John Deacon

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

John Deacon is an English bassist, born in Leicester in 1951 and raised in Oadby. As a boy he already tinkered with electronics and loved soul music. At fourteen he played in the school band The Opposition, first on guitar and then on bass. In 1969 he went to London to study electrical engineering. In early 1971 he heard that a band had lost its bassist. After an audition in a lecture hall he became the last and youngest member of Queen, alongside Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor.

Music and breakthrough

Deacon was chosen for his musicality, his calm character and his technical knowledge. He built the Deacy Amp himself, a small amplifier with which May created his layered guitar parts. From Sheer Heart Attack (1974) he wrote one or two songs on almost every album. You're My Best Friend, written for his fiancée, was on A Night at the Opera (1975). In 1980 he wrote Another One Bites the Dust, a dance song born of his love of soul, which was played on both Black and white radio stations. Later he also wrote I Want to Break Free and co-wrote Under Pressure.

Influence

Deacon was a quiet force in Queen. He brought soul and funk into the band and, together with Mercury, pushed Queen towards disco in the early 1980s. His bass lines are often simple, but so catchy that they carry a song. After Mercury's death in 1991 he performed a few more times, but in 1997 he stopped making music altogether.

Listening

In School of Rock

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• Mixtape 4: When Rock Was Still Pop^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• Another One Bites the Dust SongBassist John Deacon wrote the bass riff, inspired by the disco group Chic.