110 Fun Facts About Queen Band

Before Queen, May and Taylor played together in which band?

Smile's singer Tim Staffell quit in 1970; his art-college friend Freddie Bulsara took over the microphone and suggested a new name.

In his will, Freddie Mercury left his London mansion, Garden Lodge, to whom?

Mary Austin, his girlfriend in the early 1970s, stayed his closest friend, and he told her, 'You would have been my wife, and it would have been yours anyway.'

Mercury was born on which island?

Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Stone Town, Zanzibar, and his family fled to England after the 1964 revolution.

Which Queen hit took its title from a phrase Roger Taylor's young son used for a song he disliked?

Taylor's son Felix called a song on the radio 'ca-ca', and Taylor turned the insult into the celebration Radio Ga Ga.

A statue of Freddie Mercury faces Lake Geneva in which Swiss town where Queen owned a recording studio?

Queen bought Montreux's Mountain Studios and recorded several albums there, and Mercury's statue stands in the town's lakeside market square.

Queen guitarist Brian May holds a PhD in which subject?

Brian May's astrophysics PhD came from Imperial College London, and an asteroid is named after him.

What is the name of the guitar Brian May built with his father in 1963?

Brian May and his father built the Red Special from salvaged materials, carving its neck from an old fireplace mantel.

Which song gave Queen their first UK hit single, reaching number 10 in 1974?

Seven Seas of Rhye broke through after Queen mimed it on Top of the Pops in February 1974, filling a slot another act couldn't make.

"Killer Queen", the band's first US hit, was written about what kind of person?

Mercury said Killer Queen is about a high-class prostitute, telling NME he wanted to show that classy people can be call girls too.

A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races both take their names from films by which comedy act?

Both titles come from Marx Brothers films, and Groucho Marx later invited Queen to his Los Angeles home, where they sang '39 for him.

After nine weeks at UK number one, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was finally knocked off the top by which ABBA hit?

Mamma Mia took over on 31 January 1976, ending the run that had made Bohemian Rhapsody the 1975 Christmas number one.

Which Capital Radio DJ played "Bohemian Rhapsody" fourteen times in one weekend?

Kenny Everett aired his advance copy before release, and his repeated plays helped get the long song out as a single.

Roughly how long did it take to shoot Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" music video?

Four hours or so: accounts range from three hours to just over four, and its success made promo videos a standard way to sell singles.

Which 1992 film gave "Bohemian Rhapsody" a second life in the US with a car headbanging scene?

Mike Myers insisted on Bohemian Rhapsody for the Wayne's World car scene, and the 1992 re-release climbed to number two in the US.

Which football anthem did a Stafford crowd sing back to Queen, inspiring Brian May's stomp-and-clap hit?

You'll Never Walk Alone rang out at Bingley Hall, so May wrote We Will Rock You for crowds to stamp, clap and sing along to.

"Bicycle Race" and "Fat Bottomed Girls" were released as a double-sided single from which 1978 album?

To promote Jazz, Queen filmed 65 models racing bicycles nude at Wimbledon Stadium, and the bike hire firm reportedly made them pay for new seats.

Which song was Queen's first US number one, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks?

Mercury wrote Crazy Little Thing Called Love in a Munich hotel bath as a tribute to Elvis Presley.

Which pop star suggested backstage that "Another One Bites the Dust" be released as a single?

Michael Jackson urged Queen backstage after a Los Angeles concert, and the single went on to top the US chart.

Which member wrote "Another One Bites the Dust" and "You're My Best Friend"?

John Deacon also built the Deacy Amp from a radio circuit board he found in a builder's skip, and Brian May used it to mimic orchestral instruments.

The Game (1980) was the first Queen album to use what instrument, despite earlier sleeve notes?

The Game was the first Queen album with a synthesiser, an Oberheim OB-X, after earlier sleeves had proudly noted that no synthesisers were used.

Queen recorded the soundtrack for which 1980 science-fiction film?

Queen's Flash Gordon soundtrack mixes the film's dialogue into its songs, unlike most soundtrack albums.

"Under Pressure", Queen's 1981 UK number one, was a collaboration with which artist?

David Bowie's studio visit became an impromptu jam, and Under Pressure grew from the scat singing he and Mercury improvised.

As of 2025, which Queen album was the best-selling album of all time in the UK?

Greatest Hits, released in 1981, had sold more than 7.8 million copies in the UK by 2026, making it the country's best-selling album.

Which 1982 funk-and-disco album, recorded mostly in Munich, split the band and confused fans?

Hot Space chased the dance success of Another One Bites the Dust, and some fans came to concerts with 'Disco Sucks' signs.

The cross-dressing video for "I Want to Break Free" spoofed which British soap opera?

Roger Taylor's then-girlfriend suggested the Coronation Street spoof, and MTV banned the video in the US.

Queen's 1984 concerts at Sun City drew outrage because the venue was in which country?

South Africa's apartheid drew a UN-backed cultural boycott, and the British Musicians' Union fined Queen for playing Sun City.

Queen's celebrated Live Aid set was played at which venue on 13 July 1985?

Queen's 21-minute set at Wembley Stadium was voted the greatest live performance in rock history in a 2005 industry poll.

Mercury's sustained "Aaaaaay-o" during the Live Aid a cappella section became known by what nickname?

The Note Heard Round the World inspired another nickname that day: Simon Le Bon's cracked high note became 'The Bum Note Heard Round the World'.

The 1986 album A Kind of Magic reworked songs written for which fantasy film?

Highlander's hero Connor MacLeod says 'it's a kind of magic', and Roger Taylor turned the line into a song for the film.

Where did Mercury give his final concert with Queen, on 9 August 1986?

Knebworth Park drew an official crowd of 120,000, and it was the classic line-up's final show.

Which punk band's bassist barged into Queen's studio and mocked Mercury about bringing ballet to the masses?

Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols was recording at the same studio, and Mercury greeted him as 'Simon Ferocious'.

Mercury's 1988 collaboration album Barcelona was recorded with which opera singer?

Montserrat Caballé and Mercury made Barcelona with the 1992 Olympics in mind, but he died before the Games began.

Which single from The Miracle became an anti-apartheid anthem?

Brian May wrote I Want It All amid his new romance with actress Anita Dobson, and the single reached number three in the UK.

Which 1991 album was the last Queen studio album released during Mercury's lifetime?

Innuendo closes with The Show Must Go On, and Brian May recalled the gravely ill Mercury downing vodka before nailing its demanding vocal.

Mercury died on 24 November 1991, one day after doing what?

His statement publicly revealing his AIDS diagnosis asked fans to join the fight against the disease, and he died of AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia the next evening.

Which song's video, shot on 30 May 1991, holds Mercury's final scenes on camera?

After his death, These Are the Days of Our Lives was paired with Bohemian Rhapsody as a double A-side and went straight to number one in the UK.

Which 1995 album, built from Mercury's final 1991 recordings, was released four years after his death?

Made in Heaven includes Mother Love, Mercury's last vocal: he stopped after two verses, never came back, and Brian May sang the final one.

Queen's bassist last performed live with the band in Paris in 1997, playing 'The Show Must Go On' with which singer?

Elton John sang lead at the opening of the Béjart Ballet in Paris, and the bassist's final Queen recording came that October on No-One but You.

Which former Free and Bad Company singer fronted "Queen +" from 2004 to 2009?

Paul Rodgers' Queen line-up opened its 2008 tour on Kharkiv's Freedom Square in Ukraine, in front of about 350,000 fans.

Adam Lambert first sang with May and Taylor in 2009 on the finale of which TV show?

On the American Idol finale, runner-up Adam Lambert sang We Are the Champions with Queen, and he fronted the band again at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards.

Who joined May and Taylor on "We Will Rock You" at the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics?

Jessie J had already sung her hit Price Tag earlier in the ceremony, then took Mercury's vocal parts on We Will Rock You.

Which children's book character tapped a teacup to 'We Will Rock You' with the Queen at the 2022 Jubilee concert?

Paddington Bear shared tea with Queen Elizabeth II, who showed him the marmalade sandwich she keeps in her handbag.

Who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing Mercury in the 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody?

Rami Malek won the Oscar for a role Sacha Baron Cohen had been set to play when the film was announced in 2010.

Which comedian and writer wrote the book for the Queen jukebox musical We Will Rock You?

Ben Elton's musical was panned by critics when it opened in 2002, yet it ran at London's Dominion Theatre for 12 years.

Which Queen song plays on the pub jukebox as Shaun of the Dead's heroes beat a zombie with pool cues?

Don't Stop Me Now blares from the jukebox mid-fight, and Billboard credits the scene with introducing the song to a new generation.

Mercury credited his enhanced vocal range to being born with what?

Mercury's four extra incisors gave him his famous overbite, and he never had them fixed for fear of changing his voice.

In which country did Queen open their 1981 South American stadium tour?

