title: Queen (band)

text: Queen worked with David Bowie on the 1981 single "Under Pressure". The first-time collaboration with another artist was spontaneous, as Bowie happened to drop by the studio while Queen were recording. Mercury and Bowie recorded their vocals on the track separately to each other, each coming up with individual ideas. The song topped the UK charts. In October, Queen released their first compilation album, titled "Greatest Hits", which showcased the group's highlights from 1974 to 1981. The best-selling album in UK chart history, it is the only album to sell over seven million copies in the UK. As of July 2022, it has spent over 1000 weeks in the UK Album Chart. According to "The Telegraph", approximately one in three families in the UK own a copy. The album is certified nine times platinum in the US. As of August 2022, it has spent over 500 weeks on the US "Billboard" 200. "Greatest Hits" has sold over 25 million copies worldwide.


title: Queen (band)

text: In 1982, the band released the album "Hot Space", a departure from their trademark seventies sound, this time being a mixture of pop rock, dance, disco, funk, and R&B. Most of the album was recorded in Munich during the most turbulent period in the band's history. While Mercury and Deacon enjoyed the new soul and funk influences, Taylor and May were less favourable, and were critical of the influence Mercury's personal manager Paul Prenter had on him. According to Mack, Queen's producer, Prenter loathed rock music and was in Mercury’s ear throughout the "Hot Space" sessions. May was also scathing of Prenter—Mercury's manager from 1977 to 1984—for being dismissive of the importance of radio stations and their vital connection between the artist and the community, and for denying them access to Mercury. May states, "this guy, in the course of one tour, told every record station to fuck off". Queen roadie Peter Hince wrote "None of the band cared for him [Prenter], apart from Freddie", with Hince regarding Mercury's favouring of Prenter as an act of "misguided loyalty". During the Munich sessions, Mercury spent time with Mack and his family, becoming godfather to Mack's first child. "Q" magazine would list "Hot Space" as one of the top fifteen albums where great rock acts lost the plot. Though the album confused some fans with the change of musical direction, it still reached number 4 in the UK.


title: Queen (band)

text: Queen toured to promote "Hot Space", but found some audience unreceptive to the new material. At a gig in Frankfurt, Mercury told some people heckling the new material, "If you don't want to listen to it, go home!" Former Mott The Hoople keyboardist Morgan Fisher joined as an additional touring member. Shows were planned at Arsenal Stadium and Old Trafford, but these were cancelled as Pope John Paul II was touring Britain, leading to a lack of available outdoor facilities such as toilets. The gigs were moved to the Milton Keynes Bowl and Elland Road, Leeds instead. The Milton Keynes concert was filmed by Tyne Tees Television and later released on DVD. On 14 and 15 September 1982, the band performed their last two gigs in the US with Mercury on lead vocals, playing at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Fisher was replaced as touring keyboardist by Fred Mandel for the North American shows. The band stopped touring North America after their Hot Space Tour, as their success there had waned, although they would perform on American television for the only time during the eighth-season premiere of "Saturday Night Live" on 25 September of the same year; it became the final public performance of the band in North America before the death of their frontman. Their fall in popularity in the US has been partially attributed to a homophobia: "At some shows on the band’s 1980 American tour, fans tossed disposable razor blades onstage: They didn’t like this identity of Mercury—what they perceived as a brazenly gay rock & roll hero—and they wanted him to shed it." The group finished the year with a Japanese tour.


title: Queen (band)

text: After the Hot Space Tour concluded with a concert at Seibu Lions Stadium in Tokorozawa, Japan in November 1982, Queen decided they would take a significant amount of time off. May later said at that point, "we hated each other for a while". The band reconvened nine months later to begin recording a new album at the Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles and Musicland Studios, Munich. Several members of the band also explored side projects and solo work. Taylor released his second solo album, "Strange Frontier". May released the mini-album "Star Fleet Project", collaborating with Eddie Van Halen. Queen left Elektra Records, their label in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, and signed onto EMI/Capitol Records.


title: Queen (band)

text: In February 1984, Queen released their eleventh studio album, "The Works". Hit singles included "Radio Ga Ga", which makes a nostalgic defence of the radio format, "Hammer to Fall" and "I Want to Break Free". "Rolling Stone" hailed the album as "the "Led Zeppelin II" of the eighties." In the UK "The Works" went triple platinum and remained in the albums chart for two years. The album failed to do well in the US, where, in addition to issues with their new record label Capitol Records (who had recently severed ties with their independent promotions teams due to a government report on payola), the cross-dressing video for "I Want to Break Free", a spoof of the British soap opera "Coronation Street", proved controversial and was banned by MTV. The concept of the video came from Roger Taylor via a suggestion from his girlfriend. He told "Q" magazine: "We had done some really serious, epic videos in the past, and we just thought we'd have some fun. We wanted people to know that we didn't take ourselves too seriously, that we could still laugh at ourselves." Director of the video David Mallet said Mercury was reluctant to do it, commmeting "it was a hell of a job to get him out of the dressing room".


title: Queen (band)

text: That year, Queen began The Works Tour, the first tour to feature keyboardist Spike Edney as an extra live musician. The tour featured nine sold-out dates in October in Bophuthatswana, South Africa, at the arena in Sun City. Upon returning to England, they were the subject of outrage, having played in South Africa during the height of apartheid and in violation of worldwide divestment efforts and a United Nations cultural boycott. The band responded to the critics by stating that they were playing music for fans in South Africa, and they also stressed that the concerts were played before integrated audiences. Queen donated to a school for the deaf and blind as a philanthropic gesture but were fined by the British Musicians' Union and placed on the United Nations' blacklisted artists. In 2021, Taylor voiced his regret for the decision to perform at Sun City, stating that "We went with the best intentions, but I still think it was kind of a mistake."


title: Queen (band)

text: In January 1985, Queen headlined two nights of the first Rock in Rio festival at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and played in front of over 300,000 people each night. "The Boston Globe" described it as a "mesmerising performance". Highlights from both nights were released on VHS as "Queen: Live in Rio", which was broadcast on MTV in the US. In April and May 1985, Queen completed the Works Tour with sold-out shows in Australia and Japan.


title: Queen (band)

text: At Live Aid, held at Wembley on 13 July 1985, in front of the biggest-ever TV audience of an estimated 1.9 billion, Queen performed some of their greatest hits. Many of the sold-out stadium audience of 72,000 people clapped, sang, and swayed in unison. The show's organisers, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure; other musicians such as Elton John and Cliff Richard; and journalists writing for the BBC, CNN, "Rolling Stone", MTV, "The Guardian" and "The Daily Telegraph", among others, described Queen as the highlight. Interviewed backstage, Roger Waters stated: "Everybody's been buzzing about Queen that I've run into. They had everybody completely spellbound." An industry poll in 2005 ranked it the greatest rock performance of all time. Mercury's powerful, sustained note—"Aaaaaay-o"—during the call-and-response "a cappella" segment came to be known as "The Note Heard Round the World". The band were revitalised by the response to Live Aid—a "shot in the arm" Roger Taylor called it—and the ensuing increase in record sales. In 1986 Mercury commented: "From our perspective, the fact that Live Aid happened when it did was really lucky. It came out of nowhere to save us. For sure that was a turning point. Maybe you could say that in the history of Queen, it was a really special moment."


title: Queen (band)

text: Queen ended 1985 by releasing the single "One Vision" and a limited-edition boxed set of Queen albums, "The Complete Works". The package included the 1984 Christmas single "Thank God It's Christmas" and previously unreleased material. In early 1986, Queen recorded the album "A Kind of Magic", containing several reworkings of songs written for the fantasy action film "Highlander". The album was successful in the UK, Germany and several other countries, producing a string of hits including "A Kind of Magic", "Friends Will Be Friends", "Princes of the Universe" and "Who Wants to Live Forever"; the latter featuring an orchestra conducted by Michael Kamen. The album was less successful in North America, reaching 46 in the US, and was described by biographer Mark Blake as "a so-so album" and "a somewhat uneven listening experience".


title: Queen (band)

text: In mid-1986, Queen went on the Magic Tour, their final tour with Mercury. They once again hired Spike Edney. Queen began the tour at the Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm, Sweden, and later performed a concert at Slane Castle, Ireland, in front of an audience of 95,000, which broke the venue's attendance record. The band also played behind the Iron Curtain when they performed to a crowd of 80,000 at the Népstadion in Budapest (released in the concert film ""), in what was one of the biggest rock concerts ever held in Eastern Europe. More than one million people saw Queen on the tour—400,000 in the UK alone, a record at the time. The Magic Tour's highlight was at Wembley Stadium and resulted in the live double album "Queen at Wembley", released on CD and as a live concert VHS/DVD, which has gone five times platinum in the US and four times platinum in the UK. Queen could not book Wembley for a third night, but played at Knebworth Park on 9 August. The show sold out within two hours and over 120,000 fans packed the park for what was Queen's final performance with Mercury. Roadie Peter Hince states, "At Knebworth, I somehow felt it was going to be the last for all of us", while Brian May recalled Mercury saying "I’m not going to be doing this forever. This is probably the last time."


title: Queen (band)

text: After fans noticed Mercury's increasingly gaunt appearance in 1988, the media reported that Mercury was seriously ill, with AIDS frequently mentioned as a likely illness. Mercury denied this, insisting he was merely "exhausted" and too busy to provide interviews; he was now 42 years old and had been involved in music for nearly two decades. Mercury had in fact been diagnosed as HIV positive in 1987, but did not make his illness public, with only his inner circle of colleagues and friends aware of his condition.


title: Queen (band)

text: After working on various solo projects during 1988 (including Mercury's collaboration with Montserrat Caballé, "Barcelona"), the band released "The Miracle" in 1989. The album continued the direction of "A Kind of Magic", using a pop-rock sound mixed with a few heavy numbers. It spawned the hit singles "I Want It All"—which became an anti-apartheid anthem in South Africa—"Scandal", and "The Miracle". "The Miracle" also began a change in direction of Queen's songwriting philosophy. Beforehand, nearly all songs had been written by and credited to a single member. With "The Miracle", their songwriting became more collaborative, and they vowed to credit the final product only to Queen as a group.


