Queen
(extract)
by George Tremlett
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Norman Sheffield talks :
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"He's the deep one. He tends to be good for the others as a stabilising influence. He acts more maturely than the others possibly because his musical involvement is not as deep as the other three...he tends to be the spokesman for the band in private, although he is the least receptive in public. In private he is only half the musician; in public, the musician comes to the forefront."
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Dave Thomas talks :
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"He is very independent within the group. He was always the first one out of bed in the morning, whereas you might have to call the others at ten am, and then at ten fifteen am, then ten thirty am or later before they'd get up (especially Brian May who hates getting up in the morning) but if you gave John a time for departure next morning, he'd be there in the hotel lobby ready and waiting five or ten minutes early. He is very quiet and very strong, and always very sane. He's a smoothing influence over the other members of the band. If there were rows during a sound-check, it would be John who would approach the matter analytically...and outside music, he had a great passion for Queen's Park Rangers, which used to give him something different to think about. He didn't have the total obsession with music, though you still knew that his heart was totally in it. Of them all, I think John's the one that I can see getting a cottage in the country and living a very quiet, peaceful life when the time comes for him to do it."