NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SANTA

Language Center

CEIDUNS

My favorite rock band: “Queen”

HUAMÁN MERCADO ANGIE DENISSE

Student’s Name

BASIC – INTENSIVE VI

Cycle

TUES – THUR – SATUR / 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Days / Timetable

ROXANA LAVADO CASTILLO

Teacher’s Name

JUAN MARTINEZ GUILLÉN

Principal’s Name

2017
 Index
Introduction............................................................................................................2

Queen Biography...................................................................................................3

I. Origin........................................................................................................3

II. History......................................................................................................3

2.1. 1968-1970.............................................................................................3

2.2. 1970s....................................................................................................4

2.3. 1980s....................................................................................................6

2.4. 1990s....................................................................................................8

2.5. Queen Logo........................................................................................10

2.6. Queen after the death of Freddie Mercury.........................................11

III. Members................................................................................................12

3.1. Freddie Mercury, vocals ('Bohemian Rhapsody')...............................12

3.2. Brian May, guitars ('We Will Rock You').............................................13

3.3. Roger Taylor, drums & percussion ('Radio Ga Ga')...........................14

3.4. John Deacon, bass guitar ('Another One Bites the Dust')..................15

Conclusions.........................................................................................................17

Bibliography.........................................................................................................18

18
 Introduction
There are a few famous bands around the world. Queen has a hard rock and
heavy metal style. The British quartet delved into camp and bombast, creating a
huge sound. Queen's music was highly amazing fusion.

Freddie Mercury brought an extravagant sense of camp to Queen, pushing them

toward humor and classical arrangements, as their best-known song,
"Bohemian Rhapsody." Mercury, who managed the group, dead from AIDS in
1991. Through his legendary theatrical performances, Queen became one of the
most popular bands in the world in the mid-'70s.

Despite their enormous popularity, Queen was never taken seriously by rock
critics.

In our country, their popularity peaked in the early '80s, just as they finished
nearly a decade's worth of extraordinarily popular records. Queen's music could
be heard in several generations of hard rock and metal bands.

18
 Queen Biography
Queen was a British rock band which was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. The
group is well known for its rock radio staples, especially 'We Are the Champions'
and 'Bohemian Rhapsody;' its first album released in 1975, with one of the
earliest successful music videos. Queen is recognized as a great band around
the world.

I. Origin

The beginnings of Queen started in 1968, when Brian May and Roger
Taylor formed the trio Smile, at Imperial College, London, where they were
both students. After the group's bassist and lead singer Tim Staffell
departed in the spring of 1970, May and Taylor formed a group with
Freddie Mercury, the former lead singer for Wreckage. In April 1970 to
form Queen. In 1971 John Deacon completed as
bass guitarist.

Most of the group's albums contained at least one

song written by each member, Mercury created a lot
of Queen's hits, the group considered themselves
creative equals, and quiet bassist John Deacon
wrote one of their biggest hits, 'Another One Bites
the Dust.'

II. History

2.1. 1968-1970

Brian May and Roger Taylor were playing on a band called Smile with
bass player/singer Tim Staffell. Freddie was Tim's roommate in

18
 Ealing Arts College and followed Smile's rehearsals and concerts
closely. At that time Freddie was a singer in other bands, such as
Wreckage and Ibex. He was very impatient to share his ideas in
which musical direction Smile should develop. At some point Tim
Staffell decided Smile was not going anywhere and he decided to join
a band called Humpy Bong. Freddie quickly joined the band on vocals
and piano. Then, they changed it from "Smile" to "Queen" and they
started to search for a bass player. One of the first was Barry Mitchell.
In 1971, they found John Deacon and started the first album,
“Queen”.

2.2. 1970s

In May 1974, a month into the band's first US tour opening for Mott
the Hoople, Brian May collapsed and was diagnosed with hepatitis,

18
forcing the cancellation of their other dates. May was initially absent
when the band started work on their third album, but he returned
midway through the recording process. Released in 1974, Sheer
Heart Attack reached number two in the United Kingdom, it was a hit
in Europe, and got a gold prize in the United States. It gave the band
their first real experience of international success, and was a hit on
both sides of the Atlantic.

In late 1975, Queen recorded and released A

Night at the Opera, taking its name from the
popular Marx Brothers movie. At the time, it was
the most expensive album ever produced.

