Queen

Queen came together in London in 1970 with more ambition than any band had a right to. Brian May and Roger Taylor had been playing together in a group called Smile, and one of their fans, Freddie Mercury, pushed them toward grander stagecraft and fancier studio tricks, then joined as singer and pianist and gave them their regal name. John Deacon took over on bass in February 1971. May played guitar, Taylor drummed and sang backup, and Mercury strutted out front with a voice that could do anything.

The early albums were heavy and progressive, full of thundering riffs and grand gestures. The self-titled debut came out in 1973, and Queen II gave them their first chart success at home in 1974. Sheer Heart Attack followed later that year, the same year as the sly, music-hall swagger of "Killer Queen", and A Night at the Opera in 1975 made them stars around the world. Its centerpiece, "Bohemian Rhapsody", jumps from ballad to mock opera to hard rock and back, and it spent nine weeks at number one in Britain while doing much to popularize the music video.

A Day at the Races came in 1976, the year of the gospel-tinged "Somebody to Love", and News of the World in 1977 gave the world "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions", which ended up as anthems in sports arenas. Jazz in 1978 came out swinging. By the early '80s they had moved toward pop and arena rock and were one of the biggest stadium bands on the planet. "Another One Bites the Dust", from The Game in 1980, became their best-selling single, and the Greatest Hits collection of 1981 became the best-selling album in British history. Their Live Aid set in 1985 is still counted among the greatest performances rock has seen.

Mercury played his last show with Queen at Knebworth in August 1986 and was diagnosed with AIDS the next year. The Miracle and Innuendo followed, and he died in November 1991, the day after he revealed his illness. Made in Heaven in 1995 was the final album with his voice. Deacon retired in 1997, and May and Taylor have since toured as Queen +, first with Paul Rodgers and then Adam Lambert. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted them in 2001, and the Polar Music Prize followed in 2025.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.