Queen : The legend & famous Rock Band

Queen : The legend & famous Rock Band. Queen is a band of rock formed in 1970 in London by the guitarist Brian May, the singer Freddie Mercury and the drummer Roger Taylor, with the bear John Deacon completing the alignment the following year. The band emphasized by its musical diversity, vocal adjustments in multiple layers, harmonies and the incorporation of the participation of the public during its presentations live. One considers pioneers of the development of hard rock and heavy metal, incorporating elements of glam rock, progressive rock, folk, blues, MGP and even reggae. Its action in the concert Live AID in 1985 was chosen through a musical survey like the best action of rock for all time.

Queen enjoyed the success in Great Britain at the beginning of ' 70 with the albums Queen and Queen II, but were with the publication of Sheer Heart Attack in 1974 and To Night AT The Opera the following year that the band achieveed the international success. They published 15 albums of study, 5 live albums and numerous compilations. From the death of Mercury and the retirement of Deacon, May and Taylor have appeared together occasionally in special events and televising programs like musicians invited next to other artists and/or bands. From 2004 to 2009 they worked next to Paul Rodgers, under the name of Queen + Paul Rodgers. Queen has sold approximately 600 million discs at world-wide level. Queen was named #13 better artist of Hard rock in " VH1' s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock list".

First days (1968-1973)
In 1968, the guitarist Brian May, a student of the Imperial College of London, and the bear Tim Staffell decided to form a group. May put a warning in the mural of the news of the Imperial College looking for " drummer style Mitch Mitchell - Ginger Baker" ; Roger Taylor, a young student of odontolgy, appeared to hearing and obtained the position. They called to the group like Smile. Smile signed with Mercury Record in 1969, and had his first session in a recording studio in Trident Studios that year. Tim Staffell studied in Ealing Art College with Farrokh Bulsara (later known like Freddie Mercury), it presented/displayed and it to the band. Bulsara soon was made a staunch one fan. Staffell retired in 1970 to be united to another band, Humpy Bong. The remaining members of Smile, driven by Bulsara, changed their name " Queen" and they continued working together, being united them Bulsara like vocalista. The band had several bears during this period but no of them fitted with the chemistry of the group. It was not until February of 1971 when John Deacon got up itself as bearish and thus they began to try for the first album. In 1973, after a series of delays, Queen it published his first album, a project of the same name and influenced by heavy metal and progressive rock of the time. The album well was received by the critics; Gordon Fletcher de Rolling Stone said " its album debut is excelente" and the Daily Herald de Chicago called " a debut over promedio". Nevertheless, it did not call much the simple attention and main " Keep Yourself Alive" , a composition of Brian May, sold poorly. Greg Prato de Allmusic called " one more of the debuts of hard rock subvalued for all time ". The album Queen II was published in 1974. The album reached the number #5 in the British lists, while simple main " Seven You are of Rhye, written by Freddie Mercury, reached the number #10 in Great Britain, giving to the band its first success.Tthe album is his first heavy and dark publication, presenting/displaying long and complex instrumental passages, fantastic letters and musical virtuosity. During this period the band left tour like teloneros of Mott the Hoople in Great Britain and the United States, and began to make the news by its power and participating presentations in the scene. Nevertheless, the sales of the album in the United States were, like those of their predecessor, losses.

(1974-1979)
Brian May was absent when the band started work on their third album, Sheer Heart Attack, released in 1974. The album reached number two in the United Kingdom,sold well throughout Europe, and went gold in the United States. It gave the band their first real taste of commercial success. The album experimented with a variety of musical genres, including British Music Hall ("Killer Queen"), heavy metal ("Flick of the Wrist", "Brighton Rock", "Tenement Funster", "Now I'm Here", and "Stone Cold Crazy"), ballads ("Lily Of The Valley" and "Dear Friends"), ragtime ("Bring Back That Leroy Brown") and Caribbean ("Misfire"). At this point Queen started to move away from the progressive tendencies of their first two releases into a more radio-friendly, song-oriented style. Sheer Heart Attack introduced new sound and melody patterns that would be refined on their next album A Night at the Opera.

