Deep Purple ( B18 )

"In 1971, there were only three bands that mattered, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple."

— Def Leppard vocalist Joe Elliot.
In 2000, Deep Purple were ranked number 22 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" programme. At the 2008 World Music Awards the band received the Legend Award. In 2011, they received the Innovator Award at the 2011 Classic Rock Awards in London. A Rolling Stone readers' poll in 2012 ranked Made in Japan the sixth best live album of all time.As part of the 40th anniversary celebrations of Machine Head (1972), Re-Machined: A Tribute to Deep Purple's Machine Head was released on 25 September 2012. This tribute album included artists such as Iron Maiden, Metallica, Steve Vai, Carlos Santana, The Flaming Lips, Black Label Society, Papa Roach vocalist Jacoby Shaddix, Chickenfoot (consisting of former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, guitarist Joe Satriani and Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers) and the supergroup Kings of Chaos (Def Leppard vocalist Joe Elliott, Steve Stevens, and former Guns N' Roses members Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum).

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Before October 2012, Deep Purple had never been nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (though they have been eligible since 1993), but were nominated for induction in 2012 and 2013. Despite ranking second in the public's vote on the Rock Hall fans' ballot, which had over half a million votes, they were not inducted by the Rock Hall committee. Kiss bassist Gene Simmonsand Rush bassist Geddy Lee commented that Deep Purple should obviously be among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees.

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Gentle Giant ( B8 )

"John (Weathers) and I really pushed for the band to continue at that point because it looked like we were going to fold. And that seemed just ludicrous – I mean we had Kerry at full strength and Ray writing great. We were really strong live and we were about to get stronger. I think we became a stronger band after Phil left. And that's nothing against Phil. We had just been just hitting our stride as players."

Over thirty years later, Phil Shulman expanded on his reasons for departure in a 2008 podcast interview conducted by his son Damon and grandson Elliot. In the interview, he stated that his main motivation for leaving was because he had realised that the lifestyle of a touring musician was damaging his family life. The two blocs of Shulman brothers - with Phil on one side and Ray and Derek on the other would eventually resolve their differences and heal their relationship, although Phil neither rejoined the band nor returned to music as a career. Ray Shulman has subsequently assisted Phil's son Damon Shulman with his own music.

In a Glass House & The Power and the Glory

The remaining quintet regrouped to record the harder-rocking In a Glass House, which was released in 1973. They played their first gig as a five-piece at King Alfred's College, Winchester. In a Glass House is a complex and determined concept album - named for the aphorism that "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" - it was the band's most directly psychological effort to date. The album was also notable for its three-dimensional cover, using a cellophane overlay (replicated using the CD jewel case on the Terrapin CD reissue, and via a custom digipak for the later Alucard CD reissue). In a Glass House was never released in the USA, but was in great demand as an import.

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Led Zeppelin - Led Zepellin III ( D1 )

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Diverse ( 58 )

Freddie Mercury ( b22 )

Other portrayals

Mercury appeared as a supporting character in the BBC television drama Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story, first broadcast in October 2012. He was portrayed by actor James Floyd.

He was played by actor John Blunt in The Freddie Mercury Story: Who Wants to Live Forever, first broadcast in the UK on Channel 5 in November 2016. Although the programme was criticised for focusing on Mercury's love life and sexuality, Blunt's performance and likeness to the singer did receive praise.

In 2018 David Avery portrayed Mercury in the "Urban Myths" comedy series in an episode focusing on the antics backstage at Live Aid, and Kayvan Novak portrayed Mercury in an episode titled The Sex Pistols Vs. Bill Grundy.

Discography

Mr. Bad Guy ( 1985 )

Barcelona ( with Montserrat Caballe ) ( 1988 )

Ringo Starr ( b22 )

In 2011, readers of Rolling Stone magazine voted Starr as the fifth-greatest drummer of all time. Journalist Robyn Flans, writing for the Percussive Arts Society, stated: "I cannot count the number of drummers who have told me that Ringo inspired their passion for drums". Drummer Steve Smith commented on Starr's musical contribution:

Before Ringo, drum stars were measured by their soloing ability and virtuosity. Ringo's popularity brought forth a new paradigm in how the public saw drummers. We started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect. One of Ringo's great qualities was that he composed unique, stylistic drum parts for the Beatles' songs. His parts are so signature to the songs that you can listen to a Ringo drum part without the rest of the music and still identify the song.

Starr said his favourite drummer is Jim Keltner, with whom he first played at the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971. The pair subsequently played together as a double-drumming team on some of Harrison's recordings during the 1970s, on Ringo and other albums by Starr, and on the early All-Starr Band tours. For Ringo's Rotogravure in 1976, Starr coined a term to describe their percussive combination, crediting himself as "Thunder" and Keltner as "Lightnin'".

Starr influenced Genesis drummer Phil Collins, who said: "I think he's vastly underrated, Ringo. The drum fills on 'A Day in the Life' are very, very complex things. You could take a great drummer from today and say, 'I want it like that', and they really wouldn't know what to do." Collins also acknowledged that the drumming style featured on the 1983 Genesis song "That's All" was an affectionate attempt at a "Ringo Starr drum part".

