Queen

“Bohemian Rhapsody” spent nine weeks at the top of the UK singles chart in 1975, helping popularise the music video format and confirming Queen’s international breakthrough. Formed in London in 1970, the band grew from the earlier group Smile, where guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor had played together. Freddie Mercury, then a Smile fan, joined the pair, encouraged more elaborate stage and studio techniques, and suggested the name Queen. Bassist John Deacon completed the best-known lineup in February 1971.

Queen’s first album arrived in 1973, followed by their first UK chart success with Queen II in 1974. That year’s Sheer Heart Attack, and 1975’s A Night at the Opera, expanded their audience beyond Britain. Their early records drew on progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, while later work brought in arena rock and pop rock. Mercury, May, Taylor and Deacon each wrote hit singles, with Mercury’s vocals and piano, May’s guitar, Taylor’s drums and Deacon’s bass forming the core of the group’s sound.

News of the World in 1977 produced “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions,” songs that became enduring sporting-event anthems. By the early 1980s, Queen were among the world’s biggest stadium rock bands. “Another One Bites the Dust,” from 1980’s The Game, became their best-selling single. Their 1981 compilation Greatest Hits is the best-selling album in the UK and has been certified nine-times platinum in the United States by the RIAA.

Queen’s Live Aid set in 1985 has been ranked among the greatest in rock history by various publications. Mercury’s final performance with the band came at Knebworth, England, in August 1986. Diagnosed with AIDS in 1987, he continued working with Queen on The Miracle in 1989 and Innuendo in 1991. He publicly disclosed his diagnosis on 23 November 1991 and died the following day of bronchopneumonia, a complication of AIDS. Queen released Made in Heaven in 1995, built around Mercury’s vocals.

Deacon retired in 1997, while May and Taylor continued to appear together and began touring as Queen + in 2004. Paul Rodgers performed with them until 2009, followed by Adam Lambert from 2011. Queen received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music in 1990, entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. Later honours included the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection in 2005, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, and the Polar Music Prize in 2025.