\n<\/p>\n
On Sept. 6, a very special item of Queen<\/a> memorabilia\u00a0will be auctioned off at the annual\u00a0Freddie Mercury<\/a>\u00a0Birthday Party in Montreux, Switzerland.<\/p>\n It’s a copy of the band’s 1975 album A Night at the Opera<\/em><\/a> signed by all three surviving members. This is particularly notable because although guitarist Brian May<\/a> and drummer Roger Taylor<\/a> often sign items for\u00a0charity\u00a0purposes, bassist John Deacon<\/a> has not signed an item since 1997.<\/p>\n A silent auction<\/a> will take place at the Casino Barriere Montreux, the same building where Queen’s Mountain Studios once was. (Queen owned the studio until 2013 and recorded six of their albums there.) Proceeds from the album’s sale will go toward HIV\/AIDS awareness.<\/p>\n In 1997, Deacon formally left Queen<\/a>. In the years that have followed, he’s led an exceptionally quiet life. Apart from\u00a0remaining involved in business-related aspects of the band, Deacon has kept such a low profile that his former bandmates have said they don’t communicate much with him.<\/p>\n “He’s completely retired from any kind of social contact,” Taylor explained to Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a> in 2014. “I think he’s a little fragile and he just didn’t want to know anything about talking to people in the music business or whatever. That’s fair enough. We respect that.”<\/p>\n “He wants to be private and in his own universe,” May added. “He still keeps an eye on the finances, though. John Deacon is still John Deacon. We don’t undertake anything financial without talking to him.”<\/p>\n READ MORE:\u00a0<\/b>Top 10 Queen ’70s Songs<\/a><\/p>\n May spoke again<\/a> about Deacon in a 2024 interview with Mojo<\/a><\/em>:\u00a0“John still has a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ say. We get messages that he’s happy with what we’re doing, but he doesn’t want the stress of being involved creatively \u2013 and we respect that.”<\/p>\n Gallery Credit: Eduardo Rivadavia<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat Happened to John Deacon After He Left Queen?<\/h3>\n
Queen Albums Ranked<\/h2>\n