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Roxy Music - Re-Make/ Re-Model ( L1 )

I tried but I could not find a way
Looking back all I did was look away
Next time is the best we all know
But if there is no next time where to go'
She's the sweetest queen I've ever seen
See here she comes, see what I mean'
I could talk talk talk, talk myself to death
But I believe I would only waste my breath
Ooh show me

Deep Purple ( B17 )

After a lot of songwriting sessions in Europe, Deep Purple decided to record through the summer of 2012, and the band announced the release of their new studio album in 2013.Steve Morse announced to French magazine Rock Hard that the new studio album would be produced by the highly respected Bob Ezrin, who is known for his works with Alice Cooper, Kiss, and Pink Floyd. On 16 July 2012, the band's co-founding member and former organ player, Jon Lord, died in London, aged 71. In December 2012, Roger Glover stated that the band has completed work on 14 songs for a new studio album, with 11 or 12 tracks set to appear on the final album to be released in 2013. On 26 February 2013, the title of the band's nineteenth studio album was announced as Now What?!, which was recorded and mixed in Nashville, Tennessee, and released on 26 April 2013.

On 25 November 2016, Deep Purple announced Infinite as the title of their twentieth studio album, which was released on 7 April 2017. In support for the album, Deep Purple embarked on 13 May 2017 in Bucharest, Romania on The Long Goodbye Tour. At the time of the tour's announcement in December 2016, Paice told the Heavyworlds website it "may be the last big tour", adding that the band "don't know". He described the tour as being long in duration, and said: "We haven't made any hard, fast plans, but it becomes obvious that you cannot tour the same way you did when you were 21. It becomes more and more difficult. People have other things in their lives, which take time. But never say never." On 3 February 2017, Deep Purple released a video version of "Time for Bedlam", the first track taken from the new album and the first new Deep Purple track for almost four years.

Legacy

Deep Purple are cited as one of the pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal, along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. The group have influenced a number of rock and metal bands including Metallica, Judas Priest, Queen, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Alice in Chains, Pantera, Bon Jovi, Europe, Rush, Motörhead, and many new wave of British heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden, and Def Leppard. Iron Maiden's bassist and primary songwriter, Steve Harris, states that his band's "heaviness" was inspired by "Black Sabbath and Deep Purple with a bit of Zeppelin thrown in."

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Gentle Giant ( B7 )

Before embarking on the Octopus tour, the band played a gruelling set of dates supporting Black Sabbath, during which they proved to be very unpopular with the majority of the headlining band's fans. Derek Shulman recalled "It was perhaps the most ridiculous pairing of groups ever in the history of show business. For the most part we got booed off the stage." Following the tour, Gentle Giant underwent their most significant line-up change when a burnt-out and discouraged Phil Shulman left the band following disagreements with his brothers. Derek Shulman took over all lead vocals for live concerts and consequently became Gentle Giant's de facto lead singer (although Kerry Minnear continued to sing his own share of lead vocals on records).

Gary Green later recalled "As I remember it, when Phil announced it at the end of an Italian tour, he said he would leave the band. He couldn't continue on. There was too much stress being on the road and the family. Plus the brothers were having a bit of a difficult time. They're brothers and they argued like hell, sometimes to the point where you thought they were going to hit each other. But I guess it was brotherly love [laughs]. But when Phil said he was going to leave, we were all like stumped, 'Oh! What are we going to do? All right we'll buy a Moog synthesizer!' That's kind of trite; I don't mean it quite like that. We had to do something."

''Growing up, family, two sons, lovely little daughter, a wife who was getting lonelier and lonelier… No decision really, it was a foregone conclusion. My brothers, in fact, quite frankly wouldn't speak to me for years afterwards because I said "that's it, I'm going. I've got to go back to my family and I've got to go back and be a normal man."... I'm not saying how important (or not important) I was to the group, or anything like that, but my brothers thought that that was the end of the band. And that's absurd. When five-sixths of the band are still there, [and] I go - no trouble. And they did: they carried on for seven more years, folks, and that was touring the world and getting great acclaim as a very fine five-piece outfit. But for me it was the only thing to do. It obviously took something away because I wasn't able to listen to music for a few years afterwards.

Phil Shulman on his reasons for leaving Gentle Giant, 2008

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Istoric ( 62 )

05.11.1965 – The Who lanseaza My Generation.

Freddie Mercury ( b21 )

In April 2011, May confirmed that pre-production work was continuing. He said the band had approved a team to start filming later in 2011, and Baron Cohen's eagerness had been the key to progress. However, in July 2013, Baron Cohen dropped out of the role due to creative differences with the members of Queen. May said they had parted on good terms and said that the band had felt Cohen's presence would have been distracting.

In December 2013, it was announced that Ben Whishaw, best known for playing Q in the James Bond films Skyfall and Spectre, had been chosen to replace Cohen as Mercury. British actor and director Dexter Fletcher was announced as director, but withdrew from the project in March 2014. Production had been due to begin in the summer of 2014; any delays would cause further problems, with Whishaw committed to begin work on the next James Bond film towards the end of the year.

