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American actor Rami Malek has become the latest star to sign up to portray Freddie Mercury in the much-disrupted Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

The 35 year old star, who won an Emmy for his role as the troubled hacker Elliot Alderson in ‘Mr. Robot’, is to play the late rock icon in a biopic movie that’s set to be directed by X-Men’s Bryan Singer, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Singer himself confirmed the news of his and Malek’s involvement via his own Instagram account on Friday night (November 4th), sharing a photo of the four Queen members’ faces as they appear in the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ video.

Continue reading: 'Mr Robot' Star Rami Malek To Portray Freddie Mercury In Queen Biopic

Brian May has cancelled his Christmas Candlelight Tour dates with West End star Kerry Ellis.

The Queen guitarist was scheduled to perform 11 dates across the UK, but has been forced to pull out due to a ‘persistent illness’, which he says is ‘destroying my energy and my will’.

Brian May has cancelled his Christmas Candlelight Tour

Continue reading: Brian May Cancels December Concerts Due To 'Persistent Illness'

A blue plaque commemorating the first house that the iconic Queen frontman Freddie Mercury lived in when his family arrived in Britain has been unveiled in Feltham, West London.

Mercury – birth name Farrokh Bulsara – lived in the pebble-dash semi at 22 Gladstone Avenue from the age of 17, when his family emigrated from Zanzibar in the autumn of 1964. While he was living there, he met his future Queen band-mates Brian May and Roger Taylor.

Continue reading: Blue Plaque Unveiled Outside Freddie Mercury's Childhood Home In West London

Queen's 'Greatest Hits' compilation has officially become the UK's biggest-selling album of all time, beating the likes of Abba, The Beatles and Michael Jackson. The revelation was revealed in a list launched by the UK's Official Album Chart as part of the chart's 60th anniversary.

Queen's 'Greatest Hits' is the best selling album in the UK

60 albums for 60 years, the top albums of the UK charts have been revealed with Freddie Mercury's band Queen topping the list with 6.1 million copies of their 1981 compilation 'Greatest Hits' sold since its release. It's not the first landmark moment for this epic release either; in 2014, it became the first album to sell 6 million in the UK. The follow-up, 'Greatest Hits II', entered into the 60 biggest selling albums list at number 10.

Continue reading: Queen's Greatest Hits Becomes The UK's Biggest Selling Album Of All Time

Brian May is painfully truthful about his opinion of Sacha Baron Cohen after the comedian pulled out of the Freddie Mercury biopic over disagreements about the content of the movie. When Cohen suggested that producers wanted something that was essentially a watered down reality, May wasn't happy.

Sacha Baron Cohen branded an a***

'Grimsby' star Sacha Baron Cohen could well have made the perfect Freddie Mercury in the Queen biopic that's currently in the works. However, he decided to walk away from the project once he realised that it wouldn't be as candid as he'd have liked. He opened up about the conflict on The Howard Stern Show, claiming that May was 'not a great movie producer' and only interested to 'protect their legacy as a band'.

Continue reading: 'Sacha Baron Cohen Is An A***': Brian May Is Brutally Honest About Comedian's Departure From Freddie Mercury Biopic

Queen guitarist Brian May has hit out at Sacha Baron Cohen, calling him an ‘arse’ over his recent comments about the planned Freddie Mercury biopic. Last month Cohen had said he left the film because the remaining members of Queen wanted to make a family friendly biopic, while the actor wanted something grittier.

Brian May has called Sacha Baron Cohen an ‘arse’.

“Sacha became an arse,” May told the Mail on Sunday. “We had some nice times with Sacha kicking around ideas but he went off and told untruths about what happened. Why would he go away and say that we didn’t want to make a gritty film?"

Continue reading: Brian May Brands Sacha Baron Cohen An 'Arse' Over Freddie Mercury Biopic

Queen have made history in the UK this past week.

The British rock band have reached a milestone that no other musical act has before.

Queen have become the first act to reach 6 million sales for an individual album in the UK, the Official Charts Company reports.

Continue reading: Queen's 'Greatest Hit' Is First Ever Album To Sell 6 Million Copies In UK

Former Queen bassist John Deacon is apparently having nothing to do with the upcoming biopic of the group's late singer Freddie Mercury as he continues to maintain his exile from the surviving group member's work under the Queen name. According to the group's guitarist Brian May, Deacon has given the script for the film his approval, but wants nothing more to do with the upcoming movie project, or the potential new Queen album rumoured to be in the works.

