19 August Born at St Francis' Private Hospital, London Road, Leicester, as the first child of Arthur Henry Deacon and Lillian Molly Deacon.

* His sister, Julie, is born. "John was quiet by nature. His sister, Julie, was the same." (Ron Chester / Rain Must Fall (Queen Before Queen[1]))
September Enrolls at Evington Lindon Junior School.

August His first musical instrument, a little red plastic 'Tommy Steele' guitar is given by his parents."I had it around a lot but I didn't really play it much, nothing seemed to click." Rain Must Fall (Speakin' with DEACON)

* Moves to Oadby, Leicester and enrolled at Langmoor Junior School.

September Enrolls at Gartree High School in Leicester.
* Loses his father.

* Buys an acoustic guitar with his early morning paper round wages.

* Joins his first band, the Opposition, with a line-up of Nigel Bullen, Clive Castledine and Richard Young. "John played rhythm to begin with. He was a chord man, the John Lennon of the group, if you like." (Nigel Bullen / Rain Must Fall (Queen Before Queen[2]))
25 September Opposition makes its debut at a party at Castledine's house.
4 December Opposition plays at Enderby Co-Op Hall supporting a local band, the Rapids Rave. Their fee is 2 pounds.

2 April Becomes a bassist. 'We threw Clive out on the Saturday afternoon. Had a practice in Deaks' kitchen, and Deaks went on bass. Played much better' (from Richard Youn's diary / Rain Must Fall (Queen Before Queen[3]))
29 April Opposition changes their name to the New Opposition. "The name-change was decided overnight, when John moved from rhythm to bass guitar" (Richard Young / Rain Must Fall (Queen Before Queen[4]))
September Enrolls at Beachamp Grammer School.
September The band has been booked to play the Tudor Rose pub in Atherstone but John couldn't join them because of his mother's objection. "John's not playing in any pubs" (Molly Deacon / Rain Must Fall (The Early Years[3]))
23 October The New Opposition, now joining Dave Williams and Ron Chester, entries the Midland Beat Contest. They win all the heats, gaining a place in the finals that are eventually cancelled and abandoned. Rain Must Fall (Queen Before Queen[4])

20 May New Opposition changes their name to the Opposition after a gig at Leicester Casino. At that time there is two go-go dancers. "But they were never really part of the show." (Dave Williams / Rain Must Fall (Queen Before Queen[4]))

16 March The Opposition changes their name to the Art for a gig at Gartree School. "Because Dave was arty, that is, he was training as an artist. It was as simple as that."(Nigel Bullen / Rain Must Fall (Queen Before Queen[5]))

June Leaves Beachamp Grammer School with eight O Levels - in English Language, English Literature, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, French and Special Maths - and three A Levels in Maths, Further Maths and Physics.
29 August His last gig at Great Glenn Youth and Sports Center Club with the Art.
October Enrolls at Chelsea College, an affiliate of London University, to study electronics.

October Sees a gig of a new band called 'Queen' at the College of Estate Management in Kensington. "They were all dressed in black, and the lights were very dim too, so all I could really see were four shadowy figures. They didn't make a lasting impression on me at the time."(from "As It Began")
21 November Forms a R&B quartet with a flatmate, guitarist Peter Stoddart, one Don Cater on drums and another guitarist remembered only as Albert and performs their only gig at Chelsea College, supporting Hardin & York and the Idle Race. 'They hastily billed themselves -- in a rare fit of self-publicity for the quiet Oadby boy -- as Deacon.' Rain Must Fall (Queen Before Queen[6])

Late January Attends a disco at Maria Assumpta Teacher Training College and introduced to Roger Taylor, Brian May and John Harris. A few days later, after an audition, he joins Queen. "John Deacon played with mega efficiency, and zero imagination. He plugged a gap and didn't drop a fucking beat, he was that tight." (Chris Dummet / Rain Must Fall (The Early Years[7]))
March Meets Veronica Tetzlaff at a disco at the Maria Assumpta College.
2 July His first gig with Queen at a college in Surrey. "He was quite happy to wear one of his favourite shirts, but Freddie, who didn't like it, insisted on lending him a T-shirt. Not a great start, but it didn't deter them, and the gig, although small, was a reasonable success." (from "As It Began")
17 July On tour in Cornwall. "It was good because it wasn't long after I joined and we got to know each other really well and it settled us as a group."Rain Must Fall (Speakin' with DEACON)

