Queen

***Queen*** are a British rock band that formed in London in 1970. Their classic line-up was Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (lead guitar, vocals), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals), and John Deacon (bass guitar). Queen's earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works by incorporating further styles, such as arena rock and pop rock, into their music.

In 1991, Mercury died of complications of AIDS, and Deacon retired in 1997. May and Taylor have performed under the Queen name with Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert as vocalists on several tours since.

Estimates of their record sales range from 150 million to 300 million records, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. Queen received the Outstanding Contribution to British Music Award from the British Phonographic Industry in 1990. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

### 1939

#### September 25, 1939

Norman Sheffield was born in Enfield. He was a music and advertising industry figure, most noted for his music industry recording and management roles, ownership of the former Trident Studios, and being the original manager of the rock band Queen.

Sheffield enjoyed moderate chart success as a drummer in The Hunters, as well as starring as the drummer with Cliff Richard in a television performance at the London Palladium in 1958.

Sheffield later started a record shop in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, converting the upstairs into a recording studio which proved popular with local musicians wanting to record their own music. When the shop was sold while he searched for larger premises in London, much of the original equipment was purchased by the future founder of Island Records.

Sheffield went on to launch Trident Studios in 1968 with his brother Barry, turning a disused engraving works in St Anne's Court, in the Soho area of London, into one of the leading recording studios in the world. A number of the best-known artists of the time used it, and recordings made there include The Beatles' "Hey Jude", David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and Elton John's "Candle in the Wind".

It has often been claimed that Sheffield treated the band unfairly, but he has fiercely denied that in interviews and in his memoirs. The band paid £100,000 to get out of their contract with Trident, and the song "Death on Two Legs" was written by Freddie Mercury about the band's fall out with Sheffield. Although it has never been officially stated, an out-of-court financial settlement was made with him.

Sheffield died in 2014, aged 75. He had suffered from throat cancer.

### 1947

#### July 19, 1947

Brian Harold May, CBE was born in London and is an English musician, singer, songwriter and astrophysicist, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. He uses a home-built electric guitar, called the Red Special.

May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor, having previously performed with Taylor in the band Smile, which he had joined while he was at university. Within five years of their formation in 1970 and the recruitment of bass player John Deacon completing the lineup, Queen had become established as one of the biggest rock bands in both the UK and the world.

### 1948

#### February 24, 1948

***Tim Staffell***, born in Ealing, London, England, is an English rock musician, visual artist, model maker and designer. He was a member of Smile, a band which included guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Upon Staffell's departure, Smile were joined by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon to form the band Queen.

In 1964, Staffell formed '1984' with Brian May. In 1965 Staffell began a graphics and drawing course at Ealing Art College where he became friends with Freddie Mercury, whilst May enrolled at Imperial College, London.

Staffell and May then put together a new band called Smile with Roger Taylor who auditioned to be their drummer. Staffell and May co-wrote the song "Doing All Right", which Queen included on their eponymous debut album. Following his tenure with Smile, Staffell joined Humpy Bong and then the experimental progressive rock outfit Morgan, with whom he released the albums Nova Solis and Brown Out (later retitled The Sleeper Wakes).

Staffell later decided to pursue a career as a model maker, designer, animator and commercials director. Among the projects upon which he worked were the BBC television adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and, for the inaugural series, he was the chief model maker for the first series of the children's TV show Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.

### 1949

#### July 26, 1949

***Roger Meddows Taylor***, born in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England, is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is a multi-instrumentalist, best known as the drummer for the rock band Queen. As a drummer, Taylor was recognised early in his career for his unique sound. He has been acclaimed by Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins as one of the most influential rock drummers of the 1970s and 1980s.

In addition to his drum work, Taylor sometimes played keyboards, guitars and bass on his own songs. During the 1980s, in addition to his work with Queen, he formed a parallel band known as The Cross, in which he was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist.

#### September 5, 1949

***Farrokh "Freddie" Bulsara*** was born in the Sultanate of Zanzibar. He grew up there, and in India, before moving with his family to Middlesex, England, in his teens. He became known as Freddie Mercury and was a British singer, songwriter and record producer, who became the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen, which he formed in 1970 with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. He was known for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range. He led a solo career while performing with Queen, and occasionally served as a producer and guest musician for other artists.

Mercury died on November 24, 1991 due to complications from AIDS, having confirmed the day before his death that he had contracted the disease.

### 1951

#### August 19, 1951

John Richard Deacon was born in Leicester and grew up in Oadby, Leicestershire, playing bass in local band, The Opposition. He is a retired, English musician, best known for being the bass guitarist for the rock band Queen. As well as bass, Deacon played some guitar and keyboards on Queen's studio work, but was the only member never to sing on their records.

Following frontman Freddie Mercury's death in 1991, and the following year's Tribute Concert, Deacon only performed a few times with the remaining members of Queen before retiring from the music industry in 1997 after recording "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)". He has not performed on any of the other projects that the other two surviving members, May and Roger Taylor, have put together.

### 1964

Tim Staffell, the singer in a band called the Railroaders, attends a concert and meets fellow Hampton Grammar School pupil Brian May. They put together a blues-rock band called '1984' with John Garnham (guitar), Dave Dilloway (bass), John Sanger (keyboards) and Richard Thompson (drums).