Mercury will be remembered in the upcoming biopic

"We kinda mourn for John as well as Freddie in a sense," May recently told Rolling Stone. "I do know John's read the script and he's in approval...[But] he just doesn't want to be walking those roads ... He's in his own space and we respect that. It's a shame, because we would love to have him around but he doesn't want to be in that arena anymore."

Continue reading: John Deacon Rules Out Any Involvement In Freddie Mercury Biopic

Its been more than two decades since the passing of Freddie Mercury, but before his tragic passing, the powerful Queen vocalist may have spent more time in the recording booth than was initially anticipated. In addition to the recently unearthed duets with Michael Jackson, it turns out that Mercury also spent a good amount of solo time in the studio, as the treasure trove of recently unearthed demos suggests.

Mercury was prolific in the recording booth

Speaking with Mojo (via The Guardian) for their December/January issue, guitarist Brian May revealed that he and the rest of the band have been scanning their archives for any unused material featuring the late Mercury, telling the magazine that they might have hit the jackpot. Comparing the project to Queen's fifteenth and final studio album, Made In Heaven, which was released nearly four years after Mercury's death in November 1995, May stated that the newly found tracks are being polished off and prepared for release. He went on to say that the hunt proved more fruitful than was initially planned and that there may be enough material for a full-length release.

Continue reading: Brian May Teases Possible 'New' Queen Album After New Demos Are Found

Actor Ben Whishaw has reportedly stepped in to play legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury after the recent departure of Sacha Baron Cohen. The 33 year-old Skyfall actor has landed the role in the upcoming biopic charting the fame of the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' rocker, The Mail on Sunday claims to have confirmed.

Ben Whishaw Is The Queen Favourite For The Role.

Baron Cohen dropped out over the summer over quarrels with the remaining Queen members regarding the film's plot. Sacha was said to be gunning for a bare-all, gritty portrayal of the singer who died in 1991 whereas the band preferred a more family-friendly storyline that celebrated Queen's music.

Continue reading: Ben Whishaw Lands Freddie Mercury Role, Replaces Sacha Baron Cohen

The planned biopic of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury's life has been in discussion for three years now, with comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen in line to star as the late singer since the very beginning of the project. The biopic was thrown into disarray in the summer however, when it was reported that Cohen had been booted from the project, with little explanation for his exit. This week, Queen guitarist Brian May looked to shed some light on what happened.

Freddie Mercury is revered as one of the finest rock frontmen of all time

"It's quite difficult to talk about because we owe Sacha a lot," May told Classic Rock in it's latest issue. He went on to say, "He had so much enthusiasm for the project and it really helped us kick it into the start position. But in the end we felt that his presence in the movie would be very distracting."

Continue reading: Brian May Explains Why Sasha Baron Cohen Was Wrong For Freddie Mercury Biopic

Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury: it was almost too perfect. The looks, the singing ability, the eccentricity, the confidence; the planned Queen biopic was bound to be a hit. However, then Baron Cohen shocked by stepping away from the movie, and leaving the iconic role open. The 41 year-old comedian pulled out of the movie a few months ago due to "creative differences."

Daniel Radcliffe Rumoured To Play Freddie Mercury.

According to Deadline, the band who wanted a more PG-ready film whilst Baron Cohen pushed for a grittier tell-all R-rated version that would take a deeper look at the talented singer's life both on and off the stage. A compromise could not be reach and Sacha threw in the towel.

Continue reading: Daniel Radcliffe Rumoured Freddie Mercury Replacement After Sacha Baron Cohen Steps Out

So, it was creative differences all along. The remaining band members - Roger Taylor and Bryan May – have revealed exactly why Sacha Baron Cohen was forced out of the Freddie Mercury biopic, but have they made a huge mistake?

"We felt Sacha probably wasn't right. We didn't want it to be a joke. We want people to be moved," Taylor explained in an interview with Mojo. "I thought the music business was slow, but this has been like swimming in treacle," the drummer added.

Of course, Baron Cohen is famous for his comedy roles, but the bravery in which he approached Borat – a film for which he was nominated for multiple awards – served to show his range as an actor. It would seem as though he’s still waiting for the dramatic role to define his career; May and Taylor could have passed up a juggernaut.

Continue reading: Sacha Baron Cohen Too Much Of A Joke For Freddy Mercury Biopic - A Huge Mistake?

Since he burst onto the scene as a wee magician all those years ago, Daniel Radcliffe has become a global star. Eight Harry Potter films secured him a lifetime of wealth and fame, but the 24-year-old Fulham-born actor hasn’t stopped working since, so maybe it’s time for a break.