The standout tracks were 'Somebody to Love' and

'Tie Your Mother Down.' 'Somebody to love' was
an incredible rock ballad, on which Freddie
Mercury had an excellent performance, Brian May
had a great harmony, and it went to number 11 on
the U.S. singles chart and number 2 on the U.K.
charts. 'Tie Your Mother Down' was a typical
Queen hard-rocker that produced a very
recognizable riff and displayed Queen's trademark
sense of humor.

The album also featured the hit single "Bohemian Rhapsody". This is
the album that reached the huge worldwide hit. 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
was number one in the UK for nine weeks, breaking the record set by
Paul Anka's 'Diana.'

It is the third-best-selling single of all time in the UK, overcome only

by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and Elton John's

18
 "Candle in the Wind 1997", and is the best-selling commercial single
in the UK.

In 1978 the band released the Jazz album, which reached number
two in the UK and number six on the Billboard 200 in the US.

In that same year, Queen visited the USA and Canada, and spent
much time in Europe and Japan. They released their first live album,
Live Killers, in 1979; it went platinum twice in the US. Queen also
released the very successful single "Crazy Little Thing Called Love",
a rock song inspired in Elvis Presley. The song made the top 10 in
many countries, topped the Australian ARIA Charts for seven
consecutive weeks, and was the band's first number one single in the
United States where it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks
where Mercury played the guitar in a concert.

2.3. 1980s

18
Queen began their 1980s career with
The Game. It featured the singles "Crazy
Little Thing Called Love" and the
monster hit "Another One Bites the
Dust", both of which reached number
one in the US. After attending a Queen
concert in Los Angeles, Michael Jackson
suggested to Mercury backstage that
"Another One Bites the Dust" be
released as a single, and in October
1980 it spent three weeks at number
one. The album also featured two of Queen's greatest ballads; 'Play
the Game' and the fan-favorite 'Save Me,' both of which were hits in
Britain and well-remembered by rock fans in the States.

On 14 and 15 September 1982, the band performed their last two hits
in the US with Mercury on lead vocals, those concerts were held at
The Forum in Inglewood, California. The band stopped touring North
America after their Hot Space Tour, as their success there had
waned.

After working hard for over ten years, Queen decided that they would
not perform any live shows in 1983. During this time, they recorded a
new album at the Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles and Musicland
Studios, Munich, and several members of the band explored side
projects and solo work. Taylor released his second solo album,
Strange Frontier.

18
 In February 1984, Queen released their eleventh studio album, The
Works, which included the successful singles "Radio Ga Ga",
"Hammer to Fall" and "I Want to Break Free".

In 1985, Queen participated in the benefit concert Live Aid, which

Queen were invited to perform there. In the eyes of critics and fans
alike, the group stole the show at the worldwide, performing some of
their greatest hits and gave with their energy, superb music and
showmanship. The audience was very excited.

In 1986 Queen went on a sold-out final

tour, which culminated at Wembley
Stadium in London. Freddie teased the
capacity crowd of 89,000 that Queen
might be breaking up, only to tell the
crowd that it was just a silly rumor, and
that Queen would be together until 'we
fucking well die, I'm sure!' much to the
delight of the crowd. It was rumored
that Freddie contracted AIDS that year
as well.

On this tour, Queen performed for the

last time together. They couldn't book
Wembley for a third night because it
was already booked, but they managed to get Knebworth Park. It sold
out within 2 hours, and over 120,000 fans
packed the park to see Queen one last time
live.

2.4. 1990s

18
In 1990, rumors started spreading that Freddie Mercury was suffering
from AIDS. Mercury denied these rumors, insisting he was
"exhausted" and too busy to provide interviews; he was 42 years old
and had been heavily involved in music for nearly two decades.
Mercury had been diagnosed as being HIV positive during 1987, but
he did not make his illness public and denied that anything was
wrong.

In spite of Mercury's illness, the band

decided to continue making albums,
starting with The Miracle (released in the
summer of 1989) and continuing with
Innuendo (released at the beginning of
1991). Despite his deteriorating health, the
lead singer continued to contribute. In
February that year, Mercury made his final
public appearance when he joined the rest
of Queen to collect the Brit Award for
Outstanding Contribution to British Music.
Throughout 1990, media reports persisted that Mercury was seriously
ill, but the singer continued to deny that these reports were true.

Mercury was increasingly ill and he could not walk when the band
recorded "The Show Must Go On". Because of this, May had
concerns about he was physically capable of singing it. Recalling
Mercury's successful performance May states. "The rest of the band
was ready to record when Mercury felt able to come into the studio,
for an hour or two at a time".