In late 2015, producers GK Films hired Anthony McCarten to write a new screenplay In March 2016, during an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Cohen elaborated on his departure and the creative disagreements with May and Taylor – specifically on whether the film's plotline should have continued past Mercury's 1991 death, and his choice of crew, which included Morgan, David Fincher, and Tom Hooper. On 4 November 2016, it was announced that the film was now backed by 20th Century Fox, New Regency, and GK Films, with shooting set to have begun in early 2017. Mercury will be played by Rami Malek, while Bryan Singer is set to direct In August 2017, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, and Joseph Mazzello were cast as May, Taylor, and Deacon. On 31 August 2017, Allen Leechwas cast as Paul Prenter In September 2017, the first image of Malek as Mercury was released, as well as further information by Singer regarding the film's timeline of 1970 to the Live Aid performance in 1985, stating that the film is "not a traditional biopic" and will be a story honoring the music, but that Mercury's dark and troubled history will also be honored. On 6 September 2017, Lucy Boynton was cast as Mary Austin. On 5 December 2017, Singer was fired by 20th Century Fox due to "unreliable behaviour" on set, and was replaced with Dexter Fletcher. Singer stated he was disappointed not to be able to finish the film, "a passion project of mine".

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Ringo Starr ( b21 )

Musicianship

Influences

During his youth, Starr had been a devoted fan of skiffle and blues music, but by the time he joined the Texans in 1958, he had developed a preference for rock and roll. He was also influenced by country artists, including Hank Williams, Buck Owens and Hank Snow, and jazz artists such as Chico Hamilton and Yusef Lateef, whose compositional style inspired Starr's fluid and energetic drum fills and grooves. While reflecting on Buddy Rich, Starr commented: "He does things with one hand that I can't do with nine, but that's technique. Everyone I talk to says 'What about Buddy Rich?' Well, what about him? Because he doesn't turn me on." He stated that he "was never really into drummers", but identified Cozy Cole's 1958 cover of Benny Goodman's "Topsy Part Two" as "the one drum record" he bought.

Starr's first musical hero was Gene Autry, about whom he commented: "I remember getting shivers up my back when he sang, 'South of the Border'". By the early 1960s he had become an ardent fan of Lee Dorsey. In November 1964, Starr told Melody Maker: "Our music is second-hand versions of negro music ... Ninety per cent of the music I like is coloured."

Drums

Starr's drumming has received praise from notable drummers. Starr commented: "I'm no good on the technical things ... I'm your basic offbeat drummer with funny fills ... because I'm really left-handed playing a right-handed kit. I can't roll around the drums because of that." Beatles producer George Martin stated: "Ringo hit good and hard and used the tom-tom well, even though he couldn't do a roll to save his life", although Martin later added, "He's got tremendous feel. He always helped us to hit the right tempo for a song, and gave it that support – that rock-solid back-beat – that made the recording of all the Beatles' songs that much easier." Starr commented: "I've always believed that the drummer is not there to interpret the song"; comparing his drumming to painting, he stated: "I am the foundation, and then I put a bit of glow here and there ... If there's a gap, I want to be good enough to fill it."

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Jefferson Airplane - Blues From An Airplane ( L1 )

Do you know how sad it is to be a man alone
I feel so solitary being in my home without you
I don't know what to do and
I don't know where you are
I can see my life is meant to fall apart some day
Just to be a simple man who sadly goes his way got no girl so
I got no world and
I got no words that I'll say
hey hey woman make me happy like I've never known before
say you have ever known no heart fore me anymore
something new, what's that sound around my heart
I feel something new,
I'm sure your love you've given must be real I know and
I'm sure of how I can be the man I feel,
I can be the man I feel

Deep Purple ( B16 )

EMI Records refused a contract extension with Deep Purple, possibly because of lower than expected sales. Actually In Concert with The London Symphony Orchestra sold more than Bananas. In July 2005, the band played at the Live 8 concert in Park Place (Barrie, Ontario) and, in October released their next album, Rapture of the Deep, which was followed by the Rapture of the Deep tour. This Mark VIII line-up's two studio albums were produced by Michael Bradford. 
In February 2007, Gillan asked fans not to buy a live album Come Hell or High Water being released by Sony BMG. This was a recording of their 1993 appearance at the NEC in Birmingham, England.Recordings of this show have previously been released without assistance from Gillan or any other members of the band, but he said: "It was one of the lowest points of my life – all of our lives, actually". In 2009, Ian Gillan said, "Record sales have been steadily declining, but people are prepared to pay a lot for concert tickets.'' In addition, Gillan stated "I don't think happiness comes with money." In 2011, Deep Purple did concert tours in 48 countries. The Songs That Built Rock Tourused a 38-piece orchestra, and included a performance at London's O2 Arena. Until May 2011, the band members had disagreed about whether to make a new studio album, because it would not really make money any more. Roger Glover stated that Deep Purple should make a new studio album "even if it costs us money."
In early 2011, David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes told VH1 they would like to reunite with former Deep Purple Mark III line-up for the right opportunity, such as a benefit concert. The current band's chief sound engineer on nine years of tours, Moray McMillin, died in September 2011, aged 57.