“I do need a break – doing Cripple was amazing but the last month was slightly exhausting,” he told The Daily Star. “I’ve got three weeks off in October and I’m going to bum around New York and see some shows. I need to get some proper downtime.”

Sounds great, doesn’t it, some time in New York to see some shows, eat great burgers and quaff premium grade sodas. And he deserves it after playing The Cripple Of Inishmaan in London’s West End. But his brief haitus could be halted by a new job: replacing Sacha Baron Cohen to play Freddie Mercury.

Continue reading: Alright, That's Enough - I Need A Break, Says Daniel Radcliffe

The iHeartRadio Music Festival hit the MGM Grand Garden for the 3rd consecutive year on Friday (Sept 20th) to kick-off the 2 day extravaganza.

Elton John received the biggest cheer from the Las vegas crowd

The action-packed first day saw performers such as Chris Brown, Katy Perry and Robin Thicke take to the stage, but the most anticipated performances came from British rock legends ‘Queen’ and another British pop culture icon Elton John.

Continue reading: IHeartRadio Music Festival Hits Las Vegas With The Best Line-Up Yet

Duets featuring two of the greatest pop stars of all time, Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury, are expected to get full releases in the fall.

According to The Times of London, Freddie's former band mates Brian May and Roger Taylor are working on the release of three tracks recorded during a six-hour session at Jackson's home studio in Encino, California in 1983.

Writing on his website, May said: "We will have something for folks to hear in a couple of months' time, hopefully.Great evening with William Orbit working with some Queen/Freddie/Michael Jackson tapes."

Continue reading: Unheard Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury Duets? Listen To Them Now

Queen guitarist Brian May has revealed that he's working on and plans to release previously unheard material from Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury and pop star Michael Jackson. The surfacing of the dead icons' collaboration will mark 30 years since they were originally recorded in 1983, but May and pop producer supremo William Orbit have worked together to tweak and remaster the songs - one would assume - for digital age optimisation.

We Will Hear New Jackson Material In A Freddie Mercury Collaboration.

The tracks in question were reportedly recorded three decades ago at Jackson's home studio in Encino, California, before the pair fell out after Jackson decided to bring a llama into the studio. Yup, the duet tracks could well be llama-inspired, after Freddie's manager Jim "Miami" Beach reportedly got a call from the British star, having said; "Mercury rang me and said: 'Miami, dear, can you get over here? You've got to get me out of here; I'm recording with a llama.'"

Continue reading: Unheard Michael Jackson & Freddie Mercury Duets Set For Release 30 Years Later

One may have been dead for over two decades an the other for just short of half a decade, but Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson still have unfinished business with the charts as previously never-before heard duets featuring the pair are due to be released later this year. The legendary Queen frontman and the King of Pop are said to have recorded the handful of songs in California in 1983, with a full album in the pipeline, however they only got as far as recording three songs, having to abandon the project to work on their own material.

Freddie continues to inspire people today with his music

Reports are indicating that the pair teamed up for a one-time recording session in Encino, California in 1983, where they recorded three tracks together. After sitting dormant for three successive decades, it has now been announced that the songs have been re-worked and re-mastered to give us the closest possible thing to what the pair may have had in stall with their duets album. Never ones to let an easy payment on Freddie's behalf go by, Brian May and Roger Taylor have begun working on the recordings and aim to release the completed project in two months as “something for folks to hear” - as quoted in The Times - and have enlisted the help of producer William Orbit to speed up the process.

Continue reading: Michael Jackson & Freddie Mercury's Unheard Duets To Be Released Later This Year

Sacha Baron Cohen has been rumored to play Freddie Mercury in an upcoming biopic for a while now, but unfortunately, the plans have fallen through. While the movie appears to be something of a pet project for Cohen, he had to make a graceful exit, due to “creative differences” with the remaining members of Queen.

Cohen won't be adding the biopic to his long list of achievements after all.

According to Deadline, the band wanted more of a PG-13 documentary about the entirety of Queen, while Cohen was hoping to get down and dirty in a tell-all documentary about the iconic singer’s troubled history. He had reportedly brought in Peter Morgan to write and various directors including David Fincher and Tom Hooper to develop the project for himself. Unfortunately, the band did not greenlight any of them for the film. Film is set at Sony Pictures and GK Films and it will be produced by Graham King, Tom Headington, Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal for Queen Films.

