News

Queen Are 40

• 19th Jan 2011

2011 sees one of the most talented, glamorous and influential bands in musical history, QUEEN, celebrate the 40th anniversary of their formation in 1971.

With over 170 million global album sales, 18 Number One Albums, 10 Number One DVD’s, 700 concerts performed in every corner of the world including their historic appearance at Live Aid, Seven Ivor Novello Awards, inductions into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame and a Guinness Book of Records award for the most successful UK album chart artist ever, the Queen story is one of the most remarkable in modern British culture. 40 years after Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon formed Queen and the band became the epitome of rock n roll swagger and excess Queen continues to rule globally.

The 40th Anniversary year kicks off with a major exhibition, ‘Stormtroopers in Stilettos’ – a comprehensive look at the early part of Queen’s career, from before the band’s formation when various members were dreaming of success while studying astrophysics or running stalls next to Biba in Kensington Market, right up to their spectacular free gig for over 250,000 fans in Hyde Park in 1976. Taking place in Trumans Brewery in the heart of London’s East End the exhibition opens on February 25th running through to March 12th, and will cover the group’s first five albums from the first half of the 1970’s. The exhibition will aim to take visitors to the heart of Queen by combining interactive audio and visual environments with historic and never-before-seen memorabilia; themed rooms and music all created from the bands personal archive will come together to create an exciting, entertaining and engaging insight into the foundation and rise of the global super group Queen became.

Newly signed to legendary label Island Records and to coincide with the exhibition, the first five albums that Queen released – “Queen”, “Queen II”, “Sheer Heart Attack”, “A Night At The Opera” and “A Day At The Races – will be re-mastered and re-packaged into special deluxe album formats. From the pure raw rock of “Queen” through to the majestic anthems on “A Day At The Races”, the first five albums highlight the diverse talent, musical ambition and already global success of a band made up of some of the best songwriters, musicians and performers of all time. The remainder of the band’s incredible catalogue will be released during 2011.

Subsequent to the exhibition there will be a major BBC TV Documentary featuring a rare interview with Roger Taylor and Brian May and many other surprises and releases to come through the rest of the year.

2011 will see filming begin of a major Hollywood movie about Queen, starring Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury. Acclaimed script writer Peter Morgan (“The Queen”,” Frost/Nixon” ) is working on the project, which is being produced by GK Films, Robert de Niro’s Tribeca Productions and Queen Films.

After four decades, the collective work of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon continues to resonate around the globe, inspiring a host of diverse artists from Lady Gaga (who took her name from Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga”), Axl Rose and Katy Perry through to Dave Grohl. Twenty years after the death of their phenomenal and flamboyant singer, Freddie Mercury remains an icon beyond measure.

Look out for further exciting Queen 40 announcements in 2011.