Biography of Queen

Queen was a quartet that combined elements of hard rock, heavy metal, and art rock, adding other styles along the way for an often majestic sound that also contained a distinct element of campy humor. The group was formed in England in 1971 by singer Freddie Mercury (born Frederick Bulsara, Sep. 5, 1946, d. Nov. 24, 1991); guitarist Brian May (b. Jul. 19, 1947); bassist John Deacon (b. Aug. 19, 1951); and drummer Roger Taylor (b. Jul. 26, 1949). They released their first album, Queen, in 1973, and it first reached the charts in the U.S. (going gold in 1977). It wasn't until the following year that Queen broke through in its native country, getting a Top Ten hit with "The Seven Seas of Rhye" and reaching the album chart with Queen II. Sheer Heart Attack, later the same year, was a substantial hit on both sides of the Atlantic (a number two U.K. hit with "Killer Queen," number 12 in the U.S.).The biggest of Queen's early albums, however, was A Night at the Opera (1975), which topped the U.K. chart, made the Top 5 in the U.S., and included the gold-selling single "Bohemian Rhapsody," the longest-running U.K. number one in 18 years (in 1992, bolstered by an appearance in the film Wayne's World, it would be a hit all over again in the U.S.). A Day at the Races (1976) was also a substantial hit, though it couldn't match its predecessor. Queen turned to a harder rock approach for 1977's News of the World, which included the Top Five hit "We Are the Champions," still a sporting-event favorite. Jazz (1978) and Live Killers (1979) were successful, if less substantial albums, but Queen took a sharp stylistic turn for The Game in 1980 and was rewarded with two uncharacteristic number one hits, the rockabilly-tinged "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and the disco-rock "Another One Bites the Dust."Though Queen scored gold in the U.S. with the subsequent releases Hot Space (1982) and The Works (1984), the group was in a gradual commercial decline throughout the '80s. It returned to gold-selling status with Innuendo in 1991, but singer Freddie Mercury died of AIDS in November of that year. That set off a sales bonanza in Europe and, belatedly, in the U.S., with a giant benefit concert held in Mercury's honor at Wembley Stadium in England in April 1992. Posthumous releases began to appear, with a boxed set promised. ~ William Ruhlmann