(Credits: Far Out / Christopher Hopper / Elektra Records)
Thu 29 January 2026 13:00, UK
All great bands rely on the chemistry of their line-up to a point where the exit of any given member makes their continuing almost untenable. But, never has there been more of a case for that than Queen. Buoyed by the charisma of their vibrant frontman, Freddie Mercury, it was simply hard to imagine the band even existing without him.
So when Mercury died in 1991, it unsurprisingly changed the dynamics of the band. His presence was irreplaceable, and so their future direction felt somewhat scratchy and indiscernible. Brian May and Roger Taylor banded together and decided to carry the weight of the band between them, sharing frontman duties in this rather uncertain new future. For bassist John Deacon, the damage caused by Mercury’s death was irreparable.
At this point, Queen were at the top of the musical mountain. With Mercury at the helm, they had become one of the world’s biggest bands, playing on some of the world’s biggest stages. It made for uneven ground to grieve on, by the time Mercury’s death occurred in ‘91. Ultimately, this affected Deacon more than anyone in the band and come 1997, he quit the band for good.
“All I can say is that, historically, John was quite sensitive to stress,” Brian May explained. He continued, “We all found it hard, losing Freddie, but I think John particularly struggled.”
The breaking point finally came when the band travelled to Paris for a show. “It was to open the ballet season with an amazing new work by Maurice Béjart, about Mozart and Queen,” May recalled. “We played with John on bass, and Elton John sang with us. At that moment, John just looked at us and said, ‘I can’t do this any more.’”
He continued, explaining, “We knew that he at least needed a break, but as it turned out, he never came back. I don’t think that I can go into much more detail – we have to respect the fact that John needs his privacy now – but he’s still part of the machinery of the band.”
It was more than a simple member exit for the band. While Mercury, May and Taylor took up most of the column inches, Deacon was undoubtedly an integral part of the band’s success. Not only did he anchor the rhythm section during their expansive forays into the realms of rock opera, but he also wrote key songs for the band, including ‘You’re My Best Friend’ from their 1976 record, A Night At The Opera.
What was the last song John Deacon ever played on?
After his retirement in 1996, Queen continued releasing music. In the year of Deacon’s exit, they released the compilation album Queen Rocks, which featured a string of hits that ranged from the 1970s, with Mercury at the helm, to the mid-1990s, when they were trying to find a voice without their frontman.
‘No One but You (Only the Good Die Young)’ was the final track on the compilation and was dated as the last recorded track on the entire album. Recorded in 1997, it was Deacon’s last ever performance for the band or anyone else, for that matter, serving as the soundtrack to his abrupt retirement.
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