In Argentina, the band met footballer Diego Maradona before their last concert in Buenos Aires.

Where did Queen headline a free 1976 concert organised by Richard Branson for more than 150,000 fans?

At Hyde Park, London, the show overran its curfew, and police threatened to arrest Mercury if he went back on stage for an encore.

Which 1976 Queen single hit UK number two, with Mercury, May and Taylor multi-tracked into a gospel choir?

Mercury's admiration for Aretha Franklin shaped Somebody to Love, which also reached number 13 in the US.

In 2003, all four members of Queen were inducted into which body?

The Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted Mercury posthumously alongside his three bandmates, twelve years after his death.

Which 2001 jousting film featured Queen's 'We Are the Champions' recorded with Robbie Williams?

A Knight's Tale deliberately fills its 14th-century jousting story with 1970s rock, and it opens with We Will Rock You.

Brian May's first group, formed in 1964 with singer Tim Staffell, was named after which novel?

Brian May and Tim Staffell formed 1984 as pupils at Hampton Grammar School, naming it after George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Queen turned down a deal from Charisma Records because the label would prioritise which band?

Charisma was Genesis's label, so Queen took a management deal with Norman Sheffield of Trident Studios instead.

Queen's first US tour in 1974 was cut short when Brian May collapsed with which illness?

Hepatitis, then a stomach ulcer, kept Brian May out of the first Sheer Heart Attack sessions, and he rejoined midway through the recording.

What did A Night at the Opera reportedly cost, making it the most expensive album ever made at the time?

The estimated £40,000 covered sessions across several studios, and some sections of its hit Bohemian Rhapsody carried 180 overdubs.

A Queen video full of marching workers borrowed footage from which silent film?

Metropolis was being restored by Giorgio Moroder with a Mercury song on its soundtrack, yet Queen still had to pay the German government for the footage.

In January 1985, Queen headlined two nights at the first edition of which festival?

Rock in Rio's first edition drew about 1.38 million people over ten days to a purpose-built City of Rock in Rio de Janeiro.

On the 1986 Magic Tour, Queen played behind the Iron Curtain to 80,000 people in which city?

In Budapest, Queen played the traditional Hungarian folk song Tavaszi Szél Vizet Áraszt, and the show became the concert film Hungarian Rhapsody.

Which company acquired North American distribution rights to Queen's catalogue for $10 million in 1990?

Disney's Hollywood Records earned an estimated $94 million in US revenue from the Queen catalogue by 1995, while most of its other acts flopped.

Which band's members inducted Queen into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins inducted Queen, and twenty years later Foo Fighters were inducted themselves.

Freddie Mercury's trademark Queen stage prop began when which piece of kit snapped at an early show?

A microphone stand broke off its heavy base mid-performance, and Mercury realised the loose top half could be used in endless ways, so the half-stand became his main prop on stage.

Which rapper lifted the bassline of Queen's 'Under Pressure' for a 1990 number one without giving credit?

Vanilla Ice paid no royalties until 'Ice Ice Baby' was already a hit, the first hip hop single to top the Billboard chart; Queen's members were later added to its writing credits.

Before Queen took off, Freddie Mercury held a job as a baggage handler at which British airport?

Heathrow was one of his early jobs: he also sold second-hand Edwardian clothes and scarves from a stall he ran with drummer Roger Taylor.

Instead of a plastic plectrum, Queen guitarist Brian May prefers to play with which old British coin?

A sixpence is rigid, which May feels gives him more control than a flexible pick, and one of the coins even decorates the headstock of his home-built guitar.

Which kind of celestial object was named after Queen's Freddie Mercury 70 years after his birth?

An asteroid got the honour because it was discovered in 1991, the year Mercury died, and its provisional designation happened to include his initials, FM.

Queen's Freddie Mercury dedicated his 1985 solo album Mr. Bad Guy to which animals he kept at home?

Cats filled his house: he cared for at least ten over his life, and all but two of them were adopted from an animal rescue charity.

Which characters' 2009 YouTube cover of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' went viral and charted in Britain?

The Muppets filmed their video in a single day with a crew of 20, and the single was built on the master of Queen's original 1975 recording.

From where did Queen's Brian May play the national anthem on guitar at the 2002 Golden Jubilee concert?

Buckingham Palace's roof was his stage for the solo that began the Party at the Palace concert, with an orchestra accompanying him from the garden far below.

A draft of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody', auctioned in 2023, used which word in place of 'Bohemian'?

