Queen formed in 1971 and in 1973 signed their first
recording contract for EMI. That year they released their first album, QUEEN.
The same year saw their first major UK tour, and in 1974 they released QUEEN II
as well as making their first UK headlining tour. They made their first US
tour, and in November released SHEER HEART ATTACK which was a hit on both sides
of the Atlantic.1975 saw their new release, A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, and –
significantly – the single Bohemian Rhapsody. At 5’ 55” it should have been too
long for successful radio play but it became one of the greatest singles of all
time, staying at No. 1 in the UK chart for nine weeks. The video, directed by
Bruce Gowers, is credited with being the first genuine promotional video. The
song has regularly featured in all major pop polls and was recently named again
as the best single of all time. The success of A NIGHT AT THE OPERA was equally
stunning, giving the band their first platinum album.In 1976 they toured the US
and Japan and by spring all four albums resided in the UK Top Twenty. Later
that year they released A DAY AT THE RACES, and gave a free concert in Hyde
Park to an estimated crowd of 200,000 fans. The album was a huge success,
advance orders alone amounting to over 500,000. The following year saw two
major US tours, the band’s sixth album, NEWS OF THE WORLD and the legendary
double A side single, WE WILL ROCK YOU and WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS.1978’s JAZZ,
included another huge hit single in Bicycle Race and Queen toured the US and
Canada. They spent much of 1979 touring in Europe and Japan, as well as
releasing their first live album, LIVE KILLERS. They were also approached to
write the score for a forthcoming feature film, FLASH GORDON. Before that they
released THE GAME in 1980 which went five times platinum in Canada alone!
Another One Bites The Dust became the band’s biggest selling American single.
Later that year the soundtrack for FLASH GORDON was released and by the end of
the year Queen had sold over 45,000,000 albums worldwide.In 1981 they toured
the Far East and were the first band to make a stadium tour of South America.
They played to 131,000 people in Sao Paolo, the largest paying audience for any
band anywhere in the world. GREATEST HITS, GREATEST FLIX and GREATEST PIX were
released simultaneously later in the year and Greatest Hits has rarely been out
of the UK album charts since. Greatest Flix was the first collection of
promo-videos released commercially by any band. Next year saw the release of
the band’s twelfth album, HOT SPACE whilst they were in the middle of a
European tour.Listen song here:YouTube
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