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John Deacon

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For the motorcyclist, see John Deacon (motorcyclist).
For the medieval chroniclers named "John, deacon of...", see John the Deacon.
John Deacon

John Richard Deacon (born August 19, 1951, in Leicester, Leicestershire) is an English musician, best known as the bassist for the rock band Queen. Of the four members of the band, Deacon was the youngest, last to join, and wrote the fewest songs; however, several of his compositions were big hits, such as "You're My Best Friend", "Another One Bites the Dust" and "I Want to Break Free". He also played rhythm and acoustic guitars on several albums as well as occasional keyboards.

Deacon retired from the music business in the late 1990s, and has chosen not to participate in the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour.

Biography

Deacon first attended Langmoor Junior School before moving to Gartree High School and Beauchamp Grammar School all in Leicester. It was here that he formed his first band, The Opposition, in 1965 at the age of fourteen. He played a rhythm guitar bought with money loaned by one of the other band members. He became the bassist after the original bassist was fired for not being of the same quality as the rest of the band. As well as a dedicated musician Deacon also was the band's archivist, taking clippings from newspapers of even the advertisements featuring The Opposition. After being in the band for four years, Deacon played his final concert with the band (now called The Art) in August 1969. He left as he had been accepted to study at Chelsea College.

Although he left his bass and amplifier at home in Oadby, Leicester after less than a year in London where he went on to achieve a First Class Honours Degree in electronics, he decided he wanted to join a band. By this time Queen had already been formed by Brian May, Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, and Deacon even saw them in October of 1970. In early 1971 he was introduced to Taylor and May by a friend at a disco who told him that they were in a band that had just lost its bassist. A couple of days later he auditioned in a lecture room at Imperial College London and became the last member of Queen to join the band. Since the band's last bassist drew attention away from Mercury, Deacon was selected for his musical talent, his quiet demeanour and his electrical skills. A persistent legend claims Deacon was the seventh bassist auditioned.

On Queen's first album he was credited as "Deacon John". Not long after its release, he requested that he be referred to by his proper name.

His first writing credit did not come until Queen's third album, Sheer Heart Attack. The song "Stone Cold Crazy" is credited to the band Queen as a whole. The first song Deacon wrote on his own was the song "Misfire" from the same album, a Caribbean-themed song that garnered little attention. He would achieve much greater success with his second song, "You're My Best Friend", which went on to be an international hit.

He was the 'quiet' member of the band, and the others said that he was in charge of most of the finances. His last public appearance with the band was at an AIDS Charity event in 1997, and his last direct involvement with Queen, was with the recording of "No-One But You".

He has made it clear that he endorses the 'Queen' projects put forward by Brian May and Roger Taylor, and was partially involved in the early stages of the preparation for the We Will Rock You musical. But currently, Deacon has retired from the music scene, and even declined to participate in the recent Queen + Paul Rodgers tour. According to The Sun, he was not impressed with Robbie Williams's version of "We Are the Champions", recorded for A Knight's Tale and he was also less than pleased[citation needed] with the re-make of "We Will Rock You" done by Britney Spears, Pink and Beyoncé with Brian May and Roger Taylor for a UK Pepsi television commercial in 2004.

He lives in Putney in South West London with his wife Veronica Tetzlaff. Married since January 18, 1975 [1], the two have six children: Robert (born 1975), Michael (born 1978), Laura (born 1979), Joshua (born 1983), Luke (born 1992) and Cameron (born 1993).

John Deacon occasionally visits the Queen fan club to keep up to date with the world of Queen but remains an elusive character. He enjoys playing golf, and music-wise "likes a bit of everything". According to The Sunday Times Rich List he was worth £50 million in 2004.

As a trained electrical engineer, he often used to jimmy up equipment for the band. His most famous creation is the "Deacy Amp", used by Deacon and Brian May, for instance for the guitar part on the ending of Bohemian Rhapsody.

As a performer

Let's just say that the product of drummer Roger Meddows Taylor and bassist Deacon John[1] is explosive, a colossal sonic volcano whose eruption maketh the earth tremble. — Gordon Fletcher - Rolling Stone 149[2]

Deacon played guitar in addition to bass, taking over rhythm parts in many albums, as well as several acoustic performances. Much of the guitar work on Hot Space is the work of Deacon. Reportedly he could keep basic drum patterns[citation needed] and, even if he never mastered his keyboard abilities, he would occasionally play synthesizers on his own compositions and often composed at the piano, playing an electric one on his top ten hit "You're My Best Friend". He can also be seen playing the grand piano in the video to "Spread Your Wings", although he didn't play it on the studio version.

