Queen

Queen are an English rock band formed in 1969 in London by guitarist Brian May, lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, and drummer Roger Taylor, with bass guitarist John Deacon joining the following year. Queen rose to prominence during the 1970s and are Britain's most successful band of the past three decades.[1]

The band is noted for their musical diversity, multi-layered arrangements, vocal harmonies and incorporation of audience participation into their live performances.[2] Their 1985 Live Aid performance was voted the best live rock performance of all time in an industry poll.[3]

Queen had moderate success in the early 1970s, with the albums Queen and Queen II, but it was with the release of Sheer Heart Attack in 1974 and A Night at the Opera the following year that the band gained international success. Since 1975, eighteen of the band's albums have reached number one on numerous charts around the world. Since 1973, they have released fifteen studio albums, five live albums, and numerous compilation albums.





Following Mercury's death in 1991 and Deacon's retirement later in the decade,[4] May and Taylor have performed infrequently under the Queen name. Since 2005, they have been collaborating with Paul Rodgers, under the moniker Queen + Paul Rodgers, which has led to Queen recording their first studio album in 13 years.

Deep Purple

Deep Purple are an English hard rock band formed in Hertfordshire in 1968.[4] Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock,[5] although the members of the band have always refused to label themselves as heavy metal[6]. The band has also incorporated pop and progressive rock elements [5]. It was once listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's loudest band,[5][7][8] and it has sold over 100 million albums worldwide.[9][10][11][12] Deep Purple was ranked #22 on VH1's Greatest Artists of Hard Rock program.[13]





The band has gone through many line-up changes and an eight-year hiatus. The 1968-76 line-ups are commonly labelled Mark I, II, III and IV. [14][15] Their second and most commercially successful line-up featured: Ian Gillan (vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (keyboards), Roger Glover (bass guitar) and Ian Paice (drums).[8] This line-up was revived from 1984-89 and again in 1993 before the rift between Blackmore and other members became unbridgeable. The current line-up including guitarist Steve Morse has been much more stable, though Lord's retirement in 2002 has left Paice as the only original member.[16]

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band that formed in September 1968. Led Zeppelin consisted of Jimmy Page (guitar), Robert Plant (vocals, harmonica), John Paul Jones (bass guitar, keyboards) and John Bonham (drums, percussion). With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin is regarded as one of the first heavy metal bands.[1][2] Their rock-infused interpretation of the blues and folk genres[3] also incorporated rockabilly,[4] reggae,[5] soul,[6] funk,[7] classical, Celtic, Indian, Arabic, pop, Latin, and country. The band did not release the popular songs from their albums as singles in the UK, as they preferred to develop the concept of album-oriented rock.[8]



Close to 30 years after disbanding following Bonham's death in 1980, Led Zeppelin continue to be held in high regard for their artistic achievements, commercial success, and broad influence. The band have sold more than 300 million albums worldwide,[9][10][11][12][13] including 111.5 million sales in the United States[14] and they have had all their non-compilation studio albums reach the U.S. Billboard Top 10.[15] Led Zeppelin are ranked No. 1 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.[16] Rolling Stone magazine has described Led Zeppelin as "the heaviest band of all time" and "the biggest band of the 70s".[17]



On December 10, 2007 the surviving members of Led Zeppelin reunited (along with deceased drummer John Bonham's son Jason) for the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert at The O2 in London.