THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB Winter 2011€¦ · and the only Queen song in which Freddie’s voice is not heard, except in spirit. Why am I re-telling all this ? Be-cause

THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB

Winter 2011

From Queen to You

3THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB

Editorial

2 THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB

Long serving members:

Geraldine Martin, Merseyside (38 years!!!) / Stig Hen-ningsen, Denmark (27 years) / Luigi Beneggi, Italy (31years!) / Shaun Toole, Doncaster (25 years) / LinoAgius, Malta (30 years!) / Helen Lambert, Huddersfield(20 years) Ralf Sagroll, Germany (25 years) / JohnGowers, Hertfordshire (35 years!!) / Robin Whitmore,Ipswich (32 years!) / Fleur Dulude, Essex (20 years)/ Gary Rhodes, Grantham / Stephen Warren, Cheshire(34 years!!) / Marie- Pierre Isenbrandt, France (10years) / Richard Sachse, USA (20 years) / JamesSchenk, USA (33 years!!) / Rich ard Chapman, Leices-tershire (33 years!!) / Peter Wright, Berkshire (30years!) / Aaron Rubin, USA (20 years)

Graphic Design: Christoph von Herrath, www.cvh-graphic-design.de

Dr. Bri here. As I write, I can still feel the distant glowof those few moments at Jacky’s Clapham show. Yes, Ihad resisted! I told Jacky I didn’t feel good about cele-brating Freddie’s passing rather than life... and I’d com-mitted to a run-on with my dear pals The Darkness onthat night. But somehow the pull of such a loyal bunchof devotees was too strong. So I and my small teamspent an exciting day running back and forth betweenHammersmith and Clapham to play a few riffs in bothplaces! I have to say it was so worth it. The warmth ofa QFC event, with fans from all over the world havingmade the pilgrimage, is something to behold. So manythanks to all of you made that terrific noise! It was goodto share the moment with my touring partner Kerry,who was so much a part of establishing We Will RockYou as an enduring show in the West End all those yearsago - stopping the show nightly with a song called No-One But You. This was the very first time I have evershared the vocal on this song with her. Of course thattakes me back further... to that grey rainy day when wegathered... a small, slightly bewildered family, the re-mains of Queen, on the shores of Lake Geneva. It wasthe day the unveiling of the Freddie statue. It was, onthe one hand, a kind of triumph, because Freddie wasbeing recognised, immortalised, and shown respect bythe community of Montreux where we all shared somany of Freddie’s last days on this planet. But on theother hand, I can tell you nobody wants to experiencethat moment when the only physical remnant of a dearfriend and family member is a bronze effigy. I couldn’treally contain my irrational anger, so I hid away in acorner after the umbrella ceremony and out poured astrange song - my personal goodbye to probably thegreatest Rock front man the world has ever seen. Irecorded the first full version of the song a few weekslater back home... and felt it was probably too personala statement to come under the Queen banner. But itwas Roger, on hearing it, said... “this is an importantsong, and something we must do together”. And soonthere we were, in the studio, Roger, John, and myself,putting the finishing touches to the last Queen song,and the only Queen song in which Freddie’s voice is notheard, except in spirit. Why am I re-telling all this ? Be-cause I want to say thank you to Jacky for being so per-sistent, so unwavering, in her untiring work for theQueen fan club, and for constantly reminding us thatthe core of whatever it was that began to lift Queen outof obscurity in 1970 is still there. I’m proud every time

No-One But You is played or sung as a tribute to Fred-die, and just once in a while to be part of the perform-ance, in the midst of eternal friends, is a treat. What else is new? Well, we had a great night with AdamLambert at the EMA’s in Belfast, as many of you no-ticed... we are keeping in touch, and perhaps there is achance to explore this collaboration further. And by thetime you read this, you will probably be aware of an-other collaboration, which happened almost by acci-dent, as many of the best things seem to... and this is

something (on record) which will be pretty unexpected,I think. A little splash of guitar on a piece of music amillion miles from our usual paying fields... and I havea feeling it will sitting at the top of the British chartsearly in 2012. For me, life is always a balance betweenthe past and the future... I love a new challenge. A friendgave me a little book recently - called... the Present. Ifound it useful, helpful, in trying to reassess the flow oflife. What does it all mean ? Well, if you find out, pleasedrop me an E-mail.

In the meantime... let us all be thankful thatthere is Rock in the World.

Love -

Female pen friend wanted, preferably from Scotland,who is going to 2012 Queen convention. Write to JohnGiannandrea, 47 Kilbrennan Drive, Tamfourhill,Falkirk, FK1 4JQ.

Hi Everyone!Firstly I am SO sorry that you have only had two issuesthis year (although they have both been bumpersized!). The year has flown by – and the Freddie trib-ute gig on November 25th took up a lot of my time,what with that, two teenagers and the weather being FARtoo nice to make me think it was time for a winterissue... well, you get the picture! But a Spring specialis already on the cards, and two more next yeartoo, that’s my promise!

It has been a busy year for Queen – they have received somany awards and accolades! And the re-issues have beenexcellent, plus box sets etc – an expensive Queen year foryou guys! A round up of the best bits in this issue!It’s hard to think that Freddie has been gone 20 years thisyear – and that he would have been 65!! Ha ha, now THATwould have been a party! As it was – we celebrated for himat The Savoy in star studded company, he would have lovedthat! And we also celebrated for him in Montreux with fel-low fans, and he was with us in spirit there, we could allfeel that. Our Tribute show on 25th was brilliant too – elec-tric atmosphere, fabulous guests, and Brian May comingon at the start! I loved it!Anyway my friends, I hope you have all had a good year, Iknow it has not been great for some of you, so I can onlyhope 2012 is better. For myself it’s been a year of ups anddowns – but mostly ups, and I am grateful for that!I am also grateful to all of you for your support of the fanclub – next year marks my 30th anniversary, and I am solucky to have made it that far in a job I love. And it’s alldown to YOU, so thank you! We have to see this great clubthrough to it’s own 40th anniversary... and I know youwon’t let me down!

With love, luck and warm hugs!!The Official International Queen Fan ClubP.O. Box 141, West Horsley, Surrey KT24 9AJT: +44 (0) 1483 281995, E: [email protected]

and a panel of judges. More information onthe final auditions to be announced shortly.Launching in 2012, “The Queen Extravaganza” tourwill feature three vocalists and a five-piece band andwill bebooked by powerhouse agency CAA. Taylor isfully hands-on, taking the role of producer and musicdirector.

