In
1968, Brian May and Tim Staffell, both students at Imperial College, decided
they wanted to form a group. Brian placed an advertisement on the college
notice board for a "Ginger Baker type" drummer, and a young medical student
called Roger Taylor auditioned and got the job. They called the group "SMILE".
Smile were signed to Mercury Records in 1969, and had their first experience
of a recording studio in Trident Studios that year. Tim Staffell was at
Ealing College of Art with Freddie Bulsara, and introduced him to the band.
Freddie soon became a keen fan. Sadly, in 1970 "Smile" decided to call
it a day, as nothing seemed to be happening for them. Tim went off and
joined a band called Humpy Bong, and Freddie left his band "Wreckage" and
joined up with Brian and Roger - it had all begun.
Freddie
changed his name by deed poll to Mercury, changed the band's name to Queen,
and John Deacon was asked to audition as their bass player (they had had
three temporary ones so far in their short history). In February 1971,
John Deacon was taken on as the fourth member of Queen. The band rehearsed
tirelessly and played several small gigs at Imperial College, where they
rehearsed for close friends. Then they were offered the chance to 'test'
a new recording studio called De Lane Lea. In return for trying out the
new equipment, they could also make free demo tapes. They did. No one was
interested! They had signed a recording contract and publishing and management
agreements with Trident in 1972, and during that year were paid just £60
per week. Queen were given the 'down time'- or out of hours studio time
- at Trident Studios, where they began work on their first album.
Work
on their third album began without Brian and with a lot of help from Roy
Thomas Baker. Brian finally felt well enough to go into the studios to
record his guitar parts, although he was still ill and spend much time
between takes in the studio bathroom being very sick! But eventually, the
album was finished, and "SHEER HEART ATTACK" was released in November 1974.
It was a huge hit both sides of the Atlantic as the world came to realise
that Queen were certainly a force to be reckoned with!
In
January 1975, Queen left for the USA on their very first headlining tour.
Ticket sales were phenomenal, and demand was so high that they had to add
more shows, doing two shows in one day at some venues, both shows being
sold out. Quite a few shows on that tour had to be cancelled, as Freddie
had developed a severe throat problem, but he soldiered on and performed
as many as possible, although doctors had advised him against it. Also
in January 1975, Queen engaged the services of a Music Business lawyer,
Jim Beach, to negotiate them out of their Trident agreements, as Trident
were no longer being as supportive as they should have been, and the band
were unhappy with the situation. Their first Canadian gig was in Edmonton
on April 2nd, where they were joined on stage by support act Kansas. April
of '75 saw Queen set to pay their first-ever visit to Japan.
When
they arrived at the airport, there were over three thousand fans there
to greet them, as Sheer Heart Attack was Number One in Japan at the time.
It was a scene reminiscent of Beatlemania in the Sixties, and the band
were quite surprised at their 'pop star' welcome! In May 1975, Freddie
was presented with an Ivor Novello Award by the Songwriters Guild for "Killer
Queen".
The
album was, at the time, one of the most expensive ever recorded, but when
"A NIGHT AT THE OPERA" was released in November 1975, it was a massive
hit, and gave them their first platinum album. Freddie had designed a Queen
logo for the "Queen" album, which was re-worked and used as the cover for
"Night At The Opera". The now-famous 'crest' features the band's star signs
- two fairies for Virgo, a crab for Cancer and two lions for the two Leos.
The launch party for the album was held in the exclusive Opera Bar at the
London Coliseum Theatre.
In
January 1976, Freddie was presented with another Ivor Novello Award, for
Bohemian Rhapsody. Also in January, the band set off on their third American
tour, which took them all over America and continued until the end of March.
They then flew direct to Japan, arriving yet again to a riotous reception.
By this time, all four Queen albums were in the UK Top Twenty, which was
an unheard-of feat. They undertook an extensive tour of Japan, and then
flew on to Austria. Their tour 'Down Under' began at the Perth Entertainment
Centre.
They
flew back to the UK to begin work on their next album, "A DAY AT THE RACES",
but recording was halted while the band took off on a short UK tour. On
September 18th, 1976, Queen decided they wanted to say thanks to their
dedicated fans, and so - in true extravagant style - they staged a huge
free concert in London's Hyde Park. The crowds were estimated at between
150 and 200 thousand people - the largest audience Queen had played to
up to that time, and to date still the highest-ever attendance record for
a concert in Hyde Park.