18
 The band's second greatest hits compilation is the eighth best-selling
album of all time in the UK and has sold 16 million copies worldwide.

On 23 November 1991, in a prepared statement

made on his deathbed, Mercury confirmed that he
had AIDS. Within 24 hours of the statement, he
died of bronchial pneumonia, which was brought
on as a complication of AIDS. His funeral service
on 27 November in Kensal Green, West London
was private. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-
released as a single shortly after Mercury's death,
with "These Are the Days of Our Lives". The music
video contains Mercury's final scenes in front of
the camera. This track had featured at the
beginning of the year on the Innuendo album, and
the video for it was recorded in May 1991 (which
proved to be Mercury's final work with Queen). It
had already been released as a single in the US in
September that year. The single went to number
one in the UK, remaining there for five weeks.
Initial proceeds from the single – approximately £1,000,000 – were
donated to AIDS charity.

2.5. Queen Logo

In April 1970 when Tim Staffell decided to leave

Smile, and Freddie join them as lead singer,
Freddie decided to change the name of the band to
Queen, he also changed his last name to Mercury.

18
 In 1971 John Deacon joined the band and Queen was complete.
Freddie designed the band's logo using their birth signs: two fairies
for him (Virgo), two lions for Roger and John (Leo) and a crab for
Brian (Cancer). Freddie was the author of the first Queen Song, the
first big hit (Killer Queen) and the most famous Queen song that was
on the top of charts for 9 weeks (Bohemian Rhapsody). Freddie has
always been considered the front-man of the band.

In that same year, Freddie met Mary Austin (his girlfriend). They lived
together for seven years and then remained good friends until his
death.

2.6. Queen after the death of Freddie Mercury

In 1993, May released his second solo album, Back to the Light, and
continued recording solo and with the Brian May Band. Roger Taylor
recorded three albums with a sideline band, the Cross, which began
in 1987.

In 1996, a statue of Freddie was built in

Montreux, Switzerland. In 1998, a box
set of their first eight entitled Crown
Jewels was released.

Queen was inducted into the Rock and

Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. The Queen
name was brought back in 2005 as
"Queen + Paul Rodgers," a band that
featured the former lead singer of Free
and Bad Company. Return of the
Champions, a 2005 double disc on the
Hollywood label, documents a show

18
 where Rodgers joined Brian May and Roger Taylor at the Hallam FM
Arena in Sheffield.

III. Members

3.1. Freddie Mercury, vocals ('Bohemian Rhapsody')

Freddie Mercury is best known as one of the

rock world's most versatile performers and for
his operatic masterpiece, “Bohemian
Rhapsody”.

Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer

and songwriter, vocalist and lyricist of the rock
band Queen.

His real name was not Freddie Mercury and he

was not born in the United Kingdom, the country
saw him to triumph.

His name was Farrok Bulsara and he was born

on September 5th in 1946 on the island of
Zanzibar, Tanzania.

His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were both Persian and he had a
sister, Kashmira.

At the age of ten, he became a school champion in table tennis.

Freddie was not only a good sportsman, his artistic skills were
incomparable, he loved art and was always sketching for friends or
relatives.

In 1966 he started his education at the Ealing College of Art, where

he graduated on June 1969, with a diploma in graphic art and design.

18
 On April 1970, Queen was formed in London by Freddie Mercury and
his friends.

Freddie has a great voice, with terrific range. But there was not only
his voice made his performances so attractive to people: “He knew
how to front a show”

In 1980 Freddie changed his image. He cut his hair and grew a
moustache.

On October 8th, was the last time Freddie Mercury performed on

stage. At the time he was terribly ill with AIDS. He announced that
fact the day before he died.

On November 24th, 1991 Freddie died at his home in London of AIDS

related bronchial pneumonia.

3.2. Brian May, guitars ('We Will Rock You')

Brian May rose was considered as the lead guitarist

of Queen. He’s also earned advanced degrees in
physics and is a devoted animal welfare advocate.

Brian Harold May was born on July 19, 1947, in

Hampton, Middlesex, England. An imaginative teen,
with the help of his father, built his own homemade
guitar, dubbed “The Red Special”.

The young May received his education at the

Hampton Grammar School (now the Hampton
School). An exceptional student, after graduation in
1965, he enrolled in the astrophysics program at
London Imperial College, where he obtained his

18
 bachelor's degree in science. He would finish most of his Ph.D. by
1974 and finally complete it nearly 40 years later in 2007.

