John Deacon Signs Queen Memorabilia for the First Time Since 1997

On Sept. 6, a very special item of Queen memorabilia will be auctioned off at the annual Freddie Mercury Birthday Party in Montreux, Switzerland.

It’s a copy of the band’s 1975 album A Night at the Opera signed by all three surviving members. This is particularly notable because although guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor often sign items for charity purposes, bassist John Deacon has not signed an item since 1997.

A silent auction 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.

What Happened to John Deacon After He Left Queen?

In 1997, Deacon formally left Queen. In the years that have followed, he’s led an exceptionally quiet life. Apart from remaining 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.

“He’s completely retired from any kind of social contact,” Taylor explained to Rolling Stone 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.”

“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.”

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May spoke again about Deacon in a 2024 interview with Mojo: “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 – and we respect that.”