It
was September, and the band were hard at work on their new album. "A DAY
AT THE RACES" was released in December 1976. The band all attended a special
horse race at Kempton Park to promote the album, and in 'A Day At The Races
Stakes', a special race sponsored by EMI, they all backed the same horse
without telling each other - and it won! Five days before its release,
the advance orders for "A Day At The Races" were in excess of half a million
- the highest orders EMI had ever received for any album.
1977
had only been around for four days before Queen jetted off to America to
rehearse for their forthcoming tour. They were on the road constantly through
January, February and most of March in the USA and Canada. Roger decided,
at the end of all that, to record a solo single, which he paid for out
of his own pocket. "I Wanna Testify" was released in August. In May of
1977, Queen flew out of Stockholm to begin an extensive European tour.
Their concert at Earls Court in London featured the famous 'Crown' lighting
rig. It was 54 feet wide, 26 feet tall and weighed in at 5,000 pounds.
It cost the band $50,000.
In
November they were off to the USA again for rehearsals for the forthcoming
tour. For the first time, their finances enabled them to charter a private
plane for the tour - it made life on the road that much more comfortable.
The tour began on 11th November - their second USA tour that year. They
all arrived back in the UK just in time to spend Christmas with their families.
That Christmas, "We Will Rock You" was knocked off the French Number One
slot after 12 weeks ...... by "We Are The Champions"!
As
publicity for the forthcoming single "Bicycle Race", the band hired Wimbledon
Stadium, and fifty naked girls had their own bicycle race. The original
cover of the single featured the rear view of one of those naked girls,
but due to public outcry in some countries, panties had to be drawn on!
More touring in the USA and Canada began in October. November 10th saw
the release of "JAZZ", the band's seventh album. The sleeve was packed
to contain a fold-out poster of the naked bicycle race. The Americans banned
it from the actual album sleeve, and inserted an application form instead
so that fans could send away for their poster. The launch party for "Jazz"
was held in New Orleans, and has since gone down in history!
The
band hosted the party themselves in order to invite both EMI, their American
record company, and Elektra, their USA representatives. It was the first
time that both companies' executives had met, and they both ensured that
ALL of their directors attended, each to try to outnumber the other! The
party was a completely over-the-top affair, featuring mud wrestlers, midgets,
topless waitresses, and a host of other weird and wonderful characters.
The
North American tour finished in late December, and the back flew back to
the UK for Christmas, but they didn't get too much time to rest, as by
January 1979 they were off to Europe yet again. The tour kicked off in
Hamburg, and by March were ensconced in Mountain Studios in Montreux, working
on their 'live' album. The band enjoyed the peace of Montreux and liked
the studio there, so they decided to buy it (the studio, not the town!)
When Freddie was asked by resident engineer David Richards why they had
bought it and what they intended to do with it, Freddie quipped '...dump
it in the lake, dear'!!
The
band flew out to Japan for yet more touring in April 1979. In June, they
approached the All England Lawn Tennis Club and asked if they could use
the Centre Court at Wimbledon (after the tournament, of course!) for a
concert. Permission was refused. The band's first live album (and their
only double album to date), "LIVE KILLERS", was released in June 1979.
It was an album released by very popular demand. Queen were approached
to write the musical score for the science fiction film "Flash Gordon".
When the idea was first discussed with producer Dino de Laurentis, he simply
asked '...but who are the queens?'!! The band agreed to work on the score,
and started work during June in Munich.
At
the start of 1980, the band were working hard on their new album, "The
Game" - it was the first album to use the electronic wizardry of synthesisers.
In June they were off to tour North America - again! Roger also started
work on his first solo album in 1980. "THE GAME" was released in June of
that year, and it went FIVE times platinum in Canada alone! 'Another One
Bites The Dust' became the band's biggest- ever, worldwide-selling single
to date. It became a huge 'crossover' hit in the USA, topping the charts
in Rock, Soul and Disco. The band received a 'Dick Clarke' award as best
band; a top Billboard award for 'Top Crossover Single'; and was nominated
for various other awards including Grammys and Canadian 'Juno' awards.