Queen collection includes drum skins,sticks and posters from huge Queentours such as The Works and News OfThe World, all of which have been sig-ned by Roger. The studio will be of in-valuable use to students studying atthe Academy across the Performance,Production and Business faculties.Zildjian are one of ACM’s longest-stan-ding supporters, having sponsoredand provided cymbals to the Academyever since it opened its doors back in1995. The company’s own illustrioushistory stems back much further, to itsfounding in 1623, since which theyhave supplied world-class products tointernationally renowned performingartists, including Roger Taylor him-self.Speaking about the studio, Roger said‘This is just amazing. We had nothingat school, in fact nothing but disap-proval. There was no school drum kit,let alone a room full of drum kits. So

this is like a dream come true.’Roger Taylor is one of many acclaimed recording artiststo lend their time and support to the Academy-speakingabout Roger’s visit, ACM’s Business Development andCommercial Manager James Connell said. ‘Roger is aninspirational artist and rock legend, and we are privi-leged and honoured that he has chosen to support ACMin this way’.ACM provides opportunities to study part and full-timeat Diploma, Higher Diploma, Degree and Master level.For further information please visit www.acm.ac.uk .All places are limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

5THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB4 THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB

News Roundup

Queen’s Roger Taylor visited the Academy ofContemporary Music (ACM) in Guildford onFriday, October 28 to open ACM’s new 80 seat

Roger Taylor Zildjian Studio in association with Zildjiancymbals. During his visit, students were lucky enoughto meet the legendary sticksman and benefit from Ro-ger’s knowledge during a question and answer session,which was then followed by a signing session and a per-formance by ACM students.ACM’s Roger Taylor Zildjian Studio boasts a stage withfull band set up and lighting rig, plus an incredible dis-play of Queen memorabilia, which has been kindly gif-ted to the Academy by Roger Taylor and Zildjian. The

Roger at the Academy

Children in Need andPOP Goes the Musical2011 teamed up withone of the most recogni-zed singers in the world,Mel C, to perform a uni-

que collaboration with cast members from the award-winning West End musical We Will Rock You.On 13 September, Mel C took to the stage following thecurtain call to give the audience an evening to rememberby singing the highly charged ‘We Are the Champions’alongside Brian. The evening was as great success!With over 3,600 performances behind it, and holdingthe record for the longest running show ever at the Do-minion, We Will Rock You continues to show no signsof slowing down as it approaches its 10th anniversaryin London. With the London run recently further exten-ded, the show is now booking through to October 2012.Playing to over 12,000 people weekly, and a standing ova-tion at every show, We Will Rock You has now been seenby over 5.5 million people at the Dominion alone and over13 million worldwide. It is now the 7th longest runningmusical currently playing in the West End in a list thatin cludes Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, BloodBrothers, Mamma Mia!, Chicago and Disney’s The Lion King.Earlier this year, March 13, We Will Rock You was offi-cially crowned the UK’s favourite show. In the 2011 Olivierawards, British theatre’s answer to the Oscars, the long-running musical received the prestigious BBC Radio 2Audience Award, the only category decided entirely bymembers of the public who had voted via the awardswebsite. The musical came out top in the category whichsaw more than 43,000 votes cast, beating a shortlist in-cluding Billy Elliot, Jersey Boys and Les Miserables.Brian will join the cast of the touring production on De-cember 1st, AIDS Day, for a Gala Performance in Edin-burgh.

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Six weeks ago, Queen drummer Roger Taylor announcedthe launch of a North American talent search looking fortop-tier players to star in “The Queen Extra vaganza” tour,an electrifying road show that will celebrate the band’smusic and legacy. A plethora of vocalists, guitarists,drummers, bassists and keyboard players auditionedonline at queenextravaganza.com, submitting video foo-tage of themselves performing one of four classic Queensongs: “Killer Queen,” “Somebody To Love,” “Seven Seasof Rhye” and “I Want To Break Free.” With one week ofopen auditions remaining, Taylor continues to pourthrough the submissions and is preparing for the No-vember 9th announcement of the lucky semi-finalists.“What an amazing storehouse of talent we have unlocked,”said Taylor. “The standard is mind blowingly high, it’sreally a thrill getting to discover some of them, keepthem coming!”The buzz surrounding “The Queen Extravaganza” tourhas sparked worldwide interest with video submissionsgenerating more than 6.4 million views to date. Unlike Round One, in which vocalists and musicians wereallowed to audition by performing one of four Queensongs, Round Two will see each semi-finalist assigneda specific track.n Vocalists must submit a video of themselves performing

“Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”n Drummers must perform “One Vision.”n Guitarists must play “Keep Yourself Alive.”n Bassists must audition to “Another One Bites The Dust.”n Keyboardists must perform “Bohemian Rhapsody.”The semi-finalists will have between November 9 and13 to submit their auditions. In another twist, RoundTwo auditions will be judged by the public. Between No-vember 14th and 28th, fans can vote for their favoritesatwww.queenextravaganza.com , casting one vote percategory. The top vote-getters will advance to the FinalRound. Those finalists will be flown into Los Angeles inearly December, where they will perform live for Taylor

Queen’s Roger Taylor visits The Academy Of ContemporaryMusic to open new ‘Roger Taylor Zildjian Studio’

“DITCH THE DAY JOB - BECOME A ROCK STAR!”is how the show was launched in lights, onlineat the end of August!

News Roundup


News Roundup

Queen, one of the most dynamic and influentialrock bands of all time, were honoured with theGlobal Icon Award at the “2011 MTV EMA”,

held in Belfast on November 6th hosted by Selena Gomez.The legendary rock band took to the stage for a specialperformance. This year marks the 40th anniversary ofQueen’s formation in 1971; since then, these Rock andRoll Hall of Famers have garnered a long list of accom-plishments and accolades, including career sales ofmore than 300 million albums, 16 No. 1 albums, 18 No. 1singles and the UK’s top-selling album of all time (theirGreatest Hits compilation has sold a staggering 5.7 mil-lion copies). “We are honoured to be designated a Global Icon. Wewill do our best to be worthy!” said Queen’s Brian May.“Over the past four decades, Queen has made an indelibleimpact on the pop music landscape. They are passionate -ly revered by generations of fans and musicians acrossthe globe,” said Bruce Gillmer, Executive Vice Presidentof Talent and Music Programming / Events for ViacomInternational Media Networks. “We are absolutely thril-led that they will be joining us at this year’s MTV EMA,and we look forward to a very special performance.”

Queen, Adele, Coldplay, Tinie Tem-pah, Lana Del Rey, Ed Sheeran, Jes-sie J, Biffy Clyro, Bon Iver, NoelGallagher, Gary Barlow and U2 allwinners at THE music awards eventof the year.Q - the UK’s biggest selling monthlymusic magazine - marked the cli-max of its 25th anniversary year inspectacular style at a star-studded QAwards 2011.One of the most prestigious eventson the music calendar, the awardstook place at London’s GrosvenorHotel and were hosted by Al Murrayin the guise of his alter-ego The PubLandlord. In all, a total of 18 awardswere handed out - celebrating thevery best new music of the last yearand beyond.Among the big winners was Adele,who bagged two awards (for BestFemale Artist presented by Nivea Visage and Best Trackpresented by Q Radio for Rolling In The Deep), TinieTempah (Best Male Artist presented by Merc), Coldplay(Best Act In The World Today presented by First Drinks

Australian native actor Hugh Jackman(Wolverine in The X Men movies!), whowon a Tony Award for his Broadway debutin The Boy from Oz and was later seen op-posite Daniel Craig in A Steady Rain, returnsto Broadway. In Hugh Jackman, Back onBroadway, the stage and screen star per-forms a personal selection of his favoritemusical numbers that reflect on his life andcareer. This will include, amongst many ot-hers, songs from Queen/Freddie.

Queen Rock Belfast“Global Icon” Award at the 2011 MTV EMA

Q “Hall Of Fame” AwardBrands), Ed Sheeran (Break-through Artist), Jessie J (Best Videopresented by QTV for Do It Like ADude), Biffy Clyro (Best Live Act),Bon Iver (Best Album), Manchestercollective WU LYF (Best New Actpresented by Orange Amplification)and Lana Del Rey, the US internetsensation who was crowned NextBig Thing.

