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| While it was entirely appropriate for the British rock group Queen to be inducted into America's Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2001, the event would have been totally complete had their singer and leader, Freddie Mercury, been present. Sadly, Freddie died in late '91 but his memory and the legacy of Queen songs will never diminish.
The Queen recorded history began in 1973 when the group (Freddie plus guitarist Brian May, bass player John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor) were signed by EMI Records in London. SEVEN SEAS OF RHYE and KILLER QUEEN kicked off their hitmaking machine there in early '74 and BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY was not far behind, climbing all the way to #1 on the UK chart in the last week of November '75. In this country, BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY made the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot 100 in April '76, only to climb even higher in the spring of '92 after an entirely new audience discovered the song as it was memorably featured in the Mike Myers/Dana Carvey movie "Wayne's World"!
Many other Queen songs are worldwide favorites including UNDER PRESSURE, the group's 1981 collaboration with David Bowie. EMI also publishes hit songs recorded by Queen solo members including DRIVEN BY YOU and TOO MUCH LOVE WILL KILL YOU by Brian May and I WAS BORN TO LOVE YOU and LIVING ON MY OWN by Freddie Mercury plus BARCELONA, the triumphant 1987 duet between Freddie and opera diva Montserrat Caballe.
For anyone who has not experienced all the gems in Queen's song repertoire, there is a special 'kind of magic' awaiting them.
Biography courtesy of Alan Warner |
Simon Abbott