The single "Killer Queen" reached number two on the British charts, and became their first US hit, reaching number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. It combines camp, vaudeville, British music hall with May’s guitar virtuosity. The album’s second single, "Now I’m Here", a more traditional hard rock composition, was a number eleven hit in Britain. In recent years, the album has received acclaim from music publications: In 2006, Classic Rock ranked it #28 in "The 100 Greatest British Rock Albums Ever", and in 2007, Mojo ranked it #88 in "The 100 Records That Changed the World."It is also the second of three Queen albums to feature in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

In 1975, the band left for a world tour with each member in Zandra Rhodes-created costumes and banks of lights and effects. They toured the US, headlining for the first time, and played in Canada for the first time in April. At the same time, the band's manager Jim Beach successfully negotiated the band out of their Trident contract. Of the options they considered, was an offer from Led Zeppelin’s manager, Peter Grant. Grant wanted them to sign with Led Zeppelin’s own production company, Swan Song Records. The band found the contract unacceptable and instead, contacted Elton John’s manager, John Reid, who accepted the position.In April 1975 the band toured Japan for the first time.

Later that year the band recorded and released A Night at the Opera. At the time, it was the most expensive album ever produced.Like its predecessor, the album features diverse musical styles and experimentation with stereo sound. In "The Prophet's Song", an eight-minute epic, the middle section is a canon, with simple phrases layered to create a full-choral sound. The album was very successful in Britain,and went triple platinum in the United States.The British public voted it the 13th greatest album of all time in a 2004 Channel 4 poll,and the 9th greatest number one album of all time in a 2006 BBC poll.The album has also ranked highly in international polls: in a worldwide Guinness poll, it was voted the 19th greatest all time, while an ABC poll saw the Australian public vote it the 28th greatest of all time. A Night at the Opera has frequently appeared in "greatest albums" lists reflecting the opinions of critics: among other accolades, it was ranked #16 in Q Magazine's "The 50 Best British Albums Ever" in 2004, #17 in Classic Rock's "The 100 Greatest British Rock Albums Ever" in 2006, and #11 in Rolling Stone's "The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time" as featured in their Mexican edition in 2004.It was also featured as one of Rolling Stone's "500 greatest albums of all time" in 2003.A Night at the Opera is the third and final Queen album to be featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Mercury, seen during a 1978 concert.

The album also featured the hit single "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was number one in the UK for nine weeks,and is Britain’s third-best-selling single of all time; beaten only by Band Aid's Do They Know it's Christmas? and Elton John's Candle in the Wind 1997 - making it the best selling commercial single in the UK. It also reached number nine in the United States (a 1992 re-release reached number two).Bohemian Rhapsody has been voted, numerous times, the greatest song of all time.The band decided to make a video to go with the single; the result is generally considered to have been the first "true" music video ever produced. Although other bands (including The Beatles) had made short promotional films or videos of songs prior to this, generally those were made for specific showings or programs (such as the Beatles' videos for "Hey Jude" and "Revolution", which were specifically made to be aired on the Smothers Brothers' television show). "Bohemian Rhapsody" was the first music video offered free of charge, to any program, network or station which would air it.[citation needed] The second single from the album, "You're My Best Friend", the second song composed by John Deacon, and his first single, peaked at sixteen in the United State and went on to become a worldwide Top Ten hit.[citation needed]

By 1976, Queen were back in the studio, where they recorded A Day at the Races, what may be mistaken simply as a companion album to A Night at the Opera.It again borrowed the name of a Marx Brothers' movie, and its cover was similar to that of A Night at the Opera, a variation on the same Queen Crest. Musically, the album was by both fans’ and critics’ standards a strong effort, and reached number one on the British charts. The major hit on the album was "Somebody to Love", a gospel-inspired song in which Mercury, May, and Taylor multi-tracked their voices to make a 100-voice gospel choir. The song went to number two in the United Kingdom,and number thirteen on the US singles chart. The album also featured one of the band's heaviest songs, Brian May’s "Tie Your Mother Down", which became a staple of their live shows.

Also in 1976, Queen played one of their most famous gigs, a 1976 free concert in Hyde Park, London. It set an attendance record, with 150,000 people confirmed in the audience.

News of the World was released a year later. It contained many songs tailor-made for live performance, including "We Will Rock You" and the rock ballad "We Are the Champions", both of which reached number four in the United States and became enduring international sports anthems.[15] Roger Taylor released his first solo effort in 1977 in the form of a single: the A-side was a cover of a song by The Parliaments "I Wanna Testify", and the B-side was a song by Taylor called "Turn On The TV".
May, seen live in concert in 1978.

