PRESS RELEASE

**Mon 09 Jun 03**

PRESS RELEASE: QUEEN TO BE HONOURED WITH INDUCTION

TO SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday June 9, 2002

34th Annual Induction Awards - New York, Thursday June 12, 2003

Legendary rock group Queen - John Deacon, Brian May, Roger Taylor and the late Freddie Mercury - will be honoured this Thursday June 12 by the Songwriters Hall of Fame when they are inducted in the 34th Annual Awards. The event takes place Thursday evening at New York’s Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame awards are presented annually to recognise the work and lives of composers and lyricists who have made outstanding achievements in popular music. Previous recipients have included Bob Dylan, Sir Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, and Stevie Wonder among them.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame award has become one of music’s most coveted and sought after honours and was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. As well as recognising the work of their peers, the organisation is also devoted to the development of new songwriting talent.

Along with Queen, this year's inductees, announced by Songwriters Hall of Fame Chairman/CEO Hal David, include Little Richard, Phil Collins, and Van Morrison. The Johnny Mercer Award will go to world-renowned songwriter Jimmy Webb, the Hitmaker Award will be awarded to industry icon and the Chairman/CEO of the RCA Music Group, Clive Davis.

Queen will be recognised for its million-selling achievements over three decades and in particular for having achieved the distinction of being the only group in which each of its band members have achieved no.1 songs: Freddie Mercury reached no.1 in America with Bohemian Rhapsody, a song which after being featured in Wayne’s World topped the US charts for a second time; Mercury’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love also reached no.1 and has subsequently become one of the most covered songs by American recording artists.

John Deacon’s Another One Bites The Dust topped both the Billboard Top 100 and the R & B charts and is one of the biggest selling singles of all time for the Elektra label.

Brian May’s We Will Rock You is not only a chart-topper, but has become one of the US’s most played songs having become adopted as the anthem of hundreds of sports teams and organisations throughout the US.

Roger Taylor’s Radio Ga Ga became a chart topper only after Taylor changed the lyrics at the request of his record company – the original lyrics (Radio Ka Ka) initially providing concern at record company level of possible offence to the public. The song remains one of the biggest in the Queen catalogue and is an enduring favourite in the band’s live performance.

Throughout the 70’s Queen ruled in the US reaching number 1 in the singles chart with Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Another One Bites The Dust, the latter becoming one of the biggest selling singles in American history. The band had no less than five Top Ten albums, and played to massive stadium audiences almost non-stop between 1974-1982. The legacy of the band lives on at sports stadiums across the country, where We Are The Champions and We Will Rock You have become anthems to countless teams, and in 1992 when Bohemian Rhapsody – the UK’s best single of the past 50 years (Guinness World Records) was featured in the film ‘Wayne’s World’ a whole new generation discovered Queen, remaining loyal fans since.

More recently, Queen’s recently released Hollywood Records’ Queen Platinum Collection deluxe triple-disc hit the Billboard Top 100 at No.48 and became one of the group’s biggest selling albums in the US.

Across the world, Queen continue to hold on to their place as ruling champions; the Platinum Collection has now achieved double or triple platinum status in a number of countries achieving the no.1 position in the UK, Spain, South Africa and Italy.

The band’s first DVD, Queen Greatest Video Hits 1, was one of the biggest sellers worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2002.

The band’s musical, We Will Rock You, which next week celebrates its 1st anniversary in London’s West End, remains the UK’s biggest selling show. The Queen/Ben Elton show has now been seen by over 800,000 theatregoers and taken more than $25million at the box office. Productions of the show open this year in Australia (August) and Spain (November) while the London production continues to sell out while booking through to January 2004.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame awards will see a special live performance by Queen of their anthem We Will Rock You, joining other live artists including Ray Charles, Pink and Billy Joel.