John Deacon - Career

Career

It was in Leicester that he formed his first band, The Opposition, in 1965 at the age of fourteen. He played rhythm guitar, bought with money borrowed from 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 (then 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 after less than a year in London where he went on to achieve a First Class Honours Degree in electronics at Chelsea College, now part of King's College London, 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 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. According to various sources, prior bassists with the band included Mike Grose, Barry Mitchell and Doug Ewood.

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.

Deacon's first writing credit did not come until Queen's third album, Sheer Heart Attack. It was on the song "Stone Cold Crazy", but it was also credited to the other band members. The first song Deacon wrote on his own was "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 was featured on the group's fourth album, A Night at the Opera, and went on to be an international hit.