title: Queen (band)

text: In 1990, Queen ended their contract with Capitol and signed with Hollywood Records; through the deal, Disney acquired the North American distribution rights to Queen's catalogue for $10 million, and remains the group's music catalogue owner and distributor in the United States and Canada. In February that year, Mercury made what would prove to be his final public appearance when he joined the rest of Queen onstage at the Dominion Theatre in London to collect the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.


title: Queen (band)

text: Their fourteenth studio album, "Innuendo", was released in early 1991 with "Innuendo" and other charting singles released later in the year. The music video for "The Show Must Go On" featured archive footage of Queen's performances between 1981 and 1989, and along with the manner of the song's lyrics, fuelled reports that Mercury was dying. Mercury was increasingly ill and could barely walk when the band recorded "The Show Must Go On" in 1990. Because of this, May had concerns about whether he was physically capable of singing it, but May recalled that he "completely killed it". The rest of the band were ready to record when Mercury felt able to come into the studio, for an hour or two at a time. May says of Mercury: "He just kept saying. 'Write me more. Write me stuff. I want to just sing this and do it and when I am gone you can finish it off.' He had no fear, really." The band's second-greatest hits compilation, "Greatest Hits II", followed in October 1991; it is the tenth best-selling album in the UK, the seventh best-selling album in Germany, is certified Diamond in France where it is one of the best-selling albums, and has sold 16 million copies worldwide.


title: Queen (band)

text: On 23 November 1991, in a prepared statement made on his deathbed, Mercury confirmed that he had AIDS. Within 24 hours of the statement, he died of bronchial pneumonia, which was brought on as a complication of the disease. His funeral service on 27 November in Kensal Green, West London was private, and held in accordance with the Zoroastrian religious faith of his family.


title: Queen (band)

text: "Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-released as a single shortly after Mercury's death, with "These Are the Days of Our Lives" as the double A-side. The music video for the latter contains Mercury's final scenes in front of the camera. Ron Hart of "Rolling Stone" wrote, "the conga-driven synth ballad "These Are the Days of Our Lives" is "Innuendo" most significant single, given that its video marked the last time his fans were able to see the singer alive." The video was recorded on 30 May 1991 (which proved to be Mercury's final work with Queen). The single went to number one in the UK, remaining there for five weeks—the only recording to top the Christmas chart twice and the only one to be number one in four different years (1975, 1976, 1991, and 1992). Initial proceeds from the single—approximately £1,000,000—were donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust, an AIDS charity.


title: Queen (band)

text: Queen's popularity was stimulated in North America when "Bohemian Rhapsody" was featured in the 1992 comedy film "Wayne's World". Its inclusion helped the song reach number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 for five weeks in 1992 (including its 1976 chart run, it remained in the Hot 100 for a combined 41 weeks), and won the band an MTV Award at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. The compilation album "Classic Queen" also reached number four on the "Billboard" 200, and is certified three times platinum in the US. "Wayne's World" footage was used to make a new music video for "Bohemian Rhapsody", with which the band and management were delighted.


title: Queen (band)

text: On 20 April 1992, The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert was held at London's Wembley Stadium to a crowd of 72,000. Performers, including Def Leppard, Robert Plant, Tony Iommi, Roger Daltrey, Guns N' Roses, Elton John, David Bowie, George Michael, Annie Lennox, Seal, Extreme, and Metallica performed various Queen songs along with the three remaining Queen members (and Spike Edney.) The concert is listed in the "Guinness Book of Records" as "The largest rock star benefit concert", as it was televised to over 1.2 billion viewers worldwide, and raised over £20,000,000 for AIDS charities.


title: Queen (band)

text: Queen's last album with Mercury, titled "Made in Heaven", was released in 1995, four years after his death. Featuring tracks such as "Too Much Love Will Kill You" and "Heaven for Everyone", it was constructed from Mercury's final recordings in 1991, material left over from their previous studio albums and re-worked material from May, Taylor, and Mercury's solo albums. The album also featured the song "Mother Love", the last vocal recording Mercury made, which he completed using a drum machine, over which May, Taylor and Deacon later added the instrumental track. After completing the penultimate verse, Mercury had told the band he "wasn't feeling that great" and stated, "I will finish it when I come back, next time". Mercury never returned to the studio afterwards, leaving May to record the final verse of the song. Both stages of recording, before and after Mercury's death, were completed at the band's studio in Montreux, Switzerland. The album reached number one in the UK following its release, their ninth number one album, and sold 20 million copies worldwide. On 25 November 1996, a statue of Mercury was unveiled in Montreux overlooking Lake Geneva, almost five years to the day since his death.


title: Queen (band)

text: In 1997, Queen returned to the studio to record "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)", a song dedicated to Mercury and all those who die too soon. It was released as a bonus track on the "Queen Rocks" compilation album later that year, and features in "Greatest Hits III". In January 1997, Queen performed "The Show Must Go On" live with Elton John and the Béjart Ballet in Paris on a night Mercury was remembered, and it marked the last performance and public appearance of John Deacon, who chose to retire. The Paris concert was only the second time Queen had played live since Mercury's death, prompting Elton John to urge them to perform again. Brian May and Roger Taylor performed together at several award ceremonies and charity concerts, sharing vocals with various guest singers. During this time, they were billed as "Queen +" followed by the guest singer's name. In 1998, the duo appeared at Luciano Pavarotti's benefit concert with May performing "Too Much Love Will Kill You" with Pavarotti, later playing "Radio Ga Ga", "We Will Rock You", and "We Are the Champions" with Zucchero. They again attended and performed at Pavarotti's benefit concert in Modena, Italy in May 2003. Several of the guest singers recorded new versions of Queen's hits under the "Queen +" name, such as Robbie Williams providing vocals for "We Are the Champions" for the soundtrack of "A Knight's Tale" (2001).


title: Queen (band)

text: In November 1999, "Greatest Hits III" was released. This featured, among others, "Queen + Wyclef Jean" on a rap version of "Another One Bites the Dust". A live version of "Somebody to Love" by George Michael and a live version of "The Show Must Go On" with Elton John were also featured in the album. By this point, Queen's vast amount of record sales made them the second-bestselling artist in the UK of all time, behind the Beatles. In November 2000, the band released the box set, "The Platinum Collection". It is certified seven times platinum in the UK and five times platinum in the US. On 18 October 2002, Queen were awarded the 2,207th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for their work in the music industry, which is located at 6358 Hollywood Blvd. On 29 November 2003, May and Taylor performed at the 46664 Concert hosted by Nelson Mandela at Green Point Stadium, Cape Town, to raise awareness of the spread of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. A new song, "Invincible Hope", featuring Mandela's speech and credited to Queen + Nelson Mandela, was performed during the concert and later released on the "46664: One Year On" EP. During that period May and Taylor spent time at Mandela's home, discussing how Africa's problems might be approached, and two years later the band were made ambassadors for the 46664 cause.


title: Queen (band)

text: At the end of 2004, May and Taylor announced that they would reunite and return to touring in 2005 with Paul Rodgers (founder and former lead singer of Free and Bad Company). Brian May's website also stated that Rodgers would be "featured with" Queen as "Queen + Paul Rodgers", not replacing Mercury. Deacon, who was retired, did not participate. In November 2004, Queen were among the inaugural inductees into the UK Music Hall of Fame, and the award ceremony was the first event at which Rodgers joined May and Taylor as vocalist.


title: Queen (band)

text: Between 2005 and 2006, Queen + Paul Rodgers embarked on a world tour, which was the first time Queen toured since their last tour with Freddie Mercury in 1986. Taylor said: "We never thought we would tour again, Paul came along by chance and we seemed to have a chemistry. Paul is just such a great singer. He's not trying to be Freddie." The first leg was in Europe, the second in Japan, and the third in the US in 2006. Queen received the inaugural VH1 Rock Honors at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 25 May 2006. Foo Fighters paid homage, performing "Tie Your Mother Down" to open the ceremony before being joined on stage by May, Taylor, and Rodgers, who played a selection of Queen hits.


title: Queen (band)

text: On 15 August 2006, May confirmed through his website and fan club that Queen + Paul Rodgers would begin producing their first studio album beginning in October, to be recorded at a "secret location". Queen + Paul Rodgers performed at the Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Tribute held in Hyde Park, London on 27 June 2008, to commemorate Mandela's ninetieth birthday, and again promote awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The first Queen + Paul Rodgers album, titled "The Cosmos Rocks", was released in Europe on 12 September 2008 and in the United States on 28 October 2008. Following the release of the album, the band again went on a tour through Europe, opening on Kharkiv's Freedom Square in front of 350,000 Ukrainian fans. The Kharkiv concert was later released on DVD. The tour then moved to Russia, and the band performed two sold-out shows at the Moscow Arena. Having completed the first leg of its extensive European tour, which saw the band play 15 sold-out dates across nine countries, the UK leg of the tour sold out within 90 minutes of going on sale and included three London dates, the first of which was the O Arena on 13 October. The last leg of the tour took place in South America, and included a sold-out concert at José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires.


title: Queen (band)

text: Queen and Paul Rodgers officially split up without animosity on 12 May 2009. Rodgers stated: "My arrangement with [Queen] was similar to my arrangement with Jimmy [Page] in The Firm in that it was never meant to be a permanent arrangement". Rodgers did not rule out the possibility of working with Queen again.


title: Queen (band)

text: On 20 May 2009, May and Taylor performed "We Are the Champions" live on the season finale of "American Idol" with winner Kris Allen and runner-up Adam Lambert providing a vocal duet. In mid-2009, after the split of Queen + Paul Rodgers, the Queen online website announced a new greatest hits compilation named "Absolute Greatest". The album was released on 16 November and peaked at number 3 in the official UK Chart. The album contains 20 of Queen's biggest hits spanning their entire career and was released in four different formats: single disc, double disc (with commentary), double disc with feature book, and a vinyl record. Before its release, Queen ran an online competition to guess the track listing as a promotion for the album. On 30 October 2009, May wrote a fanclub letter on his website stating that Queen had no intentions to tour in 2010 but that there was a possibility of a performance. On 15 November 2009, May and Taylor performed "Bohemian Rhapsody" live on the British TV show "The X Factor" alongside the finalists.