Highlights

Mostly, Deacon's compositions varied from pop rock to funk. Though he did not write many songs (usually only one or two an album), he has been responsible for three of Queen's largest hits: "You're My Best Friend" (from A Night at the Opera), "Another One Bites the Dust" (from The Game) and "I Want to Break Free" (from The Works). To this day "You're My Best Friend" and "Another One Bites the Dust" are two of the most played songs on American radio.

As a bass player his most notable works include "Another One Bites the Dust" (recently voted greatest bass riff ever on an online poll), "Dragon Attack", "Father to Son", "Brighton Rock", "The March of the Black Queen", "You're My Best Friend", "The Millionaire Waltz", "We Are the Champions", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", and "Under Pressure." As a guitar player, he did some rhythm-playing in songs like "Staying Power" (both live and in the studio) and "Back Chat", as well as lead parts in "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Misfire" and Spanish acoustic fills in "Who Needs You". He also played double bass, notably on Brian May's 1975 song "'39". May had asked him to play upright bass as a joke but a couple of days later he found Deacon in the studio with the instrument, and he had already learned to play it.[3]

Deacon's contributions in keyboards were mostly just background chords; his most notable work is in his composition "You're My Best Friend", which was the first song he wrote on the electric piano. Deacon also played triangle in live versions of "Killer Queen" (it hung off his microphone) and some piano.

Style

Deacon's style was one that was rarely seen in rock bands during the 1970s. Rather than just sit in the background playing root notes, he used the bass guitar as a lead instrument as well as a rhythm instrument. Some of his lines on the bass are very intricate and difficult to play such as "The Millionaire Waltz" and "You're My Best Friend". It is obvious that he was influenced by Motown's lead style bass lines. Some of Queen's songs feature the bass as the main instrument which include "Dragon Attack", "Another One Bites the Dust" and "A Kind of Magic". When listening to Queen's music it is obvious how tight Deacon's playing is, with numerous runs, walking bass lines and tight quick note changes. Deacon mainly used his fingers, though sometimes did use a pick. One of his trademarks is the licking of his fingers when playing and the sticking of two picks under the fret board. He generally didn't play with a floating thumb and occasionally played with his thumb itself.

Another trademark of Deacon's playing is his bass runs, in a 1975 review of Sheer Heart Attack the reviewer wrote "Only at the end would a new initiate to Queen recognize John Deacon's unmistakable trademark: the bass runs under the fade are a fast and facile as any to be heard. The least well known musician in Queen is one of his rock generation's most able."[4]

Singer

Deacon is the only member of Queen never to sing any lead vocals on any of their tracks, even admitting in interviews that he was incapable of competing with the three strong vocalists in the group. John Deacon was never credited with doing backing vocals on albums yet in interviews (for instance, an interview with former Queen's producer, Roy Thomas Baker) it was said that he sung backing vocals for the less operatic harmonies (e.g. "Tie Your Mother Down", "Liar", "In The Lap Of The Gods....Revisited" and some parts of "Somebody to Love").[citation needed] John Deacon though definitely did sing backing vocals live as four voices were needed to get the effect of the numerous voices on the album recordings.[citation needed] It is quite obvious though that his microphone was lower than the others as his voice is quite hard to recognise at times, though there have been occasions (Earls Court '77) when his microphone was turned up louder than Brian May's and Roger Taylor's by accident.[citation needed] Deacon also sang into Freddie Mercury's microphone during the middle bridge of "Liar" when it was performed live as a testament to the film clip in which he does the same thing.

Gear

John Deacon's first bass was an Eko; he later got a Rickenbacker 4001, which is what he used for his audition for Queen, the very first concerts and the recording sessions at De Lane Lea in 1971. When the band begun recording at Trident, he had problems with it and acquired a Fender Precision 1967 model with the silver 1966 transition logo and sunburst finish, which became his main instrument for the last concerts in 1972 and all the 1973-1975 tours. As a back-up he had another one of the same model, but with the black 1969 transition logo. Before the beginning of the 'Night At The Opera' sessions he stripped the paint off both, left them with a natural finish, and switched them; from then on the black logo one would be his main guitar for most tours and recordings.

In early 1977, Deacon got two new basses: a Fender Precision Fretless, which he used for "'39" (emulating the double bass he used in the original recording) and "My Melancholy Blues" on stage and a Music Man Stingray which he used as main for the "Day At The Races" tour and some videos. From the 'News of the World' tour up until 'The Works' tour in 1985, the Musicman would remain for just specific numbers ("Sheer Heart Attack", "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Back Chat"), and used sometimes in the studio as well. The fretless type kept being used for "'39" and "My Melancholy Blues" live until the end of the decade.

