 |
|
 |
| Biography |
| In February 1978 Queen decided they should set up their own management structure. They parted company with John Reid - more amicably than their split with Trident; this severance agreement was actually signed in the back of Freddie's Rolls Royce during a break in filming the video for We Will Rock You in the back garden of Roger's Surrey house! A short tour of Europe began in April 1978, again in Stockholm. In July the band started work on their new album, they recorded it in Montreux and France - the first time they had recorded outside of Great Britain. As publicity for the forthcoming single - Bicycle Race - the band hired Wimbledon Stadium and fifty naked girls had their own Bicycle Race! The original cover of the single featured the naked rear of one of the girls, but due to public outcry in some countries, panties had to be drawn on! More touring in the USA and Canada began in October. November 10th saw the release of JAZZ. The sleeve was packaged lo contain a fold out poster of the naked bike race, but the Americans banned it from the actual sleeve and instead inserted an application form so tans could send away for it! The launch party for Jazz was hold in New Orleans, and has since gone down in history. The band hosted the party themselves in order to invite both EMI, their European record company, and Elektra, their USA representatives. It was the first lime that both companies executives had met, and they both ensured that ALL of their directors attended. each to try and outnumber the other. The party was a completely over the top affair featuring mud wrestlers, midgets, topless waitresses and a host of other weird and wonderful characters. The North American tour finished in late December and the band flew back to the UK for Christmas. But they didn't get too much time to rest, as by January 1979 they were off to Europe yet again. The tour began in Hamburg. By March they were ensconced in Mountain Studios in Montreux working on their "live" album. The band enjoyed the peace of Montreux and liked the studio there, so they decided to buy it (the studio, not the town!). When Freddie was asked by resident engineer David Richards why they had bought it, and what they intended to do with it, Freddie quipped 'dump it in the lake dear!" The band flew out to Japan for yet more touring in April 1979. In June they approached the All England Lawn Tennis Club and asked if they could use the Centre Court at Wimbledon (after the tournament of course) for a concert. Permission was refused. The bands first live album LIVE KILLERS was released in June 1979. It was an album released by very popular demand. Queen were approached to write the musical score for a science fiction feature film called Flash Gordon. When the idea was first discussed with producer Dino De Laurentiis, he simply asked "who are the Queens?". The band agreed to work on the music, and began in June, in Munich. The end of 1979 found Queen embarking on The Crazy Tour. It included such illustrious venues as Tiffany's in Purley, The Lewisham Odeon, Alexandra Palace and finally The Hammersmith Odeon. They were one of many bands who performed at the venue to raise money for the starving people of Kampuchea. During that tour the bands tour manager, Gerry Stickells, collapsed backstage and had to be rushed to hospital/ Gerry had been with Queen on every tour since 1976 ( and has done every one since). At the start of 1980 the band were working hard on their new album The Game, it was the first album to use the electronic wizardry of synthesisers. In June they were off to tour north American again. Roger had also started work on his first solo album. THE GAME was released in June 1980 and went five times platinum in Canada alone. Another one Bites The Dust became the bands biggest ever worldwide selling single. It became a huge "crossover' hit in the USA, topping the charts in rock, soul and disco. The band received a Dick Clarke award as best band, a top Billboard award for Top Crossover single, and were nominated for various other awards including Grammy's Canadian Juno's. On December 8th 1980 the soundtrack album for FLASH GORDON was released. By the end of 1980 Queen had sold over 45,000,000 albums worldwide. In February 1981 after another Far East tour the band flew into Rio de Janeiro for the start of their first tour of South America. Queen were the first rock band to undertake a stadium tour of South America, paving the way for many more bands to follow. The band's equipment had to be flown in a privately hired Flying Tiger 747 cargo plane from Tokyo: the flight between Tokyo and Buenos Aires is the longest air route between capital cities in the world. |
 |
 |