Despite the death of their exuberant frontman Freddie Mercury in 1991, Queen remain one of the most popular bands on the planet, with 300 million global album sales and a musical stage show that has been seen in nearly 20 cities around the world. Yet the full story of their extraordinary success has never been told, until now. Freddie Mercury begun his life as Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar, before being schooled in India and arriving in West London as a shy teenager obsessed with art and pop music. By 1970 he had talked his way into forming a rock band with a dentistry student and part-time drummer named Roger Taylor and a would-be physicist and aspiring guitar hero named Brian May. When Farrokh Bulsara changed his name to Freddie Mercury, Queen was born. Derided by critics, but adored by fans, the band's single-mindedness and sheer ambition paid off, and in 1975, Queen's six-minute operatic single 'Bohemian Rhapsody' became a Number 1 hit, changing their lives forever.From then on, Queen's story was one of constant musical and stylistic re-invention, as the progressive rock of the early '70s mutated into stadium anthems, romantic ballads and pure pop, with a side order of jazz, gospel and heavy metal. Queen performed their pyrotechnic shows in vast arenas where their charismatic lead singer, dressed in leotard, black leather or regal crown and ermine, at last found a stage large enough for his vaudevillian performance.

Then, in 1985, when their career seemed to have peaked, Queen's incredible performance at Live Aid stole the show and reminded a global television audience of why they were one of the greatest live acts of all time. Mercury's untimely death from AIDS robbed Queen of their lead singer, while forcing its surviving band members to find new ways to keep their music alive. Since then, Queen's phenomenal sales have continued, turning them into one of the world's biggest selling acts (second only to the Beatles), their stage-show We Will Rock You has broken box-office records, while Brian May and Roger Taylor recently resurrected the Queen brand for a new studio album and several tours with former Free and Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers.On the eve of Queen's 40th anniversary, Mojo and Q journalist Mark Blake has drawn on his own earlier interviews with the band, and conducted almost 100 brand new interviews with record producers, ex-band members, personal assistants and schoolfriends, including many of Freddie Mercury's earliest associates in England, to produce a fascinating and complete account of the band's rise from suburbia to worldwide superstardom. Whether you're a fan of the Queen of 'Seven Seas Of Rhye' or prefer 'Radio Ga Ga', Is This The Real Life?: The Untold Story Of Queen tells you for the first time how they became champions of the world.