Mongolian was crossed out and replaced on a sheet of stationery from the defunct airline British Midland Airways, where Freddie Mercury had written out the title and words.

Which star was set to play Freddie Mercury in the Queen biopic before quitting over creative differences?

Sacha Baron Cohen was attached for nearly three years; Brian May and Roger Taylor suggested he was too well known as Ali G and Borat, which would have distracted viewers.

Queen's Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh, with which family surname that he legally changed around 1970?

Bulsara has since gone into orbit: in 2024 a crater on the planet Mercury was given the singer's birth surname in his honour.

In which country did Queen's Freddie Mercury attend boarding school and form his first band, the Hectics?

India was his home from the age of eight: at St. Peter's School in Panchgani, near Bombay, his school band covered Cliff Richard and Elvis Presley.

Queen's Freddie Mercury had a funeral conducted by a priest of which ancient religion, his parents' faith?

Zoroastrianism was the religion of the Parsi community his parents belonged to, and the crematorium commemorates him with a plinth under his birth name.

Wood for the guitar Queen's Brian May built with his father came from which 18th-century household fixture?

A fireplace supplied the timber, and the rest was household odds and ends: mother-of-pearl buttons, shelf edging and motorbike valve springs.

Queen's Brian May became a leading voice against fox hunting and the culling of which other British animal?

Badgers and foxes are the particular focus of Save Me, the animal welfare organisation he formed in 2010 and named after a Queen song he wrote.

Which childhood hobby of Queen's Freddie Mercury survives in an album displayed in a British museum?

Stamp collecting was an interest inherited from his father; between the ages of 9 and 12 he gathered issues mostly from the British Commonwealth, and the Postal Museum keeps the album.

Which colour was Freddie Mercury's military jacket at Queen's 1986 shows, later named his best-known look?

Yellow gave the buckled jacket its punch; costume designer Diana Moseley created it, and CNN described it as an iconic moment in fashion.

In which country were Queen greeted by thousands of screaming fans when they toured there in April 1975?

Japan took to the band early: they played eight times on that spring visit, and A Day at the Races later reached number one there as well as in Britain.

Queen's Roger Taylor shares his name with the drummer of which Birmingham pop band of the 1980s?

Duran Duran's Roger Taylor was one of three Taylors in the classic line-up, and he was born in 1960, eleven years after his Queen namesake.

Which creature towers over the lions, crab and fairies on the Queen crest designed by Freddie Mercury?

A phoenix overshadows the whole logo, whose lions, crab and fairies represent the band members' star signs: Leo, Cancer and Virgo.

Queen's Freddie Mercury sang most songs as a tenor, but his speaking voice fell in which range?

Baritone was his natural register; a 2016 study led by Christian Herbst also singled out his notably faster vibrato and his use of subharmonics as the things that set his singing apart.

Queen's Roger Taylor began studying for which profession in 1967 before switching to a biology degree?

Dentistry bored him, so he left medical school for a polytechnic and came away with a Bachelor of Science in biology instead.

Queen began recording 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in 1975 at Rockfield, a farm-turned-studio in which country?

Wales hosted the first sessions, near Monmouth, after three weeks of rehearsal in Herefordshire, and the track took until September to complete.

Medics have used the beat of Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust' to pace which life-saving technique?

Chest compressions should come at 100 to 120 a minute, and the bassline runs at close to 110; in one study the track even outperformed a famous Bee Gees disco hit as a pacing aid.

Freddie Mercury's final public appearance came in 1990 when Queen collected a prize at which ceremony?

The Brit Awards gave the group the prize for Outstanding Contribution to British Music that February, 21 months before the singer's death in November 1991.

In 1969, before Queen, Freddie Mercury briefly lived in a flat above a pub on which famous Liverpool street?

Penny Lane's Dovedale Towers pub had the flat upstairs, his base while he sang with the Liverpool-based blues band Ibex, later renamed Wreckage.

Which British band took Queen on the road as a support act in 1973, then to America the following spring?

Mott the Hoople later supplied a Queen sideman in return: their former keyboard player Morgan Fisher joined as an additional touring musician in 1982.

Which entertainment giant agreed in 2024 to buy Queen's music catalogue for a reported £1 billion?

Sony took the publishing and recording rights to the whole catalogue outside the US and Canada, and assumed international distribution of the records in 2026.

Queen's Roger Taylor grew up in which English county, where the band played its first gig in 1970?

Cornwall was home from childhood: he attended Truro School and at 15 joined a semi-professional band, Johnny Quale and the Reactions.