During late 1977, at the beginnings of "News of the World" tour in the States, he tried another Fender P-Bass, a 1954 Masterbuilt model, but eventually gave it up and returned to the black logo '67 model. The old Fender kept being used occasionally as back-up, in the recordings of "Coming Soon" (1979) and in the video of "Back Chat" (1982).

In 1980, Kramer made him a custom bass, which he used as back-up for some tours and in videos (e.g. "Play the Game", "Las Palabras De Amor"). Next year, Fender gave him a special prototype model which Deacon used for recording "Under Pressure" for the "Hot Space" album and performing it during the 1981-1985 period.

A new Fender P-Bass came to his hands: a red Elite 1, which he used for mimed performances, some videos and recordings (e.g. "One Vision"). In 1986, John Deacon got a Warwick Buzzard, used for some videos and mimed performances, but not on recordings. Before the Magic Tour, he refurbished and spray-painted his Precision bass black and continued using it as main instrument for several gigs (e.g. The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness, "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)").

For other instruments, John Deacon mostly used Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars, his main was a custom Tele which he used on stage. In the recordings of "Misfire" he demonstrated he too could play guitar harmonies. For acoustic he mostly used Martin D-18 and Ovation. The piano he played in "Another One Bites the Dust" was a Bösendorfer and in "You're My Best Friend" a Wurlitzer. For synths, he used Oberheim OB-X, Roland Jupiter 8 and Yamaha DX7.

Discography

Main article: Queen discography

Queen songs John Deacon wrote that were released as singles:

Selected Queen album tracks:

Selected solo efforts:

  • Jive Junior And Man Friday: "Picking Up Sounds" (7" single, 1983)
  • The Immortals: "No Turning Back" (single from Biggles soundtrack) (1986)

Collaborations

  • 1975 All four members of Queen helped produce a session with the soul band Trax. Nothing was ever released.
  • 1983 "Picking Up Sounds" by Man Friday and Jive Junior co-wrote, produced and played bass guitar on this single.
  • 1984 "It's An Illusion" by Roger Taylor bass guitar on this track from the album "Strange Frontier."
  • 1984 "I Cry For You" by Roger Taylor bass guitar on the remixed version of this song, on the single "Strange Frontier."
  • 1985 "Too Young" by Elton John bass guitar on this song from the LP "Ice On Fire."
  • 1986 "Angeline" by Elton John bass guitar on this song from the LP "Leather Jackets."
  • 1986 "This Is Your Time" by Errol Brown co-wrote and bass guitar on this track, which was never released.
  • 1987 "I Dream Of Christmas" by Anita Dobson bass guitar on this track from the album "Talkin Of Love."
  • 1987 "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Bad News backing vocals on this single.[citation needed]
  • 1988 "Roulette" by Minako Honda co-wrote this song (in fact No Turning Back remake with other lyrics) from the album "Cancel." john didn't participate in the Minako Honda recording, although his bandmate May wrote and produced two songs for this album.
  • 1988 "How Can I Go On" by Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballe bass guitar on this single from the album "Barcelona."
  • 1989 "Who Wants to Live Forever" by Ian & Belinda bass on this charity record, produced by Brian May, featuring May himself and Taylor on drums.
  • 1992 "Nothin' But Blue" by Brian May plays bass on this track from Back To The Light.
  • 1992 "Somewhere In Time" by Cozy Powell plays bass on this instrumental version of Nothin' But Blue from Cozy Powell's album The Drums Are Back.

Quotes about Deacon

  • "When I was five years old my hero was John Deacon, who used to do the most incredible upper-register work and those melodic, tight groove parts." - Richie Edwards[2]
  • "Grossly underrated. His bass parts are like little stories, yet he never gets in anyone’s way. With all the guitars and vocals going on, he finds the spaces and plays basically what he wants. He’s loose, fluid, and quite busy at times, but I can’t find one song where he stepped on the vocal or guitar parts." - Danny Miranda[3]

Trivia

References

  1. ^ John Deacon was credited as Deacon John on Queen.
  2. ^ Rolling Stone - Issue 149 - 12-06-1973
  3. ^ Brian May. "Queen Legends".
  4. ^ 1975-03-XX - Circus
  • Mark Hodkinson (2004). The Early Years: Queen. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-012-2
  • Mark Blake (Editor) (2005). MOJO Classic Queen Special Edition. EMAP Metro Limited.



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