In 1978 the band released Jazz, including the hit singles "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race" which were also released as a double-A-side single. This album was "the target of a bizarre marketing campaign, in which sixty-five naked women were perched atop bicycles rented from Halford's Cycles and sent racing around Wimbledon Stadium." The word "jazz" was not used in a strict sense, and the album was noted by critics for its collection of different styles, jazz not being one of them.Rolling Stone Magazine criticised it for being "dull", saying "Queen hasn’t the imagination to play jazz – Queen hasn't the imagination, for that matter, to play rock & roll." Important tracks of the album include "Dead on Time", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Let Me Entertain You", and "Mustapha", in which Arabesque music is combined with heavy rock guitar.

The band’s first live album, Live Killers, was released in 1979; it went platinum twice in the United States. They also released the very successful single "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", a rockabilly song done in the style of Elvis Presley. The song made the top 10 in many countries, and was the band’s first number one single in the United States.

New sound & shintezizer (1980-1984)
Queen began ' 80 with The Game. It presented/displayed simple " Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and " Another One Bites the Dust" , which reached the number #1 in the United States. The album sold more than four million copies. Also it was the unique album in arriving at the same time as the top of the rock lists, dances and R& B of Billboard. The album in addition marked the first appearance of a sintetizador in an album of Queen. Previously this, their albums showed an explanatory note in their title pages that " said; No sintetizador was used in this álbum". The note widely is assumed by the band to reflect a situation pro-" hard" - rock without synthesizing, but later was revealed by the Roy producer Thomas Baker to clarify that the single multi-layers of the albums were created with guitars instead of sintetizizer, in such a way that the executives of the record company continued it accepting until then. 1980 also saw the publication of the sound track that Queen had recorded for the film Gordon Flash. 1981, Queen became the first great band of rock that touched in stages of Latin America. Queen appeared before a total hearing of 479,000 people in its South American tour, which included 5 concerts in Argentina and 2 in Brazil; in this last country they touched before more than 130,000 people the first than 120,000 assistants more at night following night and, both in the Stage Morumbi de Sao Paulo.
The 9 of October of the same year, Queen appeared before more than 150,000 fans in the University Stage of Monterrey and days 17 and 18 in the Stage Saragossa, Puebla, Mexico. Also in 1981, Queen worked next to David Bowie in simple " Under Pressure". The collaboration was spontaneous, since Bowie had happened to visit the study while Queen recorded. The band was immediately conforms to the results, but Bowie on the other hand did not touch the live song by many years. Once published, the song was quite successful, reaching the number #1 in Great Britain. The line of low characteristic of the song was used later for the success " It hoists Hoists Baby" of Vanilla Ice in 1990, which impelled a possible judicial demand by the use of sample. The demand did not arrive at the court and was solved by means of an indemnification whose amount was not developing. Queen in Norway in 1982. At the end of that year, Queen published its first album recopilatorio, titleholder Greatest Hits, who presents/displays the majors successes of the band between 1974 and 1981. He was highly successful, and until now, it is the sold album more in the United Kingdom. Simultaneously, the drummer Roger Taylor became the first member of the band in publishing his own album alone, Fun call In Space. In 1982 the band published the album funk Hot Space. After its tour Hot Space Tour, the band finalized the tour in North America, due to the little success of the album, although they would appear in the American television by first and unique time during the stellar program of Saturday Night Live. Queen left Elektra Record, its record house in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and signed with EMI/Capitol Record. After working intensely by more than 10 years, in 1983 Queen it decided not to present/display no live concert that year. During this time they recorded a new album, and the members of the band explored parallel projects and worked alone. The guitarist Brian May published a titled mini-album Star Fleet Project, fact in collaboration with Eddie Van Halen. A composer of electronic music, Kevin Chamberlain, helped with voices and basic music for a project soloist of Freddie Mercury, but later he was cancelled due to creative differences. Queen in 1984. In 1984, Queen published the album The Works, which included successful simple " Radio Ga Ga" and " I Want to Break Free". In spite of the success of these simple ones, the album did not have much repercussion in the United States. " Radio Ga Ga" it was the last original success of the band in American Top Forty until " I Want It All, of 1989. During 1984 Queen one embarked in a series of dates in Bofutatsuana and Sun City, South Africa, within his tour The Works Tour. When returning to England, the band was object of critics to have touched in this place in the heat of time of the apartheid and violation of world-wide economic rights. The band responded to the critics affirming that they were touching music for fans in that country, and also emphasized that the concerts were realised before complete hearings. At the end of the year, Roger Taylor publishes Strange Frontier, its second album solo.