On
December 8th 1980, the soundtrack album for "FLASH GORDON" was released.
At the end of 1980, Queen had sold over 45,000,000 albums worldwide. In
February 1981, after another Far East tour, the band flew to Rio de Janeiro
for the start of their first tour of South America. Queen were the first
rock band to undertake a stadium tour of South America, paving the way
for many more bands to follow. The band's equipment had to be flown in
a privately hired 'Flying Tiger' 747 cargo plane from Tokyo - the flight
between Tokyo and Buenos Aires is the longest air route between capital
cities in the world.
Their
first South American gig was Buenos Aires, on February 28th 1981. They
then filled three more Argentinean World Cup soccer stadiums, playing five
sold-out stadium gigs in just eight days. They then played two nights at
the massive Morumbi Stadium in Sao Paolo. On the first night, 131,000 people
attended, and Queen created rock & roll history as it was the largest
paying audience for a single band anywhere in the world. During those two
nights at the Morumbi Stadium, 251,000 people saw the Queen spectacle -
that's a larger audience than most bands can expect in their whole career!
Every single one of Queen's albums was in the Top Ten in Argentina during
their tour - a first for any band.
"Greatest
Hits", "Greatest Flix" and "Greatest Pix" were released simultaneously
in October 1981. "Greatest Hits" - the album - entered the charts as soon
as it was released, and has rarely been out of the British charts since!
"Greatest Flix" - the video - was the first real collection of promo videos
released commercially by any band. "Greatest Pix" - the book - was compiled
by Jacques Lowe, who was President Kennedy's personal biographer during
his term of office. It was Jacques' personal selection of the greatest
Queen pictures of the previous decade.
The
band's twelfth album, "HOT SPACE", was released on May 21st, 1982 whilst
the band was in the middle of an extensive European tour. On June 5th that
year, they played the huge open-air Milton Keynes Bowl. The whole show
was filmed by Tyne Tees Television, under the direction of Gavin Taylor,
to be shown on Channel Four's "The Tube" programme at a later date. In
September 1982, the Japanese company, Mercury Records (nothing to do with
Freddie!) released an album called "Gettin' Smile". It was at first thought
to be a bootleg, but after listening to the album, Roger and Brian declared
it to be the REAL Smile, although neither of them recalled having recorded
so much with that band! In December 1982, Queen made it into the Guinness
Book of Records as Britain's highest-paid executives.
In
January 1983, Freddie began work on a solo album, and Roger began work
on his second solo album. During the early part of the year, Brian had
flown out to Los Angeles and gathered together a few close friends in the
Record Plant studios there. Brian had some basic ideas to work on, but
it was generally a lengthy jam session. However, Brian had no intention
of wasting the talents of Edward Van Halen, Alan Gratzer, Phil Chen and
Fred Mandel - and so kept the tapes rolling throughout the whole session.
The result was the mini album "STAR FLEET PROJECT", which was released
in October 1983.
The
band went back into the studios in August 1983 to start work on their next
album. Work commenced at the Record Plant in LA - the first time the band
had recorded in America. After a number of months, recording switched from
LA to Munich - a city that the band spent so much time in during that recording
session that they almost thought of it as home!
In
June 1984, Roger released his second solo album, "STRANGE FRONTIER". Also
in June, a company called Guild Guitars launched a special copy of Brian's
home-made Red Special guitar. It was called the BHM1, and Brian had been
closely involved in all the aspects of its production. Sadly, about a year
later, Brian and Guild had some discussions about the design of the instrument
which resulted in Guild ceasing production.
The
band performed their first-ever concert in New Zealand on April 13th, 1985
in Auckland. The band were met outside their hotel on arrival by a group
of chanting anti-apartheid demonstrators. Tony Hadley, singer with British
band 'Spandau Ballet', flew over from Australia where his band was on tour
to see the Queen show, and was honoured to be asked to join Queen on stage
for their encore.
Freddie's
first solo album, "MR BAD GUY", was released on April 19th whilst the band
was on tour in Australia. The gig in Melbourne had to be played with no
lighting rig at all, as the whole computer system that controlled the lights
had broken down. After an Australian tour peppered with problems - not
least being the incessant rain - the band flew across to Japan. Their concert
at the Tokyo Olympic swimming pool was filmed by NHK to be shown on network
Japanese television.
