In early 1976, Mercury received another “Ivor Novello”, now for “Bohemian Rhapsody”. At the same time the group went on its 3rd tour in America, which lasted nearly three months. Immediately after this tour, they flew to Japan, where they also had an overwhelmingly enthusiastic reception. At this time all four of Queen’s albums were in the British Top  Twenty best albums ,which was absolutely unprecedented. The Group made an extensive tour of Japan, and then went to Australia. Their tour “Down Under” in this country began with a presentation of “Entertainment Centre” in the city of Perth.

After that, the musicians returned to the UK to work on a new album – A Day At The Races, but the record was delayed, as the band went on a short UK tour. On 18^th of September 1976,out of gratitude to their numerous loyal fans, Queen gave a free concert in Hyde Park in London. According to unofficial estimates, the concert drew about 150-200 thousand people, which was a record number at the time.

“A Day At The Races” sales exceeded 500 thousand copies . On January 4th 1977 the group flew to the U.S. to prepare for its forthcoming tour of America. Nearly three months were packed with concerts in Canada and the United States. In May, 1977, Queen flew to Stockholm to begin an extensive European tour.

: The recording of the new Queen album required the highest budget of all times.However ,after the release of A Night at the Opera in November 1975,it immediately became popular and brought Queen their first platinum award.

At the betting sponsored by EMI the group accidentally bet on the same horse which happened to win the race.

Their tour “Down Under” in this country began with a performance at “Entertainment Centre” in the city of Perth.

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In January 1975 Queen hired the lawyer Jim Lashing. He was supposed to release the group from obligations to the record company “Trident”, which had ceased to provide the necessary support to Queen. On April 2, Queen for the first time appear in Canada’s Edmonton. In the same month, the group first visited Japan. At the airport were crowds of many thousands of fans who enthusiastically greeted them. Album Sheer Heart Attack at the time occupied in the “Celestial Empire” all the first place album charts. In May the same year, Freddie gets the prize “Ivor Novello” from the “Union of Poets” for the song “Killer Queen”. In June the band started work on a new album. Soon were finally discontinued all ties with the group “Trident” – to the great relief of all participants, and by September Queen had signed a  contract with John Reed. In 1975, Queen decided to release “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Ambient asserted that the composition is too long – 5 minutes 55 seconds – and never will be a hit. Freddie decided to give the song to his friend Kenny Everett, who worked as a DJ in London.  Mercury told him that this is a copy for personal use only and not for airtime. And, of course, Kenny let the song in the air. 14 times in 2 days! Since then the “bohemian rhapsody” can be heard on every radio station, with the full version. It was a huge success and marked the Queen as a group of the century.

A video clip for the single, which was directed by  Bruce Gowers’ based on the ideas of the musicians themselves, is  considered to be the beginning of mass entrainment video clips. “Bohemian Rhapsody” lasted on the top line of the UK charts for 9 weeks!

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