Queen are an English rock band formed by Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor in London, England around 1970 from the remains of Smile, with John Deacon completing the line-up the following year. Britain’s most consistently successful band of the past three decades, the band became popular during the mid-to-late 1970s and to this day retains an extremely large international fan base.
Although formerly overlooked by critics, especially those in the United States, Queen have more recently been acclaimed as pioneers of arena rock, glam rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and progressive rock. In the Music Of The Millennium poll conducted by Channel 4 in 1999, Queen were voted the second greatest band in music history.
The band have also been cited as a strong influence on many later artists and in 2001 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
In 2003 Queen became the first and only band to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 2004 the band was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, and in 2006 was the first inductee in to the VH1 Rock Honours.
Queen have also been inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame (at Guitar Centre on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard), and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Freddie Mercury (1946 – 1991) vocals, piano, synthesizer and sometimes guitar: Among the general public, Mercury is perhaps best known as the lead vocalist and front man of the group, with such roles placing a shadow over his skill as a pianist and songwriter. He wrote the majority of the songs found on Queen’s Greatest Hits. As a singer, he had a distinctive voice and a tenor vocal range.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.