A Kind of Magic: 9 Great Books About Queen

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Liberty Hardy is an unrepentant velocireader, author, bitey mad girl, and tattoo canvas. Turn-ons embrace books, books and books. Her favourite exclamation is “Holy cats!” Liberty reads greater than ought to be authorized, sleeps little or no, incessantly writes on her stomach with Sharpie markers, and when she dies, she’s leaving her physique to library science. Until then, she lives along with her three cats, Millay, Farrokh, and Zevon, in Maine. She can be proper behind you. Just kidding! She’s too busy studying.

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In the endless passage of time, which carries on marking influential and momentous occasions, as we speak is the fiftieth anniversary of the discharge of Queen’s debut self-titled album. Fifty years in the past, Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon, and Roger Taylor have been launched to the world on vinyl, beginning the recording profession of what would develop to be one of probably the most legendary bands in music historical past. While Queen is a superb, seminal album, it doesn’t comprise many of the large hits they might come to be recognized for. But it’s nonetheless value celebrating the beginnings of such an necessary band, which is why now we have this record of 9 nice books about Queen.

Queen was a larger-than-life musical act with an unbelievable stage presence and a frontman with a vocal vary that blew different singers out of the water. The current biopic Bohemian Rhapsody launched a brand new era to the band, which is nice, however altered and condensed lots of their story to suit all of it into one movie. These books are an opportunity for followers and newbies to study Queen as issues really occurred. This record is a mix of tales concerning the band, deep dives into their music, glorious collections of pictures, and even some books for youths! And I’m not simply the author of this publish — I’m additionally an enormous fan. I’ve a cat named Farrokh, named after Mercury, whose actual title was Farrokh Bulsara. (We additionally name him Freddie Purrcury, and like his namesake, he has fairly a vocal vary.)

Note: The record of authors who’ve written well-known books about Queen will not be very various in any respect. If you realize of any nice books concerning the band by authors of colour, please tell us!

cover of Queen All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track Part of: All the Songs; image of the band Queen, with just their faces showing

Queen All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track by Benoît Clerc

This is a critical deep dive into each Queen album and monitor conceivable. The band has some of probably the most imaginative and weird lyrics for such monster hits. Read this if solely to study Bohemian Rhapsody, that epic bestselling music of a poor boy (from a poor household) that climbed the charts a second time after its look in Wayne’s World.

cover of Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury; b&w image of Mercury

Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury by Lesley-Ann Jones

Like many well-known bands, the lead singer is commonly probably the most well-known (or notorious) member of the group. Such was the case for the dazzling and charismatic Freddie Mercury. Told with the use of interviews with over 100 individuals who knew him, Jones paints a portrait of an extremely proficient man. It follows Mercury from his humble beginnings as Farrokh Bulsara and the bullying and teasing he endured as a baby to his life as a rock legend.

Queen in 3-D: Bohemian Rhapsody Edition by Brian May

You might not know this, however not solely is Queen guitarist Brian May a genius musician, he’s an astrophysicist. He’s really Dr. May now. This e book is a set of over 300 3D pictures of the band over the many years — plus bonus photographs from the making of the Bohemian Rhapsody biopic, together with of Adam Lambert, who performs with the band as its singer on occasion today. And you’ll be able to view all of them with a particular 3D viewer designed by May himself!

Queen: Album by Album by Martin Popoff

Popoff is one of the foremost music writers working as we speak, with over 80 books on music and musicians underneath his belt, together with works about Motörhead, Judas Priest, Rush, The Cure, and Black Sabbath. This is an up-close and detailed examination of Queen’s 15 studio albums, as instructed by specialists and followers, together with uncommon photographs of the band onstage and off. It’s a must have for Queen followers.

(*9*)

Queen: The Neal Preston Photographs by Neal Preston, et al.

This is a beautiful espresso desk e book of pictures of the band. Preston was Queen’s tour photographer from the mid-Nineteen Seventies via their final tour with Freddie Mercury in 1986. His images, many of that are seen right here publicly for the primary time, are accompanied by recollections of every picture captured from Preston, and contains an introduction from band members Brian May and Roger Taylor.

cover of Somebody to Love: The Life, Death and Legacy of Freddie Mercury; photo of FReddie Mercury surrounded by rainbow shades

Somebody to Love: The Life, Death and Legacy of Freddie Mercury by Matt Richards and Mark Langthorne

Mercury was a beloved, larger-than-life public determine, and his non-public life and tragic early loss of life in 1991 on the age of 45 has made him a topic of fascination for thousands and thousands over the previous couple of many years. This is a current in-depth examination of Mercury and his last years as instructed by many of the individuals closest to him.

cover of Queen: A Rock and Roll Biography for Kids; illustration of the band

Queen: A Rock and Roll Biography for Kids by Soledad Romero Mariño and Laura Castelló

It’s by no means too early to introduce your children to Queen! This vigorous, illustrated image biography will begin readers younger and previous on Queen’s journey from their early lives to the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers and world-famous musicians they grew to become. (There are additionally nice books about Metallica, Depeche Mode, and The Ramones on this sequence.)

cover of Freddie Mercury by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara; illustration of Freddie Mercury in his famous yellow buckled jacket

Freddie Mercury by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Ruby Taylor

This is from the Little People, BIG DREAMS sequence, which examines the lives of the well-known all through historical past and the way they grew to become notable individuals. You can study right here about Mercury’s life, from a child in Zanzibar to boarding faculty in India to his life in London, the place his childhood goals of being a singer grew to become a actuality.

cover of Queen As It Began: The Authorised Biography; b&w image of the band from the 1970s

Queen As It Began: The Authorised Biography by Jacky Smith and Jim Jenkins

And final, however not least, that is an authorised (or approved, in case you’re within the States) biography of the band. (Authorized often means authors got permission and/or cooperation and entry from the topics.) Recently revised because of the renewed curiosity in Queen after the biopic, it is a shut examination of the band from its starting as Smile to the top of its years with Freddie Mercury. Smith has appreciable data of the band, having run the Official International Queen Fan Club for over 4 many years now!

I’m additionally wanting ahead to the upcoming e book Queen within the Nineteen Seventies: Decades by James Griffiths. For extra enjoyable issues to learn concerning the well-known and musical, try 8 Outstanding Nonfiction Books About Music and 20 Must Read Books About Musicians.