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Gentle Giant ( B6 )

Octopus, and the departure of Phil Shulman

''At a show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, we went on stage and the Sabbath fans were shouting “get off, we want Sabbath” and we were just getting set to play ‘Funny Ways’. We pulled out the cellos and violins, and the crowd starting heckling immediately, but we were gradually starting to get past it, when someone threw a cherry bomb on stage. [Phil Shulman] made sure we all stopped playing and said we needed to get off the stage. As we were leaving the stage, Phil grabbed the mic and said to the crowd “you guys are a bunch of fucking cunts!”, and the boo that went up after that was enormous! To this day I'll never forget it! We were sort of vindicated later on, as we thought we were never going to play Los Angeles again after the cherry bomb incident, but later on the Octopus tour we were able to sell out consistently there, so something clicked with the fans.''

Derek Shulman on Gentle Giant's failure to win over Black Sabbath's audience in 1972

The new line-up of Gentle Giant delivered the Octopus album later in 1972. The band's hardest-rocking album to date, Octopus was allegedly named by Phil Shulman's wife Roberta as a pun on "octo opus" (eight musical works, reflecting the album's eight tracks). It maintained Gentle Giant's distinctive broad and challengingly integrated styles, with one of the highlights being the intricate madrigal-styled vocal workout "Knots" (whose lyrics are taken from various verses of poetry from R. D. Laing's book of the same name).

The album's release is generally considered to date the start of the band's peak period. In 2004, Ray Shulman commented "[Octopus] was probably our best album, with the exception perhaps of Acquiring the Taste. We started with the idea of writing a song about each member of the band. Having a concept in mind was a good starting point for writing. I don't know why, but despite the impact of The Who's Tommy and Quadrophenia, almost overnight concept albums were suddenly perceived as rather naff and pretentious."

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Scorpions ( I1 )

Freddie Mercury ( b20 )

In 2008 Rolling Stone ranked Mercury 18 on its list of the Top 100 Singers Of All Time Mercury was voted the greatest male singer in MTV's 22 Greatest Voices in Music, In 2011 a Rolling Stone readers' pick placed Mercury in second place of the magazine's Best Lead Singers of All Time.

Portrayal on stage

On 24 November 1997, a monodrama about Freddie Mercury's life, titled Mercury: The Afterlife and Times of a Rock God, opened in New York City. It presented Mercury in the hereafter: examining his life, seeking redemption and searching for his true self.The play was written and directed by Charles Messina and the part of Mercury was played by Khalid Gonçalves (né Paul Gonçalves) and then later, Amir Darvish. Billy Squier opened one of the shows with an acoustic performance of a song he had written about Mercury titled "I Have Watched You Fly".

In 2016 a musical titled Royal Vauxhall premiered at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in Vauxhall, London. Written by Desmond O'Connor, the musical told the alleged tales of the nights that Mercury, Kenny Everett and Princess Diana spent out at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London in the 1980s. Following several successful runs in London, the musical was taken to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2016 starring Tom Giles as Mercury.

Portrayal in film and television

Biopic film

Brian May announced in a September 2010 BBC interview that Sacha Baron Cohen, known for his comedic characters Borat, Ali G, and Brüno, had been cast to play Mercury in a biographical film. Time commented with approval on his singing ability and resemblance to Mercury. The film would be written by Peter Morgan, Academy Award-nominated for his screenplays The Queen and Frost/Nixon. The film, which is being co-produced by Robert De Niro's TriBeCa Productions, will focus on Queen's formative years and the period leading up to the celebrated performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert. Filming was planned to begin sometime in 2011.

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Ringo Starr ( b20 )

Starr recorded a cover of Buddy Holly's "Think It Over" for the 2011 tribute album Listen to Me: Buddy Holly. In January 2012, he released the album Ringo 2012. Later that year, he announced that his All-Starr Band would tour the Pacific Rim during 2013 with select dates in New Zealand, Australia and Japan; it was his first performance in Japan since 1996, and his debut in both New Zealand and Australia.

In January 2014, Starr joined McCartney for a special performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, where they performed the song "Queenie Eye". That summer he toured Canada and the US with an updated version of the Twelfth All-Starr Band, featuring multi-instrumentalist Warren Ham instead of saxophonist Mark Rivera. In July, Starr became involved in "#peacerocks", an anti-violence campaign started by fashion designer John Varvatos, in conjunction with the David Lynch Foundation. In September 2014, he won at the GQ Men of the Year Awards for his humanitarian work with the David Lynch Foundation.

In January 2015, Starr tweeted the title of his new 11-track studio album, Postcards from Paradise. The album came just weeks in advance of Starr's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was released on 31 March 2015 to mixed to positive reviews. Later that month, Ringo and his band announced a forthcoming Summer 2016 Tour of the US. Full production began in June 2016 in Syracuse.

On 7 July 2017 (his 77th birthday), he released a new single entitled "Give More Love," followed by, on 15 September 2017 (by UM^e), his nineteenth studio album also entitled Give More Love. The album features appearances by Paul McCartney, as well as frequent collaborators such as Joe Walsh, David A. Stewart, Gary Nicholson, and members of the All-Starr Band.

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The Rolling Stones - Jumpin' Jack Flash ( YT1 )

Deep Purple ( B15 )

Revival with Steve Morse and longer tours (1994–present)

Deep Purple was approaching death in 1993. Audiences were falling off, we were playing 4,000-seaters with barely 1200, 1500 people in them. ... Then, fortunately, Ritchie walked out, the sun shone again and we all said: "OK, we'll give it one more shot." So, yes, we are grateful for that chance.

--Ian Gillan, on the band's rebirth
Morse's arrival revitalised the band creatively, and in 1996 a new album titled Purpendicular was released, showing a wide variety of musical styles, though it never made chart success on the Billboard 200 in the US. The Mark VII line-up then released a new live album Live at The Olympia '96 in 1997. With a revamped set list to tour, Deep Purple enjoyed successful tours throughout the rest of the 1990s, releasing the harder-sounding Abandon in 1998, and touring with renewed enthusiasm. In 1999, Lord, with the help of a Dutch fan, who was also a musicologist and composer, Marco de Goeij, painstakingly recreated the Concerto for Group and Orchestra, the original score having been lost. It was once again performed at the Royal Albert Hall in September 1999, this time with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Mann. The concert also included songs from each member's solo careers, as well as a short Deep Purple set, and the occasion was commemorated on the 2000 album In Concert with The London Symphony Orchestra. 2001 saw the release of the box set The Soundboard Series, containing concerts from the 2001 Australian Tour plus two from Tokyo, Japan.Much of the next few years was spent on the road touring. Most of the songs played in their live concerts consisted of classic 1970s material. The group continued forward until 2002, when founding member Lord (who, along with Paice, was the only member to be in all incarnations of the band) announced his amicable retirement from the band to pursue personal projects (especially orchestral work). Lord left his Hammond organ to his replacement, rock keyboard veteran Don Airey (Colosseum II, Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Whitesnake), who had helped Deep Purple out when Lord's knee was injured in 2001. In 2003, Deep Purple released their first studio album in five years (Bananas) and began touring in support of the album.
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Diverse ( 57 )

Gentle Giant ( B5 )

Gentle Giant was followed in 1971 by Acquiring the Taste. This second album showcased a band who were developing rapidly. Far more experimental and dissonant than its predecessor, Acquiring the Taste was shaped primarily by Kerry Minnear's broad classical and contemporary classical music training and also showed the band diversifying in their already impressive instrumentation (although many years later Derek Shulman would admit "we recorded (Acquiring The Taste) without any idea of what it would be like before we got into the studio. It was a very experimental album and we still didn't have an ultimate direction.'') The band's sense of challenge was made evident in the liner notes to Acquiring the Taste, which contained a particularly lofty statement of intent even by progressive rock standards. Producer Tony Visconti has claimed authorship of this liner note as well as the "giant" story accompanying the first album

After Acquiring the Taste, Martin Smith left the band, apparently following disagreements with both Ray and Phil Shulman. He was replaced by Malcolm Mortimore.

Gentle Giant's next recording was Three Friends (1972). This was the band's first concept album, and was based around the theme of three boys who are "inevitably separated by chance, skill, and fate" as they become men. Over the course of the album, the three friends travel on from being childhood schoolfriends to become, respectively, a road digger, an artist, and a white-collar worker. In the process, they lose their ability to relate to each other or understand each other's lifestyles. The development and fate of each character is musically represented by separate yet integrated styles from hard rhythm-and-blues-edged rock to symphonic classical stylings.

In March 1972, Malcolm Mortimore injured himself in a motorcycle accident. To fulfil tour obligations in April, Gentle Giant hired ex-Grease Band/Wild Turkey/Graham Bond's Magic member John "Pugwash" Weathers, the man who was to become the band's third and final drummer. Weathers was a harder-hitting player who also sang and played melodic percussion and guitar, further expanding Gentle Giant's multi-instrumental performance options. Because of Mortimore's extended convalescence, the band opted to formally replace him with Weathers at the end of the 1972 April tour.

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Freddie Mercury ( b19 )

The airline Norwegian painted the tail fin of two of its aircraft with a portrait of Mercury to mark what would have been his 71st birthday in September 2017. Mercury is the company's fifth "British tail fin hero", joining England's 1966 FIFA World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore, children's author Roald Dahl, pioneering pilot Amy Johnson, and aviation entrepreneur Sir Freddie Laker.

