Brian May picks up Living Legend Award for Queen at Classic Rock Awards

Once again, a stellar line-up of rock royalty attended the event to celebrate what has been an incredible 12 months of music.

The evening's guests of honour and recipients of the Living Legend Award were Queen, whose song Bohemian Rhapsody first charted on November 8, 1975, 40 years ago to the week of the Awards.

Their enigmatic frontman, Freddie Mercury, was one of the greatest of all time. His vocal range and musical vision was unique, and alongside the unmistakable guitar playing of Brian May, Roger Taylor’s thunderous drumming and John Deacon's incredible bass lines, Queen became one of the UK's greatest musical exports ever. Having sold in excess of 150 million albums, they have the unprecedented achievement of all four members being responsible for composing worldwide No.1 hits including We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, Another One Bites The Dust, Radio Ga Ga and Under Pressure.

Music-News.com was there to catch him on the red carpet prior to the awards.



The award was presented to Brian May by Joe Satriani. Previous winners of the Living Legend Award include Jeff Beck, Alice Cooper, Jimmy Page, Lemmy Kilmister, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Gregg Allman and ZZ Top.

Alice Cooper on the red carpet.



Check out our Music-News.com exclusive interview with Joe Satriani on the red carpet below:



Earlier in the evening, the reader-voted categories saw Jimmy Page pick up Reissue Of The Year for the complete re-release of Led Zeppelin’s catalogue in deluxe box set form. Foo Fighters’ ‘Sonic Highways’, the documentary film of the recording of their album by the same name, was the winner of Best DVD/Film.

Check out our red carpet chat with Jimmy Page below.



Best New Band went to We Are Harlot, which was presented to them by 2014 winners The Cadillac Three.

Two of the evening’s most sought-after awards, Album and Band Of The Year, were won by two true heavyweights of rock. Iron Maiden scooped Album Of The Year for their worldwide No. 1 ‘The Book Of Souls’, which was collected by frontman Bruce Dickinson, and AC/DC took the Band Of The Year gong following their triumphant world tour and the release of their 17th studio album ‘Rock Or Bust’.

Hard rock heroes Europe, who closed the show with an exhilarating live performance, were awarded The Comeback.
Alice Cooper’s ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ also celebrated its 40th anniversary this year and clinched Classic Album.

The larger-than-life Noddy Holder won the Showman Award.

2015’s Maestro, an award given to masters of their instrument, went to virtuoso guitarist Joe Satriani.

The Tommy Vance Inspiration Award was awarded to Jimi Hendrix, and was presented to his sister Janie by his former roadie Lemmy. Nils Lofgren, Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, former member of Crazy Horse and Grin, and legendary instrumentalist, picked up Outstanding Contribution, and Rod MacSween, booking agent to the stars, was honoured with the VIP Award.

Also announced on the night was a new partnership which will bring the 2016 Classic Rock Roll Of Honour to Tokyo, Japan. Billy Anderson, TeamRock CEO, says, “Japan is the second largest music market in the world with a strong interest and passion for rock music. There is no better place than Tokyo to launch our presence in Asia.”

Lemmy on the red carpet.



The full list of winners is:

Best New Band: We Are Harlot
Film (or DVD) of the Year: Foo Fighters Sonic Highways
Reissue of the Year: Led Zeppelin
Album of the Year: The Book Of Souls by Iron Maiden
Band of the Year: AC/DC
The Comeback: Europe
Classic Album: Welcome To My Nightmare by Alice Cooper
The Showman: Noddy Holder
The Maestro: Joe Satriani
Tommy Vance Inspiration Award: Jimi Hendrix
The VIP: Rod MacSween
Outstanding Contribution: Nils Lofgren
Living Legends: Queen

Music-News.com also had an exclusive chat with Blackberry Smoke on the red carpet with pleanty more exclusive chats including Brian May to come.