The ceremony concluded witha very special award for U2 -who were voted The Greatest ActOf The Last 25 Years (presentedby BlackBerry) by Q’s readers.As is customary, the awards ho-

noured artists from all areas anderas of music. Among those recei-ving special merit awards were NoelGallagher (Q Icon), Take That’smusical mastermind Gary Barlow(Classic Song wri ter), Fatboy Slim

(Q Inspiration presented by YouYou Mentoring), SnowPatrol (Classic Song presented by Zippo for ChasingCars) and rock legends Queen, who were entered intoQ’s Hall Of Fame.

Hugh Jackman sings Freddie!

News Roundup


A merican performing right organizationBroadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) celebra -ted the European and Asian song -

writers, composers and music publishers behind thepast year’s most-performed songs on U.S. radio and te-levision during its annual London Awards at DorchesterHotel, Park Lane on October 4.Legendary rock band Queen were honored as BMIICONS. The Script’s “Breakeven,” written by AndrewFrampton earned the BMI Robert S. Musel Award forSong of the Year. Taio Cruz’s “Break Your Heart,” co-written by Fraser T. Smith garnered the College Song ofthe Year win. “Stereo Love,” written and recorded byRomanian musician Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina andpublished by Media Services International claimedDance Song of the Year. This is the brilliant introduction given to the band be-fore they were presented with their award:Sterling song craft, virtuoso musicality, outrageous gla-mour and colossal spectacle: Queen captured heartsand conquered charts like no other band in history. This year, with the 40th anniversary of their coronationas rock royalty, Queen’s electrifying artistry continuesto shake stadiums, to galvanize arenas and to enthrallaudiences worldwide. The statistics are simply staggering: sales in the hun-dreds of millions of units, an unprecedented string ofnumber one albums and top-charting singles, hit DVDs,seven Ivor Novello Awards; Induction into The UK MusicHall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and TheSongwriters Hall of Fame; Songs enshrined in theGrammy Hall of Fame, and a star on the Hollywood Walkof Fame. According to the Guinness Book of World Re-cords, Queen has spent 1,422 weeks on the Britishcharts ...over 27 years, total with their Greatest Hits thebest-selling UK album of all time. Tonight we add to those honors our ultimate accolade,as we name them BMI Icons. It is only fitting that wepresent this tribute in London, where Queen set off ontheir remarkable journey. Four individual talents: Brian May, an incredible guita-rist who has earned a PhD in Astrophysics; Roger Tay-lor, one of the most influential drummers of all timeand a noted producer; John Deacon, a fast and facilebassist, multi-instrumentalist and a brilliant electronics

engineer; and Freddie Mercury, certainly one of mostriveting showman to ever command a stage. It began in 1971, With Roger and Brian in a group cal-led “Smile”. When their singer quit, Freddie, formerlywith the London-based band Wreckage, replaced him.When the trio enlisted John, Queen was complete. Butit took three long years of practice and preparation be-fore they debuted as Melody Maker’s Band of the year. With Sheer Heart Attack, Queen - topped the Britishcharts, hit the top 10 in the U.S., and sparked a level offan hysteria in Japan that matched the arrival of theBeatles. A Night At The Opera launched the band into

the stratosphere, as the miraculous “Bohemian Rhap-sody” melded rock and operatic overtones into a fiveminute and fifty-five second opus of 180 vocal over-dubs, and many, many “Galileos.” Imagine the unprecedented power of the double-sidedsingle: one side “We Will Rock You,” and the other, “WeAre the Champions,”... two songs that have entered intothe repertoire of millions of sports fans around the world. Queen was now delivering more than songs- they werecreating anthems of triumph and celebration for an un-precedented live audience who came to witness over700 concerts across the globe. Queen, who embodiedjoyous excess with the album Jazz, and the singles “FatBottomed Girls” ...and “Bicycle Race,” Had become anextravaganza Of unparalleled Rock theater. With the fol-lowing Number One release The Game, Two incredible songs, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”and “Another One Bites The Dust” - blazed to the top

of the charts as the band sold out fourstraight nights at the massive Madison SquareGarden in New York City. The pinnacle of Queen’s performances came with thelegendary Live Aid Benefit in 1985, when the band top-ped a superstar bill and contributed immeasurably tothe international relief effort with an astonishing show. Buoyed by this triumph, Queen’s mammoth trekthrough Europe culminated in the last-ever perfor-mance of the four founding members, to an audienceof 120,000 fans at Knebworth.The passing of Freddie Mercury was a profound tragedy.But it speaks to his incredible spirit that the album,Made In Heaven, assembled after his departure soldover seven million copies worldwide. In his memory,the band orchestrated the Freddie Mercury Tribute Con-cert for AIDS Awareness, and the Mercury Phoenix Trustwas established. To date The trust has donated morethan $15 million to The fight against AIDS around theworld. And it speaks to the love of their UK fans, that inDecember of 1991, soon after the loss of Freddie,Queen had 10 albums in the UK top 100. For generations of rock fans who weren’t yet born du-ring Queen’s campaign across the globe,the agelessmusic of Queen is a soundtrack of living history. Themusic is ever present, with the newest deluxe additionssoon available. The songs resonate from the stage mu-sical We Will Rock You, now in its 10th year in Londonand traveling the world. With us tonight, it’s writer anddirector, Ben Elton... To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the band, RogerTaylor’s massive talent search, Queen Extravaganza pro-mises to propel this Brand to new heights. The legacycertainly lives on. A great recent example Stefani Germanotta who very fa-mously appropriated the Queen song, “Radio GaGa,”as her name. We celebrate the legend, the legacy, the present and thefuture, As The Music of Queen flourishes. The powerof this incredible band exemplifies all that is glamorousand grandiose, magnificently baroque and brilliantlybombastic, in the thundering flashes of epic music, andin the lyrics and melodies that will live forever. To the members of Queen who join us now: your friendsat BMI honor your spirit of artistry. And we are thrilledto celebrate your triumphant march through history.

BMI Icons AwardQueen received the lifetimeachieve ment honour at thisyear’s BMI London Awards

News RoundupNews Roundup

Lady Gaga has put together her fictional dream super-group, and we’re pleased to say that it features somelegends of rock.Gaga would put late Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bon-ham, in the role of the drummer. She noted his boomingkick drum as the irreplicable bedrock of his sound,saying that it hasn’t been re-crea-ted since.The singer would choose BrianMay as guitarist in the band,which is unsurprising after shecollaborated with May for thesong ‘You And I’.

She said of May: “His toneand his understanding ofmusic is just beyond com-prehension. He’s such akind and wonderful per-son, hearing him talkabout Freddie and talkabout Queen is really adream come true. I sort of imagine he doesn’t reallyhave a guitar, it just grows out of his arm.”Lady Gaga would complete her dream line-up with PattiSmith on vocals, Sting on bass guitar, and Elton Johnon piano.


News Roundup

The world of film, music, sport and politics celebratedthe second year of the Asian Awards on Oc tober 18that London’s Grosvenor House with singer FreddieMercury and comedy performer Meera Syal just twoof the winners. The event, described as a ‘prestigiousglobal celebration of achievement and excellence’,raised over £50,000 for children’s charity Save theChildren.Freddie was awarded the Founders Award, whichBrian presented to his mother Jer Bulsara.

Kash, Freddie’s Mum and Brian!

