As part of the 2012 hennemusic Rock News Awards, the site is counting down the Top 10 Rock News Artists of the year.
Finalists for the 3rd annual hennemusic Rock News Awards are chosen by readers: winners are determined by the combined total page views of the top 50 hennemusic rock news stories of the past twelve months.
The 2012 hennemusic Rock News Awards winners will be announced on Friday, December 21 at hennemusic.com.
Rock News Artist of The Year #10 – QUEEN
Following the band’s busy 40th anniversary celebrations in 2011, Queen continued to maintain a high profile throughout 2012.
In April, the band’s “Greatest Hits” was named the best-selling album of all time in the UK, ahead of works by The Beatles and ABBA.
The same month, Queen appeared on American Idol performing a medley of their classics with the top 6 contestants; the show also provided an opportunity to premiere the group’s new tribute, “The Queen Extravaganza,” who went on to launch a summer North American tour.
In July, Queen teamed up with pop star Adam Lambert for a series of live shows in Russia, Poland and the UK.
The band’s 1975 classic, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” was voted the UK’s favorite Number 1 single of all-time in July, ahead of tunes by Michael Jackson, Adele, Oasis and The Beatles.
In August, Queen were front and center at the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.
The band’s appearance began with video screens featuring footage of the late Freddie Mercury enticing a 1986 Wembley Stadium crowd to sing along with his vocal gymnastics – a tradition at Queen shows back in the day. May and Taylor were joined by UK pop singer Jessie J for the appearance as they rocked out on a stadium-shaking version of “We Will Rock You.”
Legendary frontman Freddie Mercury became an Angry Bird to celebrate the annual Freddie For A Day event. Now in its third year, the annual fundraising event celebrates Freddie’s birthday – September 5 – by encouraging fans to dress like the Queen singer while raising money for the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the AIDS charity set up in Freddie's name in 1992.
Freddie’s “The Great Pretender” was released in September, giving fans an opportunity to get the inside story of the singer's life,career and the solo projects he worked on outside of the band.
A planned Freddie film starring Sacha Baron Cohen is still in the works, with May telling fans in October that “the film should be ready for release early in 2014.”
“Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live In Budapest”, a 1986 concert film, was released in November.
Ahead for 2013, The Queen Extravaganza return to North American for more dates beginning in January.
Roger Taylor has also announced that he will release a new solo album next year.
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