Queen

What is "Queen" ?

Almost everybody has heard something about the band "Queen", at least the name of the band or the name of one of the band-members: Freddy Mercury, but everybody has definitely heard something of the band, even if it only was a covered song. Until today the band, although it is liquidate after the death of one of the band-members, has many fans. The final question is: "What actually is `Queen' ?"

"Smile"

In the year 1968 two students, Brain May and Tim Staffel, wanted to found a band. Brain started an announcement for searching a drummer, and a young student called Roger Meddows Taylor was their man. They called the band "Smile", and the Mercury-Records signed them on in 1969, so they could make experience in a studio - Trident Ateliers. As they went on the same college, Tim Staffel and Freddy Bulsara, as he was called at this time, knew each other, and Tim showed Freddy the band.

In 1970 Tim left the band "Smile" and founded a new band and Freddy left his old band, he thought the other band- members did not take it seriously enough, and got a member of "Smile".

"Queen"

Beginning

Freddy changed his last name into "Mercury" and the name of the band into "Queen". Then they searched a bass-player. They examined six people, the seventh (John Deacon), was the right one. Then, in 1971, the band was finally complete, a singer (Freddy Mercury), a guitar- player (Brain May), a drummer (Roger Taylor) and last but not least a bass-player (John Deacon). The band practised indefatigable, and one day they was allowed to test a new studio (De Lane Lea).

First albums

In 1973 Trident and EMS signed "Queen" on, and in July they published their first album, that was called "Queen". The second one was called "Queen II", that was published in march 1974, and the third one was not along time in coming, "Shear Heart Attack" in November of the same year.

First big hit

"Queen" started the work for a new album and in 1975 the single "Bohemian Rhapsody" was published, it was nearly six minutes long. Although many experts thought, the song was too long, it got a big hit, because Freddy gave it to his friend, a DJ from London, Kenny Everett. Freddie said, that it was for him, and that he was not allowed to play it on the radio, but obviously he did, and every big station, too.

First Award

In November the same year the album was finished. It was called "A night at the opera". It was a great success, they got their first Platinium-Album-Award.

Last Awards

In 1986 "Queen" was live on stage for the last time , because Freddy Mercury was very ill, that is why they could not start a tour for the album "Miracle" in 1989. Five years later the bandleader died of AIDS. To remember him, they started half a year later, a tribute-concert, where stars like Elton John sang "Queen" -songs . The last album "Made I heaven" was made with Freddy a short time before his death and was published four years after Freddy Mercury's death.

Music-Style

The music-style of "Queen" was something between Rock and operetta, but the perfectly produced live shows were also a trademark of "Queen". Of this appearance Freddy took care, by this the band was distinguished by the others. The songs of "Made In heaven" were quite melancholic, because of the disease of Freddy.

Band-Members

John Richard Deacon

John Deacon was born on 19th August 1951 in Leicester. There he went to school, too, but in London he went to "Chelsea College" and finished there in electrical engineering. His father Arthur Henry died, when he was young, and so his mother Lilian had to bring him up and educate him.

John was a quite quiet man, reserved and reticent. Interviews of him were scarcities, he kept very much in the background. The same was on stage, the others did a show, and he did only his job, played the bass.

When John was fourteen years old, he started to take the music seriously and he decided to play the bass. However when he went to college in London he became sensible and tried first to get a proper situation, a good occupation, so that he was financially independent of his mother. He made it and became a teacher, and so he was able to think about music again. One day "Queen" searched a bass-player and John and "Queen" got together somehow (someone says, he applied by "Queen" and someone says "Queen" asked John) and John Richard Deacon was the person. One probable reason was, that he was the opposite of the other band-members, so that he was the balance, but one reason was definite, that he was a quite good bass-player.

Unfortunately he never made any solo-album. John says, he could not sing any right note, but he contributed his part to the success in another manner. He wrote many songs, for example "Another One Bites The Dust" or "I Want To Break Free", and his best song was "Spread Your Wings" of the album "News of the World".

Today John has got a big family, his wife Veronica and six children.

Brain Harold May

On July the 19th in 1947 was a famous day for the world of pop. On this day one of the best guitar-payers, Brain Harold May was born in Middlesex, a small village near London. From childhood he was busy with music, he made music with the piano and the ukulele. On his seventh birthday he got an acoustic-guitar, which he manipulated, so that it sounded a little bit like an electric-guitar.