title: Queen (band)

text: On 7 May 2010, May and Taylor announced that they were quitting their record label, EMI, after almost 40 years. On 20 August 2010, Queen's manager Jim Beach put out a Newsletter stating that the band had signed a new contract with Universal Music. During an interview for "HARDtalk" on the BBC on 22 September, May confirmed that the band's new deal was with Island Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Hollywood Records remained as the group's label in the United States and Canada, however. As such, for the first time since the late 1980s, Queen's catalogue now has the same distributor worldwide, as Universal distributes for both the Island and Hollywood labels (for a time in the late 1980s, Queen was on EMI-owned Capitol Records in the US).


title: Queen (band)

text: On 14 March 2011, which marked the band's 40th anniversary, Queen's first five albums were re-released in the UK and some other territories as remastered deluxe editions (the US versions were released on 17 May). The second five albums of Queen's back catalogue were released worldwide on 27 June, with the exception of the US and Canada (27 September). The final five were released in the UK on 5 September.


title: Queen (band)

text: In May 2011, Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell noted that Queen are currently scouting their once former and current live bassist Chris Chaney to join the band. Farrell stated: "I have to keep Chris away from Queen, who want him and they're not gonna get him unless we're not doing anything. Then they can have him." In the same month, Paul Rodgers stated he may tour with Queen again in the near future. At the 2011 Broadcast Music, Incorporated (BMI) Awards held in London on 4 October, Queen received the BMI Icon Award in recognition for their airplay success in the US. At the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards on 6 November, Queen received the Global Icon Award, which Katy Perry presented to Brian May. Queen closed the awards ceremony, with Adam Lambert on vocals, performing "The Show Must Go On", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions". The collaboration garnered a positive response from both fans and critics, resulting in speculation about future projects together.


title: Queen (band)

text: On 25 and 26 April, May and Taylor appeared on the eleventh series of "American Idol" at the Nokia Theatre, Los Angeles, performing a Queen medley with the six finalists on the first show, and the following day performed "Somebody to Love" with the 'Queen Extravaganza' band. Queen were scheduled to headline Sonisphere at Knebworth on 7 July 2012 with Adam Lambert before the festival was cancelled. Queen's final concert with Freddie Mercury was in Knebworth in 1986. Brian May commented, "It's a worthy challenge for us, and I'm sure Adam would meet with Freddie's approval." Queen expressed disappointment at the cancellation and released a statement to the effect that they were looking to find another venue. Queen + Adam Lambert played two shows at the Hammersmith Apollo, London on 11 and 12 July 2012. Both shows sold out within 24 hours of tickets going on open sale. A third London date was scheduled for 14 July. On 30 June, Queen + Lambert performed in Kyiv, Ukraine at a joint concert with Elton John for the Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation. Queen also performed with Lambert on 3 July 2012 at Moscow's Olympic Stadium, and on 7 July 2012 at the Municipal Stadium in Wroclaw, Poland.


title: Queen (band)

text: On 12 August 2012, Queen performed at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The performance at London's Olympic Stadium opened with a special remastered video clip of Mercury on stage performing his call and response routine during their 1986 concert at Wembley Stadium. Following this, May performed part of the "Brighton Rock" solo before being joined by Taylor and solo artist Jessie J for a performance of "We Will Rock You".


title: Queen (band)

text: On 20 September 2013, Queen + Adam Lambert performed at the iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Queen + Adam Lambert toured North America in Summer 2014 and Australia and New Zealand in August/September 2014. In an interview with "Rolling Stone", May and Taylor said that although the tour with Lambert is a limited thing, they are open to him becoming an official member, and cutting new material with him.


title: Queen (band)

text: In November 2014 Queen released a new album "Queen Forever". The album is largely a compilation of previously-released material but features three new Queen tracks featuring vocals from Mercury with backing added by the surviving members of Queen. One new track, "There Must Be More to Life Than This", is a duet between Mercury and Michael Jackson. Queen + Adam Lambert performed in the shadow of Big Ben in Central Hall, Westminster, central London at the Big Ben New Year concert on New Year's Eve 2014 and New Year's Day 2015.


title: Queen (band)

text: In 2016, the group embarked across Europe and Asia on the Queen + Adam Lambert 2016 Summer Festival Tour. This included closing the Isle of Wight Festival in England on 12 June where they performed "Who Wants to Live Forever" as a tribute to the victims of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida earlier that day. On 12 September they performed at the Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv, Israel for the first time in front of 58,000 people. As part of the Queen + Adam Lambert Tour 2017–2018, the band toured North America in the summer of 2017, toured Europe in late 2017, before playing dates in Australia and New Zealand in February and March 2018. On 24 February 2019, Queen + Adam Lambert opened the 91st Academy Awards ceremony held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. In July 2019 they embarked on the North American leg of The Rhapsody Tour, with the dates sold out in April. They toured Japan and South Korea in January 2020 followed by Australia and New Zealand the following month. On 16 February the band reprised their Live Aid set for the first time in 35 years at the "Fire Fight Australia" concert at ANZ Stadium in Sydney to raise money for the 2019–20 Australian bushfire crisis.


title: Queen (band)

text: Because Queen were not able to tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they released a live album with Adam Lambert on 2 October 2020. The 20-plus song collection, titled "Live Around the World", contains personally selected highlights by the band members from over 200 shows throughout their history. It marked their first live album with Lambert who, as of 2020, has played 218 shows with the band. On 31 December 2020, Queen performed on the Japanese New Year's Eve television special "Kōhaku" with composer Yoshiki and vocalist Sarah Brightman. In 2021 Queen received the Japan Gold Disc Award for the fourth time (having previously won it in 2005, 2019 and 2020) as the most popular Western act in Japan.


title: Queen (band)

text: On 4 June 2022, Queen + Adam Lambert opened the Platinum Party at the Palace outside Buckingham Palace to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Performing a three-song set, they opened with "We Will Rock You" which had been introduced in a comedy segment where Queen Elizabeth II and Paddington Bear tapped their tea cups to the beat of the song.


title: Queen (band)

text: A previously unheard Queen song with Mercury's vocals, "Face It Alone", recorded over thirty years ago and originally thought "unsalvageable" by May and Taylor, was released on 13 October 2022, with five more songs — "When Love Breaks Up", "You Know You Belong to Me", "Dog With a Bone", "Water", and "I Guess We're Falling Out" — to be released on 18 November 2022 as part of "The Miracle Collector’s Edition" box set.


title: Queen (band)

text: Queen drew artistic influence from British rock acts of the 1960s and early 1970s, such as the Beatles, the Kinks, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Who, Black Sabbath, Slade, Deep Purple, David Bowie, Genesis and Yes, with Mercury also inspired by the rock and roll singers Little Richard, Elvis Presley and the gospel singer Aretha Franklin. On the Beatles, Brian May stated they "built our bible as far as musical composition, arrangement and production went. "The White Album" is a complete catalogue of how you should use a studio to build songs." Mercury said, "John Lennon was larger than life, and an absolute genius. Even at a very early stage when they were the Beatles, I always preferred John Lennon's things. I don't know why. He just had that magic." May and Mercury were influenced by Jimi Hendrix, with Mercury saying "he really had everything any rock 'n' roll star should have", and May saying "Jimi is, of course, my number one. And I've always said that [...] I never stop learning from Jimi." Mercury's thesis for his Ealing College degree was on Hendrix, and Mercury and Taylor closed their Kensington Market stall on 18 September 1970 to commemorate his death.


title: Queen (band)

text: At their outset in the early 1970s, Queen's music has been characterised as "Led Zeppelin meets Yes" due to its combination of "acoustic/electric guitar extremes and fantasy-inspired multi-part song epics". Although Mercury stated Robert Plant as his favourite singer and Led Zeppelin as "the greatest" rock band, he also said Queen "have more in common with Liza Minnelli than Led Zeppelin. We're more in the showbiz tradition than the rock'n'roll tradition". In his book on "Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal", Eddie Trunk described Queen as "a hard rock band at the core but one with a high level of majesty and theatricality that delivered a little something for everyone", as well as observing that the band "sounded British". Rob Halford of Judas Priest commented, "It's rare that you struggle to label a band. If you're a heavy metal band you're meant to look and sound like a heavy metal band but you can't really call Queen anything. They could be a pop band one day or the band that wrote 'Bicycle Race' the next and a full-blown metal band the next. In terms of the depth of the musical landscape that they covered, it was very similar to some extent to the Beatles." While stating they were influenced by various artists and genres, Joe Bosso of "Guitar World" magazine writes, "Queen seemed to occupy their own lane."


title: Queen (band)

text: Queen composed music that drew inspiration from many different genres of music, often with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. The music styles and genres they have been associated with include progressive rock (also known as symphonic rock), art rock, glam rock, arena rock, heavy metal, operatic pop, pop rock, psychedelic rock, baroque pop, and rockabilly. Queen also wrote songs that were inspired by diverse musical styles which are not typically associated with rock groups, such as opera, music hall, folk music, gospel, ragtime, and dance/disco. Their 1980 single "Another One Bites the Dust" became a major hit single in the funk rock genre. Several Queen songs were written with audience participation in mind, such as "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions". Similarly, "Radio Ga Ga" became a live favourite because it would have "crowds clapping like they were at a Nuremberg rally".


title: Queen (band)

text: In 1963, the teenage Brian May and his father custom-built his signature guitar Red Special, which was purposely designed to feedback. May has used Vox AC30 amplifiers almost exclusively since a meeting with his long-time hero Rory Gallagher at a gig in London during the late 1960s/early 1970s. He also uses a sixpence as a plectrum to get the sound he wants. Sonic experimentation figured heavily in Queen's songs. A distinctive characteristic of Queen's music are the vocal harmonies which are usually composed of the voices of May, Mercury, and Taylor best heard on the studio albums "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races". Some of the ground work for the development of this sound is attributed to the producer Roy Thomas Baker and engineer Mike Stone. Besides vocal harmonies, Queen were also known for multi-tracking voices to imitate the sound of a large choir through overdubs. For instance, according to Brian May, there are over 180 vocal overdubs in "Bohemian Rhapsody". The band's vocal structures have been compared with the Beach Boys.


title: Queen (band)

text: Having studied graphic design in art college, Mercury also designed Queen's logo, called the Queen crest, shortly before the release of the band's first album. The logo combines the zodiac signs of all four members: two lions for Leo (Deacon and Taylor), a crab for Cancer (May), and two fairies for Virgo (Mercury). The lions embrace a stylised letter Q, the crab rests atop the letter with flames rising directly above it, and the fairies are each sheltering below a lion. There is also a crown inside the Q and the whole logo is over-shadowed by an enormous phoenix. The whole symbol bears a passing resemblance to the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, particularly with the lion supporters. The original logo, as found on the reverse-side of the cover of the band's first album, was a simple line drawing. Later sleeves bore more intricate-coloured versions of the logo.