28 January Organises a gig at Bedford College. The audience that night consisted of just SIX people. 'John later cited it as one of the most embarrassing experiences of his life.' (from "Queen Live")
June Graduates from Chelsea College with a first class honours degree in electronics. He continues to study towards a MSc in acoustics and vibration technology.
6 November A gig at the Pheasantry club, Lonodn, inviting people from many record companies. the PA didn't turn up until about an hour and John and John Harris spent the time fixing it.

13 July Their first album Queen is released in the UK. "We used to call him Deacon John." (Brian / Disco.Deacon (Queen))

1 March Their first headlining British tour opens. At this point, he decides to become a full-time musician finally.
8 March Their second album Queen II is released in the UK. Disco.Deacon (Queen II) "Sounds very boring doesn't it but we couldn't find a title we all agreed on." Rain Must Fall (Stand Up For Queen)
20 March Stolen his own case contained personal items after a gig at Manchester University.
16 April Their US tour opens as support band to Mott The Hoople. Soon they abandon their tour as Brian collapses with hepatitis.
8 November Their third album Sheer Heart Attack is released in the UK. Included his first song "Misfire". Disco.Deacon (Sheer Heart Attack)
23 November Their Europe Tour opens. 'John Deacon is the name of our photographer -- ' (DISC, 21th December / EVERYONE Bites The Dust (Sutterbug At Large ))

18 January Marries Veronica at Carmelite Church in Kensington Church Street, London. The Best Man at his wedding is Nigel Bullen. "The doors burst open at the back of the church and all we could see was this silhouette of a figure with a girl on each arm, I think one of them was Mary Austin. At first I thought it was the bride, but then I realised it was Freddie!" (Nigel Bullen / Rain Must Fall (The Early Years[10]))
29 March A gig at California Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. 'During the show, in front of a capacity crowd, John split his trousers. Freddie found this extremely funny and taunted him mercilessly throughout the show until he could sneak off and change.' (from "As It Began")
17 April Their first Japan Tour opens.
18 July His first child, Robert, is born.
21 November Their forth album A Night At The Opera is released in the UK. Included his song "You're My Best Friend". "I'm very pleased with that actually. John has really come into his own." (Freddie / Disco.Deacon (A Night At The Opera))
25 November "Bohemian Rhapsody"(Freddie) reaches No.1 in the UK single charts. "When I came back I bumped into John Deacon in the lobby, and he said they were number one." (Roger's mother / from "As It Began")

March Their second Japan Tour opens.
10 June His song "You're My Best Friend" is released in the US and Japan, and reaches No.16 in the US. (released in the UK on 18th March and reaches No.7) 'It'll be an absolute smash, beautiful harmonies, strident guitar chords and Freddie in superb voice. Instant number one!' (SOUNDS / from "As It Began" )
10 December Their fifth album A Day At The Races is released in the UK. Included his song "You And I". "I think it's his strongest song to date." (Freddie / Disco.Deacon (A Day At The Races))

28 October Their sixth album News Of The World is released in the UK. Included his songs "Spread Your Wings" and "Who Needs You". Disco.Deacon (News Of The World)
16 December After late party in San Diego, John puts his right hand straight through a plateglass window and have nineteen stitches. He continues the rest four gigs with his hand bandaged.