Asian Awards

News Roundup

The DVD/BLU-RAY - Release Date: November 28th2011. In 1971, four college students got toget-her to form a rock band. Since then, that certain

band called Queen have released 26 albums and soldover 300 million records worldwide. The popularity ofFreddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and JohnDeacon is stronger than ever 40 years on.But it was no bed of roses. No pleasure cruise. Queenhad their share of kicks in the face, but they camethrough and this is how they did it, set against a back-drop of brilliant music and stunning live performancesfrom every corner of the globe.The Critically Acclaimed Documentary on the World’sGreatest Rock Band is now to be available on DVD andBlu Ray!We will be releasing this amazing documentary withextra unseen content on standard DVD and blu ray! Thestory is amazing and a must have... In this film, for thefirst time, it is the band that tells their story. Featuringbrand new interviews and unseen archive footage (in-cluding their recently unearthed, first ever TV perfor-mance), it is a compelling story told with intelligence,with, plenty of humour and painful honesty.

DVDStandard: NTSC�Region Code: Playable inall Regions Duration: 164 minutes

ContentMain Feature:�Queen: Days of Our Lives(Part One)Queen: Days of Our Lives (Part Two)

Bonus Features:n Additional Videos: new promo videos containing un-seen rushes, performances and outtakes.-Seven Seas of Rhye�-Killer Queen-Somebody to Love�-We Are The Champions�-Crazy Little Thing Called Love�-Under Pressure�-Radio Ga Gan Additional Sequences: featuring unseen interviewsand archive footage, exclusive sequences that dig dee-per into the history of Queen, and tell the stories thatweren’t covered in the documentary.�- From Magic ToThe Miracle�- Going Slightly Mad: Making of Innuendo�-Made In Heaven

BLU-RAYStandard: NTSC Region Code: Playablein all Regions Duration: 221 minutes

ContentMain Feature: Queen: Days of Our Lives(Part One) Queen: Days of Our Lives (Part Two)

Bonus Features:n Additional Videos: new promo videos

containing unseen rushes, performances and outtakes.�-Seven Seas of Rhye�- Killer Queen�- Somebody to Love�-We Are The Champions�- Crazy Little Thing Called Love�-Under Pressure�- Radio Ga Gan Additional Sequences: featuring unseen interviewsand archive footage, exclusive sequences that dig dee-per into the history of Queen, and tell the stories thatweren’t covered in the documentary.�- Queen: The Be-ginning �- Queen On Tour 1974-5 �- Bohemian Rhap-sody �- Working Together �- Leaving John Reid 1978 �-Don ‘t Stop Me Now�- Flash Gordon �- Making Videos �-Scrabble Wars �- From Magic To The Miracle 1986-89�- Going Slightly Mad: Making Innuendo 1990-91 �-Made In Heaven - 1995n Bonus Interviews: additional stories, taken from theinterviews shot for this documentary with Brian May,Roger Taylor and Jim Beach. �- Return To Imperial Col-lege �- Brian ‘s Health Scare 1974�- Manager Jim BeachMeets The Band 1975 �- B-Sides �- Freddie ‘s Outfits�-Another One Bites The Dust �- Song Writing BalanceChanges 1980’s�- Freddie Legless! �- Highlander �- TheShow Must Go On It has been confirmed that the Universal Japan releaseof the documentary will include the following additionalcontent. Additional Bonus Features for Japan Only(aprox. 40 minutes):n Promo videos: Teo Torriatte (2005) / I Was Born ToLove You (2004)�- First visit to Japan 1975: JapaneseTea Ceremony / Press Conference�- Live at Budokan1975: Killer Queen / In The Lap Of The Gods�- Live atthe Seibu Lions Stadium 1982: Love Of My Life / We WillRock You�- Freddie Mercury: The Official 65th BirthdayVideo (2011). Japan Special Edition, DVD and Blu-ray can be pre-ordered at www.hmv.co.jp

Days of our Lives DocumentaryGaGa’s Dream Band


The fabulous Stormtroopers in Stilettos exhibition thatwas held in London is going to Tokyo. It will be called“Queen Forever”. The exhibition period will be 21stNov-11th December 2011, and the venue will be TokyoTower Ground floor exhibition hall (where MichaelJackson exhibition was held last year).The exhibition will feature most of the fabulous, iconicoutfits that were on display here in London - PLUS manymore items that were not used for the London show!

They have Freddie and Brian’s ZandraRhodes caped outfits, Freddie’s origi-nal black and white harlequin leotard,his ballet shoes, the white outfit withblack lightening bolts, Brian’s Bo Rap

video outfit, many discs,awards etc etc. The ex-hibition will also fea-ture merchandise anda Queen cafe!Huge thanks must go toeveryone who hasloaned anything for thistouring exhibition, but

particularly to Paul Sil-vester, who has beenso incredibly helpfulthroughout gettingall this together!

News RoundupNews Roundup

Stilettos in Tokyo B rian May and Roger Taylor attended the ClassicRock Magazine Roll of Honour Dinner and Awardsceremony, at the world famous Roundhouse in

Camden, London, on November 9th.The event, hosted by KISS bassist, Gene Simmons, was at-tended by some 500 musicians, industry figureheads andVIPs, who enjoyed a champagne reception, a first class 3-course dinner, followed by the awards’ presentation. Genesaid he was flattered to have been approached for it. “Its suchan honour to be hosting this event. There are so many leg-ends from music here tonight.”The winners (full list below) included Foo Fighters (Band OfThe Year) and Manic Street Preachers (Classic Songwriteraward), which is their first accolade in the Classic RockAwards seven year history. Pink Floyd member Roger Wa-ters’ ‘The Wall Live Tour’ was named Event of the Year andDeep Purple received The Innovator Award, for their con-tribution to music.Brian May and Roger Taylor were honoured with the awardfor “Best Reissue” (sponsored by The Alchemy Cartel) inre cognition of - the re-release of their last five albums: ‘TheWorks’, ‘A Kind of Magic’, ‘The Miracle’, ‘Innuendo’ and‘Made in Heaven’ - fighting off strong competition fromThe Who’s Live at Leeds and David Bowie’s Station to Sta-tion deluxe.After collecting the award, guitarist Brian May told BANGShowbiz: “It’s so great to win this because we really wantedpeople to have the chance to hear our music. A lot of peoplejust know the greatest hits of course so it’s great to get theseout there for everyone to hear. We put our heart and soulinto making these records, for months and months on end.”“It’s a very nice surprise to me,” Brian told BBC6 Music.“You do beaver away on these projects and alot of timeand effort went into this and you think will anyone actuallynotice how brilliant they are and appreciate them and thegood news is they do.”For the final award - the most prestigious of the evening -it fell to Roger Taylor to introduce Jeff Beck and to presentthe legendary guitarist and former member of the Yard-

birds with the award for“The Living Legend”, inassociation with OrangeAmplification. (Previousrecipients of this awardinclude Jimmy Page,Alice Cooper, Ozzy Os-bourne, Rush and IggyPop.)6 Music reports - Intypical humle fashionhe was taking theaward in his stridd:

“It’s a bit overblown, it’s a bit over the top, I am me and Iam never going to forget who I am and I am glad I amrooted on the ground and my Mum would never have tol-erated that rubbish.”Jeff Beck concluded the night with a virtuoso guitar per-formance, accompanied by Chrissie Hynde and Joss Stone.ORANGE AMPLIFICATION CLASSIC ROCK ROLL OF HON-OUR 2011

Queen Reissues Triumph At Classic Rock Awards

FULL LIST OF WINNERSEvent of the Year - Roger Waters’ ‘TheWall Live Tour’

Breakthrough Act of the Year - Black Country CommunionThe Spirit of Prog - Jethro Tull

The Innovator Award - Deep PurpleMusicians’ Union Maestro Award - Steve WinwoodTommy Vance Inspiration award - Steve Marriott

Classic Songwriter - Manic Street PreachersOutstanding Contribution - Bob Ezrin

Metal Guru Award -The ScorpionsClassic Album Award - The Who ‘Quadrophenia’

VIP Award - Baron WolmanBest New Band - Vintage Trouble

Album of the Year - Michael Monroe for ‘Sensory Overdrive’Re-issue of the Year - Queen ‘Re-Issues’ package

of their final five albumsFilm/DVD Award- Lemmy for ‘Lemmy’

Band of the Year - Foo FightersThe Living Legend Award - Jeff Beck

Decembers issue of Classic RockMagazine includes a short interviewwith Brian as part of the CR 2011Awards feature. Pages 74 and 75 fo-cuses on Queen as winners of theReissue Of The Year (for the firstfive albums) and sees Brian talkabout Knebworth, John Deacon,the Queen Extravaganza, covers ofQueen songs and couple of Fred-die memories.