### 1965

John Deacon joins his first band, The Opposition, playing covers of chart hits; Deacon played rhythm guitar using an instrument he had bought with money borrowed from the group's founder, Richard Young.

### 1966

John Deacon switches from rhythm guitar to bass after the original bassist was fired for not improving his playing as much as the other members.

### 1967

#### March 31, 1967

Brian May records two versions of the future Smile song "Step On Me" to demo tape at the ITV Studios, London, with the band '1984'.

#### May 13, 1967

1984 support the yet to become legendary Jimi Hendrix at Imperial College.

### 1968

Brian May forms ***Smile***, an English rock band based in London, best known as the predecessor to renowned rock band Queen. It includes Tim Staffell as lead singer and bass guitarist, and later, drummer Roger Taylor, who also went on to play for Queen.

They record only six songs and disband in 1970. Freddie Bulsara was attending Ealing Art College with Staffell and soon became a keen fan.

### 1969

Roger Taylor works with Freddie Bulsara at Kensington Market and were also living in the same apartment around this time.

#### February 27, 1969

Smile perform as a trio at the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child, held at the Royal Albert Hall. Keyboardist Chris Smith had been fired the day before, according to Staffell. (According to Smith, he was only briefly in the band and left of his own accord because he was interested in different styles.)

#### March, 1969

Smile play at a venue known as PJ's, using claims to have previously been played on BBC Radio 1 to secure an audience. Shortly after they were given a one-off recording deal by Mercury Records to record three tracks.

#### April 19, 1969

Smile perform at the Speakeasy in London.

#### May 31, 1969

Smile perform at the Whisky a Go Go in London.

#### June, 1969

Smile record three songs at Trident Studios: "Earth" (Staffell), "Step on Me" (May), and "Doin' All Right" (May/Staffell).

#### August, 1969

John Deacon plays his final concert with The Opposition (now called The Art), leaving to study at Chelsea College in London (now part of King's College London), where he eventually obtained a 1st class honours degree in Electronics in 1971.

#### September, 1969

Mercury Records commission Smile to record three more songs: "April Lady" (Stanley Lucas), "Blag", a May instrumental, and "Polar Bear", a "gentle song about a polar bear" written and led by May, at De Lane Lea Studios.

### 1970

Tim Staffell leaves Smile to join Humpy Bong, a London-based folk rock band formed in 1970 by former Bee Gees drummer Colin Petersen and Irish folk rock singer Jonathan Kelly.

Roger Taylor turns down the chance to join Genesis, which lead to Phil Collins becoming their drummer instead.

Freddie Bulsara persuades May and Taylor to continue, and at about the same time, changes his surname from Bulsara to Mercury. He joins the band as lead vocalist and the band changes its name to Queen. This new band tried a number of bass players during this period, namely Mike Grose, Barry Mitchell and Doug Bogie, none of whom fitted with the band's chemistry.

#### July 18, 1970

***Queen*** plays their first gig on July 18, 1970 at Imperial College, London. The band that night included Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and Mike Grose on bass. [bbc.co.uk]

### 1971

#### February, 1971

John Deacon is introduced to Roger Taylor and Brian May by a friend at a disco who told him that they were in a band that had just lost its bassist. A couple of days later he auditions in a lecture room at Imperial College London and becomes the last member of Queen to join. Since the band's last bassist drew attention away from Mercury, Deacon was selected for his musical talent, his quiet demeanour and his electrical skills.

#### July 2, 1971

Queen played their first show in the classic line-up of Mercury, May, Taylor and Deacon at a Surrey college outside London.

### 1972

Queen enter discussions with Trident Studios after being spotted at De La Lane Studios. After these discussions, Norman Sheffield offers the band a management deal under Neptune Productions, a subsidiary of Trident, to manage the band and enable them to use the facilities at Trident to record new material, whilst the management searched for a record label to sign Queen. This suited both parties, as Trident were expanding into management, and under the deal, Queen were able to make use of the hi-tech recording facilities used by other musicians such as the Beatles and Elton John to produce new material.

### 1982

#### September 23, 1982

The album Gettin' Smile is released in Japan on Mercury Records. The sleeve contains notoriously inaccurate lyrics and songwriting credits for the songs. This release was used for all subsequent bootlegs which contain the songs.

### 1992

#### December 22, 1992

Smile reunite for several songs at a gig where Roger Taylor's band The Cross were headliners. Taylor brought May and Staffell on to play "Earth" and "If I Were a Carpenter". May also performed several other songs that night.

### 1995

***In Nuce***, a bootleg album of Italian origin is released. It contains songs recorded by groups Smile and Queen, and Freddie Mercury under the pseudonym "Larry Lurex", between the years of 1969 and 1973. Listen to In Nuce on Deezer.

### 1997

Pseudonym Records releases Ghost of a Smile in the Netherlands. The CD booklet is comprehensive and features new liner notes by Staffell. All the tracks were newly remastered. The album also features two versions of the Eddie Howell/Freddie Mercury collaboration "The Man from Manhattan" (no relation to Smile, except that May plays guitar on it).