They
had decided some time previously to take a break from each other, but that
day brought them together with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. 'One Vision'
was the first release to come from that new inspiration.
Queen
were approached by Russell Mulcahy to record the soundtrack to his first
feature film - a fantasy tale about an immortal Scotsman - called "Highlander".
In an interview, Mulcahy stated that Queen had been the first band he had
thought of for the score.
On
27th July, Queen made history again (something of a habit with this band!)
when they played the beautiful Nepstadion in Budapest, Hungary. It was
the first time a major rock band had played a stadium date in the Eastern
Bloc, and it was completely sold out well in advance. The concert was filmed
by the Hungarian State Film Agency, MAFILM, in connection with Queen Films
- they had to commandeer every 35mm camera in Hungary to film it!
On
August 9th, the band flew into Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire, in a specially
repainted helicopter featuring the characters from the Kind of Magic album
cover. It was the final date on the Magic Tour, and the biggest audience
so far - estimated at well over 120,000 people. It caused one of the biggest
traffic jams in history as everyone tried to arrive in plenty of time!
Over ONE MILLION people saw Queen on that European Magic Tour - in excess
of 400,000 in the UK alone.
In
November 1986, EMI Records released the entire Queen catalogue of albums
on the Compact Disc format - the first time any band's complete collection
had been made available simultaneously. In December, Queen's fifteenth
album - and their second live album - was released. Entitled "LIVE MAGIC",
it entered the British chart at Number Three. On 13th December, the band's
film 'Live In Budapest' opened in Budapest at 9 a.m., and proceeded to
play to nine sold-out houses in that one day. Seven completely full screenings
were shown each day for a week.
One
of Freddie's all-time heroines was opera diva Montserrat Caballe, and in
March 1986, he met with her in her home city of Barcelona. An astonishing
partnership was forged with Montserrat agreed to record an album with Freddie.
He penned a song about Barcelona for her, and the two began to write and
record that album. Freddie and Montserrat appeared on stage together for
the first time in May 1987 at the Ibiza '92 festival, held at the famous
Ku Club on the holiday island. They performed 'Barcelona'.
The
single 'Barcelona' was released in Spain in September 1987, and 10,000
copies were sold in just three hours. The Spanish Olympic Committee adopted
the song as the theme for the Olympic Games being held in the city in 1992
- then decided against it, which caused much anger amongst the fans.
Rudi
Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher are an Austrian director/producer team who
followed Queen all over Europe during the Magic Tour, filming them on stage,
back stage, resting, playing and generally 'touring'. They then searched
the archives for footage of live shows, interviews or out-takes from videos.
After that, they interviewed the band, their friends, their fans and other
'stars'. Finally, in November 1987, a trilogy of documentary-style videos
was released, called "THE MAGIC YEARS". The trilogy received numerous awards,
including the famous Silver Screen award in the USA (the biggest film and
TV festival in the world) and the IMMC award at the Montreux Golden Rose
TV festival. Also during 1987, Queen were presented with the prestigious
Ivor Novello award for their 'Outstanding Contribution to British Music'.
On
December 4th, The Cross played a one-off gig at London's Hammersmith Palais,
at a party held exclusively for fan club members. Special guests on stage
were Brian and John.
Queen
released their sixteenth album on May 22nd 1989, entitled "THE MIRACLE".
It entered the UK chart at Number One and went on to become a massive worldwide
success, reaching Number One in most European countries. To promote the
release, the four members of the band gathered in a Radio One studio and
allowed themselves to be interviewed by DJ Mike Reid - a scoop for him,
as the band had not given a joint interview in many years.
On
February 18th, 1990, Queen were honoured yet again when they were recognised
by the British Phonographic Industry (at last!), and presented with an
award for their 'Outstanding Contribution to British Music'. They all collected
the award, and went on to host a huge star-studded party at London's Groucho
Club.
The
Cross released their second album on March 26th, called "MAD, BAD AND DANGEROUS
TO KNOW", a title taken from a quote used to describe the eccentric Lord
Byron! The Cross also undertook a short German tour.
Brian,
meanwhile, wrote and produced the haunting music for a version of Shakespeare's
Macbeth, performed at London's Riverside Theatre.