title: Queen (band)

text: Directed by Bruce Gowers, the groundbreaking "Bohemian Rhapsody" promotional video sees the band adopt a "decadent 'glam' sensibility". Replicating Mick Rock's photograph of the band from the cover of "Queen II"—which itself was inspired by a photo of actress Marlene Dietrich from "Shanghai Express" (1932)—the video opens with "Queen standing in diamond formation, heads tilted back like Easter Island statues" in near darkness as they sing the "a cappella" part.


title: Queen (band)

text: One of the industry's leading music video directors, David Mallet, directed a number of their subsequent videos. Some of their later videos use footage from classic films: "Under Pressure" incorporates 1920s silent films, Sergei Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin" and F. W. Murnau's "Nosferatu"; the 1984 video for "Radio Ga Ga" includes footage from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" (1927); "Calling All Girls" was a homage to George Lucas's "THX 1138"; and the 1995 video "Heaven for Everyone" shows footage from Georges Méliès' "A Trip to the Moon" (1902) and "The Impossible Voyage" (1904). The first part of Mallet's music video for "I Want to Break Free" spoofed the popular long-running British soap opera "Coronation Street".


title: Queen (band)

text: The music video for "Innuendo" combines stop motion animation with rotoscoping and band members appear as illustrations and images taken from earlier Queen music videos on a cinema screen akin to the dystopian film "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1984). The music videos for "Flash" (from "Flash Gordon") and "Princes of the Universe" (from "Highlander") are themed on the films the band recorded soundtracks for, with the latter featuring Mercury briefly re-enact the sword-fighting scene with the titular character. Queen also appeared in conventional music videos. "We Will Rock You" was filmed outdoors in Roger Taylor's back garden during a cold day in early January 1977. Filmed at the New London Theatre later that year, the music video for "We Are the Champions" features the band—with Mercury in a trademark Harlequin outfit—performing in front of an enthusiastic crowd who wave Queen scarves in a manner similar to English football fans. The last music video of the group while Mercury was alive, "These Are the Days of Our Lives", was filmed in black-and-white to hide the full extent of his illness.


title: Queen (band)

text: In May 2002, a musical or "rock theatrical" based on the songs of Queen, titled "We Will Rock You", opened at the Dominion Theatre in London's West End. The musical was written by British comedian and author Ben Elton in collaboration with Brian May and Roger Taylor, and produced by Robert De Niro. It has since been staged in many cities around the world. The launch of the musical coincided with Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. As part of the Jubilee celebrations, Brian May performed a guitar solo of "God Save the Queen", as featured on Queen's "A Night at the Opera", from the roof of Buckingham Palace. The recording of this performance was used as video for the song on the 30th Anniversary DVD edition of "A Night at the Opera". Following the Las Vegas premiere on 8 September 2004, Queen were inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk in Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.


title: Queen (band)

text: The original London production was scheduled to close on Saturday, 7 October 2006, at the Dominion Theatre, but due to public demand, the show ran until May 2014. "We Will Rock You" has become the longest running musical ever to run at this prime London theatre, overtaking the previous record holder, the musical "Grease". Brian May stated in 2008 that they were considering writing a sequel to "We Will Rock You". The musical toured around the UK in 2009, playing at Manchester Palace Theatre, Sunderland Empire, Birmingham Hippodrome, Bristol Hippodrome, and Edinburgh Playhouse.


title: Queen (band)

text: Sean Bovim created "Queen at the Ballet", a tribute to Mercury, which uses Queen's music as a soundtrack for the show's dancers, who interpret the stories behind tracks such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Radio Ga Ga", and "Killer Queen". Queen's music also appears in the Off-Broadway production "Power Balladz", most notably the song "We Are the Champions", with the show's two performers believing the song was "the apex of artistic achievement in its day".


title: Queen (band)

text: In conjunction with Electronic Arts, Queen released the computer game "" in 1998. The game received mixed reviews. Several reviewers described the fight sequences as frustrating, due to unresponsive controls and confusing camera angles. "PC Zone" found the game's graphics unimpressive, although "PC PowerPlay" considered them "absolutely stunning". The extremely long development time resulted in graphic elements that already seemed outdated by the time of release.


title: Queen (band)

text: Under the supervision of May and Taylor, numerous restoration projects have been under way involving Queen's lengthy audio and video catalogue. DVD releases of their 1986 Wembley concert (titled "Live at Wembley Stadium"), 1982 Milton Keynes concert ("Queen on Fire – Live at the Bowl"), and two Greatest Video Hits (Volumes 1 and 2, spanning the 1970s and 1980s) have seen the band's music remixed into 5.1 and DTS surround sound. So far, only two of the band's albums, "A Night at the Opera" and "The Game", have been fully remixed into high-resolution multichannel surround on DVD-Audio. "A Night at the Opera" was re-released with some revised 5.1 mixes and accompanying videos in 2005 for the 30th anniversary of the album's original release (CD+DVD-Video set). In 2007, a Blu-ray edition of Queen's previously released concerts, "Queen Rock Montreal" & Live Aid, was released, marking their first project in 1080p HD.


title: Queen (band)

text: Queen have been featured multiple times in the "Guitar Hero" franchise: a cover of "Killer Queen" in the original "Guitar Hero", "We Are The Champions", "Fat Bottomed Girls", and the Paul Rodgers collaboration "C-lebrity" in a track pack for "Guitar Hero World Tour", "Under Pressure" with David Bowie in "Guitar Hero 5", "I Want It All" in "", "Stone Cold Crazy" in "", and "Bohemian Rhapsody" in "". On 13 October 2009, Brian May revealed there was "talk" going on "behind the scenes" about a dedicated Queen "Rock Band" game.


title: Queen (band)

text: Queen have also been featured multiple times in the "Rock Band" franchise: a track pack of 10 songs which are compatible with "Rock Band", "Rock Band 2", and "Rock Band 3" (three of those are also compatible with "Lego Rock Band"). Their hit "Bohemian Rhapsody" was featured in "Rock Band 3" with full harmony and keys support.


title: Queen (band)

text: The band also appeared in the video game "Lego Rock Band" as playable Lego avatars. In March 2009, Sony Computer Entertainment released a Queen branded version of the company's karaoke franchise, "SingStar". The game, which is available on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, is titled "SingStar Queen" and has 25 songs on the PS3 and 20 on the PS2. "We Will Rock You" and other songs by Queen also appear in "DJ Hero". "One Vision" was featured on the successful video game "Grand Theft Auto IV" on the fictional radio station Liberty Rock Radio 97.8, while "Radio Ga Ga" features on "Grand Theft Auto V" character trailer for Michael and the game's soundtrack.


title: Queen (band)

text: In a September 2010 BBC interview, Brian May announced that Sacha Baron Cohen was to play Mercury in a biographical film about the band. "Time" commented with approval on his singing ability and visual similarity to Mercury. However, in July 2013, Baron Cohen dropped out of the role due to "creative differences" between him and the surviving band members. In December 2013, it was announced that Ben Whishaw, known for playing Q in the James Bond film "Skyfall", was a possible replacement for Baron Cohen in the role of Mercury, but Whishaw pulled out a few months later amidst uncertainty about how the film was progressing.


title: Queen (band)

text: The project regained momentum in 2016. It was announced on 4 November that the film had secured the backing of 20th Century Fox, New Regency and GK Films. By this time, the film's working title was "Bohemian Rhapsody", after the band's song of the same name. Freddie Mercury was to be played by Rami Malek, and shooting was scheduled to begin in early 2017. The motion picture was written by Anthony McCarten, with a story by McCarten and Peter Morgan, who received Oscar nominations for his screenplays "The Queen" and "Frost/Nixon".


title: Queen (band)

text: Released in October 2018, "Bohemian Rhapsody" focuses on Queen's formative years and the period leading up to the celebrated performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert. The film has grossed over $900 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing musical biographical film of all time. Despite receiving mixed reviews, it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. Malek received wide acclaim and numerous accolades for his portrayal of Mercury, including the Academy Award for Best Actor. While the Live Aid segment was praised, criticism came from not exploring more complex themes involving Mercury, with the "New York Post"'s Johnny Oleksinski stating, "What we ultimately wanted from Bohemian Rhapsody was not carbon-copied concerts, but behind-closed-doors insight into a deeply private, complicated, internationally beloved superstar." After the release of the film, "Bohemian Rhapsody" re-entered the US "Billboard" Hot 100 for the third time (having previously charted in 1976 and 1992), charting at number 33 on 12 November 2018. "" received an American Music Award for Top Soundtrack.


title: Queen (band)

text: The soundtrack for the film "Flash Gordon" (1980) was by Queen. The band also contributed music to "Highlander" (the original 1986 film), with "A Kind of Magic", "One Year of Love", "Who Wants to Live Forever", "Hammer to Fall", and the theme "Princes of the Universe", which was also used as the theme of the (1992–1998). In choosing music for "Highlander", director Russell Mulcahy stated, "I thought about one band – Queen. They write strong, anthemic songs and this movie needs their energy". In the United States, "Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-released as a single in 1992 after appearing in the comedy film "Wayne's World". The single subsequently reached number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 (with "The Show Must Go On" as the first track on the single) and helped rekindle the band's popularity in North America.


title: Queen (band)

text: Several films have featured their songs performed by other artists. A version of "Somebody to Love" by Anne Hathaway was in the 2004 film "Ella Enchanted". In 2006, Brittany Murphy also recorded a cover of the same song for the 2006 film "Happy Feet". In 2001, a version of "The Show Must Go On" was performed by Jim Broadbent and Nicole Kidman in the film musical "Moulin Rouge!". The 2001 film "A Knight's Tale" has a version of "We Are the Champions" performed by Robbie Williams and Queen; the film also features "We Will Rock You" played by the medieval audience.