Continue reading: Sacha Baron Cohen Booted Off Unnamed Freddie Mercury Biopic Due To Disagreements With Queen

Sacha Baron Cohen AKA Ali G AKA Borat AKA... you get it, was an example of a truly fitting casting decision when it was announced he'd be playing Freddie Mercury in a biopic about the late Queen lead singer's life, with even Brian May and Roger Taylor on board to contribute a few tunes and make sure the film was headed in the right direction.

Strong-Willed Guitarist Brian May Is On Board For Queen Movie.

It's true, there's few more perfect to play iconic Queen frontman Freddie Mercury than British comic Sacha Baron Cohen: the looks, the eccentricity, the infectious energy and the unquestionably self-confident flair. However, the 41 year-old actor has pulled out of the planned biopic due to "creative differences," confirms Baron Cohen's manager via Variety. According to Deadline, the band were after a more PG-ready film whilst Baron Cohen pushed for a grittier tell-all R-rated version that would take a deeper look at the talented singer's life both on and off the stage.

Continue reading: Sacha Baron Cohen Steps Out Of Freddie Mercury Biopic: Who'll Play The Queen Frontman Now?

Sacha Baron Cohen has reportedly pulled out of playing Freddie Mercury in a film about the Queen frontman due to creative differences with the existing band members, Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor.

Cohen – who found fame with his Ali G character before going global with Borat – wanted to depict Mercury in a more scandalous, adult light, while May and Taylor were more interested in a family friendly picture. And given that the pair are on-board as musical consultants - with script and director approval over the biopic – it was Cohen who had to walk.

“That film had Cohen circling the role,” say Deadline, who first reported the news, “but I’ve just learned he’s now pulled out. The reason is that the band wanted to make more of a PG movie about Queen while Cohen was counting on a gritty R-rated tell-all centered around the gifted gay singer. Given the astonishing physical resemblance, it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Freddie but Sacha.”

Continue reading: I’m Out: Sacha Baron Cohen Bails On Freddie Mercury Film

Sacha Baron Cohen has left the movie biopic of iconic Queen frontman Freddie Mercury after a disagreement over the direction of the project. Cohen - who bears a dramatic resemblance to the singer - had wanted to make a gritty R-rated drama about the star's life, enlisting David Fincher and Tom Hooper to develop the project.

However - as is always the case with approval of Queen projects - the remaining members of the band were concerned about the movie's potential effect on Mercury's legacy and seemingly wanted to make a sugar-coated PG movie. 

According to Deadline.com, the living members of Queen, including Brian May, rejected British writer Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) as the writer, as well as both Fincher (The Social Network) and Hooper (The King's Speech) as directors. 

Continue reading: Sacha Baron Cohen Leaves Freddie Mercury Movie As Attention Turns To Depp

Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars and Katy Perry are among the names confirmed for the iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas in September. The two-day festival, set to be held on September 20 and 21, will also feature performances from Elton John, Keith Urban and a special pairing of Queen (with Brian May) and the former American Idol star Adam Lambert.

The main festival line-up was announced on Monday morning (July 15, 2013) in a press conference hosted by Ryan Seacrest. A final schedule will be announced closer to the festival, though Timberlake, Perry, Elton and Bruno Mars are likely to be the marquee names. The likes of Muse, Tiesto, Chris Brown, Fun, Phoenix, Maroon 5, Tim Mcgraw, Ke&ha, Thirty Seconds to Mars and Benny Benassi are other high profile names to have been confirmed. 

Last year's festivals played host to No Doubt, Pink, Usher and Swedish House Mafia though it will be remembered for Billie Joe Armstrong's meltdown during Green Day's set. After smashing the band's instruments in protest of his set being cut short, Armstrong left the stage and was admitted to rehab the next day, cancelling his band's tour dates and promotional appearances. 

Continue reading: IHeartRadio Festival To Welcome Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars And Err, Queen

The new Skylar Grey video of ‘C’mon Let Me Ride’ featuring Eminem is a crash course in a total lack of subtlety. “If you got a sweet tooth/ you can taste my watermelon,” she sings in the opening line… whilst cupping her breast, just in case you didn’t get the joke. Luckily, Skylar’s tongue is well and truly situated in her cheek. Which is pretty much what you’d expect for a song featuring an auto-tuned Eminem singing Queen’s ‘I Like To Ride My Bicycle.’