In
November 1990, Queen signed a major new recording deal in North America
with the Disney-financed Hollywood Records. Hollywood immediately began
the task of pushing Queen back up the popularity ladder, and plans were
laid to re-master and re-release the entire back catalogue on CD - up till
then, the collection had not been available on CD in North America.
On
December 7th, The Cross played their only UK date for some time at London's
Astoria Theatre, at yet another Queen fan club party. Brian joined them
on stage for the encore.
On
January 14th 1991, the band released the six-and-a-half-minute long epic
"INNUENDO" as a single. It was a massive success, giving the band their
third UK Number One single and ensuring them the Number One slot throughout
Europe. The album of the same name was released on February 4th, and crashed
straight into the UK chart at Number One, hitting the high spot again throughout
Europe - and it even charted top thirty in America.
Brian
organised the Rock section of the Seville Guitar Legends festival, and
amongst those chosen by Brian to perform their music were Nuno Bettencourt,
Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Joe Walsh - to name but a few. The concerts
were performed live in October on the site of the Seville Expo '92 exhibition.
Greatest
Hits Two was released in October 1991, a double album featuring 17 tracks.
They also repeated their earlier success by releasing Greatest Flix II
and Greatest Pix II - this time compiled by Richard Gray. A special box
was also released called Box of Flix, featuring Flix One and Two plus four
bonus tracks. Needless to say, both Hits II and Flix II were Number One!
On
November 23rd, Freddie announced to the world that he had AIDS. Just the
next day, his fight was over, and he died peacefully at his home surrounded
by friends and family. The world was in shock. Freddie had kept his illness
very private, and only those closest to him had been aware of just how
close to the end he really was. Fans from all over the world sent flowers
and cards, and many even travelled to London to be at Freddie's house.
A quiet family cremation service was held three days after his death, conducted
in the Zoroastrian faith that Freddie's parents followed so strictly.
On
Easter Monday, April 20th 1992, many of the world's top stars joined Roger,
John and Brian on stage at Wembley Stadium to pay an emotional tribute
to Freddie. The stadium was packed to capacity, and it was televised live
to over one billion people.
1993
saw the release of the George Michael / Lisa Stansfield / Queen mini album
'Five Alive'. This mini album and the single 'Somebody To Love' were released
worldwide in aid of the Trust. They reached the top ten in 31 countries
worldwide and the single reached number one in the UK on 22nd April.
In
February 1994 EMI released 'The Brian May Band Live At Brixton Academy'
on album and video, the first live recordings of the band.
The
album, much of the finishing work undertaken by John, Brian and Roger after
Freddie's death, carries a dedication to the 'immortal spirit of Freddie
Mercury', in recognition of his request that the material be completed
and be heard by the public.
The
finality of the album is underlined in two particular tracks, "A Winter's
Tale", the last song written by Freddie, and "Mother Love" a Brian and
Freddie song which features the last vocal track Freddie laid down.
Much
of the recording on "Made In Heaven" was carried out at Queen's studio
in Montreux, Switzerland, the town where Freddie was also living at the
time. This landmark point in the history of Queen is immortalised in the
album sleeve - a landscape view across the lake which Freddie's home overlooked.
To
many, "Made In Heaven" represents not only Queen's most personal album,
but also the band's finest. The release of the album also provided a fitting
occasion to reflect on the highlights and achievements of Queen's 25 years.
A week after its release, November 13, comes the release of Ultimate Queen,
a deluxe box set of 20 Queen albums presented in a wall mounted presentation
case. Available as a limited edition, Ultimate Queen contains the complete
studio work of the group with the classic live albums "Live Killers", "Live
Magic" and "Live At Wembley". Individually numbered, each case presents
the album collection on high quality litho printed picture CDs accompanied
by an embossed 12-page colour booklet.
As
a companion to the box set, Queen also released the definitive video documentary,
"Champions of the World". In two hours of film and music, the video contains
a wealth of material not previously available. More than simply re-telling
the band's history, "Champions of the World" also provides a rare insight
into the lives of John, Brian, Freddie and Roger.
While
"Made In Heaven" will be the last original Queen album there is no doubt
that the future will see further projects from Roger, John and Brian which
will also likely include film score work.
