The Bassist Queen Had Before John Deacon: Barry Mitchell and the Nine Months Nobody Talks About

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 13:11:40 +0000

Between June 1970 and March 1971, Queen went through three bass players. Barry Mitchell lasted the longest — around thirteen gigs — and left because he didn’t think the band was going anywhere. He died on 17 August 2026, and the strange part is that he was right.

The lineup that looks inevitable wasn’t

Pull up the back cover of any Queen compilation and you get four faces that seem welded together: Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon. Twenty years, no substitutions, no drama in the rhythm section. It reads like a band that was assembled correctly on the first try.

Roger Taylor on Real Rock Lab

The Bassist Queen Had Before John Deacon: Barry Mitchell and the Nine Months Nobody Talks About

The lineup that looks inevitable wasn’t