Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals) founded the British rock group Queen in London in 1970. John Deacon later joined the group (bass). Progressive rock, hard rock, and heavy metal were influences on the band’s early works, but as they increasingly included other genres, like arena rock and pop rock, they began to produce more mainstream radio-friendly music.
For more than 50 years, Queen has been a major force in popular culture. They are one of the best-selling musical artists in the world, with record sales that are estimated to be between 250 million and 300 million. The Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music was given to Queen in 1990. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003 since each member had written hit singles. They were given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 in addition to the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors in 2005.
The group is among the best-selling musical acts in the world thanks to the release of 18 number-one albums, 18 number-one singles, and 10 number-one DVDs globally. According to Nick Weymouth, who oversees the band’s official website, Queen is one of the most often bootlegged musical acts ever. 12,225 websites specifically devoted to Queen bootlegs were found in a 2001 survey, the most of any band.
