Stamps honour rock band Queen

Eight stamps will feature images of some of their most popular and iconic album covers:

• Queen II, 1974
• Sheer Heart Attack, 1974
• A Night at the Opera, 1975
• News of the World, 1977
• The Game, 1980
• Greatest Hits, 1981
• The Works, 1984
• Innuendo, 1991 

Completing the set is miniature-sheet celebrating Queen’s live performances with images of:

• Freddie Mercury at Wembley Stadium, 1986
• Roger Taylor at Hyde Park, 1976
• John Deacon at Hammersmith Odeon, 1975
• Brian May in Budapest, 1986

The centrepiece of the miniature-sheet is a photograph taken by Johnny Dewe Mathews at the group’s first ever studio photoshoot in a Primrose Hill studio.

Drummer Roger Taylor said:

'Wow.......stamps featuring our albums! What an honour. We must be really part of the furniture now! Thanks Royal Mail for stamping on us ! In gratitude.'
 
Brian May said:

'It’s hard to put into words what I feel when looking at these beautiful stamps. Since we four precocious boys started out on our quest 50 years ago, our lives have been devoted to making our impossible dream come true. Sometimes it’s strange to wake up and realise the position in which we are now held – we have become a national institution! And nothing brings this home more than this incredible tribute from Royal Mail. It’s particularly poignant to look at this collection of images now - now that we are all in a world dominated by a coronavirus, in which none of this could have happened. I just know that I feel an overwhelming desire to own one of these sets!  Somehow it will be a way of persuading myself that it really DID all happen!'

Celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2021, Queen becomes only the third music group to have a dedicated stamp issue – following on from the Beatles in 2007 and Pink Floyd in 2016.

Philip Parker, Royal Mail, said:

'With their truly original, theatrical sound and effortless ability to mix musical styles, Queen are rock royalty. We pay tribute to one of the most loved bands of all time with these stunning stamps.' 

The full set of thirteen stamps, available in a Presentation Pack, retails at £16. 

The stamps will go on general sale from 9 July 2020.

Queen album covers - stamp by stamp

• Queen II, 1973, gave the band their first top ten hit, ‘Seven Seas of Rhye’.

• Sheer Heart Attack, 1974, featured the single ‘Killer Queen’ which was their first global hit and they made their first Top of the Pops appearance.

• A Night at the Opera, 1975, was their first number one album and featured the ground-breaking song ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ which, in the era of digital music, has become the most streamed song from the 20th century.

• New of the World, 1977, featured two stadium-filling anthems ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are the Champions’.

• The Game, 1980, included their hit ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ which drew in new audiences.

• Greatest Hits, 1981, is the biggest selling album in the UK of all time.

• The Works, 1984, featured hit singles including their love letter to the old-fashioned wireless, ‘Radio Ga Ga’.

• Innuendo, 1991, was the final Queen album to be released in Mercury’s lifetime, and featured the poignant ‘These Are the Days of Our Lives’.

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Stamp details

QUEEN
Issue date: 9 July
Design: Royal Mail Group Ltd based on an original design by Studio Dempsey, photography of vinyl records by Geoff Dann
Stamp Format: Landscape
Stamp Size: 50mm (w) x 30mm (h)
Number per sheet: 24/48
Printer: International Security Printers, lithography
Perforations: 14 x 14
Phosphor Bars: as appropriate
Gum: PVA
1st class - Queen II
1st class - Sheer Heart Attack
1st class - A Night at the Opera
1st class - News of the World
£1.63 - The Game
£1.63 - Greatest Hits
£1.63 - The Works
£1.63 - Innuendo

Miniature sheet

Design: Royal Mail Group Ltd and Baxter & Bailey
Stamp Format: Band member stamps (square), Band portrait stamp (portrait)
Stamp Size: Band member stamps (35mm x 35mm)
Band portrait stamp (20mm x 24mm)
Printer: International Security Printers, lithography
Perforations: Band member stamps (14.5 x 14.5)
Band portrait stamp (15 x 14)
Gum: PVA
1st class - Wembley Stadium, 1986
1st class - Hyde Park, 1976
1st class - group photograph, 1974
£1.63 - Budapest, 1986
£1.63 - Hammersmith Odeon, 1975

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