Live AID & later years(1985-1989)
In January of 1985, the band headed two nights in the first festival Rock in River in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They were the main attraction in the activities of the 11 of January and 18 of January. In every night, they touched before more than 180,000 people. A selection of the best thing of both presentations was published in VHS the month of May with the title Queen Live in River. In April, Freddie Mercury alone published its first album, Mr. Bad Guy. The 13 of July of 1985 the beneficial concert Live AID was realised in the Wembley stage of London. In that one event, Queen presented/displayed some of his greater successes, which to date has been considered like its better presentation. The band, now revitalized by the answer of the public in Live AID and the consequent increase in disc sales, finalized 1985 with the publication of new simple " One Vision". The song was used in films Iron Eagle. Also, a limited edition collection that contained all the albums of Queen to the date was published under the title of " The Complete Works". The package included in addition material unpublished, standing out the simple one published by Queen in Christmas of 1984, Thank God it' s Christmas. At the beginning of 1986, Queen recorded the album To Kind of Magic, containing several songs written for films Highlander de Russell Mulcahy. The album had acceptance, producing a series of successes like the song enough that gives to title to the album " To Kind of Magic" , which contains the key phrase ' There dog sees only one' (It only can have one), a reference to the motto of the film; also they emphasize " Friends Will Be Friends" , " Who Wants to Live Forever" and " Princes of the Universe". In the middle of the year, Queen began the tour of support of A Kind of Magic, the greatest tour of the band with all exhausted concerts. The highest point of the tour Magic Tour was two nights in the Wembley stage of London and was in a double live album, Queen: Live AT Wembley ' 86, published in CD, VHS and later in format DVD. The band could not realise one third night in Wembley because the stage would not be available, so they decided to touch in Knebworth Park. The entrances were run out to the 2 hours to be put on sale and more than 120,000 fans repletaron the park so it would come to be the final presentation of Queen with Freddie Mercury. More than 1 million people it saw Queen during the tour; 400,000 people only in the United Kingdom, a record in that one date. After working in several projects soloists during 1988 (including the collaboration of Mercury with the Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé, the Barcelona album and the parallel band of the drummer Roger Taylor, The Cross), Queen published the album The Miracle in 1989. The album continued the musical line of A Kind of Magic, using a sound MGP-rock mixed with some heavy shades. The disc the successes are come off " I Want It All" , " Breakthru" , " Invisible The Man" , " Scandal" and " The Miracle". The Miracle also began a change of direction as far as the philosophy of composition of Queen. From the beginnings of the band, almost all the songs had been written by and credited to a specific member, with minimum contributions of the other members. Nevertheless, with The Miracle, the composition became collaborative, and agreed upon only crediting the end item to Queen like group.

The final albums and Mercury's death (1991–1997)

After fans inquired into the last public appearance of Mercury during 1988, the rumors began to extend that Mercury was suffering AIDS. For reasons not yet confirmed, Mercury abiertamente denied that one time, insisting that was really " exhausto" and too much occupied to provide interviews. Nevertheless, the band decided to continue making albums free of internal conflicts and differences, beginning with The Miracle and following with Innuendo, which was recorded during 1990 but it was not published until the beginning of 1991, because the health of Mercury was constituted in a predominant factor in the delay. In spite of its health deteriorating itself, Mercury continued contributing. The band published his second compilation of great successes, Greatest Hits II, in October of 1991. The 23 of November of 1991, in a declaration prepared in his I milk of death, Mercury confirmed that it had AIDS. To almost 24 hours of the emission of the declaration, Freddie Mercury passed away of a bronchopneumonia, which was caused by AIDS. Its funeral was of deprived character, in agreement with the zoroástrica faith, religion professed by its family. " Bohemian Rhapsody" it was relaunched like simple shortly after the death of Mercury, with " These Are the Days of Our Lives" like double side A. The simple one obtained the number for the second time #1 in the United Kingdom. The initial collection of the simple one - approximately £1.000.000 - was donated to the foundation Terrence Higgins Trust. The popularity of Queen was increased again in the United States after " Bohemian Rhapsody" he was presented/displayed in films Wayne' comedy; s World, helping to the song to reach the number #2 by five weeks in the American lists in 1992. The song was made a video musical in Wayne' s World, with which the band and representation were enchanted. The 20 of April of 1992, the Concert was realised in Tribute to Freddie Mercury in the Wembley stage, London. Between the invited artists they were Annie Lennox, David Bowie, Def Leppard, Elizabeth Taylor, Elton John, Carries far, George Michael, Guns N' Roses, Ian Hunter, Smooth Stansfield, Minnelli Heddle, Metallica, Mick Ronson, Robert Plant, Roger Daltrey, Spinal APT, Tony Iommi and Zucchero, next to the three remaining members of Queen, interpreting several of the greatest successes of the band. The concert is registered in Libro Guinness de Récords like " The beneficial concert with more stars of rock". was collected more of £20.000.000 destined to charitable works for AIDS. Statue of Freddie Mercury in Montreux. The band also finished to its contract with Capitol Record and signed with Hollywood Record like its new record one in the United States. Queen as band never dissolved officially, although its last album of unpublished material, Made titleholder in Heaven, was published in 1995, four years after the death of Freddie Mercury. Material one rejected of its previous albums of study was produced from the last sessions of recording of Mercury in 1991, adding. In addition, rewritten material obtained of the first album was included soloist of Mercury (Mr. Bad Guy) and a song originally published in the first album of The Cross, the parallel band of Roger Taylor. May and Taylor were involved in projects related to the collection of bottoms for aid against AIDS. The last participation of John Deacon with the band was in 1997, when they recorded the song " No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young) ". It was the last song recorded by Queen, and was published like bonus track in the album compilatorio Queen Rocks at the end of that year. Due to the demand on the part of fans of Queen, the song later was published like a simple one reaching the position #13 in the British lists.