January Queen set up Queen Music Ltd and Queen Films Ltd. "I am the only one who really keeps an eye on basically how much money is coming in going out, and most of the position we'er in." Rain Must Fall (John Deacon Talks)
3 February His second child, Michael, is born.
10 February His song "Spread Your Wings" is released in the UK and reaches No.34. 'As both sides of this single have been available for some time on album, I can only assume that this is primarily aimed at new Queen fans. But I didn't think there were any.' (RECORD MIRROR / from "As It Began")
10 November Their seventh album Jazz is released in the UK. Included his songs "If You Can't Beat Them" and "In Only Seven Days". Disco.Deacon (Jazz)

January - March On Tour in Europe. 'On another occasion, when the family discovered that John Deacon was rather fond of dry roasted peanuts, they handed put packets of them to fans entering the theatre prior to the show. When You're My Best Friend - a John Deacon song - begins, the band were showered in nuts from all directions. Although their immediate reaction is one of shock, the band laugh when they realise the significance.' (from "Queen Live")
13 April Their third Japan Tour opens.
22 June Their eighth and the first live album "Live Killers" is released in the UK. Disco.Deacon (Live Killers) "It was quite a mammoth effort really and we probably ended up overrecording for what we got out of it." Rain Must Fall (Bass by Appointment)
25 June His third child, Laura, is born.

30 June Their ninth album The Game is released in the US and the UK. Included his songs "Another One Bites The Dust" and "Need Your Loving Tonight". Disco.Deacon (The Game) "We wanted to experiment with all that new studio equipment. We had always been keen to try out anything new or different whilst recording. The synthesisers then were so good, they were very advanced compared to the early Moogs, which did little more than make a series of weird noises. The ones we were using could duplicate all sorts of sounds and instruments - you could get a whole orchestra out of them at the touch of a button. Amazing."(from "As It Began")
12 August His song "Another One Bites The Dust" is released in the US and reaches No.1. (released in the UK on 22th and reaches No.7. Japanese release is 25th September.) "This song was written cause I always wanted to do something in direction of Black-Music, Disco-Music I got it through, that this song came on the album, like it was." Rain Must Fall (Pleasant Crazyness In The Crown)
18 November His song "Need Your Loving Tonight" is released in the US and reaches No.44. (released in Japan on 25th)
8 December Their tenth and the first sound track album Flash Gordon is released in the UK. Included his songs "Execution of Flash" and "Arboria - Planet Of The Tree Man". Disco.Deacon (Flash Gordon) "We all started with the new LP, Flash Gordon, but in the end it was Brian saying what is on the disk or not. " Rain Must Fall (Pleasant Crazyness In The Crown)

30 January "Another One Bites The Dust" wins the Favorite Single in the Pop/Rock category at the eighth annual American Music Awards. John and Roger attends the ceremony held in Hollywood.
12 Februay Their fourth Japan Tour opens.
September - October On tour in South America. 'Local security was hired for the band members during their stay in San Paulo, and John's 'guard' introduced himself by saying he had killed 212 people so therefore must be good at his job.' (from "As It Began")
2 November Their eleventh and the first best album Greatest Hits is released in the UK. Disco.Deacon (Greatest Hits )

21 May Their 12th album Hot Space is released in the UK. Included his song "Back Chat" and the first collaboration song with Freddie "Cool Cat". Disco.Deacon (Hot Space)
9 August His song "Back Chat" is released in the UK and reaches No.40. (released in Japan on 25th October)
19 October Their fifth Japan Tour opens.

* Enjoys jamming with John McEnroe and Vitas Gerulaitis who are the tennis players.
* Jamms with Scott Gorham, Simon Kirke, Martin Chambers and Mick Ralphs, and one of songs ("Picking Up Sounds") is released as a group Man Friday and Jive Junior. Disco.Deacon (Solo Sessions)
May Makes an appearance on British TV program "Pop Quiz".
Middle July "Freddie and I went to Montreal to meet Tony Richardson, who's making a film called "Hotel New Hampshire". It's based on the novel by John Irving who also wrote "The World According To Garp". Freddie is writing at the moment and we may do some recording for it later this year."(quoted from OIQFC)(* Actually it didn't work, so they recorded their own album, not for the soundtrack.)
August They nullify the contract with Elektra and sign a new deal with Capitol Records. "We realised that to buy our way out of the existing deal was going to be expensive, and John, particularly, felt that it may be a huge waste of money. While we recorded, Jim was delegated to sort it out. In the event, we paid $1 million to get out." (Brian from "As It Began")
13 December His fourth child, Joshua, is born.

