MusicRadar

Freddie Mercury's recent would be 65th birthday cannot fail to bring Queen's bassist John Deacon to mind. Deacon is not only the first in our series of Bass Legend profiles to coincide with Bass Week on MusicRadar, but also the only player to have two entries in our greatest basslines of all time poll.

Since the demise of the band following Freddie's tragic death Deacon went to ground, avoiding anything to do with Queen thereafter with the exception of the Freddie Mercury Tribute gig at Wembley Stadium in 1992, but even for that he wasn't involved in the rehearsals!

After many failed attempts to interview him over the years we tried the sneaky approach and asked Brian May if he could possibly pull a few strings for us? He laughed, "He won't talk to me so why the fuck would he talk to you?" A good point well made Brian, and from that moment on any hope of an interview was promptly abandoned.

But gone is not forgotten. John was/is (he may still play at home) an amazingly melodic bass player and although he's probably best known for the dominant riff on his composition, Another One Bites The Dust, he first caught our attention on Killer Queen.

You know the bit, as Freddie sings 'Fastidious and precise', John throws in a little lick that is exactly that! It's a very slick musical representation of the lyrics and a positive joy to the ears.

But John didn't start in music by playing bass, in fact it was the Beatles and particularly John Lennon that fired his imagination and in 1963 this 12-year-old purchased an acoustic guitar. He was also a bit of a whiz with electronics so his first outing with a band was as a roadie/electrician but soon he became their rhythm player. However it was the bass player that was the weakest link in the band so John bought an EKO bass and in 1966 and took over.

"If I'd just been a bass player all my life with the band, I wouldn't be as satisfied as I am because I only consider that as part of what I do."

A chance meeting at a party introduced him to Brian May and Roger Taylor. They were desperate to find the right bass player for their band so John was invited to audition. He could obviously play and being of a quiet disposition, John fitted in well, "They tried several others before me but their personalities seemed to clash but I wasn't likely to upstage Brian or Freddie."

Around the web:

• Gonda PuttemansHet blijft schitterend
• Brad MarcusIt's a shame John decided to retreat to the mansion to count his millions for all these years. He is, has been and always will be adored by millions of fans around the world.
• Giancarlo Finameriterebbe più attenzione l'ingegnere..
• El SuldrunA Blast from the Past...
• Sónya Kükcinovich HillMost of these shouldn't even be on this list. However, I voted for "YYZ" by Rush. Geddy Lee is, by far, one of the BEST bass players ever. Other than that, on this list, Michael "Flea" Balzary, Chris Squire, Jaco Pastorius ~ hands down!
• Bob Ratty BlakeAn interesting piece. Pity the greatest bassline poll dosen't include some of Mr Deacons other tracks. Whilst Another one bites the dust and Under pressure are most prominent, there are others which are much deeper and stronger.
• Simon MannSome of the basses you mention were one and the same. His favourite was a 1967 Precision - originally sunburst, he later had it stripped back to natural finish before having it sprayed black for the Magic tour. It was supposed to also have the cartoon characters added, but that never happened.
• Jaymily HalcyonI also think it is a shame we don't see or hear about John Deacon these days as he was just as much a part of Queen as Brian, Freddie and Roger were. I would love to know how he is doing.
• Matt CooperBrad, John felt crushed once Freddie had passed away. Because John was incredibly shy and not a big "rock and roll" persona he felt he couldn't carry on anymore without Freddie. Freddie took care of him in the band, almost like a big brother. He didn't retreat to seclusion to count his millions, he went to be with his family, the only group of people he felt could help him through the loss of a great friend and bandmate (which ultimately lead to retirement and not wanting anything to do with the public eye). He told Roger and Brian to go off and do their Queen thing, every now and again he had said "oh you can't go and do that as Queen" but his involvement (seemingly according to Brian) has been almost nothing over the recent years. I'd just love to hear that Brian and Roger see him every now and again... I mean come on, Friends Will Be Friends...
• Renee CarterI highly respect John Deacon's decision to retire from Queen. He still has a say so in the business aspect. But please have respect for someone who lost a great friend and business partner and let him enjoy the rest of his life out of them limelight.
• Simon Steelegood piece this and I´m glad he is getting the recognition he deserves. I have even more respect for John for deciding that Queen was not Queen without Freddie and sticking to his decision, I don't blame Roger and Brian for carrying on as its their legacy too but it was never going to be the same, they new this of course but they love playing and wanted to carry on and because of them Queen have never really gone away and that's good for music.I agree that John has been underated, if you have a listen to some of his other songs that were not big hits like Spread your Wings and Who Needs You from the News of the World album and Seven Days from the Jazz album to name but a few then you´ll understand what a talent he was as both musician and songwriter...this is of course what made Queen so very special, the fact that they had great collective and individual talent with a fantastic chemistry creating songs that will live forever...I would still love to see John pop up some where guesting and/or producing...but we´ll see what the future brings : ).
• Pier Massimo Doreè stato un petalo di quell'unico fiore chiamato QUEEN
• Pamela Isel PalominoJohn Deacon is an awesome musician. I miss you so much :(
• Jorge Luis Hidalgo MillaI LIKE IT
• Fredy Mauricio ArtigaJohn, to me, will always be my favorite Bass Player along side Cliff Burton from Metallica. John inspired me to take up bass playing. He played that bass so beast, I don't think there will ever be another guy quite like him.
• James LivelyQuestion for you. Most folk know about the P-Bass, Stingray, Buzzard etc. But what amps did Deaky use?
• Robin Gooner GuytonJohn Deacon is a criminally underrated bassist. Nice to see he's getting some recognition after all this time!
• Carlos Pérez NavaJohn, please comeback. "Body Language" what a great performance.
• Sébastien MonnierJohn Deacon was awesome and absolutely underrated. But he has decided not to give news to his fans and cut links with the other Queen members. I feel sad that the relation he seems to have with Brian and Roger ("He won't talk to me" says Brian) is so bad. May he like it or not, it's been his life forsome 20-25 years. I understand his wish to have a quiet life, but I can't understand he doesn't give a damn about us all. It is much under the level of Queen. But, well this is the way it has to be.
• Gregory Savignacjohn is one of the best bass player in the world and one of the most very well known.Many many people love him and would like to see him playing again .With brian and roger will be a dream..please john, come with your old friends and let us have a good time!
• Paul WilliamsIt is a shame that he doesn't do public music anymore. But after playing with the full Queen line up nothing would ever compare. I hope he is content within himself.
• Betina Løvbeck JensenI hope all these comments will be passed on to John Deacon and in that hope I would like to add; I just love the little bossa tune 'Who Needs You?'. It's a little diamant. So smooth for ear canals, a complete tune where you feel full of strength after hearing it. It all fits like a hand in a glove. Every little happy note follows every little word. And despite the sadness in the person that experienced true love which ended up being bad, you immediately notice the uplifted revelation from someone who realises he has the strength to leave. It certainly is true, that when you meet love, all your guards are down and you're totally into this new feeling, believing all the sweet words and promises. Then after a while you feel something's not right but finds evasive explainations. But sooner or later you run out of those and you have to choose your path. Thank you Queen for this tune, it's outstanding on so many levels. And, Dear Mr. Deacon, I too would like to know how you're doing and although I respect you wishes of not being in the band and of not being a public rock star icon, it would be so wonderful if you could connect to Bri and Rog again, just in private, nothing fancy official. 'Old' wires need renewed power and perhaps a little fixing and despite everything, you must have some fantastic shared memories. They Need You - and I'm sure F would be pleased if you all got together. Always remember what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.Think about it, will you? Great article by the way;).
• Rebekah Dickinsonluv john. he was the reason why I started to play bass.
• Alan SkelhornListen to John's Bass on "liar", Fantastic.
• Paula Romero Godoymuy bueno¡¡¡¡