John Deacon Facts

John’s father encouraged John to tinker with electronics, something his father liked to do himself.

John used to be a paper boy, and saved up his money to buy a proper guitar.

John’s first band was called The Opposition. Sometime in the end of 1966, the bassist of the group left, leaving John to fill the gap. Because of the new line up, the band changed their name in a daring move to The New Opposition. This was changed again later to ART, and John left the band in 1969.

He did not take part in the music scene at Chelsea College, but of course brought along his old acoustic guitar just in case an opportunity came up.

In October 1970, John went to see Queen (obviously this was before he joined). For the performance, they were all dressed in black and the lights were dim, so all he saw was 4 shadowy figures. They didn’t make a lasting impression to him… at the time.

At the beginning of his second year in college, he realized he missed music, so he convinced his mother to drive his equipment to school for him.

His legendary Deaky amp was constructed in 1970, before he joined forces with Queen.

One of his ‘stage habits’ was licking his fingers before hard bass parts

He’s the creator of the some-what famous “Deaky Dance”, which involves things like bobbing your head, jumping up and down, spinning, among other things. So far, he is the only one who has mastered it.

John Deacon’s dad died when John was eleven. It’s something that he doesn’t like to talk about. Really the only thing he says about it is that it was rough and not easy growing up without a dad.

Apparently he is 5’ 11” tall

After Freddie died, he became depressed. He was also depressed after the Magic Tour. Apparently he was "verging on a nervous breakdown" and "considering separation" from his wife Veronica.

He has 6 children with his wife Veronica Tetzlaff: Robert (born July 18, 1975), Michael (born February 3, 1978), Laura (born June 25, 1979), Joshua (born December 13, 1983), Luke (born December 5, 1992), & Cameron (born November 7, 1993)

In 1985, he bought a Porsche, crashed it, and lost his driver's license.

When John came out of the dressing room in his costume for "I Want to Break Free" his daughter (who was about 5 at the time) started crying because she didn't recognize him!
John wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of releasing “Bohemian Rhapsody” as a single. At a party in late 1977 John got drunk and stuck his hand through a plate glass window and needed 19 stitches in his hand.The only time the rest of the Opposition could remember seeing Deaky get the least bit freaked out over anything was after he flipped his Vespa on a turn and more or less landed on his face, getting pretty banged-up in the process. According to one of the other band members "he was a little bit shaken when he showed up."When "Night At The Opera" came out, everyone thought the band was making tons of money. Actually, their management company, Trident, was - they weren't seeing any of it. In fact, Deaky wound up begging them to loan him the money for a down payment on a house. Trident refused. (He and Veronica had just had their first child and were still living in a one-room flat because that was all they could afford.) The video of "We Will Rock You" was filmed in Roger's garden in Surrey - after it had snowed for most of the morning. Freddie had to borrow Ratty's gloves while Brian and Deaky's fingers were so numb that they could barely pretend to play, although Deaky did manage to stomp on Roger's foot at one point. (Wearing heavy boots, nonetheless.) Roger wasn't exactly amused. John was so drunk one time that when he heard Queen playing on the stereo he asked who the band was. When John first got his hair cropped, everyone said he looked like a convict, and one of the roadies called him the 'Birdman of Alcatraz'. Birdman has been his nickname ever since (as well as Deacy!) and the joke was so popular that they bought him pyjamas with little arrows on like convicts wear, and he wore it once on stage.It has been said, by many people, that John is scared of plastic cups! Apparently John got drunk one night and got caught driving. He was breathalyzed and banned from driving for 12 months. He had to use public transport - AND NOBODY NOTICED!!! John is the quietest member of the band, but according to Brian he can make you curl up and die with two sentences.John used to enjoy throwing peanuts at Brian whilst he was performing his solos on stage.
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