27 February Their 13th album The Works is released in the UK. Included his song "I Want To Break Free".Disco.Deacon (The Works)
25 March Visits Japan with Roger for a promotion of the new album. EVERYONE Bites The Dust (Hard Work, Hard Holiday)
2 April His song "I Want To Break Free" is released in the UK and reaches No.3. (released in the US on 13th and reaches No.45. Japanese release is 1st June.)
25 June Roger's second solo album Strange Frontier is released in the UK. Plays bass on "It's An Illusion" in the album and also takes charge of a remix of B-side of 7-inch single "Strange Frontier / I Cry For You".
5 October On tour in Sun City, South Africa. "We're a very non-political band. We try really to keep out of politics. We'll go anywhere if people want to come and see us..." Rain Must Fall (Cheer Up)
* Openes 'Milo Studio' in London with Henry Crallan who was a former keyboard player of Kevin Ayres band. (now he's not involved in its business.)

January Queen makes an appearance at the 'Rock In Rio' Festival.
* After seeing Phil Collins at the Albert Hall and joined him for a few drinks after the show, stopped by the police and fined 150 pounds and banned from driving for 12 months. (He sold his new Porsche.) Rain Must Fall (Did You Know?)
7 May Their sixth and the last Japan Tour opens.
13 July Queen makes an appearance for 'Live Aid' at Wembley Stadium. "Live Aid turned our world upside down." Rain Must Fall (Music Major)
Early September Visits the recording studio of Elton John with Roger and plays bass on "Too Young" and "Angeline". Disco.Deacon (Solo Sessions)
5 November Appears at the backstage of 'Fashion Aid' which held by Bob Geldof (Freddie performed as a model.) picture
5 December "The Complete Works", a limited-edition boxed set of all Queen albums to date is released in the UK. 'They also included a world map to show Queen's domination, which John hated - he thought it made them look like they were taking over.' (from "As It Began")

February Records a song "This Is Your Time" with ex-Hot Chocolate singer Errol Brown. (not released yet.)
19 May His first solo single "No Turning Back" is released in the UK (as the Immortals with Robert Ahwai and Lenny Zakatek, for the soundtrack of the film "Biggles"). Didn't chart in. Disco.Deacon (Solo Sessions)
2 June Their 14th album A Kind Of Magic is released in the UK. Included his own song "One Year Of Love" and two collaboration songs with Freddie "Pain Is So Close To Pleasure" and "Friends Will Be Friends". Disco.Deacon (A Kind Of Magic)
9 June "Friends Will Be Friends" is released in the UK and reaches No.14. 'The co-composition credit on this track and on PAIN IS SO CLOSE TO PLEASURE was merely because John Deacon insisted that Freddie's contribution be recognised and acknowledged. John's honesty and integrity would not have allowed him to do otherwise.' (Peter Freestone / Rain Must Fall (Mister Mercury) )
20 August "Pain Is So Close To Pleasure" is released in the US only. Didn't chart in.
1 December Their 15th album Live Magic is released in the UK.
* His solo song "No Turning Back" is renamed as "Roulette" and included on Japanese singer Minako Honda's album "Cancele". Disco.Deacon (Solo Sessions)

* Anita Dobson's album Talking Of Love is released in the UK. Plays bass on "I Dream Of Christmas". Disco.Deacon (Solo Sessions)
* Bad News, a parody unit releases an album Bad News. Takes charge of backing vocal(!) on "Bohemian Rhapsody". Disco.Deacon (Solo Sessions)