Importance in AIDS history

As the first major rock star to die of AIDS, Mercury's death represented an important event in the history of the disease. In April 1992, the remaining members of Queen founded The Mercury Phoenix Trust and organised The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness, to celebrate the life and legacy of Mercury and raise money for AIDS research, which took place on 20 April 1992. The Mercury Phoenix Trust has since raised millions of pounds for various AIDS charities. The tribute concert, which took place at London's Wembley Stadium for an audience of 72,000, featured a wide variety of guests including Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin), Roger Daltrey (of The Who), Extreme, Elton John, Metallica, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Tony Iommi (of Black Sabbath), Guns N' Roses, Elizabeth Taylor, George Michael, Def Leppard, Seal, Liza Minnelli, and U2 (via satellite). Elizabeth Taylor spoke of Mercury as "an extraordinary rock star who rushed across our cultural landscape like a comet shooting across the sky". The concert was broadcast live to 76 countries and had an estimated viewing audience of 1 billion people.

Appearances in lists of influential individuals

Several popularity polls conducted over the past decade indicate that Freddie Mercury's reputation may, in fact, have been enhanced since his death. For instance, in a 2002 vote to determine who the UK public considers the greatest British people in history, Mercury was ranked 58 in the list of the 100 Greatest Britons, broadcast by the BBC. He was further listed at the 52nd spot in a 2007 Japanese national survey of the 100 most influential heroes Despite the fact that he had been criticised by gay activists for hiding his HIV status, author Paul Russell included Mercury in his book The Gay 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Gay Men and Lesbians, Past and Present

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Ronnie James Dio ( i1 )

Ringo Starr ( b19 )

Starr released the album Liverpool 8 in January 2008, coinciding with the start of Liverpool's year as the European Capital of Culture. Hudson was the initial producer of the recordings, but after a falling out with Starr, he was replaced by David A. Stewart. Starr performed the title track at the opening ceremony for Liverpool's appointment, but thereafter attracted controversy over his seemingly unflattering comments about his city of birth. Later that year, he was the object of further criticism in the press for posting a video on his website in which he harangued fans and autograph hunters for sending him items to sign.

In April 2009, he reunited with McCartney at the David Lynch Foundation's "Change Begins Within" benefit concert, held at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Having played his own set beforehand, Starr joined McCartney for the finale and performed "With a Little Help from My Friends", among other songs. Starr also appeared on-stage during Microsoft's June 2009 E3 press conference with Yoko Ono, McCartney and Olivia Harrison to promote The Beatles: Rock Band video game. In November 2009, he once again performed the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine for "The Official BBC Children in Need Medley".

2010s

In 2010 Starr self-produced and released his fifteenth studio album, Y Not, which included the track "Walk with You" and featured a vocal contribution from McCartney. Later that year, he appeared during Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief as a celebrity phone operator. On 7 July 2010, he celebrated his 70th birthday at Radio City Music Hall with another All-Starr Band concert, topped with friends and family joining him on stage including Ono, his son Zak, and McCartney.

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Mountain - Mississippi Queen ( L1 )

Mississippi Queen, if you know what I mean
Mississippi Queen, she taught me everything
Way down around Vicksburg, around Louisiana way
Lived a Cajun lady, we called her Mississippi Queen
You know she was a dancer
She moved better on wine

While the rest of them dudes was a-gettin' their kicks
Buddy, beg your pardon, I was getting mine

Mississippi Queen, if you know what I mean
Mississippi Queen, she taught me everything
This lady she asked me if I would be her man
You know that I told her I'd do what I can
To keep her looking pretty
Buy her dresses that shine

While the rest of them dudes was a-makin' their bread
Buddy, beg your pardon, I was losing mine

You know she was a dancer
She moved better on wine

While the rest of them dudes was gettin' their kicks
Brother, beg your pardon, now I'm getting mine
Ohhhh, Mississippi Queen

Deep Purple ( B14 )

The Mark II line-up then released The House of Blue Light in 1987, which was followed by a world tour (interrupted after Blackmore broke a finger on stage while trying to catch his guitar after throwing it in the air) and another live album Nobody's Perfect (1988) which was culled from several shows on this tour, but still largely based on the by-now familiar Made in Japan set-list. In the UK a new version of "Hush" (with Gillan on lead vocals) was released to mark 20 years of the band. In 1989 Gillan was fired as his relations with Blackmore had again soured and their musical differences had diverged too far. Originally, the band intended to recruit Survivor frontman Jimi Jamison as Gillan's replacement, but this fell through due to complications with Jamison's record label. Eventually, after auditioning several high-profile candidates, including Brian Howe (White Spirit, Ted Nugent, Bad Company), Doug Pinnick (King's X), Australians Jimmy Barnes (Cold Chisel) and John Farnham (Little River Band), Terry Brock (Strangeways, Giant) and Norman "Kal" Swan (Tytan, Lion, Bad Moon Rising) former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner was recruited into the band. This Mark V line-up recorded just one album, Slaves and Masters (1990) and toured in support. It achieved modest success and reached number 87 in the Billboard Charts in the US, but some fans criticised it as little more than a so-called "generic Foreigner wannabe" album.

"Musically, it was very satisfying. The setlist was straight out of classic rock heaven. And the band were just great. Their timing was just fantastic."

