A while back our son, Montie, and I had the fun privilege of attending this concert right here in Branson at the Mansion Theater. Neither of us have ever attended a live, rock band type concert before in our lives. So, this was pretty fun to get to experience together. I must say, it was fun to relive the songs that I heard growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s. This band did a fantastic job of portraying the original group. In my research of some highlights of the original group for the month of July it was cool to find some major happenings in the original group.
Here are just a handful:
They played their first London gig on July 18, 1970, after changing their name from Smile to Queen and different members coming and going.
July 2, 1971, they played their first gig with the classic lineup that would be for a few years.
In October 1981, the first compilation album, titled Greatest Hits, showcased the group's highlights from 1974 to 1981. It was the best-selling album in UK chart history. It was the only album to sell over seven million copies in the UK, and as of July 2022, it spent over 1,000 weeks in the UK Album Chart.
At Live Aid, held at Wembley on 13 July 1985, in front of the biggest-ever TV audience of an estimated 1.9 billion, Queen performed some of their greatest hits.
Now to the guys who are doing justice for this amazing band with so much history.
Let's meet them.
Paulie Z - Vocals. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. At an early age it was clear that music was his passion. He was a lead singer and guitarist in various rock bands. He co-founded a band with his brother David, called ZO2. This band toured the country with KISS and Poison. They have released three albums and four singles. They also had a TV show, "Z Rock" for two seasons. Paulie moved to LA and released a solo album. Paulie plays the role of Freddie Mercury and does an outstanding performance. Paulie has stated that, "Bohemian Queen is his vehicle to bring life for audiences the same magic, power and legacy that he saw in the real Freddie."
Steve Zukowsky - Guitar/Vocals. Steve was an original member in the Los Angeles band named, "Sheer Heart Attack," one of the first Queen Tribute Bands. This band was in a documentary feature Indie Film, "Tribute - the Movie." He is a sought-out master guitar for some of the top LA bands, including Led Zeppelin. He has even met the Queen original guitarist, Brian May. Steve has performed with symphonic orchestras around the country. He has performed with many well-known people, including The Stones, Bowie and U2.
Aaron Samson - Bass/Vocals. Aaron was born and raised in British Columbia, Canada. His fondest memories in the cold rainy weather were learning to play piano with his grandmother. He had formal music training starting at the age of eight on various instruments. But watching a rock band's performance at a school dance, he fell in love with the melodic frequencies of the electric bass. At the age of 12, his family moved to Southern California and was fortunate to be exposed to music production by a family friend and multi-Grammy Canadian producer, David Foster. He wrote songs with a bandmate in high school that became the foundation of Rock Band, "ODIN." At the age of 19, he signed his first contract with RCA in the late ‘80s. He signed with Warner/Chappell publishing in the ‘90s. He also was a sideman for well-knowns like, "Steven Adler, Guns N Roses, John 5 and George Lynch just to name a few.
Glenn Jost - Drums/Vocals. Born in Pittsfield, MA, and family moved to Buffalo, NY. He is a left-handed singing drummer, who started playing the drums as a toddler on the pots/pans. Glenn saw “The Partridge Family” and KISS on TV and knew that was his future. He started performing at clubs at the age of 15, then toured the Northeast. In New York City, he played the East Village scene, while also working with 13-time Grammy Award winner, "Bob Ludwig'' at Masterdisk Studios. Surrounded by world class music producers, he developed songwriting and recorded the first ReLoVe track, which was awarded the 4th Annual Billboard Song Contest. He later moved to Los Angeles, and performed on TV in festivals, and the USAF tour of Greenland, he was the lounge drummer on the Alley McBeal Fox TV, played with the Horse Soldiers, contributed a track for "Cowboy Christmas (Scottie Bros/WEA)" and performed with the original Broadway hit, "Dream Girls." He did back vocals for Robin Williams. Glenn has co-managed three national touring acts with David Victor formerly of Boston. Together, they created bands named, "Bostyx, Platinum Rockstars and Rock Stars & Stripes - that are licensed with Carnival Cruise lines. Side note Glenn has been coming to the Ozarks and Table Rock Lake with his family for years and loves all of it.
Victor Bender - Keys/Guitar/Vocals. Born in Colombia, South America, he was raised in nightclubs in the Colombian music scene. He is a multi-instrumentalist, working along with his father in the Fuentes Records Studio. He learned music composition and production, cutting demos to launch the careers of many Latin pop stars on the Universal Records label. A keen ear, he has been able to write music and sound design for his own company, "Bender Post." He has worked with well-known agencies and brands like, Coca-Cola, Dawn, Samsung, Nordstrom and many more. He has also worked on audio post-productions for Disney, Fox, Paramount, Netflix, Universal and Sony Pictures. His company has led seminars for post-production at several universities and have been featured in the Rolling Stone magazine.
Glenn told me, "He wants to bring this band along with the other bands that he is involved with to Branson in the future. He wants to bridge the gap of ages, ethnicities, political persuasions and families together as ONE, to share in the incredible power and joy of music!" He is wanting to make it a regular annual experience of shows here in Branson. When they come back, make sure to attend the show! You will find their schedule online at www.bohemianqueenband.com.
Or you can keep up with them on Facebook.
Komen