John Deacon started considering a career as a musician when he was only 14. After deciding to part ways with Opposition, the bassist went off to college to study electronics. Before he knew it, he was in dire need of a band to be a part of because the butterflies toward music hadn’t died while he was cooped up studying for his finals.
As fate would have it, when Queen was searching for a new bassist, and Deacon was roaming around waiting for a band to call him. Queen had arguably the most epic rollercoaster of a career for the musician. However, even during the glory days, Deacon preferred to be a wallflower with his quiet and reserved personality rather than shine like Freddie Mercury and Brian May.
Although he wasn’t at the forefront of every show and tabloid ever written about Queen, the bassist played a crucial role in the band’s sound. Yet, fame and fortune were always the hard sides of being in a band like Queen for the musician. Deacon always had Mercury to talk things through and get through tough times.
In a previous interview with Jim Kozolowski while he was still a part of the band, John Deacon was asked whether he would join another band if Queen were ever to disband. It was the most straightforward question for the bass player to answer as he didn’t ever see himself with any other band, and they still had many dreams for their future projects.
John Deacon’s words when asked about Queen’s potential disbandment:
“I wouldn’t go to another band. No, I mean we’d all definitely be involved in the music business in some way or another because we’re all living with it and in it, and also, we’ve got all sorts of things we would like to do. I don’t know, as the time hasn’t come yet; I think we’ve got a lot more within a group as well.”
Mercury’s passing due to bronchial pneumonia caused by complications from AIDS was devastating, to say the least. The rest was a train wreck, as losing Mercury was the breaking point that pushed the bassist to the edge of no return. Deacon has never fully recovered to find the strength to continue his music career. To him, without Mercury, there was no point in being in the band or making music which ultimately resulted in his retirement from the music industry.
After Freddie’s passing, the musician played with the band three more times before he decided to live in seclusion and retire from the music business for good. Thus, John Deacon really stuck to his word of never being a part of another band as he completely changed his lifestyle from being a public musician only to being a part of Queen’s business activities. Nowadays, the former bassist lives a quiet, family-oriented life without any plans to return to the stage.