Classic Rock Magazine, December 2011

T o his legions of fans, was a flamboyant - and veryBritish - rock star.But in the background was amuch more complex sense of identity, summed

up by one picture: a black and white image of a baby cal-led Farrokh Bulsara smiling in his pram, watched overby an African nanny in the gardens of the home in colo-nial Zanzibar where his Indian parents lived. The littleboy in the pram would go on to change his name to Fred-die Mercury, achieving wealth and fame before a life cutshort at 45 by AIDS.As he became a worldwide star, littlewas said of his boyhood in the dying days of Empire,being brought up by his Indian parents in wealth - thenhaving to flee a bloody revolution which took the familyto London to build a new life. The pictures of life beforefame were revealed as his family prepare to mark thetwentieth anniversary of his death and discuss their pride

in his Asian heritage. Mercury’s background - his family areParsees, followers of the Zo rastrian religion whose ances-tors came from Persia - was never in the forefront as hesang in Queen. There were sometimes whispers in theAsian community that he ignored his heritage. But to hisfamily it was an essential part of his identity.His father, Bomi, was born in India and like many wentto a British possession in Africa to work as a registrar forthe colonial government, taking with him his wife Jer. Theybrought up Freddie, his younger sister Kashmira, in Zan-zibar, now a part of Tanzania, but then a colony in its ownright. When he was eight Mercury was sent to St Peter’s,a boarding school near his parents’ home city of Bombay,now Mumbai, and showed a natural talent for the piano.Mrs Bulsara recalled: “He was quite happy and saw itas an adventure as some of our friends’ children had

gone there. Right from the start, Freddie was musical.He had it on his mind all the time. He could play anytune. He could hear something and play it straightaway.” He honed his piano skills by playing Indian tunes,then joined his first band, called The Hectics. When heleft school, now known as Freddie, a nickname given tohim by schoolmates, he returned to Zanzibar, but its in-dependence in 1963 was followed by a revolution whichsaw the largely poor Africans involved in riots which tar-geted the wealthier Indian population.The Bulsaras fled to London in 1964 and settled in Felt-ham, swapping a life of servants for a semi-detatchedhome in the suburbs. Mercury enrolled at Isleworth Po-lytechnic to study graphic design, but it was music whichentranced him, shifting from the Indian tunes he hadplayed in Bombay.

Mrs Bulsara, 89, said: “He would write songs from anearly age. I kept on saying, as all mothers do, carry onwith your studies and clean up your bedroom. Oncewhen I went into his bedroom at our home in Feltham,I told him I was going to clear up all the rubbish inclu-ding the papers under his pillow. But he said ‘Don’t youdare’. He was writing little songs and lyrics then andputting them under his pillow before he slept. It wasmore music than studying and my husband said hedidn’t understand what this boy was going to do. I madehim type some letters for jobs and when he posted theapplications he said’ I hope I don’t get these jobs’. Theapplications were for graphic design. Had he got one ofthose jobs, things would have been quite different. Inthe end, he thought it was too much because he was inhis bedroom most of the time and an elderly neighbours

Jer Bulsara


Jer Bulsara


Photo, left: Brian

May

‘Well,he ismy son.’Daily Telegraph article SUNDAY TE -LEGRAPH, Music news 16 October2011, by Shekhar Bhatia

were complaining about the noise and he decided toleave home.”Mercury formed Queen with Brian May, Roger Taylor andJohn and the band’s first major concert was as a supportact to Mott the Hoople at Hammersmith Odeon in 1973.His parents were the very antithesis of the glam rock mo-vement which was sweeping the nation, but they werethere, somewhat to the surprise of members of the audi-ence.“My favourite memory of him is that very first concertat Hammersmith Odeon,” Mrs Bulsara said. “My boywas showing the best of himself as support to Mott theHoople. When the show was over people came over tome and my husband and said it was nice that we sup-ported him. I said simply: ‘Well, he is my son.’ Rockand roll was not my lifestyle, but I said I would attendevery concert. It was very exciting for me. It was 1973and he always used to dress flamboyantly. But I usedto tell him to have his hair cut short as it was long. Hesaid ‘No, no mum, that is the way I am. But when shorthair came into fashion he said: ‘You see I’ve had it cutshort. I did it’.”As he was on the verge of musical success, he failed hisdriving test, but told his family not to worry. His mothersaid: “He said it didn’t matter. I said he didn’t want tospend his life on buses and he said: ‘It doesn’t matterbecause one day I will be chauffeur driven everywhere’.I thought that my boy certainly had a dream.”As he became more famous, his Asian upbringing and he-ritage faded increasingly into the background. But it wasnever something he forgot himself, his family say; beingAsian was part of his life. His background made his senseof identity complex. Being a Parsee meant he identifiedmore with his Persian ancestry than India, where his pa-rents were brought up and he was educated. Hurtfully,there were people who said he was burying his Asianroots.Roger Cooke, his brother in law, said: “To an Englishmind, Asian means Indian. It doesn’t in Freddie’s parti-cular case, he was Persian by ancestry. He was accusedof denying his Indian heritage. I don’t think he ever did,but if he did, it would have been because he was Per-sian.”His mother added: “Freddie was a Parsee and hewas proud of that, but he wasn’t particularlyreligious.”At the height of his fame, Mercury would wantnothing more than to sit in the kitchen as his mother

cooked for him.”He wanted to be as normal as possible,”she said. “Business was on one side and his family onthe other. He would come home and say ‘ Mum are youmaking your special cheese biscuits?’ Whenever hewas in the studio and working long hours, he wouldsay ‘Mum, make some more because all the boys arethere’ and I would say of course, why not. He just wan-ted a normal life at home and to leave his work on theside. But he was just so good to us and tell us every-thing that was happening. He would send postcardsfrom around the world.”This week his mother and sister will attend The AsianAwards in London to receive a posthumous honour, TheFounders Award, for Freddie’s life and outstanding con-tribution to music, on his behalf. Their presence will em-phasise that they combine love of Mercury with pride in

his roots. But the greatest comfort his family have is thatMercury’s songs remain ubiquitous.Kashmira said: “We are very proud and happy of him.The group has been together 40 years, but 20 of themwithout Freddie. That really hits me hard becausewhen you are hearing Freddie on a daily basis, youlose track of time. He has been dead 20 years this No-vember, that is a long time. Because we hear him everyday, it is almost as if he is around. I don’t have to playhis records because they are on the radio every day.”Mrs Bulsara added: “I am proud for everything thatcomes up for my boy. The whole world seems to knowhim. They know who Freddie Mercury is. My boy wasa genius. It makes me proud that he remains my Fred-die and has not been forgotten. It is because God lovedhim more. That’s why he was taken away.”