Queen + Paul Rogers
At the end of 2004, the guitarist Brian May and the drummer Roger Taylor announced that both would meet and would return to leave tour in 2005 next to Paul Rodgers (singing founder of the bands Free and Bad Company). The Web site of Brian May also established that Rodgers would be ' appearing con' Queen like Queen + Paul Rodgers, without replacing the singing missing person Freddie Mercury. The bear John Deacon (retired officer of the band), declined in participating,being replaced by the Danny bear Vantage point (member of Blue Öyster Cult). Other members of the tour were the tecladista Spike Edney, that guitar in the live concerts of Queen occasionally touched to keyboards and from 1984, and the additional guitarist Jamie Moses, who began to work with Brian May in his projects soloists at the beginning of ' 90. A double live album, Return of the Champions, was published the 19 of September of 2005. It was recorded live the 9 of May of the same year during the tour in the Sheffield Sand in Sheffield, England. Also a DVD of the concert was published. In March of 2006, Queen + Paul Rodgers extended the tour towards the United States and Canada. During this part of the tour, the group released his first song in collaboration, call " Take Love". A second live DVD, Super Live in Japan, was published in 2006 exclusively in Japan; the concert had been recorded in the Super Saitama Sand, Tokyo, Japan day 27 of October of 2005. The 15 of August of 2006, Brian May confirmed through its Web site and club of fans that Queen + Paul Rodgers would begin to produce their first album of study in October, to be recorded in " place secreto". the album, The titleholder the Rocks Cosmos, was published in Europe the 12 of September of 2008 and in the United States the 28 of October. After this, the band realised its tour The Rock the Cosmos,beginning the 12 of September with a beneficial concert by the cause of AIDS in Kharkov, the Ukraine before a hearing superior to the 350,000 people.The tour crossed Europe and finalized in South America the 30 of November of 2008 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

After Queen + Paul Rodgers
In mid-2009 after the split of Queen + Paul Rodgers, The Queen Online website announced a new Greatest Hits compilation named Queen: Absolute Greatest was released on 16 November and (to date) has peaked at #3 in the official UK chart. The album contains Queen's hits spanning their entire career and was released in four different formats: single disc, double disc (with commentary), double disc with feature book and a vinyl record. Prior to its release, a competition was run by Queen Online to guess the track listing, as a promotion for the album.

On 30 October 2009, Brian May wrote a fanclub letter on his website stating that Queen had no intentions to tour in 2010 but that there is a possibility of a performance. Brian is quoted as saying "The greatest debate, though, is always about when we will next play together as Queen. At the moment, in spite of the many rumours that are out there, we do not have plans to tour in 2010. The good news, though, is that Roger and I have a much closer mutual understanding these days – privately and professionally … and all ideas are carefully considered. Music is never far away from us. As I write, there is an important one-off performance on offer, in the USA, and it remains to be decided whether we will take up this particular challenge. Every day, doors seem to open, and every day, we interact, perhaps more than ever before, with the world outside. It is a time of exciting transition in Rock music and in “The Business”. It’s good that the pulse still beats."

On 15 November 2009, Brian May and Roger Taylor performed Bohemian Rhapsody live on the British TV show The X Factor alongside the finalists.