 2001, and in 2003, all four of its members were admitted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame due to the fact that each of them had written hit songs. The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors awarded them with the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection in 2005. Twelve years later, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed to them in recognition of their extensive body of work.
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