WWRY research. Who were Queen?

The show we will rock you is based on the music of rock band Queen. But who were Queen and why was their music so successful and well known?

Queen first came together in the early 70's. Consisting of 4 band members, Freddie Mercury the lead singer, Brian May on electric guitar, Roger Taylor and drums and John Deacon on bass guitar. The band had originally intended to be called 'Smile' but this was later changed to the name we all recognise today. Queen.


THE BAND

Freddie Mercury

Regarded as one of the greatest vocalists of all time. He was recognised for his trademark moustache,  flamboyant characterisation on stage and his ability to sing over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Are the Champions". He Died in 1991 due to bronchopneumonia which was bough on by the AIDS virus he had been fighting for several years, he is remembered today as one of the great standout performers of the 20th century

Brian May

Queen's leading guitarist. Brian May has been with the band to the present day. He played the Freddie Mercury tribute concert and has also toured with Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers. He is well known for his long curly hair and playing his guitar with a sixpence coin. He built his own guitar 'The red special' with his father and has used it for his entire career. He is a former maths teacher and recently obtained a PHD in Astronomy. He also lent his skills to the band in his songwriting and vocal ability, he wrote and partly sang the song "Who Want's To Live Forever".

       

Roger Taylor

The Bands drummer and final member along with May. He is a multi-instrumentalist. In addition to drums, he can play guitar, bass and keyboards.He started studying dentistry but got his degree in biology. He also released four solo albums over the years. In 1981, there was "Fun in Space", following 1984's "Strange Frontier", containing covers from Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. Ten years later, after Freddie Mercury's death, he made "Happiness", a very strong album. His most recent album, "Electric Fire", was released in 1998.

John Deacon
The last member to join the band was John Deacon. He auditioned and was particularly liked by all 3 other members of the band. He became their bass player and wrote the song "You're My Best Friend" in dedication to his wife, he was the only member to never contribute lead vocals. He graduated with a First in Electronic Engineering from Chelsea College, University of London. And used his knowledge to fix Queen's sound equipment in the early days. He last appeared on stage on the 17th of September, 1997, at the Theatre National De Chaillot, in Paris. The last time the three remaining band members performed together.

Influence of Queen

Queen have been recognised as having made significant contributions to such genres as hard rock and heavy metal, amongst others. The band have been cited as an influence by many other musicians. Moreover, like their music, the bands and artists that have claimed to be influenced by Queen are diverse and span different generations, countries, and genres.

Some of the musicians that have cited the band as an influence include Anthrax, Nirvana, Def Leppard, Dream Theater, Extreme, Trivium, Foo Fighters, Franz Ferdinand, George Michael, Green Day, Guns N' Roses, Iron Maiden, Journey, Kansas, Katy Perry, Keane, Lady Gaga, Manic Street Preachers, Meat Loaf, Metallica, Mika, Muse, Mötley Crüe, My Chemical Romance, Panic at the Disco, Queensrÿche, Van Halen, Radiohead, Robbie Williams, Trent Reznor, Steve Vai, Sum 41, Styx, The Flaming Lips, The Killers, and The Smashing Pumpkins.

Remembering Queen

Queen remain popular today and the music continues to influence listeners new an old. I am myself a lifelong Queen fan and although I never got to see them perform I find their music so capitivating that I can understand why it is so popular in the modern day. For example in 2002, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" was voted "the UK's favourite hit of all time" in a poll conducted by the Guinness World Records British Hit Singles Book, and in 2004 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Acclaimed for their stadium rock, in 2005 an industry poll ranked Queen's performance at Live Aid in 1985 as the best live act in history. In 2007, they were also voted the greatest British band in history by BBC Radio 2 listeners. In 2006, the Greatest Hits album was the all-time best-selling album in UK Chart history, with sales of 5,407,587 copies, over 604,295 more copies than its nearest competitor, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Their Greatest Hits II album is the eighth best seller, with sales of 3,746,404 copies.

Sources used: www.wikipedia.org
www.imdb.com