60 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.

Which member came up with the name "Queen"?

The others were unsure, but he told them, "it's wonderful, dear, people will love it".

Mercury was born on which island?

He was born Farrokh Bulsara in Stone Town in 1946; his family fled to England after the 1964 revolution.

Which member was recruited last, joining in February 1971?

The bassist's quiet manner and electronics skills suited the band; the classic line-up played its first show that July.

Which member went to London in 1967 to study dentistry before switching to biology?

The drummer answered a college notice-board ad seeking a "Mitch Mitchell/Ginger Baker type" and got the job in Smile.

Which member earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London in 2007?

The thesis on zodiacal dust was started in 1971 and abandoned when the band took off; asteroid 52665 was later named after him.

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

It was purposely designed to feed back, and he plays it with a sixpence coin instead of a plectrum.

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

It was the only single from Queen II, the album whose Mick Rock cover photo later inspired the Bohemian Rhapsody video.

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

It reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and combined camp, vaudeville and music hall with May's guitar.

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

Groucho Marx invited the band to his Los Angeles home in 1977, where they thanked him and sang "'39" a cappella.

How many weeks did "Bohemian Rhapsody" spend at number one in the UK on its original release?

It later returned to number one for five more weeks after Mercury's death, and remains the UK's best-selling non-charity single.

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

He had been given the copy on the condition he would not play it; the station's switchboard was swamped with callers.

Roughly how long did it take to shoot the "Bohemian Rhapsody" music video at Elstree Studios?

The video cost about £3,500, five times a normal promo budget, and was made partly so the band could skip Top of the Pops.

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

The re-release reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100; the band reportedly loved it while Mike Myers feared he had "whizzed on a Picasso".

Which two 1977 anthems appeared on the album News of the World?

Both were built for live sing-alongs and have become fixtures at sporting events; the ballad reached number four in the US.

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

The same album holds "Don't Stop Me Now"; reviews have warmed considerably since its lukewarm reception in 1978.

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

Mercury wrote the Elvis-style rockabilly number on guitar and played rhythm guitar on stage for it, his first time doing so in concert.

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

The Deacon-written track spent three weeks at number one in the US in October 1980 and became the band's best-selling single.

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

The bassist also wrote "I Want to Break Free" and built the homemade Deacy Amp May used for his guitar orchestras.

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

Producer Roy Thomas Baker later said the "No Synthesisers!" note was only meant to clarify that the layered solos were guitars.

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

Six years later they also wrote much of the music for Highlander, including "Princes of the Universe" and "Who Wants to Live Forever".

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

The collaboration was unplanned: he simply dropped by the studio while the band were recording, and the two singers cut their vocals separately.

Queen's 1981 Greatest Hits holds what distinction in the UK?

The Telegraph estimated that roughly one in three British families owns a copy, and it has passed 1,000 weeks on the UK chart.

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

Q magazine later listed it among the top fifteen albums where great rock acts lost the plot; it still reached number 4 in the UK.

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

MTV banned it in the US, which hurt The Works there; the idea came from Roger Taylor via a suggestion from his girlfriend.

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

The band were fined by the Musicians' Union and put on a UN blacklist; Taylor called the decision "kind of a mistake" in 2021.

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

An estimated 400 million watched on TV; a 2005 industry poll ranked it the greatest rock performance of all time.

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

Roger Taylor called the Live Aid reaction a "shot in the arm" that revived the band's record sales.

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

Director Russell Mulcahy said he thought of only one band for the film's "strong, anthemic songs".

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

The show sold out within two hours after the band could not book Wembley for a third night; more than 120,000 fans came.

Which member fronted a side band called the Cross between 1987 and 1993?

The drummer sang lead and played rhythm guitar; the Cross released three albums before splitting after a Gosport gig.

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

The title track was later adopted as an anthem for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

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

The Miracle also marked the point at which the band began crediting songs to Queen as a whole rather than to individual writers.

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

Mercury could barely walk when they recorded "The Show Must Go On" in 1990, yet May recalled that he "completely killed it".

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

He died of bronchopneumonia at 45; the tribute concert at Wembley the following April raised over £20 million for AIDS charities.

Which song's video, shot on 30 May 1991, contains Mercury's final scenes in front of a camera?

It was released as a double A-side with "Bohemian Rhapsody" after his death and went to number one in the UK.

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

"Mother Love" was the last vocal he recorded; the others finished it over a drum machine track after he was gone.

John Deacon's last public appearance with Queen was a 1997 Paris performance of 'The Show Must Go On' with which singer?

The show with the Béjart Ballet left May and Taylor as the only active original members; Deacon chose to retire.

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

The line-up recorded one studio album, The Cosmos Rocks, and opened a 2008 tour in front of 350,000 fans in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

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

The runner-up duetted "We Are the Champions" with winner Kris Allen; he became Queen's touring vocalist in 2011.

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

The performance opened with a remastered clip of Mercury's 1986 Wembley call-and-response routine.

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

Queen + Adam Lambert then opened the Platinum Party at the Palace with the song outside Buckingham Palace.

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

The film grossed over $900 million, the most ever for a musical biopic, and won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Drama.

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

Panned by critics when it opened in 2002, it became the longest-running musical at London's Dominion Theatre.

The Queen crest, designed by Mercury, combines the members' zodiac signs. What represents Brian May, a Cancer?

Two lions stand for the Leos Deacon and Taylor, two fairies for the Virgo Mercury, and a huge phoenix shadows the whole design.

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

The overbite he never had corrected became part of his look; he was famously self-conscious about it.

In which country did Queen play their record-setting 1981 Latin American stadium shows?

The Vélez Sarsfield show in Buenos Aires was watched by 30 million on TV, and backstage the band met Diego Maradona.

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

The band ran late and skipped the encore after police warned Mercury he would be arrested if he went back on stage.

Which 1977 Queen single hit UK number two, with Mercury, May and Taylor multi-tracked into a gospel choir?

It came from A Day at the Races, which the band self-produced after Roy Thomas Baker stepped away.

In 2003, all four members were inducted into which body, reflecting that each had written hit singles?

Each member wrote hit singles, making Queen the only group in which every member composed more than one chart-topper.

Which 2001 film sets Robbie Williams and Queen's "We Are the Champions" over medieval jousting?

The same film has a medieval crowd stomping and clapping "We Will Rock You" in its opening scene.

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

May quit in early 1968 to concentrate on his physics degree and find a band that wrote original material, which became Smile.

Queen turned down a £25,000 advance from Charisma Records because the label would prioritise which band?

Promoter Ken Testi instead steered them to Trident Studios, whose management deal gave them off-peak access to top recording facilities.

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

They had been opening for Mott the Hoople; May was still absent when work began on Sheer Heart Attack and returned midway through.

At the time, A Night at the Opera was the most expensive album ever made. What did it cost?

It was recorded in three different studios, and its opener 'Death on Two Legs' was later dedicated in concert to Trident.

Who directed the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' promotional video, budgeted at five times the norm at £3,500?

He had already shot several Queen concerts; the clip let the band skip miming on Top of the Pops during tour dates.

In January 1985 Queen headlined two nights of which festival, before 300,000 people each night?

Highlights came out on VHS as Queen: Live in Rio and aired on MTV in the US.

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

The Népstadion show became the concert film Hungarian Rhapsody; more than a million people saw the tour in all.

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

The band kept the global rights through Queen Productions Ltd; Mercury's last public appearance came that February at the Brit Awards.

In which year was Queen inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Queen is the only group in which every member has written more than one chart-topping single.