“We paid him very, very well for what he did for us. His dependents became incredibly greedy”: Queen are being sued by the relatives of late photographer Mick Rock, says Brian May

Queen II.

Queen may have just reissued their 1974 album Queen II, but Brian May has revealed that the band are involved in a legal tussle with the relatives of the man who created its iconic cover shot: Mick Rock.

Rock, one of the greatest photographers of his time, created a series of unforgettable images for the rock stars of the day, including Syd Barrett, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. One of those was the Queen II cover; this features the four band members looking up at the camera, with Freddie at the front, arms crossed. The shot was later recreated in the Bohemian Rhapsody video and ten years later for the promo for One Vision.