--Guitarist Joe Satriani on his brief period with Deep Purple
With the tour complete, Turner was forced out, as Lord, Paice and Glover (and the record company) wanted Gillan back in the fold for the 25th anniversary. Blackmore grudgingly relented, after requesting and eventually receiving 250,000 dollars in his bank account and the classic line-up recorded The Battle Rages On.... However, Gillan reworked much of the existing material which had been written with Turner for the album. As a result, Blackmore became infuriated at what he considered non-melodic elements. During an otherwise successful European tour, Blackmore walked out in 1993, for good, after a show on 17 November in Helsinki, Finland. Joe Satriani was drafted to complete the Japanese dates in December and stayed on for a European Summer tour in 1994. He was asked to join permanently, but his commitments to his contract with Epic Records prevented this. The band unanimously chose Dixie Dregs/Kansas guitarist Steve Morse to become Satriani's successor.
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Diverse ( 56 )

Gentle Giant ( B4 )

The new band also featured three lead vocalists. Derek Shulman sang in a tough rhythm-and-blues style and generally handled the more rock-oriented vocals; Phil Shulman handled the more folk-or-jazz-influenced songs; and Kerry Minnear (who had a particularly delicate voice) sang the lighter folk and chamber-classical lead vocals. Minnear did not sing lead vocals at live concerts, because of his inability to support and project his voice at a level suitable for live amplification (Derek and Phil Shulman handled Minnear's lead vocal parts when the band played live). It has been reported that Elton John unsuccessfully auditioned for lead vocalist with the newly formed group.

According to a booklet that was included in their first album, the band's name was a reference to a fictional character, a "gentle giant" that happens upon a band of musicians and is enthralled with their music. The character is reminiscent of those from the Renaissance tales of François Rabelais.

From the start, Gentle Giant was a particularly flexible band because of the exceptionally broad musical skills of its members. One Gentle Giant album would list a total of forty-six instruments in the musician credits — all of which had been played by group members — and five of the six members sang, enabling the band to write and perform detailed vocal harmony and counterpoint. The band's approach to songwriting was equally diverse, blending a wide variety of ideas and influences whether they were considered commercial or otherwise.

Early Gentle Giant: the debut album, Acquiring the Taste and Three Friends

The band's first album was the self-titled Gentle Giant in 1970. Combining the collective band members' influences of rock, blues, classical, and 1960s British soul, it was an immediately challenging effort, though sometimes criticised for a slightly disappointing recording quality.

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Freddie Mercury ( b18 )

For Mercury's 65th birthday in 2011, Google dedicated their Google Doodle to him. It included an animation set to the Mercury penned song, "Don't Stop Me Now". Referring to "the late, great Freddie Mercury" in their 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech, Guns N' Roses quoted Mercury's lyrics from his song "We Are the Champions"; "I've taken my bows, my curtain calls, you've brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it, and I thank you all."

Tribute was paid to Queen and Mercury at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The band's performance of "We Will Rock You" with Jessie J was opened with a video of Mercury's "call and response" routine from 1986's Wembley Stadium performance, with the 2012 crowd at the Olympic Stadium responding appropriately.

The frog genus Mercurana, discovered in 2013 in Kerala, India, was named as a tribute because Mercury's "vibrant music inspires the authors". In addition, the site of the discovery is very near to where Mercury spent most of his childhood. A new species of the genus Heteragrion (Odonata : Zygoptera) from Brazil was named Heteragrion freddiemercuryi in his honour, with the etymology: "I name this species after Freddie Mercury, artistic name of Farrokh Bulsara (1946–1991), superb and gifted musician and songwriter whose wonderful voice and talent still entertain millions of people around the world."

On 1 September 2016, an English Heritage blue plaque was unveiled at Mercury's home in 22 Gladstone Avenue in Feltham, west London by his sister Kashmira Cooke and Brian May. Attending the ceremony, Karen Bradley, the UK Secretary of State for Culture, called Mercury "one of Britain's most influential musicians", and added he "is a global icon whose music touched the lives of millions of people around the world". On 5 September 2016, the 70th anniversary of Mercury's birth, asteroid 17473 Freddie Mercury was named after him. Issuing the certificate of designation to the "charismatic singer", Joel Parker of the Southwest Research Institute added: "Freddie Mercury sang, 'I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky' - and now that is even more true than ever before."

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Ringo Starr ( b16 )

2000s

Starr was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 2002, joining an elite group including Buddy Rich, William F. Ludwig Sr. and William F. Ludwig Jr. On 29 November 2002 (the first anniversary of Harrison's death), he performed "Photograph" and a cover of Carl Perkins' "Honey Don't" at the Concert for George held in the Royal Albert Hall, London. Early the following year, he released the album Ringo Rama, which contained a song he co-wrote as a tribute to Harrison, "Never Without You". Also in 2003, he formed Pumkinhead Records with All-Starr Band member Mark Hudson. The label was not prolific, but their first signing was Liam Lynch, who produced a 2003 LP entitled Fake Songs.

Starr served as an honorary Santa Tracker and voice-over personality in 2003 and 2004 during the London stop in Father Christmas's annual Christmas Eve journey, as depicted in the annual NORAD tracks Santa program. According to NORAD officials, he was "a Starr in the east" who helped guide North American Aerospace Defense Command's Santa-tracking tradition.