The Freddie Mercu

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What a night!

All pictures on the pages 16 - 17: Copyright © 2011, Roger Goodgroves, www.goodgroves.co.uk

Spike Edney Chris Thompson Patti Russo

Tony Vincent

Jacky

Kerri Ellis, Brian May

The Fabbas: Zoe and Susie

The Freddie Mercu

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Pictures on the pages 18 - 19: Copyright © 2011, Roger Goodgroves, www.goodgroves.co.uk - Except: As labelled

“Thank You” to everyone who came along

and celebrated Freddie’s life

and music with us!

But HUGEST thanks must go to our band!

Picture: Steven Ca

esen

s

Picture: Cass Churchill

Madeline Bell

Steve Stroud John Marter

Jason Falloon

is The Greatest

The Feel-Good Lyricfrom ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’

Ahuge 1-in-5 of the 3,000 Queen fans who votedin a joint Island Records/HMV survey held inAugust to mark the band’s 40th anniversary

(http://www.queenonline.com), have selected the line“Don’t stop me now, I’m having such a good time, I’mhaving a ball... ” – from the song ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’,as their choice of the greatest-ever Queen lyric.Penned by Freddie Mercury, and featured as the twelfthtrack on the band’s 1978 album ‘Jazz’, ‘Don’t Stop MeNow’ was released as a single on 26th January 1979 –reaching no.9 in the Official UK Charts. Whilst,perhaps,viewed at the time as one of the lesser works in theQueen canon, the song has grown in stature over theyears – popularised by frequent use in TV and film ad-

vertising and programming, no doubt keen to draw onits upbeat sentiments, and is now a firm favouriteamong fans around the world.Coming in second in the poll, which was run bywww.pollthepeople.com on behalf of Island Recordsand HMV, with just over 10% of the popular vote, is thepoignant lyric from ‘The Show Music Go On’ – “My soulis painted like the wings of butterflies, fairy tales of yes-terday will grow but never die. I can fly my friends!”. Third favourite is the line from the title track to the1991 album ‘Innuendo’ – “You can be anything you

want to be, just turn yourself into anything you thinkyou could ever be”, which garnered over 4% of the votes.Whilst fourth is the famous lyric that closes ‘BohemianRhapsody’ – “Nothing really matters, anyone can see,nothing really matters, nothing really matters to me”,which attracted just under 4% of all responses. Making up the top 5 is the line “In the quiet of the nightlet our candle always burn, let us never lose the lessonswe have learned” from ‘Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling To-gether)’ – the 1976 song from the album ‘A Day At TheRaces’, which memorably also features a Japanese versein its chorus. The remainder of the survey top 10 features lyrics fromthe songs ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘Killer Queen’,

‘Friends Will Be Friends’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ and‘Stone Cold Crazy’. HMV’s Gennaro Castaldo comments: “When it comesto lyrics, Queen clearly rank right up there, arguablycoming only behind the likes Lennon and McCartneyand Dylan, as one of the greatest song-writing teamsof all time. Whilst you’d imagine there might bemore obvious choices, we shouldn’t be too surprisedthat a lyric from ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ is a clear fa-vourite among fans – it’s such a feel-good, life-af-firming song.”


is The Greatest

The Feel-Good Lyricfrom ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’

Inspired by ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ : The Google-Animation for Freddie’s 65th birthday

Brian May with IFAW President Fred O’Regan, IFAW UK Director Robbie Marsland and all of the 2011 Animal Action Awardwinners - House of Lords terrace, LondonL to R - Tony Nevett (front left crouching) with Danny the greyhound, Michael Sharratt - Badger Watch and RescueDyfed (front centre kneeling), Juanita Wilson - Mossburn Community Farm (rear), Denise Ward - A MinorityPastime Film, Fred O'Regan - IFAW CEO, Sue Gessey - Animal Healing Trust (rear), Baroness Gale (front), RobbieMarsland - UK Director of IFAW (rear), Pam Mansfield - Exotic Pet Rescue (front), Anne Brummer - Harper AspreyWildlife Rescue, Brian May, PC Wells and Obi, Rolf Harris, Gordon Lumby - Badger Watch and Rescue Dyfed, JennyClark - Sussex Bat Hospital. Photo by S.D. Donnelly

Brian was honoured to be asked to present theIFAW* Awards on October 18th.*International Fund For Animal Welfare www.ifaw.org/uk/

Brian May Interview


Brian May Interview


B rian May is too much of a gentleman to com-plain, but for all the commercial successQueen enjoyed in the States they were not

exactly bestowed with honours by the music business.“Our mantle pieces are not groaning with Grammys,”notes the legendary guitarist whose band, alongsideother British rock giants Led Zeppelin, failed to win asingle prize at the US industry’s glitziest annual awardsceremony. At least they did make it into the Rock andRoll Hall of Fame there in 2001.Forty years after the formation of Queen and a fewweeks prior to the 20th anniversary of Freddie Mer-cury’s death there has been overdue recognition fromthe American industry this week with May and his andcolleagues Mercury, John Deacon and Roger Taylorbeing honoured with the Icon Award at US society BMI’sannual London awards ceremony and dinner.May, who was due to pick up the award on Tuesday nightwith Taylor at the Dorchester Hotel held event on Lon-don’s Park Lane, says being recognised by the Statesadds “an extra dimension” to the award given the im-mediate priority Queen gave to breaking there after theyformed.“We were lucky enough to have an American mana-ger - Jack Nelson - in the early days, so he was alwaysaware of the global situation.” remembers May. “Healways used to say to us, ‘You guys have to realiseBritain is a very small place. You have to think glo-bally if you want to maximise your potential’ so wealways did.”When the band broke through in the UK in 1974 withKiller Queen they found themselves partially associatedwith glam rock, but it was a different story in the Stateswhere that movement never took hold in the mainstream.“It was a little bit different,” he says of the band’s ini-tial US reception. “We were on the tail end of that

thing they called glam (in the UK), but we were neverreally glam rockers as such. We were more a thea-trical thing. In America we were just a rock bandviewed in the same way as Led Zeppelin or BadCompany would have been. I think we wereviewed as something rather exotic because we

had these extra dimensions to us. There was theshowy side, the very dramatic side and the lightsand sounds and costumes to a very high level,which they hadn’t seen before, but it was actuallyquite nice for us to be viewed as just a touringrock band in the States as opposed to a borderlinepop phenomenon as we were in this country.”Although Bohemian Rhapsody was a Billboard Top10 hit, May recalls it was their 1977 double headerWe Are The Champions and We Will Rock You whichreally broke them, the latter written by the guitaristand a pension plan all by itself just for its continueduse at sports events in the US.“It’s become part of America’s daily life and I re-gard that as a great source of joy,” he reflects onhis rock anthem. “You go beyond being a rock act,a radio act. You become woven in people’s livesand that means a lot.”Their American peak really came in 1980 when bothCrazy Little Thing Called Love and Another One

