In 1986, the rock band Queen blew the world away with their performance at Live Aid, and it has now been announced that the surviving members of the band have sold the group’s music catalog for an astounding $1.2 billion to Sony Music Corp.
According to Forbes, the deal has been completed and will be settled within the next month, although the surviving members of the band, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon have not commented publicly on the sale of the bands catalog.
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Forbes states that the purchase was only for rights to the music produced and sold in European as well as Asian and South American markets, as Hollywood, a subsidiary of Disney, owns the North American rights to the music.
The deal also does not include income from current live performances of the band who are now billed as Queen + Adam Lambert.
Before Live Aid, Queen brought the world “Bohemian Rhapsody,” ”Fat Bottom Girls,” “Flash,” “Radio Gaga,” and later, the epic song, “The Show Must Go On.”
Lead singer and pianist Freddie Mercury was a superstar, but the world only learned of the meaning behind his final anthem when he announced on Nov. 23, 1991 that he was suffering from the effects of HIV/Aids.
He died the following day.
Will McCranie, who has entertained crowds with his music for over 20 years in Augusta, says that he and virtually every other musician he has come across in his career were influenced by Queen.
Queen also holds the record of being the only band where all four members have been individually selected to be in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“The orchestrations, the vocal ranges, the harmonies, the grandiose scale with everything they touched. Queen was a game changer,” McCranie said.
Coco Rubio, another longtime Augusta music scene emcee, agrees and says that he feels that the timing of the announcement of the record breaking sale occurring during what is called “Gay Pride Month” is appropriate to honor Mercurie’s legacy.
“He couldn’t come out in those times. He had to play with the rules he was given, but he was one of the greatest vocalists to ever take the stage. Too bad he did not live to see how far we have come,” Rubio said.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