In fact, if this video was not intended to be comical, we’d all be in trouble: featuring bikini clad girls with three breasts and over-inflated collagen lips, a ridiculously daft but catchy chorus, and footage of Skylar cycling around in a pair of denim cut-offs, on a bicycle adorned with antlers. It's entertainment in its gaudiest, most glorious form.

If you’re wondering who Skylar Grey is, she’s the 26 year-old artist who co-wrote three different versions of ‘Love The Way You Lie,’ made famous by Rihanna and Eminem. She’s also got previous form as a vocalist for Dr Dre, Lupe Fiasco and Fort Minor. She released her debut solo album Like Blood Like Honey back in 2006 and her second Don’t Look Down, is scheduled for a 2013 release. If this latest video’s anything to go by, we reckon Skylar’s going to be one to watch. She certainly seems to have bundles of humour and personality, not to mention talent. Oh and she’s clearly good mates with Eminem. What’s not to like!? 

Continue reading: New Skylar Grey Video ‘C’mon Let Me Ride’ Stars Eminem Doing Auto-Tuned Queen Chorus

Elton John has topped a list of 123 songs to have sold over a million copies in Britain, AFP reports. The list was compiled to mark the 60th anniversary of the existence of the singles charts and Elton John’s double A side ‘Something About The Way You Look Tonight’ and ‘Candle In The Wind 1997’ triumphed. The double a-side single was released in 1997, after John re-wrote Candle in the Wind for Princess Diana’s funeral. The release spent five weeks at number one in Britain, selling 4.9 million copies.

In second place was the 1984 charity Band Aid single, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ which shifted 3.69 million copies. In 1975, Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ sold 2.36 million. A statement from the Official Charts Company read “It is apt that, as we prepare to celebrate 60 years of the official singles chart in the UK, we do so at a time of unprecedented demand for the single, with this year set to be the biggest year on record for sales of this format.” the company’s managing director Martin Talbot then added “This demand is also translating in to the largest number of million-sellers we have seen -- this is truly the era of the super hit.”

The current decade is on course to become the most successful in history, in terms of breaking the million-seller mark, with 10 tracks already having broken a million, in less than three years.

How many times do we need to see a documentary on Freddie Mercury? That seemed to be the question on most critics lips as BBC1 aired 'Freddie Mercury - The Great Pretender' last night (October 16, 2012) little more than a year after their excellent Queen documentary. There is no doubting that Mercury is one of the great front man of all time, and you can never get tired of watching footage of him performing live, those great concerts at Wembley and in Rio etched into to the brain of music fans the world over.

Yet, there's only so many times Brian May and Roger Taylor can repeat their incredulity at Mercury's mental strength in the face of deteriorating physical condition. To be clear, there's absolutely no denying that Mercury's battle to the bitter end is something hugely admirable, and there's no way you can doubt May and Taylor's love and admiration for their old band mate; but they're sentiments they've uttered countless times elsewhere. Likewise, Paul Gambaccini is known as a massive Queen and Mercury fan, theire is very little he hasn't said on the band, yet there he was again, doling out the same sentiments. Interview clips of Mercury talking fly by and exhibit his cocky, self-assured personality and a lot of the time that's all you get. The documentary claims to find the contrast between his public and private persona, but we get little further knowledge about that difference apart from the - again - already well told information that he was prone to quiet and private moments.

One pleasant addition was an interview with the opera singer Montserrat Caballe, who is a relatively new voice in documentaries such as these. She revealed surprising little moments like how he stopped kissing her on the cheek after he contracted HIV, his shyness on meeting her, her revelations showing that she was one of the few collaborators Mercury met who he was totally in awe of. It was the best section of a documentary that otherwise ploughed over all-too-familiar ground. There is no doubting Freddie Mercury's legend, but the footage and angles that can be had on it are starting to be recycled.

Brain May, the legendary guitarist from the equally legendary rock band Queen, has revealed that he may have been used by producers of 'American Idol' in order to undermine the potential of one of the contestants. In an entry on his personal blog on Thursday, May explained how on Tuesday night's show, his encounter with the contestant Ace Young was entirely misrepresented. 

Brian May maintains that his conversation was edited to sound more negative.

As part of the show, a conversation between May and Young was recorded, but according to May, "it was edited in such a way that it looked as if I was purely negative." Furthermore, May suggests that his thoughts and comments were made at a completely different time. As part of the editing process, the section appeared to show the two discussing the new composition of 'We Will Rock You', "after we had played together, which was not the way it happened, making me look like I was against the whole thing."

Continue reading: American Idol Edit Brian May To Undermine Contestant