title: Queen (band)

text: "I Was Born to Love You" was used as the theme song of the Japanese television drama "Pride" on Fuji Television in 2004, starring Takuya Kimura and Yūko Takeuchi. The show's soundtrack also contained other songs by Queen. A song that has grown in popularity four decades since its release, the initial rebirth of "Don't Stop Me Now" has been attributed to its appearance in the 2004 cult classic zombie apocalypse film "Shaun of the Dead". The song has featured in the BBC television show "Top Gear", and in 2005 it was voted as "The Greatest Driving Song Ever" by the series' viewers.


title: Queen (band)

text: Keeping in a tradition of naming each season's episodes after songs by 1970s rock bands, the eighth and final season of "That '70s Show" had episodes named after Queen songs. "Bohemian Rhapsody" served as the season premiere. With an entry for the year 1977, Queen featured in the VH1 series "I Love the '70s", broadcast in the US. "The Simpsons" has made storylines which have featured Queen songs such as "We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions" (both sung by Homer), and "You're My Best Friend". The latter also appears in "Family Guy", as does "Another One Bites the Dust", while an episode of the show, "Killer Queen", is named after (and features) the song. Queen were profiled in season 1, episode 16 of "VH1's Legends", broadcast in 1998.


title: Queen (band)

text: On 11 April 2006, Brian May and Roger Taylor appeared on the American singing contest television show "American Idol". Each contestant was required to sing a Queen song during that week of the competition. Songs which appeared on the show included "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "The Show Must Go On", "Who Wants to Live Forever", and "Innuendo". Brian May later criticised the show for editing specific scenes, one of which made the group's time with contestant Ace Young look negative, despite it being the opposite. Taylor and May again appeared on the "American Idol" season 8 finale in May 2009, performing "We Are the Champions" with finalists Adam Lambert and Kris Allen. On 15 November 2009, Brian May and Roger Taylor appeared on the singing contest television show "The X Factor" in the UK.


title: Queen (band)

text: In 2007, Queen featured as one of the main artists in the fifth episode of the BBC/VH1 series "Seven Ages of Rock"—focusing on stadium rock, the episode itself was named "We Are the Champions". In the autumn of 2009, "Glee" featured the fictional high school's show choir singing "Somebody to Love" as their second act performance in the episode "The Rhodes Not Taken". The performance was included on the show's "" soundtrack CD. In June 2010, the choir performed "Another One Bites the Dust" in the episode "Funk". The following week's episode, "Journey to Regionals", features a rival choir performing "Bohemian Rhapsody" in its entirety. The song was featured on the . In May 2012, the choir performed "We Are the Champions" in the episode "Nationals", and the song features in "".


title: Queen (band)

text: In 2002, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" was voted "the UK's favourite hit of all time" in a poll conducted by the "Guinness World Records British Hit Singles Book". In 2004, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Many scholars consider the "Bohemian Rhapsody" music video ground-breaking, crediting it with popularising the medium. Rock historian Paul Fowles stated that the song is "widely credited as the first global hit single for which an accompanying video was central to the marketing strategy". It has been hailed as paving the way for the MTV Generation. In December 2018, "Bohemian Rhapsody" became the most-streamed song from the 20th century, and the most-streamed classic rock song of all time. The number of downloads of the song and original video exceeded 1.6 billion across global on-demand streaming services. In March 2021 it was certified Diamond in the US for combined digital sales and streams equal to 10 million units. Acclaimed for their stadium rock, in 2005 an industry poll ranked Queen's performance at Live Aid in 1985 as the best live act in history. In 2007, they were also voted the greatest British band in history by BBC Radio 2 listeners.


title: Queen (band)

text: As of 2005, according to the "Guinness Book of World Records", Queen albums have spent a total of 1,322 weeks (twenty-six years) on the UK Album Charts, more time than any other act. Also in 2005, with the release of their live album with Paul Rodgers, Queen moved into third place on the list of acts with the most aggregate time spent on the British record charts. In 2022, "Greatest Hits" was the best-selling album in UK chart history, and the only album to sell over seven million copies in the UK. As of August 2022, the album has spent over 500 weeks on the US "Billboard" 200. Their "Greatest Hits II" album is the UK's tenth best seller, with sales of 3,746,404 copies. Based on record sales, "Billboard" charts performance, online views and popularity on Spotify, in 2018 "Business Insider" in the US ranked Queen the third most popular rock band of all time, after the Beatles and Led Zeppelin.


title: Queen (band)

text: The band have released a total of 18 number-one albums, 18 number-one singles, and 10 number-one DVDs worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. Estimates of their record sales range from 250 million to 300 million worldwide. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, the band is the only group in which every member has composed more than one chart-topping single, and all four members were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2009, "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and the latter was voted the world's favourite song in a 2005 Sony Ericsson global music poll. The band received Ivor Novello Awards for Outstanding Contribution to British Music, in 1987, and Outstanding Song Collection, in 2005, from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors. In recognition of the vocal harmonies of Mercury, May and Taylor, in 2006 Queen were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. In 2018 they were presented the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In their top 10 list for the Global Recording Artist of the Year, the IFPI named Queen the sixth best-selling artist worldwide in 2018, and the fifth best-selling artist in 2019, in both cases the most popular act of their contemporaries. In January 2020, Queen became the first band to join Queen Elizabeth II on a British coin. Issued by the Royal Mint, the commemorative £5 coin features the instruments of all four members of the band. In July 2020, Queen became the third band (after the Beatles and Pink Floyd) to feature on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail.


title: Queen (band)

text: Queen are one of the most bootlegged bands ever, according to Nick Weymouth, who manages the band's official website. A 2001 survey discovered the existence of 12,225 websites dedicated to Queen bootlegs, the highest number for any band. Bootleg recordings have contributed to the band's popularity in certain countries where Western music is censored, such as Iran. In a project called "Queen: The Top 100 Bootlegs", many of these have been made officially available to download for a nominal fee from Queen's website, with profits going to the Mercury Phoenix Trust. In 2004, Queen became the first Western rock act to be officially accepted in Iran following the release of their "Greatest Hits" album. "Rolling Stone" ranked Queen at number 52 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", while ranking Mercury the 18th-greatest singer, and May the twenty-sixth-greatest guitarist. "Rolling Stone" readers voted Mercury the second-greatest frontman. Queen were named 13th on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock list, and in 2010 were ranked 17th on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list. In 2012, "Gigwise" readers named Queen the best band of the past 60 years. Eddie Trunk argued that Queen's importance, in common with Thin Lizzy and Deep Purple, was "not as fully recognized" in the United States because elsewhere they "often played to much bigger crowds in stadium venues". Queen had stopped touring the US in 1982 as their success there had started to wane, but they remained a touring "juggernaut", filling stadiums and arenas internationally in the 1980s until their final tour (with Mercury) in 1986.


title: Queen (band)

text: Queen have been credited with making a significant contribution to genres such as hard rock and heavy metal. The band have been cited as an influence by many other musicians. Moreover, like their music, the bands and artists that have claimed to be influenced by Queen or have expressed admiration for them are diverse, spanning different generations, countries, and genres, including heavy metal: Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Dream Theater, Trivium, Megadeth, Anthrax, Melvins, Slipknot, Rob Zombie, and Rage Against the Machine; hard rock: Guns N' Roses, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Steve Vai, the Cult, the Darkness, Kid Rock, and Foo Fighters; alternative rock: Nirvana, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, the Flaming Lips, and Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins; shock rock: Marilyn Manson; pop rock: The Killers, My Chemical Romance, and Panic! at the Disco; country: Faith Hill, and Carrie Underwood; pop: George Michael, Robbie Williams, Adele, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry; K-pop: Psy, and BTS; and hip hop: Lil Nas X.


title: Queen (band)

text: In the early 1970s, Queen helped spur the heavy metal genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence. Queen's 1974 song "Stone Cold Crazy" has been cited as a precursor of speed metal. Metallica recorded a cover version of "Stone Cold Crazy", which first appeared on the "" album in 1990, and they still performed it live in the 2000s. Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, a pioneer of "neo-classical metal", listened to Queen as a kid, and spoke of Brian May being "very inventive when it comes to tones and having all those pickup configurations. Brian tends not to stick to just pentatonics, either; he mixes it all up, which is how I like to think, too." Thom Yorke of Radiohead received his first guitar at 7 years old, encouraged after seeing May in a broadcast of a Queen concert. At 10 years old, Yorke made his own homemade guitar, trying to imitate what May had done with his Red Special, but he was not satisfied with the result. Subsequently, Queen was one of the first influences of his band.


title: John Krasinski

text: John Burke Krasinski (; born October 20, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom "The Office". He also served as a producer and occasional director of the series throughout its nine-season run.


title: John Krasinski

text: Educated in theatre arts at Brown University and the National Theater Institute, Krasinski is the recipient of a number of accolades, including four Primetime Emmy Award nominations and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. "Time" named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.


title: John Krasinski

text: His film credits include "License to Wed" (2007), "Leatherheads" (2008), "Away We Go" (2009), "It's Complicated" (2009), "Something Borrowed" (2011), "Big Miracle" (2012), "Promised Land" (2012), "Aloha" (2015), "The Hollars" (2016), and "" (2016). Krasinski directed and starred in the drama "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" (2009) and the comedy-drama film "The Hollars" (2016). In 2018, Krasinski co-wrote, directed, and starred in the critically acclaimed horror film "A Quiet Place". That year, he began portraying the title character in the Amazon thriller series "Jack Ryan", which he also produces. He was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for his role.


title: John Krasinski

text: In addition to acting in television series and films, Krasinski has performed voice-over work in both animated and documentary films such as "Monsters University" and a small role in "Shrek the Third". He established a production company, Sunday Night Productions, in 2013. Krasinski is married to English actress Emily Blunt, with whom he has two daughters.


title: John Krasinski

text: John Burke Krasinski was born on October 20, 1979, at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, the youngest of three boys of nurse Mary Clare (née Doyle; born 1949) and internist Ronald Krasinski (born 1946). His mother is of Irish ancestry, while his father is of Polish descent. He was raised Catholic in the Boston suburb of Newton, Massachusetts.


title: John Krasinski

text: Krasinski made his stage debut as Daddy Warbucks in a sixth-grade school production of the musical "Annie". Afterwards, he co-starred in a satirical play written and cast by his future "The Office" co-star B. J. Novak when they were high school seniors. Krasinski and Novak graduated from Newton South High School in 1997. Before entering college, Krasinski taught English as a foreign language in Costa Rica for six months. While there, he saved a woman from drowning after she was caught in a riptide at a beach in Manuel Antonio National Park. Following his time in Costa Rica, Krasinski attended Brown University, where he studied English and playwriting and wrote an honors thesis entitled "Contents Under Pressure". He graduated from Brown in 2001.


