I know some time ago I wrote a blog about why I loved Guns n' Roses but there's alot of love I have for many bands, some signed, some unsigned. However, Queen has a special place in my heart, from early childhood I was brought up listening to this band and I have so many happy associated memories.

On a cold winters day, November 1974 in Birmingham UK my father raced over to the hospital to see my mother, leaving my three brothers with thier grand parents listening to the top 40 charts. Whilst my dad was overjoyed that he had a new baby son and decided to call him Adam, my brothers were intently listening into the Radio 1 pop charts to see who gained the coveted number one slot that week.......sad to say it was David Essex "I'm gonna make you a star" the real winner that week should have been Queen with "Killer Queen" in my and in my brothers view (saying that I didn't have much of a view back then as all was interested in was sleeping, dinner, milk and sleep- nothing much has changed I can tell you that).

Since that very day this band have featured in my life, from Killer Queen to Days of our lives, the drama, the theatre and showmanship has never quite been the same since with any other band, again, in my view.

Freddie Murcury was flamboyant, theatrical and super super talented, an acomplished pianist Freddie had an amazing vocal range and demonstrated stage presence like no other. Half a million people were captivated when they played in Rio for the first time back in the early 80's, chanting back at Freddie's "de do day daying".

"Who wants to live forever" (featured in the Highlander movie) and the final video to feature Mr Murcury "Day's of our lives" (originally written by Roger Taylor about his children but after the tragic death of Freddie took on new meaning for fans) were two songs that still invoke great emotion for me, leaving a tear in my eye and a feeling of sadness to have lost such a beautiful soul to such a terrible disease. And then you have songs like "tie your mother down" and "keep yourselves alive" that make you just want to simply rock out every time they're played on the radio.

They have left us with sixteen studio albums( including 1980's Flash Gordon Soundtrack) and two live albums, "Hot Space" being the only album amongst them that I was not particularly fond of (I think the band have the same view and certainly most fans) I will never forget them. Paul Rogers joined them later for a reunion tour, minus John Deacon but i am sure that you will all agree, it was nothing without Freddie.

After a short haitus the band came back together in the mid 80's for Live Aid at Wembley Stadium and stole the show, Freddie was on form and the crowd loved it. A year later they embarked on the " A Kind of Magic" tour of 1986 and for a short period, from a live performance perspective, Queen were reborn. An exhausting tour for the band, Freddie's illness overshadowed his ability to peform onstage, however, the studio and solo projects that followed proved to the world that he was still vocally number one, no other like him, we will miss him dreadfully.

 

Queen Discography

Queen (1973)
Queen II (1974)
Sheer Heart Attack (1974)
A Night at the Opera (1975)
A Day at the Races (1976)
News of the World (1977)
Jazz (1978)
Live Killers (1979)
The Game (1980)
Flash Gordon (1980)
Hot Space (1982)
The Works (1984)
A Kind of Magic (1986)
Live Magic (1986)
The Miracle (1989)
Innuendo (1991)
Made in Heaven (1995)