Bites The Dust topped the Billboard Hot100, while parent album The Game wasalso an American number one. But itremains May’s great sadness that fromthis peak the US picture quickly dete-riorated for them.“There was a point around Anot-her One Bites The Dust whereprobably we were the biggestthing in America and probablythe biggest thing in the world,”

he says. “A lot of peoplehave that moment where

you think, ‘My God,

suddenly everything seems to be pointing towardsus’, but we did lose it in the States just at the pointwhere we confirmed our hold in the rest of theworld. But we really lost America and it will alwaysbe a source of sadness in a way.”May points to a variety of reasons for this state of af-fairs, including a stand by their then US record com-pany Capitol against payola, which resulted in theband’s last Billboard Top 40 hit in Freddie Mercury’slifetime Radio GaGa instantly plummeting down thechart in 1984 as radio stations pulled their supportand also them dressing in drag for the video follow-up I Want To Break Free, a move that outraged middleAmerica.“You look at those things that happened to Queenin the States and it’s sad because there are thingswhich will never really resonate in the same wayin North America as they do in every other countryin the world so that covers a lot of the later songsstarting with GaGa, Days Of Our Lives, The ShowMust Go On, Headlong, Innuendo, massive hitsaround the world which really don’t have that re-sonance in North America,” he says.But, starting with Bohemian Rhapsody enjoying a newlease of life in Wayne’s World, Queen have since re-connected with America and this year he and the

band’s other still active member Roger Taylor havebeen particularly busy (John Deacon is no longerpart of the setup: “We have an arrangement to leaveJohn alone. That’s what he wants and we respect it”).This activity has included the re-issue of their entirealbums catalogue after a switch from their previouslyonly UK label home of EMI to Universal’s Island Re-cords, although the band’s songs remain with EMIMusic Publishing.“It came down to confidence really,” says May aboutthe decision to quit EMI. “It was a shame. We alwayshad a great relationship with EMI and strangelyenough we still do with a lot of those guys whoworked there, but really the top level of EMI they

Legendary guitarist, songwriter andQueen founder member Brian Mayon 40 years of Queen legacy and themany opportunities that the futureholds

Music Week�7 October 2011�Profile: Queen: A Forty Year Reign, Interview: Paul Williams

“...Iguess we are busier than ever...”

Brian May Interview

24

didn’t have the confidence to renew at the level wewanted a couple of years ago and Universal were deadkeen and said, ‘We’ve always wanted to sign you’and basically they gave us what we wanted in termsof money and promises or support and the wholemachinery. They put their whole vast array of toolsat our disposal so it just seemed like a great idea.”May praises the work Universal has done with the reis-sues. “We’re very pleased,” he says. “They’re very in-novative. It’s a different kind of relationship thanwith EMI because they go off and do things withoutasking us sometimes and we’re not used to that.We’re used to being very controlling, but I have to saymost of what they do is great and inspired and it’sbecome a really good relationship. They have newangles and they said in the beginning, ‘Our job is notto sell you to the people who already love you. Our jobis to get you to the people who don’t get you already.’”And he says there has been a fantastic reaction to theoverhauled albums. “We’ve taken it very seriouslyquality wise. These reissues are wonderful interms of quality. We’ve revisited everythingright down to the original nuts and bolts.These reissues are more quality than any-thing else anybody has ever held in theirhands so they’re good products andsomething we’re all proud of. There area few extra tracks on there. We didn’twant to interfere with the original albumsby sticking on extra tracks on those CDs, butwe’ve put a bonus CD in with the package,which has worked out really well. People seemto like it, stuff they’ve never heard, which wasburied at the time we were in the studio or outon the road somewhere. So the reaction hasbeen great.”One object of the reissues programme has beento re-establish Queen as an albums act rather thanjust a singles band and here May is happy with theresults. “It pleases me because we’re not justabout the singles,” he says. “We’re definitelyabout the whole albums. There’s a great rich-ness, which I am glad people are getting into,especially young people. I’m amazed howmuch kids get into early Queen stuff.”May and Taylor are also involved in the forthco-

ming Freddie biopic starring Sacha Baron Cohen, alt-hough the guitarist says: “We’re trying to stay a littlebit at arm’s length. You don’t want to make toomuch of an imprint. You want a slightly non-con-trolled version. We want it to be a very open and un-biased view of Freddie so we’ve put a team in placeletting them get on with it. We’re also involved rightnow in putting the We Will Rock You movie together,which is a great project as well.”May also played on You and I on Lady GaGa’s Born ThisWay album and performed with My Chemical Romanceat this year’s Reading Festival, while is “working on acouple of projects right now” with Taylor. “I don’tknow at what point that becomes mainstream again.It may do if it takes off. We stay pretty close,” he says.As to whether these will be under the Queen moniker,he simply replies: “Yes, I guess it would be.”Four decades after the band first formed, May considersit “very odd” that he is still part of this phenomenoncalled Queen. “You’re looking at the 40th anniver-

sary of the genesis of Queen and 20 of those yearshave been without Freddie and I guess we’rebusier than ever,” he says. “It’s incredible. Wedo work and we love to work and there’s alot of outlets apart from touring. Of course,we did a couple of big tours with PaulRodgers so there is that opportunity, butthere are other opportunities to take the

music to different places. One is the musicalWe Will Rock You. We’re in our 10th year in Lon-don, which is incredible. I cannot believe it my-self, but we have many of them round theworld now which are doing very well so that isa great outlet for the music and something thatis very live. It’s not a fossil. You’ve got youngpeople playing music and it’s real band andreal singers, something I take a continuing in-terest in. We sort of fathered that project.”Post the ending of the pair’s partnership withRodgers, new recordings with May and Taylorprovide some hint as to the possible future recor-ding direction for the band. But with the Freddieand We Will Rock You movies on the way, the con-tinuing popularity of their musical, the reissuesand so much else Queen already remain as activeas ever.

Many thanks to The Lady for permission to reproduce part of this interview. It can be found in full, in ‘electronic format’ on their website, and you can get a paper back issue - www.lady.co.ukTHE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB

Unpacked For You: The Wembley Flight Case Box


MoreInformation: On page 30

Collectors Corner

Early booking recommended, if you would like a booking form

email [email protected] or call 01483 281995

more on memorabilia than ever. I love to collect band clothing,stage used items, unusual signed items, anything personal, andthen got hooked on awards, my first award was an RIAA for Bitesthe Dust to Elekrtra, for which I swapped a famous handwrittenFreddie postcard , in todays collectors market place, not a gooddeal for me, but it started me on a succession of trades and pur-chases for awards, and I have and have had many of the rarestawards around. Luckily my wife is very understanding when itcomes to displaying things all around the houseHaving been a teacher, I had little time for finding really rarethings I could afford, but health problems meant I have nowbeen medically retired for 3 years, this has given me more timeand resources (now all spent!) to find some real treasures , . ithas been in these later years a lot of the Freddie clothing I havehas found its way to me.So, now, I try to find things I’ve never had before, and trade withpeople, and buy and sell to raise funds with collectors from allover the world. Brian has called me “crazy“ when he was signingsome rare items for me, and sincerely thanked me when I toldhim of my 27 concerts, . Roger was great when I met him at theStormtroopers party (some of my items were used in the exhi-bition) and I guess my biggest Queen regret is never getting tomeet Freddie in person, although I was only a few metres awayfrom him, near the front at many shows!

29THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB28

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THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB

01: NATO fully signed handmade tour jacket, purchased fromthe USA collector who had it made + signed by the guys, valus£1750+, unique! 02: 1978 David Helton artwork for the Cleve-land Concert, 1 of only 12 fully signed, custom framed, value£1750 03: Innuendo promo lithograph, fully signed on the glassin gold, value £1000. 04:Innuendo promo poster, fully signed,very rare, most were used for the large RIAA signed awards.Value £1800+ 05: Freddie’s very own MIH shirt from 1985, be-fore he changed his mind and called his lp Mr Bad Guy, the titlewas MIH, this shirt is probably the only one produced and givento Freddie by the Phil Symes people, value £1500+ 06: Freddieown under pressure tshirt, from convention auction, framedwith signature and handwritten provenance from Jim hutton.Value £1500. 07: 1993 guild guitar, signed and played back-stage by Brian at the Reading Party in 1999, thanks Jacky! Price-less (to me!) 08: Amazing Queen 1 promo chequebook cover,possibly a 1-off, has been photographed for Brians “I want itall“ book, signed by Brian value £750 09: Brians own penguintshirt, signed, bought at convention auction, value £300 10:Roger’s silver tie from 1979 tour, framed with on stage photoof RT wearing it, value £300 11: some RT items, . stage used +signed cymbal, from Bonhams, snare skinn, Marquee wornsanta hat and great signed Djemebe drum. Value £1000 the set.12: UNIQUE Innuendo artwork, completely different Freddie

artwork for the lp, rejected by freddie, purchased from ex. QPLemploye who rescued it from the bin! SOME differences on Bri-ans also. Value, ?? 13: Squeezebox radio, 1 of only 10 silvercrest-engraved units made to promote abs. greatest, competitionprize, value £300+ 14: BPI awrd to Freddie for CLTCL, value£1000 15: RARE BPI 12“ award to Freddie for the Innuendosingle, unusual to get aBPI 12“ award! Value £1500 16: 1976/7telegram from freddie to his then boyfriend, David Minns, “loveyou, the hubby“, from Bonhams, value £400 17: Freddies veryown polystyrene vodka beaker, fully signed, from the gaga videoshoot, thanks Gary! Value £1000

Ihave been a fan and collector ever since 1978, when I heard(and saw) Bicycle Race and FBG’s, I was hooked, and thenseeing the guys live on the Crazy tour for the first time blew

me away. The show was so great I pursued even more live tapesfrom all over the world, in the early days swapping rare recordsI bought at fairs for any shows I didn’t have. This raw energyand sheer live quality led to me seeing the guys live with Freddie27 times in total, and many solo and related shows since my lastwith Freddie at Knebworth. Live aid was a highlight, with thewhole crowd responding the way I always did, Collecting wise, I was always hooked on memorabilia, anythingunusual, although pre-internet it was difficult to find things fromfurther afield. I realised by the late 90’s I could never collectALL the vinyl, as coloured vinyls seemed to be appearing at highprices from very far flung places, so I then decided to focus

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Pete Wescombe - the 2nd part of his Collection

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Queen Orb USB Gift Box

A limited edition and individ-ually numbered Queen Orb(9.4 cm x 9.4 cm x 10.2 cm)emblazoned with a Queenlogo and gothic designs wasreleased on 21 November

2011. Inside thelined gift box is aUSB drive containingall the Queen studioalbums and a photogallery (fully com-patible with PC andMac), with a gold-plated pendantnecklace in ared velvet bagalso included.

Live at Wembley Stadium

On 5 November 2011, Island released theirfirst DVD product by Queenwith the 25thAnniversary Edition of’ Live At WembleyStadium’ (06025-2779570-6). This up-dated and repackaged set includes bothfilmed concerts that wereperformed on July 11th (previously unre-leased) and July 12th 1986 with a doubleCD of the second night also included. Thereis bonus material of the band filmed during re-hearsals, ‘The Final Tour’ documentary with new interviewswith Brian and Roger, ‘The Wembley Weekend’ (previouslyreleased as part of the ‘Road To Wembley’ section on theoriginal DVD released in 2003) and an updated 28 pagebooklet. The DVD entered the UK music DVD charts atnumber 2.

Live At Wembley Super Deluxe Gift Box Set

On 21st November 2011 a limited edi-tion and individually numbered 12”square box set of Live At Wembley Sta-

dium was released. The box setcontains a photo book fea-

turing rare photos fromthe Magic Tour, Live AtWembley Stadium 2-Disc DVD Set, Live atWembley Stadium2-Disc CD Set,Replica Con-cert Tickets

and VIP Passes,Full Page Tour Ad,

Hand-Drawn 1986 TourMap Replica Poster by Harold

May (Brian’s father), Friends Will BeFriends Scarf, ‘Magic characters’ Hawaiian shirt and an in-flatable Freddie cartoon character doll, all packaged in anauthentic-looking Roadie flight case.


“Queen 40“ CD Box Sets

Released in the USA the same day as the second batch ofCD re-issues on 13th September 2011, the box set containsthe second set of 5 CD’s and a fold out poster, and availableas a limited edition through Amazon (HollywoodB0057T21MY). On 1st November 2011, the third batch ofCD re-issues was released in the USA and was also availableas a limited edition box set with poster (HollywoodB005K1VRII).

Radio Sampler “First Wave” CD

In the USA Hollywood records released a promo only dou-ble CD (BVPR003382) of a selection of tracks from thefirst 5 CD re-issues and another disc with a selection of‘Rarities’, which were included as bonus tracks on the CDalbums.

The QuizAnswers

Well done to anyone who even got close on the right answersfor all parts of this, it was tough! I had very few correct ones...but the eventual winner was Graham Wilkinson from Lin-colnshire. Thanks again to Jo Smith for setting this, if anyoneelse wants to do something similar, please do!SODUKO: The numbers in the shaded squares were Roger’sdate of birth – 26/7/1949WORDSEARCH: The character is Scaramouche, the characterNOT in the musical is Sammy from Spread Your Wings.ANAGRAMS: Anita Dobson, Kenny Everett, Peter Hince, TimStaffell, Montserrat Caballe.FITWORD: See picture


Promotional Posters

Island have made two more promotional posters for thesecond and third batch of CD re-issues. Another posterpromoting all the new CD’s and the three ‘Deep Cuts’ CD’swas also made.

Radio Sampler “Second Wave” CD

In the USA Hollywood records also released a secondpromo only double CD (BVPR003622) of a selection oftracks from the second 5 CD re-issues and another discwith a selection of ‘Rarities’. Both sets are presented indouble plastic jewel cases.

Keep Yourself Alive

Queen’s very first single ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ / ‘Son andDaughter’ was released in Portugal in 1973 in a superbpicture sleeve and recently sold on ebay for an astonishing$1540.00. The 7" vinyl single was in excellent conditionthroughout adding to the value of this highly sought afterrecord.

Collectors CornerMany thanks as always to expert Gary Taylor!

„...this is for all You lovely crazy people out there...“

THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB32

Garden Lodge onNovember 24th, 2011,

Austrian Queen Fan ClubVienna,

Christian Rischer

Paul Morries with Rufus Taylor, WWRY BirminghamHippodrome

Elsa Claire Koenig - June 7th 2011

Geraldine with Brian - celebrating a significant birthday, and 38 years as a fan club member!

Martin Reid visitingFreddie’s birthplaceon Zanzibar

Freddie’s 65th

in Vienna

Andrey Smolyaninovwith his Fender

Pewter Special Strat,Moscow, Russia

From Q-FRIENDS: Kuniko Fukuzawa,Freddie birthday party

Printed and distributed by Fox Print Services LLP Tunbridge Wells Kent 01892 617999

Documents

THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB Winter 2011€¦ · and the only Queen song in which Freddie’s voice is not heard, except in spirit. Why am I re-telling all this ? Be-cause