6 June Makes an appearance with Brian at 'The Prince's Trust Rock Concert' at Royal Albert Hall, london. Plays bass on "The Letter" featuring Joe Cocker. Disco.Deacon (Solo Sessions)
10 October Freddie and Montserrat Caballe's corabollation album Barcelona is released in the UK. Plays bass on "How Can I Go On".Disco.Deacon (Solo Sessions)
4 December Makes an appearance with Brian at Xmas concert of The Cross (Roger's solo band) and plays several songs. Disco.Deacon (Solo Sessions)

* Plays bass on "Who Wants To Live Forever" sung by two children for a charity, the British Bone Marrow Donor Appeal, produced by Brian. Disco.Deacon (Solo Sessions)
22 May Their 16th album The Miracle is released in the UK. Disco.Deacon (The Miracle)
* Make an appearance on two videos by an American rap unit, Morris Minor and The Majors. EVERYONE Bites The Dust (Rock'n' Roll with a Blue Wig)

18 February Queen collects the BPI Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music."Did you see us on the "Brits" this year? It was a brief appearance but nice to be recognized after all these years for our contribution to British music."(quoted from OIQFC)

30 January Their 17th album Innuendo is released in Japan. (UK release is 4th February)Disco.Deacon (Innuendo ) 'The only problems they were having with the recording and mixing of the album was the absence of a bass player: John was spending much of his time with his family at their apartment in Biarritz, and little of it at the studios.' (from "As It Began")
28 October Their 18th and the second best album Greatest Hits vol.2 is released in the UK.Disco.Deacon (Greatest Hits vol.2)
24 November Freddie dies at his house in London.

19 April Stages 'A Concert For Life' at Wembley Stadium as a tribute to Freddie and a fundraiser for AIDS Awareness. "We will all miss him." (from the booklet of the concert / Rain Must Fall (The Freddie Mercury Tribute) ) "John was just in bits." (Tony Iommi / from "The Definitive Biography")
26 May Their 19th album Live At Wembley is released in the UK. Disco.Deacon (Live At Wembley)
* Cozy Powell's solo album The Drums Are Back is released. Plays bass on "Somewhere In Time".
21 September Brian's solo album Back To The Light is released in the UK. Plays bass on "Nothin' But Blue".
14 October Makes an appearance with Brian and Roger for the BMI-PRS Awards at Dorchester Hotel, London.
5 December His fifth child, Luke, is born.

18 September Makes an appearance with Roger for a charity concert at Cowdray Park, Midharst and plays bass.
7 November His sixth child, Cameron, is born.
* Starts recording with Roger for Queen's new album.

February "Last year I started to ride a motorbike and spent several months on a 125 c.c. to get used to riding in London."(quoted from OIQFC)

March "The recording and mixing of Queen material is progressing and I hope we will be able to release the end results this year. I am sure that everybody will have varied and different comments and opinions on the finished work. It has not been easy as ever Roger, Brian and myself see things differently and coming to agreement between us takes time! Anyway, we will do our best as that is all we can do and I hope you feel that it was worth all the work to release a final Queen album!"(quoted from OIQFC)
1 June Makes an appearance for a concert of SAS Band at Shepherd's Bush Empire, London and plays bass. 'John walked on late in the evening, oblivious to the phenomenal response from the crowd, and played for a couple of non-Queen soul numbers; unfathomably he left as quietly as he'd arrived - before the band launched into crazy Little Thing Called Love - and was the only one of the 30-odd band who didn't return for an encore.' (from "The Invisible Man" Bassist & Bass Techniques)
6 November Their 20th album Made In Heaven is released in the UK.Disco.Deacon (Made In Heaven)

March "I am mainly involved with looking after the children at home."(quoted from OIQFC)

17 January Makes an appearance with Brian, Roger and Elton John in a ballet at the National Theatre De Chailiot in Paris and plays bass on "The Show Must Go On".
February SAS Band releases an album "SAS Band". Plays bass on "That's The Way God Planned It". Disco.Deacon (Solo Sessions)
March "There is also a "Musical" in development which will probably take a couple of years to become a reality. A director and writer are working on a concept and script for this. We'll keep you posted."(quoted from OIQFC)
3 November The compilation album of Queen's hard rock numbers titled Queen Rocks is released in the UK. Disco.Deacon (Queen Rocks)