title: John Krasinski

text: During his time at Brown, he was a member of the sketch comedy group Out of Bounds. In college, he also helped coach youth basketball at the Gordon School in East Providence, Rhode Island. After college, he attended the National Theater Institute in Waterford, Connecticut. He also studied at the Royal Shakespeare Company in England and the Actors Center in New York.


title: John Krasinski

text: In 2000, Krasinski interned as a scriptwriter on the show "Late Night with Conan O'Brien". After graduating from Brown University, Krasinski moved to New York to pursue acting. He appeared in commercials and guest-starred on television shows, as well as doing readings of off-Broadway plays while working as a waiter. He starred in the play "What the Eunuch Saw", which was written and directed by his former college classmates Emily O'Dell and Isaac Robert Hurwitz.


title: John Krasinski

text: Krasinski's breakthrough came in 2004 when he was cast in the NBC sitcom "The Office", a remake of the successful British TV series. In the series, a mockumentary about life at a mid-sized paper supply company, he played the role of Jim Halpert, an intelligent and mild-mannered sales representative and, in later seasons, co-manager of the paper distribution company Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Krasinski and Jenna Fischer's characters also served as the central love interests of the series.


title: John Krasinski

text: To prepare for his role, Krasinski visited Scranton for research and interviewed employees at actual paper companies. He also shot the footage of Scranton used in the opening credits. He appeared in every episode of the series and also directed several including "Sabre". For his work in the series (2005–2013), Krasinski earned approximately US$100,000 per episode of the third season of "The Office", four times his salary for the previous two seasons.


title: John Krasinski

text: In 2006, Krasinski co-starred in Jason Carvey's independently produced, direct-to-DVD heist comedy "A New Wave" with Andrew Keegan and Lacey Chabert. In 2007, he co-starred with Anna Faris and Danny Masterson as Brevin in Gregg Araki's independent stoner comedy "Smiley Face" (2007). Reviews were largely positive for the film. Later that year, he starred in the romantic comedy "License to Wed" (2007) with Mandy Moore and Robin Williams. Despite negative critical reception of the film, it emerged as a commercial success. Krasinski guest-starred in a number of television series including "", "Without a Trace", "Ed", "American Dad!" and "". He also co-starred in films including "Kinsey", "Duane Hopwood", "Jarhead", "The Holiday" and "Shrek the Third", "For Your Consideration" and "Dreamgirls".


title: John Krasinski

text: In 2008, Krasinski appeared alongside Renée Zellweger and George Clooney in the latter's directorial venture "Leatherheads" (2008), a period comedy about the early years of professional American football. He portrayed Carter "the Bullet" Rutherford, Princeton University's college football star and a decorated hero of the First World War. "MTV.com" praised his acting, describing him as "an actor who's able to project both boyish warmth and intellectual concern" while also stating that he "manages the considerable feat of holding the screen opposite Clooney without melting in the heat of his trademark movie-star mega-wattage."


title: John Krasinski

text: In 2009, Krasinski made his directorial debut in the comedy-drama film "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men". He wrote the screenplay for the film based on David Foster Wallace's collection of short stories, played a minor role in it and also served as producer. The film premiered on January 19, 2009, at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize and received mostly positive reviews. Film critic A.O. Scott wrote that "though this experiment doesn't quite succeed, there's enough intelligence and insight in this movie to make it worth the attempt" while Elizabeth Weitzman from "New York Daily News" felt that "Krasinski deserves credit for having the ambition to adapt material as difficult as David Foster Wallace's short stories."


title: John Krasinski

text: The same year, he starred in the comedy-drama "Away We Go" with Maya Rudolph, directed by Sam Mendes. It follows a couple searching North America for the perfect community in which to settle down and start a family. The film received positive reviews from critics. In his review, Michael Rechtshaffen from "The Hollywood Reporter", said "terrific performances make this tender if slight little film worth the trip". His third 2009 role was in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy "It's Complicated" as part of an ensemble cast that included Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Lake Bell and Alec Baldwin. The film was a box office success, grossing over $219 million worldwide. It won the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Awards for Best Ensemble Cast for the film.


title: John Krasinski

text: In 2011, Krasinski co-starred with Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson and Colin Egglesfield in the romantic comedy "Something Borrowed", based on Emily Giffin's novel of the same name. Despite the film receiving negative reviews, his performance was widely praised. Krasinski was also one of the top candidates to play the role of Steve Rogers/Captain America in the superhero film "" (2011).


title: John Krasinski

text: Krasinski then starred with Drew Barrymore in the drama "Big Miracle" (2012), which covers Operation Breakthrough, the 1988 international effort to rescue gray whales from being trapped in ice near Point Barrow, Alaska. The film saw him play Adam Carlson, a news reporter . The same year, Krasinski starred in Ry Russo-Young's independent drama "Nobody Walks" with Olivia Thirlby and Rosemarie DeWitt. In the film, Krasinski plays Peter, a sound-designer, husband and father of two who starts developing romantic feelings for a young artist while collaborating on her first art film. His performance was praised by critics. Peter Debruge of Variety wrote: "Krasinski is such an appealing actor that his likability serves to complicate Peter's behavior in interesting ways." "Nobody Walks" premiered in Competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and won a special Jury Prize.


title: John Krasinski

text: Next, Krasinski starred in, co-produced and co-wrote the screenplay for the drama "Promised Land" with Matt Damon based on a story by Dave Eggers that released on December 28, 2012. Based on a New York Times series by Ian Urbina called Drilling Down, the film follows two corporate salespeople who visit a rural town in an attempt to buy drilling rights from the local residents and was directed by Gus Van Sant. Krasinski came up with the film's premise and developed the idea with Eggers. They later pitched the idea to Damon. It received Special Mention Award at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2013. He also narrated the documentary television series "Head Games" (2012) on the Discovery Channel.


title: John Krasinski

text: In 2013, Krasinski founded the production company Sunday Night production with Allyson Seeger. The company has an overall deal with Twentieth Century Fox Television. Under the banner, Krasinski and Seeger along with Stephen Merchant, became executive producers of the live-action/animated sitcom "Dream Corp, LLC" created by Daniel Stessen on Adult Swim. "Lost" star Jon Gries co-starred. Krasinski along with Merchant are also executive producers of the musical reality competition television series "Lip Sync Battle" which debuted on the American cable network Spike, on Thursday April 2, 2015. The show is a spin-off of a bit first introduced on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." Merchant, Krasinski and Krasinski's wife, Emily Blunt, were brainstorming ideas for Krasinski's upcoming appearance on "Late Night" when the idea took shape. Jimmy Fallon then developed it into a recurring segment on his show. The show proved to be a major success for Spike; its series premiere was the highest-rated non-scripted premiere in Spike's history. In July 2016, the show received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the Outstanding Structured Reality Program category.


title: John Krasinski

text: In 2014, Krasinski collaborated with his "Promised Land" co-star and co-writer Matt Damon on the critically acclaimed 2016 drama "Manchester by the Sea" which starred Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams. The film was written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan and is based on an original idea of Krasinski's. The film received six nominations at the 89th Academy Awards including Best Picture. Next, Krasinski co-starred in Cameron Crowe's romantic comedy-drama "Aloha" with Rachel McAdams, Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone. The film received a negative reaction and controversy from critics and audiences alike.


title: John Krasinski

text: In 2016, Krasinski starred in Michael Bay's biographical war film "" based on Mitchell Zuckoff's 2014 book "13 Hours". The film follows six members of Annex Security Team who fought to defend the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya after waves of attacks by Islamic militants on September 11, 2012. Krasinski went through extensive physical training for the role and put on 25 pounds of muscle to play a former US Navy SEAL. That same year, he directed the comedy-drama "The Hollars". The film also marked the first feature film produced under his banner Sunday Night. Krasinski also starred in the film alongside an ensemble cast of Sharlto Copley, Charlie Day, Richard Jenkins, Anna Kendrick and Margo Martindale. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2016. Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" wrote that Krasinski "tackles the most clichéd genre in the movie business – the dysfunctional family dramedy." and that "he pulls it off with uncommon humor and compassion."


title: John Krasinski

text: Krasinski starred in the world premiere of the Off-Broadway play "Dry Powder" with Hank Azaria, Claire Danes, and Sanjit De Silva which was directed by Thomas Kail. The play ran from March to May 2016 at The Public Theater in New York City which sold out its run before opening. His performance was widely praised by critics and, later that year, he received the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance. He also co-starred in the black and white short film "Past Forward" for Italian luxury fashion house Prada which was directed by David O. Russell and premiered in September 2016 at Milan Fashion Week. In October 2016, he directed a live reading of the "Good Will Hunting" (1997) screenplay at New York's Skirball Theater in a one-off stage appearance of both the original stars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon along with Emily Blunt.


title: John Krasinski

text: Krasinski's only release in 2017 was Kathryn Bigelow's "Detroit". The film was set during the 1967 Detroit riots and was released in July 2017, around the time of the 50th anniversary of the events, and on the anniversary day of the Algiers Motel incident, which is depicted in the film.


title: John Krasinski

text: In 2017, Krasinski directed and co-wrote the film "A Quiet Place", a post-apocalyptic horror thriller, in which he also co-starred with his wife Emily Blunt. Released on April 6, 2018, by Paramount Pictures, it received significant critical acclaim, being 96% Certified Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes based on 367 reviews, with the site describing Krasinski as a "rising talent." The film also became a major box office hit, grossing over $340 million worldwide.


title: John Krasinski

text: Krasinski produces and stars as the title character in the television series "Jack Ryan", making him the fifth actor to portray the character after Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine from the film series. "Jack Ryan" premiered on Amazon Video on August 31, 2018. Four months before the series premiere, the series was renewed for a second season, after the critical and commercial success of "A Quiet Place".