While at London Imperial College, May formed a rock band called

Smile. His passion for music soon trumped his interest in
astrophysics. In 1971, May put off completing his Ph.D. to hit the road
with his band, renaming the group Queen a name that was to become
legendary in the world of rock 'n' roll. May performed as a lead
guitarist, vocalist and occasional songwriter. The band's lead vocalist,
Freddie Mercury, also played the piano. John Deacon was on bass
guitar, while Roger Taylor covered drums and vocals.

3.3. Roger Taylor, drums & percussion ('Radio Ga Ga')

Roger Taylor is a singer, guitarist and drummer

known for playing with legendary band Queen
and for his work as a solo artist.

Roger Meddows Taylor was born on July 26,

1949, in the seaport town of King's Lynn, part of
England's Norfolk county. During his youth,
Taylor developed a passion for multi-
instrumentalism, playing the guitar before turning
to drums.

Taylor moved to London and studied dentistry

and biology for a time, although he would
ultimately decide to continue a career in music.
In 1967, he began performing with the rock
group Smile, which included guitarist Brian May.

18
 After Smile's lead singer departed, Taylor and May joined with
virtuosic singer Freddie Mercury and bassist John Deacon to form
Queen. The group carried on to become one of the biggest musical
acts in the world, known for innovative musical fusions and theatrical,
bombastic productions. The band released more than a dozen
albums.

Taylor was the first Queen member to go solo with his 1977 song "I
Wanna Testify" and released the albums Fun in Space (1981) and
Strange Frontier (1984), showing his songwriting abilities.

Taylor formed another band, the Cross, in 1987. With Taylor singing
lead and playing rhythm guitar, Cross released three albums,
particularly finding an audience in Germany, before breaking up in
1993.

3.4. John Deacon, bass guitar ('Another One Bites the Dust')

John Deacon is a bassist and songwriter who

played with the band Queen. He wrote the hits
"You're My Best Friend" and "Another One Bites
the Dust.

John Richard Deacon was born on August 19,

1951, in Leicester, England. As a child, he
developed a passion for electronics while also
taking up music, heaving influenced by the
Beatles. He started playing guitar with the band
the Opposition when he was 14 years old.

18
By the late 1960s, Deacon had enrolled at the University of London,
Chelsea College, to continue his electronics studies while still leaving
room for music. In the fall of 1970, he saw a band called Queen
perform, but wasn't moved.

Months later, Deacon met the band's guitarist Brian May and
drummer Roger Taylor, and was invited to audition for the position of
bassist. Deacon got the performance so with virtuosic singer Freddie
Mercury already as singer the Queen would last for two decades.

The group carried on to become one of the biggest musical acts in

the world, known for innovative musical fusions and theatrical,
bombastic shows.

Deacon opted to retire and leave the public, with May and Taylor
continuing to perform as Queen and put forth new productions.
Deacon has lived near London with his wife and several children.

18
 Conclusions
 Queen was a British rock band that formed in London in 1970, and was
one of the most commercially successful musical acts of all time. The band
members were Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar,
vocals), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals), and John Deacon (bass guitar).

 In 1968, Brian May was at college. He decided to make a band and

teamed up with two other college students called Tim Staffell and Roger
Taylor. They called themselves "Smile" with Roger Taylor on drums and
vocals, Tim Staffell on vocals and bass and Brian May on guitar and
vocals.

 Farrokh Bulsara (to be later known as Freddie Mercury) became a big fan
of "Smile" and encouraged them a lot. Later on, Tim left "Smile" and
Farrokh Bulsara joined the band on vocals and piano. Then Farrokh came
up with the name "Queen", so they changed it from "Smile" to "Queen.

 Queen began to enjoy great fame in the late 1970s and during the 1980s,
and their albums were best-selling even after the death in 1991 of Freddie
Mercury.

18
 Bibliography
 Greg Brooks & Simon Lupton (2007) “Freddie Mercury”: A life in his own
Words. Ediciones Robinbook, s l., Barcelona (España).

 Michael Heatley (2007) “Rock y Pop” La Historia Completa. Ediciones

Robinbook s l., Barcelona (España).

 http://www.allmusic.com/artist/queen-mn0000858827/biography
 https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/q/queen.htm
 https://www.8notes.com/biographies/queen.asp
 https://www.biography.com/people/groups/queen
 http://www.queenonline.com/gallery
 http://izismile.com/2012/02/16/dont_stop_me_now_in_pictures_11_pics.h
tml

18