His 2005 release Choose Love eschewed the star-guests approach of his last two studio albums but failed to chart in the UK or the US. That same year, Liverpool's City Council announced plans to demolish Starr's birthplace, 9 Madryn Street, stating that it had "no historical significance". The LCC later announced that the building would be taken apart brick by brick and preserved.

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Motörhead - Motörhead ( L1 )

Sunrise, wrong side of another day,
Sky high and six thousand miles away,
Don't know how long I've been awake,
Wound up in an amazing state,
Can't get enough,
And you know it's righteous stuff,
Goes up like prices at Christmas,
Motörhead, you can call me Motörhead, alright

Brain dead, total amnesia,
Get some mental anaesthesia,
Don't move, I'll shut the door and kill the lights,
And if I can't be wrong I could be right,
All good clean fun,
Have another stick of gum,
Man, you look better already,
Motörhead, remember me now Motörhead, alright

Fourth day, five day marathon,
We're moving like a parallelogram,
Don't move, I'll shut the door and kill the lights,
I guess I'll see you all on the ice,
I should be tired,
And all I am is wired,
Ain't felt this good for an hour,
Motörhead, remember me now, Motörhead alright

Deep Purple ( B13 )

After the break-up, most of the past and present members of Deep Purple went on to have considerable success in a number of other bands, including Gillan, Whitesnake and Rainbow. There were, however, a number of promoter-led attempts to get the band to reform, especially with the revival of the hard rock market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1980, a touring version of the band surfaced with Rod Evans as the only member who had ever been in Deep Purple, eventually ending in successful legal action from the legitimate Deep Purple camp over unauthorised use of the name. Evans was ordered to pay damages of US$ 672,000 for using the band name without permission.

Reformation, reunions and turmoil (1984–1994)

In April 1984, eight years after the demise of Deep Purple, a full-scale (and legal) reunion took place with the "classic" early 1970s line-up of Gillan, Lord, Blackmore, Glover and Paice. The reformed band signed a worldwide deal with PolyGram, with Mercury Records releasing their albums in the US, and Polydor Records in the UK and other countries. The album Perfect Strangers was recorded in Vermont and released in October 1984. The album was commercially successful, reaching number 5 in the UK Albums Chart and number 17 on the Billboard 200 in the US. The album included the singles and concert staples "Knockin' At Your Back Door" and "Perfect Strangers". Perfect Strangers became the second Deep Purple studio album to go platinum in the US, following Machine Head.

The reunion tour followed, starting in Australia and winding its way across the world to North America, then into Europe by the following summer. Financially, the tour was also a tremendous success. In the US, the 1985 tour out-grossed every other artist except Bruce Springsteen. The UK homecoming saw the band perform a concert at Knebworth on 22 June 1985 (with main support from the Scorpions; also on the bill were UFO and Meat Loaf), where the weather was bad (torrential rain and 6 inches (15 cm) of mud) in front of 80,000 fans. The gig was called the "Return of the Knebworth Fayre".

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Istoric ( 61 )

03.08.63 - The Beatles canta pentru ultima oara in Cavern Club din Liverpool. La primul concert, gajul trupei a fost de 5 lire. La acest ultim concert a fost de 300 de lire. Era cea de-a 294-a aparitie in acest club.

Gentle Giant ( B3 )

In 1969, the Shulman brothers finally dissolved the group in order to escape the pop music environment that had frustrated them. Surprisingly, they did not return directly to rhythm and blues or soul, but chose to pursue a more complicated direction. Ray Shulman later stated "We knew we couldn't continue with the musicians we'd had before. We weren't interested in the other musicians in the band — they couldn't contribute anything. We had to teach them what to do. It got rather heavy when we could play drums better than the drummer, and even on record we were doing more and more of it with overdubs. It got stupid having a band like (that). The first thing was to get some musicians of a higher standard."

Formation of Gentle Giant

Gentle Giant was formed in 1970 when the Shulman brothers teamed up with two other multi-instrumentalists, Gary Green (guitar, mandolin, recorder etc.) and Kerry Minnear (keyboards, vibraphone, cello etc.), plus drummer Martin Smith, who had previously drummed for Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. The classically trained Minnear had recently graduated from the Royal College of Music with a degree in composition, and had played with the band Rust. Green was essentially a blues player and had never worked with a band above the semi-professional level, but adapted readily to the demanding music of the new band. The Shulman brothers, meanwhile, settled into typically multi-instrumental roles of their own: Derek on saxophone and recorder; Ray on bass and violin; Phil on saxophone, trumpet, and clarinet.

It was like this big funnel, really. We all had these varied influences, whether it be pop, classical, rock, jazz, or whatever, and we just came together and created what we did. A lot of the bands who were doing prog rock back then were doing long songs that in many cases were just filler, but we never tried to impress anyone with our talents, maybe we were just trying to impress each other! What to us just seemed like some clever songs really touched a lot of people it seems, which never fails to amaze me.

“

”

Derek Shulman on Gentle Giant's writing approach
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