Queen are one of the most iconic bands in history, a group whose music has soundtracked the lives of hundreds of millions of fans since their reign began more than 50 years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their musical achievements alone are unmatched thanks to album sales in excess of 300 million worldwide and such era-defining hits as \u2018Killer Queen\u2019, \u2018We Are The Champions\u2019, \u2018We Will Rock You\u2019, \u2018Another One Bites The Dust\u2019 and the history-making \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019, which has twice reached No.1 in the UK and is the most streamed song of the 20th century with a record-breaking 2.6 billion streams.\u00a0In the US,\u00a0Queen now has 5 songs with\u00a0at least 1 billion streams on Spotify.Their 26x platinum 1981 Greatest Hits collection is the UK\u2019s biggest selling album ever, exceeding 7.9 million in sales and spending a staggering 1,137 weeks on the UK chart. They remain the only band in history where every member has individually written one or more Top 5 hit singles.<\/p>\n
Yet Queen\u00a0are\u00a0more than just a musical powerhouse \u2013 they are a cultural force. Legendary performances at such historic events as 1985\u2019s Live Aid concert and their own headlining appearance at London\u2019s Wembley Stadium in 1986 cemented their status as the greatest band to ever set foot on a stage, with the irreplaceable Freddie Mercury regularly voted music\u2019s greatest frontman. Their incredible story was immortalised in the acclaimed 2018 movie \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019, which saw actor Rami Malek win an Oscar for his stunning performance as Freddie Mercury, while the film itself became the highest-grossing musical biopic ever. Queen themselves\u00a0have\u00a0continued\u00a0to inspire generations of musicians who have followed, from George Michael and Guns N\u2019\u00a0Roses to Lady Gaga and the Foo Fighters.<\/p>\n
Queen\u2019s story began in 1970, when guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and vocalist Freddie Mercury joined forces to create a band that were destined to become superstars. The band\u2019s classic line-up was born in 1971 with the addition of bass player John Deacon, launching them on an incredible journey that spanned 20 years, 14 studio albums, a staggering 38 UK Top 40 hits (including three No.1 singles in \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019, \u2018Under Pressure\u2019 and \u2018Innuendo\u2019) and massive success in America, where \u2018Another One Bites The Dust\u2019 reached No.1 on the US Billboard Charts. Huge tours in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America turned them into a global phenomenon, while a series of ground-breaking shows in South America in the 1980s blazed a trail for other bands to follow.<\/p>\n
The death of Freddie Mercury in November 1991 marked the end of the original line-up, though Queen and their music remained enshrined in the public\u2019s consciousness thanks to the transatlantic success of the reissued \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019 single, 1991\u2019s \u2018Greatest Hits 2\u2019 album (itself the 10th biggest selling UK album ever) and 1995\u2019s posthumous \u2018Made In Heaven\u2019, their ninth No.1 album. The enduring appetite for Queen was confirmed by the 2002 musical \u2018We Will Rock You\u2019, based around the band\u2019s songs and co-produced by Robert De Niro, which became a global phenomenon following the Olivier Award-winning success of its original record-breaking 14-year London run.<\/p>\n
In 2004, Brian May and Roger Taylor relaunched Queen with former Free\/Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers under the banner Queen + Paul Rodgers. But it was their union with former American Idol contestant Adam Lambert in 2011 that added a remarkable new chapter to the story of this legendary band. Since then, Queen + Adam Lambert have become a globe-circling juggernaut, introducing new generations of fans to their music while honouring the legacy of the band and Freddie Mercury in particular, with 2020\u2019s acclaimed live album \u2018Live Around\u00a0The\u00a0World\u2019\u00a0giving them their first No.1 album in 25 years, and their tenth in total.<\/p>\n
Queen recently returned to their extensive audio archives to explore previously unheard versions and unreleased tracks, beginning with the acclaimed Queen I box set, which revisited the band\u2019s first album and expanded and updated it in a brand new 2024 rebuild, sounding as it would have with today\u2019s knowledge and technology and bringing the album to new audiences for the first time. Further such revisits to the vast, unexplored Queen catalogue are to be anticipated.<\/p>\n
Queen\u2019s greatness can be measured in the recognition that has come with their musical accomplishments, from their induction into the Rock\u00a0and Roll Hall Of Fame to the prestigious Brit, Grammy and Ivor Novello Awards they have amassed, among others. But arguably their most important achievement is the enduring appeal the group and their music\u00a0under the guardianship of Brian May and Roger Taylor\u00a0continues to have. More than half a century after they started, this most regal of bands are as beloved now as they have ever been, their music still central to the lives of so many people. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queen are one of the most iconic bands in history, a group whose music has soundtracked the lives…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-286483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}