When he was fifteen he started to play the electric-guitar, his idols were Lonnie Donegan or Buddy Holly. He founded a band called "The Others", when he went to Grammar-School. His fathers said once: "As long as Brain on account of the music the school does not neglect, I never say anything against the music." At this time was the absolutely trademark developed by him and his father (who was a electrical engineer) :A handmade guitar, with a value of nearly eight pounds (at this time), but it is priceless. Almost by every concert and every records he used this "Fireplace Guitar" or "The Red Special" as it was called. Later he studied Physics and Math at the Imperial College . One day he founded with Tim Staffel "Smile", Roger joined a short time later. When "Queen" was complete he stopped his doctoral thesis to concentrate on the album "Queen II".

Brain was the second songwriter, besides he was the guitarist and background-singer. In some song he was even lead singer, for example:" Some Day One Day". He wrote forceful songs, but he also wrote soft songs like :" Too Much Love Will Kill You" and" Who Wants To Live Forever". Brain loves Guinness, likes vegetarian food and Heavy Metal, but he also likes the songs by the Beatles, above all "I wanna hold your hand". Today he is father of three children

Roger Taylor

Roger Taylor was born on July the 26th 1949 in Norfolk, England with the name Roger

Meddows Taylor. His parents were called Michel and Winifred. When Roger was at the age of eight, he was very interested in rockmusik. He began to play the guitar and when he was twelve years old, he got his first E-guitar. At the privat school Truro he founded with some friends the group ,,The Cousin Jacks". This was in 1963. In this group he played the rhythm- guitar but later he changed to the drums. In 1965 Roger changed the band. From now on he played in a group named ,,Johnny Quale and the Reaction". In 1966 this band won the lokal championchip. Now they were called ,,The Reaction" because Johnny Quale left them. ,,The Reaction" supported bands like ,,T-Rex" and ,,Slade". Until automn 1968 Roger played with them. He went to the Ealing College of Art where he read a note of Brian May. The group ,,Smile" looked out for a drummer. He was received. Later ,,Smile" changed its name in ,,Queen". At the same time Roger also founded an own band named ,,The Cross". But this group was never very successful and today ,,The Cross" does not excist any more. During his time at ,,Queen" he wrote some songs. For example ,,Sheer Heart Attack","Radio GaGa" and ,,Heaven For Everyone". He brought out four solo-albums. His latest was presented three months ago. The concert had been shown in the internet. It was the biggest concert that was ever shown there. Over 600000 fans watched this event. Roger loves speed. He has got a Ferrari and a Range Rover. Another hobby of him is collecting lamps

Freddie Mercury

The son of Bomi and Jer Bulsara, Freddie was born on September the 5th 1946 in Sansibar with the name Faroukh Pluto Bulsara. He changed his name in name to Mercury because this was the courier of the Roman gods. He spent the bulk of his childhood in India where he attended St.Peter's boarding school., near Bombay. It was during his time there that the headmaster of the school realized that Freddie had musical talent and suggested piano lessons to his parents. He began them at the age of seven. He was also involved with the schools theatre and choir. It was at St.Peter's that Freddie formed his first band, ,,The Hectics". No one could foresee where a love of music would take him. For many years he did not have any contacts to girls. Later he said: ,,I was certainly aware of the gay connections, but that was just one face of it", what should mean that he was bisexual.

The Bulsara family moved to Middlesex in 1964, due to political unrest in their country In 1966, he enrolled in Ealing College of Art to study graphic illustration. From there Freddie joined up with a blues band called Wreckage while studying graphic design courses at Ealing College of Art. At this college he also got to kown Roger Taylor. With him he opened a little boutique. Roger was a member of a band named ,,Smile". There he played together with Brian May and Tim Staffel. In 1969 Freddie replaced Tim. He said: ,,Why are you wasting your time doing this? You should be more demonstrative in the way that you put the music across. If I was your singer that´s what I´d be doing." He suggested them the name ,,Queen" and he said: ,,I thought up the name QUEEN... It´s just a name, but it´s very regal obviously, and it sounds splendid. It´s a strong name, very universal and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts of interpretations." His voice became one of the most important feature of the group but Freddie also often played the piano. After the numberone- track ,,Innuendo" the group did not want to do any more tournees. On November the 23rd 1991 Freddie admited that he got infect with the HIV-Virus. One day later he died. Freddie's house is at 1 Logan Place in Kensington, London. There is a wall around the property, and it is now the home of Mary Austin, so you can only see the outside of the property. The wall with all the graffiti that is seen in the ,,Champions of the World" video is Freddie's house. Freddie was cremated, rather than buried, and there is no gravesite to visit. It is most likely that his parents have his ashes.