At which university did Queen's Brian May graduate in 1968 and finally earn a doctorate in 2007?

Imperial College awarded the doctorate for research he had begun back in 1971, having stayed on there after graduating so that he would not have to leave his student group.

Queen's bassist was studying which subject at Chelsea College in London when he joined the band in 1971?

Electronics had been his hobby since boyhood, when he modified a reel-to-reel tape deck so that it could record music straight off the airwaves.

Queen's Freddie Mercury, Pete Townshend and Ronnie Wood all went to art school in which London district?

Ealing awarded him a diploma in 1969, and another of its former students was Tim Staffell, who sang with Brian May and Roger Taylor before Mercury did.

Queen's Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor once sold second-hand clothes from a stall in which London market?

Kensington Market was where the pair traded in Edwardian fashions after Mercury's graduation, while he was passing through a series of bands.

Which Brian May song was Queen's debut single in 1973, failing to chart on either side of the Atlantic?

Keep Yourself Alive opens the first album, and it had been one of the demo recordings that persuaded early supporters to promote the band to record companies.

Queen's stage musical We Will Rock You ran from 2002 to 2014 at which West End theatre?

The Dominion Theatre had been due to lose the show in October 2006, but public demand kept it running there for almost eight more years.

Which child star of Spielberg's 1993 dinosaur film grew up to play Queen's bassist in Bohemian Rhapsody?

Joseph Mazzello was Tim Murphy, the boy among the dinosaurs, and he later said his salary for a small part in the sequel paid for his schooling.

Which 1950s vocal group first recorded 'The Great Pretender', a solo hit for Queen's Freddie Mercury in 1987?

The Platters had the original; Mercury's cover reached the British top five, and its title was borrowed for a 2012 documentary about his attempts at a solo career.

Rufus Taylor, son of Queen drummer Roger Taylor, became the drummer of which British band in 2015?

The Darkness hired him that May after their previous drummer left, and he has also served as a touring drummer for the Queen + Adam Lambert shows.

Which Irish-born hairdresser was the partner Queen's Freddie Mercury referred to as his husband?

Jim Hutton had become his partner by 1985, though at public events during that decade Mercury often kept a distance from him.

Which director completed the Queen film Bohemian Rhapsody after Bryan Singer was fired during the shoot?

Dexter Fletcher had been lined up to direct early in development; he received only an executive producer credit, because guild rules left Singer as the sole credited director.

Which solo single by Queen's Freddie Mercury became a posthumous UK number one in 1993 as a remix?

Living on My Own first appeared on his 1985 album Mr. Bad Guy; the chart-topping remix arrived two years after his death.

Roger Taylor hid in a cupboard until which of his songs became the B-side of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'?

I'm in Love with My Car earned him the same publishing royalties from the single as the A-side earned its writer, which later caused friction within the group.

Which label, also home to the Doors, released Queen's albums in the United States until the early 1980s?

Elektra handled the band across North America and several other territories until the group left and signed to Capitol in time for The Works.

The shadowy cover photograph of Queen II was inspired by a 1932 film portrait of which Hollywood star?

Marlene Dietrich struck the pose for Shanghai Express, and the band later recreated the sleeve image in the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' video.

Which producer oversaw Queen's first three albums and A Night at the Opera, then returned once more in 1978?

Roy Thomas Baker went on to produce the early albums of the US band the Cars, and is credited with five of Queen's records in all.

Queen's Freddie Mercury sang on Time, a 1986 West End sci-fi musical created by which 1960s bandleader?

Dave Clark, the drummer who led the Dave Clark Five, became a close friend and was at the bedside vigil when Mercury died in 1991.

Queen's Roger Taylor sang lead and played rhythm guitar in which side band he formed in 1987?

The Cross lasted from 1987 to 1993 and released three albums, the first flavoured with dance influences that the group dropped afterwards.

Queen guitarist Brian May has relied almost exclusively on AC30 amplifiers built by which British company?

Vox became his choice after a meeting with his long-time hero, the guitarist Rory Gallagher, at a gig around the turn of the 1970s.

Queen's 'Bicycle Race' video had 65 nude models cycling around which London greyhound stadium?

Wimbledon hosted professional models for the shoot, and in most countries the single's sleeve had a red bikini painted over its photo of one rider.

Which lawyer, who had acted for Queen in a contract dispute, took over as the band's manager in 1978?

Jim Beach was nicknamed 'Miami' by Freddie Mercury, a play on his surname, and after Monty Python's 2014 reunion shows he became that comedy troupe's manager too.