title: John Krasinski

text: In March 2020, Krasinski started a web series titled "Some Good News" (SGN) on YouTube as a response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The series focused on highlighting good news at the time, while featuring celebrities including Steve Carell, Robert De Niro, the entire original Broadway cast of "Hamilton", Brad Pitt, Samuel L. Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Steven Spielberg, Jon Stewart, Malala Yousafzai and the cast of "The Office". On April 17, 2020, Krasinski hosted a livestream virtual prom for high schoolers whose proms were cancelled due to the pandemic; 210,000 viewers tuned into the event, which included live performances from Billie Eilish, Finneas, the Jonas Brothers, and DJ D-Nice. Krasinski became ordained as a minister in the state of Massachusetts to officiate a virtual wedding as part of the series. The nine-episode series attracted 72 million views and 2.58 million subscribers. On May 22, 2020, ViacomCBS announced they had acquired the show to air on CBS All Access, but Krasinski later confirmed that he and ViacomCBS did not move forward with development plans for the company's streaming platform. Instead, Krasinski would keep Some Good News in its original format on YouTube and secondary video platforms established in the show's original run, such as Snapchat.


title: John Krasinski

text: On January 20, 2021, Krasinski spoke at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris's inauguration celebration via a remote address from his home office. Krasinski hosted his first episode of "Saturday Night Live" later that month, which was watched by 6.69 million viewers and received positively by critics.


title: John Krasinski

text: Krasinski directed and wrote the sequel "A Quiet Place Part II", in which he also had a supporting role. Initially scheduled for March 20, 2020, it was delayed due to COVID-19 (theatres began to shut down the week of March 16). It was eventually released on May 28, 2021, to positive reviews, becoming a box office success, and the first film of the pandemic era to cross $100m at the domestic box office. On Rotten Tomatoes, the sequel earned a 91% Fresh rating with 355 reviews, with an overall consensus that the "nerve-wracking" film successfully expanded the world "without losing track of its heart".


title: John Krasinski

text: In May 2021, Krasinski's production company, Sunday Night Productions, signed a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures. In August of the same year, Krasinski had a cameo appearance as a silhouetted gamer in the film "Free Guy", starring Ryan Reynolds.


title: John Krasinski

text: In May 2022, Krasinski made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" as a member of the Illuminati after many years worth of fan casting, and interest from Krasinski himself.


title: John Krasinski

text: In October 2019, Krasinski's fantasy comedy "Imaginary Friends" was picked up by Paramount Pictures; in addition to writing, directing, and producing the project, Krasinski will co-star with Ryan Reynolds, who will also serve as producer. The project, which was later retitled "IF", will also co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fiona Shaw, Louis Gossett Jr., and Krasinski's "The Office" co-star Steve Carell, and was set to be released on November 17, 2023. In July 2022, the film was further delayed to May 24, 2024.


title: John Krasinski

text: Beginning in March 2006, Krasinski narrated a series of commercials for Ask.com. He has also narrated commercials for Apple TV, Verizon Wireless, Esurance, BlackBerry Storm, My Coke Rewards, and Carnival Cruise Lines, and has appeared in print advertisements for Gap. In 2020, he starred across fellow Bostonians Chris Evans, Rachel Dratch, and David Ortiz in a popular Super Bowl commercial for the 2020 Hyundai Sonata's Smart Park feature, pronouncing it "Smaht Park". He was listed as one of "People"'s Sexiest Men Alive in 2006, 2009, 2018, and 2019. He has narrated two children's books: "Curious George Goes to the Hospital" and "Curious George: 75th Anniversary Edition".


title: John Krasinski

text: Krasinski began dating English actress Emily Blunt in November 2008. They became engaged in August 2009 and married in a private official ceremony on July 10, 2010, in Como, Italy, at the former home of George Clooney. They divide their time between London, Los Angeles, and Brooklyn Heights, New York City, and he has described their frequent moves as "nomadic." They have two daughters.


title: John Krasinski

text: Krasinski is a fan of the Boston Red Sox. In 2011, he starred in a New Era/MLB ad campaign with Alec Baldwin, playing off the rivalry between the Red Sox and Baldwin's preferred team, the New York Yankees.


title: John Krasinski

text: Krasinski has been honored for his film, theater, television, acting, writing, producing, and directing. Additionally, he has received honors from literary organizations, publications, and universities.


title: John Krasinski

text: In May 2020, Krasinski partnered with Sevenly, 5th Element, and the Starbucks Foundation to launch "Some Good Merch", an online merchandise store designed to raise financial support for multiple social causes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Store items, including shirts, mugs, tote bags, ornaments, and reusable face masks, featured donated fan art of Krasinski's "Some Good News" web show, as well as artwork made for the show by Krasinski's daughters. All sales profits went to one of six charities of the buyer's choosing, with The Starbucks Foundation agreeing to match up to one million dollars. "Some Good Merch" raised nearly $500,000 within one month and over $2 million by 2021. Initial donations were made to "World Central Kitchen", the "Restaurant Employee Relief Fund", "Direct Relief", "Trauma Free World", and the "Boys & Girls Clubs of America". Financial donations from "Some Good Merch" to "Direct Relief", in coordination with a team at the First Nations Fund, were channeled into thousands of COVID-19 PPE, face masks and sanitizer, and other medical relief supplies for the Navajo Nation and White River Indian Hospital in Fort Apache Indian Reservation, a facility serving over 17,000 tribal members and run by the Indian Health Service (IHS). Additional PPE donations were made to "SelfHelp Community Services", a home and community-based healthcare service for elderly Holocaust survivors and homebound seniors.


title: John Krasinski

text: In June 2020, following widespread public protests against racial injustice in the United States, "Some Good Merch" added donation options for the "Black Lives Matter" organization and the "NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund", a civil and human rights legal organization dedicated to fighting racial injustice and eliminating structural racial disparities. In October, "Some Good Merch" donations to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America assisted in the remote re-opening of the Metro Atlanta BGCA and the creation of new distance learning programs after the clubs were forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At this time, donations to "Trauma Free" World also went towards the international "Signs for Hope" program, which assists in the training of trauma-informed care for deaf children and orphans. In December 2020, following the release of the ninth episode of Some Good News, "Toys for Tots" was made available as an additional charitable option on Sevenly, which is an organization that provides toys to children whose families cannot afford to buy them around the Christmas holiday.


title: John Krasinski

text: For his 40th birthday in October 2019, Krasinski launched a viral fundraising campaign for Family Reach, a non-profit, Boston-based organization designed to provide financial assistance to families coping with cancer treatment. While on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Krasinski explained "I wanted to do something good with my 40th birthday, ’cause as I was going over the hill I thought I’d do something nice. So I actually just begged people for money.” The campaign raised over $500,000 dollars, with Krasinski and his wife continuing to spearhead fundraising efforts for the organization afterwards via Family Reach's Hope for the Holidays campaign. Partnering with the Omaze foundation in 2018, Krasinski and his wife also raised money for the Malala Fund, which advocates for education rights for girls and women. In 2020, Krasinski and Blunt raised an additional $456,000 for the Family Reach organization.


title: John Krasinski

text: From March to December 2020, Krasinski and his Sunday Night Productions team created multiple fundraising and donation opportunities through their Some Good News web show. This included providing three months of free cellphone service for all nurses and doctors in the United States through AT&T and lifetime season pass tickets for Boston-based front-line medical workers to Boston Red Sox baseball games. Krasinski's daughters also helped to design a t-shirt with Sevenly and PepsiCo to help raise money for restaurant employees struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic; through SGN, PepsiCo also agreed to donate an additional $3 million to the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund. On the show's ninth episode, a "holiday special" in December 2020, FedEx committed to donating $5 million to Toys for Tots Holiday Drive.


title: Mumbai

text: Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the "de facto" financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-most populous city in India after Delhi and the eighth-most populous city in the world with a population of roughly 20 million (2 crore). As per the Indian government population census of 2011, Mumbai was the most populous city in India with an estimated city proper population of 12.5 million (1.25 crore) living under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Mumbai is the centre of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the sixth most populous metropolitan area in the world with a population of over 23 million (2.3 crore). Mumbai lies on the Konkan coast on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. In 2008, Mumbai was named an alpha world city. It has the highest number of millionaires and billionaires among all cities in India.


title: Mumbai

text: The seven islands that constitute Mumbai were earlier home to communities of Marathi language speaking Koli people. For centuries, the seven islands of Bombay were under the control of successive indigenous rulers before being ceded to the Portuguese Empire, and subsequently to the East India Company in 1661, through the dowry of Catherine Braganza when she was married off to Charles II of England. During the mid-18th century, Bombay was reshaped by the Hornby Vellard project, which undertook reclamation of the area between the seven islands from the sea. Along with construction of major roads and railways, the reclamation project, completed in 1845, transformed Bombay into a major seaport on the Arabian Sea. Bombay in the 19th century was characterised by economic and educational development. During the early 20th century it became a strong base for the Indian independence movement. Upon India's independence in 1947 the city was incorporated into Bombay State. In 1960, following the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement, a new state of Maharashtra was created with Bombay as the capital.


title: Mumbai

text: Mumbai is the financial, commercial, and the entertainment capital of India. It is also one of the world's top ten centres of commerce in terms of global financial flow, generating 6.16% of India's GDP, and accounting for 25% of industrial output, 70% of maritime trade in India (Mumbai Port Trust and JNPT), and 70% of capital transactions to India's economy. Mumbai has the eighth-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world, and Mumbai's billionaires had the highest average wealth of any city in the world in 2008. The city houses important financial institutions and the corporate headquarters of numerous Indian companies and multinational corporations. It is also home to some of India's premier scientific and nuclear institutes. The city is also home to Bollywood and Marathi cinema industries. Mumbai's business opportunities attract migrants from all over India.


title: Mumbai

text: The name "Mumbai" (Marathi: , Gujarati: મુંબઈ, Hindi: मुंबई) derived from "Mumbā" or "Mahā-Ambā"—the name of the patron goddess (kuladevata) Mumbadevi of the native Koli community—and "ā'ī" meaning "mother" in the Marathi language, which is the mother tongue of the Koli people and the official language of Maharashtra. The Koli people originated in Kathiawar and Central Gujarat, and according to some sources they brought their goddess Mumba with them from Kathiawar (Gujarat), where she is still worshipped. However, other sources disagree that Mumbai's name was derived from the goddess Mumba.