May "The new computer game is about to be released but we haven't got a copy yet so I can't let you know what it's like. I'll be interested to see what Joshua thinks of it. he is the keenest computer game player of the family. I'm also turning into a bit of an "anorak" myself, spending the odd bit of free time learning about PC's, Visual Basic, Internet etc. Nothing happening musically with me at the moment."(quoted from OIQFC)

April "Yesterday evening I was watching "We Will Rock You" on VH1's King and Queen day and it reminded me of how hard the four of us worked to entertain you all. This was pre-keyboard player days and the four of us created a full sound with lots of light and shade. It was nice to see Freddie looking shin and fit and able to wear just a pair of shorts! It was recorded 18 years ago and we all looked young!"(quoted from his last message for OIQFC.)
8 November Their third (and last) best album "Greatest Hits III" is released in the UK. Disco.Deacon (Greatest Hits III)

28 June The compilation album "In Vision" is released in Japan. Disco.Deacon (In Vision)
2 November Absent himself from Brian and Anita's wedding. Deaky Weekly (vol.45)

19 March Absent himself from the induction ceremony of American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Deaky Weekly (vol.62)
April Left some words about Queen + Robbie things on "The Sun". "I didn't want to be involved with it and I'm glad." Rain Must Fall (QUEEN'S JOHN IN BLAST AT SINGER)
June Seems to knock down one of Elton John's auctioned classic cars.Deaky Weekly (vol.73)

15 April Put in a very brief appearance at the Queen musical premiere party.Deaky Weekly (vol.122, vol.136-137)
30 April Brian and Roger attend a pop concert for Queen's Day in Holland and in their 45 minutes show they play "Another One Bites The Dust" without its composer.
3 June Absent himself from Jubilie Concert (Party at the Palace).
7 July Enjoy Party In The Park in Hyde Park with Veronica as guests.Deaky Weekly (vol.132)
28 October Absent himself from Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. Deaky Weekly (vol.144)
6 November Absent himself from the Queen Symphony held at London, although Reuters said he also is there.Deaky Weekly (vol.147)

March "He wrote us a letter in which he said "I fully endorse whatever you are doing or what you do and you have my wholehearted support behind it but I feel I don't want to be involved" basically." (Roger) Deaky Weekly (vol.165)
18 June Absent himself from the celebrating event for the first anniversary of We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre.Deaky Weekly (vol.179)
September "Biggles" DVD is released in UK with John's "No Turning Back" promo-video.Deaky Weekly (vol.204, vol.206)
29 November Brian and Roger attend Nelson Mandela's 46664 Concert for Aids Awareness, playing several Queen songs with other musicians, including John's I Want To Break Free. "John has made an overall decision that he doesn't want to be involved with Queen's activities at the moment."(Brian) Deaky Weekly (vol.201, vol.202)

April -- May Shown in Lanzarote, Spain. Deaky Weekly (vol.226, vol.261, vol.269)
July "John really is effectively retired. ..."(Roger) Deaky Weekly (vol.233)
11th November UK fans choose Queen as the winner of Music Hall Of Fame (category: the '70s). Brian and Roger plays with Paul Rodgers, although there is no sign of John at the ceremony.

26 January "Jewels II", a Japanese new compilation album is released, including I Want To Break Free( original album version). Deaky Weekly(vol.263)
February "Of course it would have been great, if he was with us for this tour. But he choose retirement. So we can't do anything about it. John enjoys his life far off the music business, but off course he is in our hearts, as well as Freddie is! " (Brian) Deaky Weekly(vol.268)
September Kindly leaves a message on Birthday Message Board of this website. (his HN is "jrd") Deaky Weekly (vol.294)
September "Well really that is his decision which I respect...but what I think a lot of people don't realise is how hard Freddie's death hit John..." (Peter Freestone) Deaky Weekly(vol.295)
26 October Begins Q+P tour in Japan (Danny Miranda plays bass). Deaky Weekly(vol.302)