Queen is unique among the great rock bands. It is nearly twenty years since front man Freddie Mercury's death brought the band to an end, yet their fan base remains huge. Their fans are just as likely to be teenagers too young to have been born when the band was still touring and making records (thanks not least to the huge success of the musical We Will Rock You). And their musical history is one of constant reinvention from heavy metal and progressive rock to funk, pop and stadium anthems.
Now, Mark Blake has written their definitive history. Having already interviewed Brian May and Roger Taylor for Q and Mojo, Blake has conducted almost 100 new interviews, including Queen's original, long-forgotten bass players to Freddie Mercury's first friends in Zanzibar, India and England, to trace Queen's long career from their very first performances in London's Imperial College through to their sensational stage-stealing appearance on Live Aid to the band's collaboration with Paul Rodgers at the beginning of the century.
Full of fascinating, new revelations – especially about the improbable transformation of a shy schoolboy called Farrokh Bulsara into the outrageous hedonist that was Freddie Mercury – this is a book every Queen fan will want to have.
