John Deacon

John Deacon

John Richard Deacon (born 19 August 1951) is a retired English musician, best known as the bassist for the rock band Queen. Of the four members of the band, he was the last to join and also the youngest, being only 19 years old when he was recruited by the other members of the band. Deacon wrote a number of Queen's hit singles, including "You're My Best Friend", "Spread Your Wings", "Back Chat", "I Want to Break Free", and the band's biggest selling single in the United States, "Another One Bites the Dust", as well as a number of album tracks. He also played electric and acoustic guitars on several albums and, to a lesser extent, keyboards, synthesizers, programming and drums. He occasionally provided backing vocals during live shows and on various songs from the albums The Miracle, and Innuendo.

Following The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992, Deacon's sole performance with the remaining members of Queen was a one-off rendition of "The Show Must Go On" in 1997 with Mercury's friend Elton John (who had sung the track with the band at Mercury's tribute). He contributed to the final Queen song, "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)" – released that year on the Queen Rocks compilation – after which he retired from the music industry. He did not participate in the Queen + Paul Rodgers collaboration, in Queen's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, or in Queen's performance during the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics.