Queen’s origins can be traced to a band called Smile, who signed to Mercury Records in 1969. Smile member Tim Staffell was attending Ealing Art College with Farrokh Bulsara (later known as Freddie Mercury), and introduced him to the band, with Bulsara soon becoming a keen fan. Staffell left in 1970 to join another band, Humpy Bong, but remaining Smile members, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, along with Bulsara, changed their name to Queen and continued working together. After trying out a number of bass players, the band settled on John Deacon in 1971, and began to rehearse for the first album. Released in 1973, “Queen” drew little mainstream attention, and lead single "Keep Yourself Alive", a Brian May composition, sold poorly. However, “Queen II” was released in 1974, and reached number 5 on the UK Album chart, with lead single "Seven Seas of Rhye" becoming the bands first hit, reaching number 10 in the UK. Third album “Sheer Heart Attack” followed quickly, reaching number 2 in the UK, and going gold in the US. Lead single "Killer Queen" reached number 2 in the UK chart, and became their first US hit, reaching number 12 on the Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, second single "Now I’m Here" was a number 11 hit in the UK, and the album is also home to "Stone Cold Crazy" – a song which Metallica would later cover and earn a Grammy for.

In 1975 the band recorded and released “A Night at the Opera”, at the time the most expensive album ever produced. It went triple platinum in the US, and featured "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was number 1 in the UK for 9 weeks, and is the UK’s third-best-selling single of all time. It also reached number 9 in the US (the 1992 re-release reached number 2). Second single from the album, "You're My Best Friend", peaked at 16 in the US and went on to become a worldwide Top 10 hit. By 1976, Queen were back in the studio, recording “A Day at the Races”, which reached number 1 on the UK chart, the single "Somebody to Love" achieving number 2 in the UK and number 13 in the US. That year saw them play a free concert in Hyde Park, London, setting an attendance record with 150,000 people confirmed in the audience. “News of the World” was released a year later, including "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions", both of which reached number 4 in the US. In 1978 the band released “Jazz”, which included the singles "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race" (released as a double A side single), and in 1979 their first live album, “Live Killers”, was released, going platinum twice in the US.

Queen began the 1980s with “The Game”. It featured the singles "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (a song which made the Top 10 in many countries, and was the band’s first number 1 single in the US) and "Another One Bites the Dust", a second US number 1. The album remained at number 1 for 4 weeks in the US and sold over 4 million copies. It is also the only album to ever top the Billboard rock, dance, and R&B charts simultaneously. 1980 also saw the release of the Queen recorded soundtrack for “Flash Gordon”. In 1981, Queen worked with David Bowie on the single "Under Pressure", a spontaneous collaboration as Bowie happened to drop by the studio while Queen were recording. It reached number 1 in the UK. Later that year, Queen released their first compilation album, entitled “Greatest Hits”, showcasing highlights from 1974-1981 (as of 2007, it is the UK’s best selling album).

In 1982 the band released “Hot Space”, but took a break in 1983, during which time May released a mini-album entitled “Star Fleet Project”, on which he collaborated with Eddie Van Halen. May wasn’t the first member of Queen to look into solo side projects, as Taylor had released his first solo single in 1977 (the A side of which was a cover of “I Wanna Testify” by The Parliaments, and the B-side a self penned song called "Turn On The TV") and a solo album entitled “Fun In Space” in 1981.

In 1984, Queen released “The Works”, which, despite containing the singles "Radio Ga Ga" and "I Want to Break Free", failed to do well in the US. In April 1985, Mercury released his first solo album, “Mr. Bad Guy”, and Queen closed 1985 with the single "One Vision", which was used in the film “Iron Eagle”. A limited-edition box set containing all Queen albums to date was also released, called "The Complete Works", including previously unreleased material, notably Queen’s non album single of Christmas 1984, “Thank God It's Christmas”.
In early 1986, Queen recorded the album “A Kind of Magic”, containing several songs written for the Russell Mulcahy film “Highlander”. During the tour to support the album, Queen recorded footage of their Wembley Stadium gigs in London and released the live double album “Queen Live At Wembley Stadium”, accompanied by a live concert film. After working on various solo projects during 1988 (including Mercury's collaboration with Montserrat Caballé, “Barcelona”) the band released “The Miracle” in 1989.

“Innuendo”, recorded during 1990 wasn’t released until the beginning of 1991, with Mercury's deteriorating health a major factor in the delay. The band released their second greatest hits compilation, “Greatest Hits II”, in October 1991, but in November, in a statement made on his deathbed, Mercury confirmed that he had AIDS, and within 12 hours had died, aged 45. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-released as a single shortly after his death, with "These Are the Days of Our Lives" as the B-side – it went to number 1 for the second time in the UK, with all proceeds going to charity. “Bohemian Rhapsody” was also featured in the film “Wayne's World”, helping it reach number 2 for 5 weeks in the US.

Queen never actually disbanded, although their last album of original material, “Made in Heaven”, was released in 1995, 4 years after Mercury's death, constructed from Mercury's final recording sessions in 1991, plus material left over from their previous studio albums. In addition, re-worked material from Mercury's solo album “Mr. Bad Guy”, and a track originally featured on the first album of Taylor's side-project The Cross were included. John Deacon's last involvement with the band was in 1997, when the band recorded the track "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)". It was the last song recorded by Queen, and was released as a bonus track on the “Queen Rocks” compilation album later that year. In 1999, “Greatest Hits III” was released featuring ‘Queen + Wyclef Jean’ on a rap version of "Another One Bites the Dust", a live version of "Somebody to Love" by George Michael, and a live version of "The Show Must Go On", performed in 1997 with Elton John. May and Taylor have also recorded several covers of Queen's hits with guest vocalists, including "We Will Rock You" (with Five and later, Britney Spears, Beyonce, John Farnham and Pink) and "We Are the Champions" (with Robbie Williams).

At the end of 2004, May and Taylor announced that they would reunite and return to touring in 2005, with Paul Rodgers (founder and former lead singer of Free and Bad Company) - May's website stated that Rodgers would be 'featured with' Queen as ‘Queen + Paul Rodgers’, not replacing the late Freddie Mercury. Danny Miranda of Blue Oyster Cult replaced the retired John Deacon on bass. A live double CD album, “Return of the Champions”, was released in September 2005, recorded in May 2005 during the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour at the Sheffield Arena, a DVD from the concert was also released. Queen + Paul Rodgers released a studio album, “The Cosmos Rocks”, in September 2008.

In addition to the aforementioned contributions to “Flash Gordon” (1980), “Highlander” (1986) and “Wayne’s World” (1992), several films have featured Queen songs performed by other artists. A version of “Somebody to Love” was done by Anne Hathaway in the 2004 film “Ella Enchanted”, and in 2006, Brittany Murphy recorded a cover of the same song for “Happy Feet”. In 2001, a version of "The Show Must Go On" was performed by Jim Broadbent and Nicole Kidman in the movie musical “Moulin Rouge!”, the closing credits of “A Knight's Tale” (also 2001) has a version of "We Are the Champions" performed by Robbie Williams and Queen, and the introduction to the same movie features “We Will Rock You” played by the medieval audience.

In 2002, May and Taylor collaborated with Ben Elton to make a musical based on their greatest hits, called “We Will Rock You”, which opened at the Dominion Theatre on London's West End, and was produced by Robert De Niro. It has become the longest running musical ever to run at this London theatre (overtaking the Grease musical) and has since opened in numerous other countries.

Queen albums, including 15 studio albums and 5 live albums, have spent a total of 1,322 weeks or 27 years on the UK album charts, more time than any other musical act, and have sold in excess of 190 million copies worldwide. Their “Greatest Hits” album is the all-time best selling album in the UK, with sales of over 5.4 million (600,000 more than its nearest competitor, The Beatles' “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”). “Greatest Hits II” came 7th with over 3.6 million copies sold in the UK. Queen are also the only group in which every member has composed more than 1 chart-topping single.