title: Mumbai

text: The oldest known names for the city are "Kakamuchee" and "Galajunkja"; these are sometimes still used. In 1508, Portuguese writer Gaspar Correia used the name "Bombaim" in his "Lendas da Índia" ("Legends of India"). This name possibly originated as the Galician-Portuguese phrase "bom baim", meaning "good little bay", and "Bombaim" is still commonly used in Portuguese. In 1516, Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa used the name "Tana-Maiambu": "Tana" appears to refer to the adjoining town of Thane and "Maiambu" to "Mumbadevi".


title: Mumbai

text: Other variations recorded in the 16th and the 17th centuries include: "Mombayn" (1525), "Bombay" (1538), "Bombain" (1552), "Bombaym" (1552), "Monbaym" (1554), "Mombaim" (1563), "Mombaym" (1644), "Bambaye" (1666), "Bombaiim" (1666), "Bombeye" (1676), "Boon Bay" (1690), and "Bon Bahia". After the English gained possession of the city in the 17th century, the Portuguese name was anglicised as "Bombay". Ali Muhammad Khan, imperial dewan or revenue minister of the Gujarat province, in the "Mirat-i Ahmedi" (1762) referred to the city as "Manbai".


title: Mumbai

text: The French traveller Louis Rousselet, who visited in 1863 and 1868, states in his book "L'Inde des Rajahs", which was first published in 1877: "Etymologists have wrongly derived this name from the Portuguese Bôa Bahia, or (French: "bonne bai", English: "good bay"), not knowing that the tutelar goddess of this island has been, from remote antiquity, Bomba, or Mumba Devi, and that she still ... possesses a temple".


title: Mumbai

text: By the late 20th century, the city was referred to as "Mumbai" or "Mambai" in Marathi, Konkani, Gujarati, Kannada and Sindhi, and as "Bambai" in Hindi. The Government of India officially changed the English name to "Mumbai" in November 1995. This came at the insistence of the Marathi nationalist Shiv Sena party, which had just won the Maharashtra state elections, and mirrored similar name changes across the country and particularly in Maharashtra. According to "Slate" magazine, "they argued that 'Bombay' was a corrupted English version of 'Mumbai' and an unwanted legacy of British colonial rule." "Slate" also said "The push to rename Bombay was part of a larger movement to strengthen Marathi identity in the Maharashtra region." While the city is still referred to as Bombay by some of its residents and by some Indians from other regions, mention of the city by a name other than "Mumbai" has been controversial, resulting in emotional outbursts, sometimes of a violently political nature.


title: Mumbai

text: A resident of Mumbai is called "Mumbaikar" in Marathi, in which the suffix "-kar" means a "resident of". The term had been in use for quite some time but it gained popularity after the official name change to Mumbai. Older terms such as "Bombayite" are also in use.


title: Mumbai

text: Mumbai is built on what was once an archipelago of seven islands: Isle of Bombay, Parel, Mazagaon, Mahim, Colaba, Worli, and Old Woman's Island (also known as "Little Colaba"). It is not exactly known when these islands were first inhabited. Pleistocene sediments found along the coastal areas around Kandivali in northern Mumbai suggest that the islands were inhabited since the South Asian Stone Age. Perhaps at the beginning of the Common Era, or possibly earlier, they came to be occupied by the Koli fishing community.


title: Mumbai

text: In the 3rd century BCE, the islands formed part of the Maurya Empire, during its expansion in the south, ruled by the Buddhist emperor Ashoka of Magadha. The Kanheri Caves in Borivali were excavated from basalt rock in the first century CE, and served as an important centre of Buddhism in Western India during ancient Times. The city then was known as "Heptanesia" (Ancient Greek: A Cluster of Seven Islands) to the Greek geographer Ptolemy in 150 CE. The Mahakali Caves in Andheri were cut out between the 1st century BCE and the 6th century CE.


title: Mumbai

text: Between the 2nd century BCE and 9th century CE, the islands came under the control of successive indigenous dynasties: Satavahanas, Western Satraps, Abhira, Vakataka, Kalachuris, Konkan Mauryas, Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas, before being ruled by the Shilaharas from 810 to 1260. Some of the oldest edifices in the city built during this period are the Jogeshwari Caves (between 520 and 525), Elephanta Caves (between the sixth to seventh century), Walkeshwar Temple (10th century), and Banganga Tank (12th century).


title: Mumbai

text: King Bhimdev founded his kingdom in the region in the late 13th century and established his capital in "Mahikawati" (present day Mahim). The Pathare Prabhus, among the earliest known settlers of the city, were brought to "Mahikawati" from Saurashtra in Gujarat around 1298 by Bhimdev. The Delhi Sultanate annexed the islands in 1347–48 and controlled it until 1407. During this time, the islands were administered by the Muslim Governors of Gujarat, who were appointed by the Delhi Sultanate.


title: Mumbai

text: The islands were later governed by the independent Gujarat Sultanate, which was established in 1407. The Sultanate's patronage led to the construction of many mosques, prominent being the Haji Ali Dargah in Worli, built in honour of the Muslim saint Haji Ali in 1431. From 1429 to 1431, the islands were a source of contention between the Gujarat Sultanate and the Bahmani Sultanate of Deccan. In 1493, Bahadur Khan Gilani of the Bahmani Sultanate attempted to conquer the islands but was defeated.


title: Mumbai

text: The Mughal Empire, founded in 1526, was the dominant power in the Indian subcontinent during the mid-16th century. Growing apprehensive of the power of the Mughal emperor Humayun, Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat was obliged to sign the Treaty of Bassein with the Portuguese Empire on 23 December 1534. According to the treaty, the Seven Islands of Bombay, the nearby strategic town of Bassein and its dependencies were offered to the Portuguese. The territories were later surrendered on 25 October 1535.


title: Mumbai

text: The Portuguese were actively involved in the foundation and growth of their Roman Catholic religious orders in Bombay. They called the islands by various names, which finally took the written form "Bombaim". The islands were leased to several Portuguese officers during their regime. The Portuguese Franciscans and Jesuits built several churches in the city, prominent being the St. Michael's Church at Mahim (1534), St. John the Baptist Church at Andheri (1579), St. Andrew's Church at Bandra (1580), and Gloria Church at Byculla (1632). The Portuguese also built several fortifications around the city like the Bombay Castle, "Castella de Aguada" (Castelo da Aguada or Bandra Fort), and Madh Fort. The English were in constant struggle with the Portuguese vying for hegemony over Bombay, as they recognised its strategic natural harbour and its natural isolation from land attacks. By the middle of the 17th century the growing power of the Dutch Empire forced the English to acquire a station in western India. On 11 May 1661, the marriage treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, placed the islands in possession of the English Empire, as part of Catherine's dowry to Charles. However, Salsette, Bassein, Mazagaon, Parel, Worli, Sion, Dharavi, and Wadala still remained under Portuguese possession. From 1665 to 1666, the English managed to acquire Mahim, Sion, Dharavi, and Wadala.


title: Mumbai

text: In accordance with the Royal Charter of 27 March 1668, England leased these islands to the English East India Company in 1668 for a sum of £10 per annum. The population quickly rose from 10,000 in 1661, to 60,000 in 1675. The islands were subsequently attacked by Yakut Khan, the Muslim Koli admiral of the Mughal Empire, in October 1672, Rickloffe van Goen, the Governor-General of Dutch India on 20 February 1673, and Siddi admiral Sambal on 10 October 1673.


title: Mumbai

text: In 1687, the English East India Company transferred its headquarters from Surat to Bombay. The city eventually became the headquarters of the Bombay Presidency. Following the transfer, Bombay was placed at the head of all the company's establishments in India. Towards the end of the 17th century, the islands again suffered incursions from Yakut Khan in 1689–90. The Portuguese presence ended in Bombay when the Marathas under "Peshwa" Baji Rao I captured Salsette in 1737, and Bassein in 1739.


title: Mumbai

text: By the middle of the 18th century, Bombay began to grow into a major trading town, and received a huge influx of migrants from across India. Later, the British occupied Salsette on 28 December 1774. With the Treaty of Surat (1775), the British formally gained control of Salsette and Bassein, resulting in the First Anglo-Maratha War. The British were able to secure Salsette from the Marathas without violence through the Treaty of Purandar (1776), and later through the Treaty of Salbai (1782), signed to settle the outcome of the First Anglo-Maratha War.


title: Mumbai

text: From 1782 onwards, the city was reshaped with large-scale civil engineering projects aimed at merging all the seven islands of Bombay into a single amalgamated mass by way of a causeway called the Hornby Vellard, which was completed by 1784. In 1817, the British East India Company under Mountstuart Elphinstone defeated Baji Rao II, the last of the Maratha "Peshwa" in the Battle of Khadki. Following his defeat, almost the whole of the Deccan Plateau came under British suzerainty, and was incorporated into the Bombay Presidency. The success of the British campaign in the Deccan marked the end of all attacks by native powers.


title: Mumbai

text: By 1845, the seven islands coalesced into a single landmass by the Hornby Vellard project via large scale land reclamation. On 16 April 1853, India's first passenger railway line was established, connecting Bombay to the neighbouring town of Thana (now Thane). During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the city became the world's chief cotton-trading market, resulting in a boom in the economy that subsequently enhanced the city's stature.


title: Mumbai

text: The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 transformed Bombay into one of the largest seaports on the Arabian Sea. In September 1896, Bombay was hit by a bubonic plague epidemic where the death toll was estimated at 1,900 people per week. About 850,000 people fled Bombay and the textile industry was adversely affected. While the city was the capital of the Bombay Presidency, the Indian independence movement fostered the Quit India Movement in 1942 and the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in 1946.


title: Mumbai

text: After India's independence in 1947, the territory of the Bombay Presidency retained by India was restructured into Bombay State. The area of Bombay State increased, after several erstwhile princely states that joined the Indian union were integrated into the state. Subsequently, the city became the capital of Bombay State. In April 1950, Municipal limits of Bombay were expanded by merging the Bombay Suburban District and Bombay City to form the Greater Bombay Municipal Corporation.


title: Mumbai

text: The Samyukta Maharashtra movement to create a separate Maharashtra state including Bombay was at its height in the 1950s. In the "Lok Sabha" discussions in 1955, the Congress party demanded that the city be constituted as an autonomous city-state. The States Reorganisation Committee recommended a bilingual state for Maharashtra–Gujarat with Bombay as its capital in its 1955 report. Bombay Citizens' Committee, an advocacy group of leading Gujarati industrialists lobbied for Bombay's independent status.