Freddie published four solo-albums. On one of these albums (Barcelona) he sang together with Monserat Caballe. The title-song was also the Olympiasong of 1992 in Barcelona. The live-appearance with this song was one of the most impressful events Freddie Mercury had ever given.

The Illness

As the group "Queen" did not do any more tours the fans became furious but the press assumed, that it could be a reason, that Freddie had become sick. The members of the group denied this. At a press conference on November the 23rd 1991 Freddie admitted that he had AIDS. One day later he died of a pneumonia in his house in Kensington, London. The world was shocked. He was still singing when he already knew that he was sick. At this time he said :"I don´t have any inspiration to live to 70... it would be boring." Two weeks before he died the band published the song "The Show Must Go On". It was the irony of destiny. But most of his fans thought, that Freddie had written this song to console them. About his last months

Roger Taylor said :"It was hard but we were trying to support him through it. He was incredibly brave at that time. For the last 18 months of his life he was hounded by the Press and he was really a prisoner inside his house." Freddie said :"I don't really think about when I'm dead or how they are going to remember me. I don't think about it. It's up to them. When I'm dead, who cares? I don't." The day of honour only took place with his family and with his best friends. These were Elton John, George Michael and many other stars. His last words on TV were :"I still love you!" On Easter Monday 1992 the band organised together with stars like David Bowie, George Michael, Elton John, Metallica, Guns`n`Roses and Lisa Standsfield a remember-concert in London, Wembley Stadium. This concert was completely sold out during two hours. In 1995 the rest of the band published the album "Made In Heaven". On this CD you could hear the last songs that Freddie had sung. During two weeks this CD climbed to the top of the charts in England, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and in many more countries. It should become one of the most successful albums of the group "Queen". There are many songs of Freddie Mercury which have not been published. But "the rest of the band" does not want to publish them. They say that they are not good enough. The press meant that it was terrible, that the band had its climax of knowledge when Freddie Mercury was already dead.

Current situation

Every year on November the 24th millions of Queenfans mourn because of their idol. In a forum of a Queen-Homepage you can read:

Written by Markus on November the 24th 1999 20:14:01: Freddie! We miss you, see you in heaven.

Written by Thomas Rieder on November the 24th 1999 21:56:34:

Freddie, you were the greatest and in our hearts you will survive forever.

Written by Jonas on November the 24th 1999 09:52:10: The most terrible day in the history of music!!

Written by VOLKSTRAUERTAG on November the 24th 1999 14:18:09: What shall we do?

In the medias they do not tell anything about our greatest day of mourning.

In 1997 Roger Taylor, Brian May and John Deacon published the album "Queen Rocks". It

was a summary of the best rock-songs of the band. On this CD there is also a title named "No- One But You (Only The Good Die Young)". This song was written in honour of Freddie Mercury. The text deals with the problems of the band. How they miss him. What he would do if he was one of them. Later they published the Computergame "The Eye". The members of the band are the main-persons in this game. The story plays in the future, in a world, where creativity is devilished. Dubroc is an agent and his job is to suppress every kind of imagination. During a raid he finds a video that is going to change his life. Dubroc watches "Queen", hears the music and he knows: Nothing is still as it was before! This game contains many soundtrack- and videoclipsections. In November 1999 "The Rest of Queen" published the last album. The third album of the Best-of-series.

Today there are not only old fans of this band. Many young people also discovered the typical music-style of "Queen". Roger, Brian and John are looking for a new singer but none had got such a good voice like Freddie Mercury. The opinions of the fans are not uniform, what you can also read on the forums of some sites in the Internet:

Written by Chris on November the 11th 1999 13:04:55:

I think that people should leave "Queen" alone. The group will never be the same that it once was - unique! No-one can replace Freddie's voice. If they needed a new singer they should behave under another name (I was only ten years old when Freddie died and I am a big Queenfan - but especially of Freddie!) Leave the legend of "Queen" alone. (It is anyway a question of money!) As the three members of the band do not have any success they have to resuscitate "Queen"!

Written by Babsi on November the 11th 1999 15:34:41:

"Queen" would never work for a second time, because Freddie does not live anymore. His voice is unique and it will stay unique forever!

But most of his fans think that Freddie cannot be replaced. Some of them even say that he was the best singer on earth.

Written by Thomas Rieder on November the 12th 1999 21:47:17:

I agree with you that Freddie cannot be replaced. But it would be great, if Brian, Roger and John published a new CD. In my opinion they are allowed to use the name "Queen". But I think they would not do it to earn more money. They are successful enough and all of them have enough money. Let them play together if they want! At last we are all happy that they publish songs like "No-One But You!"

© by Martin Stork