"Driven by You" is a song by

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

lead guitarist

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...

from his 1992 solo album, ''

Back to the Light ''Back to the Light'' is the debut solo studio album of Queen guitarist's Brian May, released on 28 September 1992 by Parlophone Records in the UK, and on 2 February 1993 by Hollywood Records in the US and Canada. May's second solo release fo ...

''. It was released as a lead single in November 1991.

Promotion

Shortly before releasing it as single, May played it on the Guitar Legends concert in October 1991, having a super-group backing him:

Cozy Powell Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English rock drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, ...

on drums, Neil Murray on bass,

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

on rhythm guitar,

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist best known as a former member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his solo albums released in the 1970s. Born and raised ...

and Mike Moran on keyboards,

Maggie Ryder Maggie Ryder is an English singer/songwriter and musician, principally known as a backing singer for bands such Queen and Eurythmics. Career In her early career, Ryder was the keyboard player with British funk/rock band Krakatoa. She co-wr ...

Miriam Stockley Miriam Arlene Stockley (born 15 April 1962) is a British singer. She was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and her work is influenced by the African music of her home country. Her distinctive ''vocal warm up#Vocalise, vocalise'' style gained in ...

and Chris Thompson on backing vocals.

Release and versions

Besides the original album/single version, there are at least three additional studio versions of the song. The first, originally written for a series of television advertisements for

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

in the UK, is a shorter take with alternative lyrics; it was released as a B-side exclusive to the 12-inch single in the UK. Following the single's release, a version was produced featuring a new drum track by

; this version was released as B-side to the single "

Too Much Love Will Kill You "Too Much Love Will Kill You" is a song written by British guitarist Brian May of Queen (band), Queen, Frank Musker and Elizabeth Lamers.instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

version of the song, titled "Driven by You Two"; this was released as B-side to his single "Resurrection". "Driven by You" was included on Queen's 1999 album '' Greatest Hits III''; and later re-released on 25 June 2021 to promote the re-release and remastering of ''Back to the Light'' (released August 2021), accompanied by a newly-edited and remastered video.

Chart performance

"Driven by You" peaked at number six on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, number nine in Portugal, number 10 in the Netherlands, number 14 in Ireland, and number 35 in Belgium. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

, it reached number 20. In 1993, the song charted in North America, reaching number nine on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Album Rock Tracks chart and number 70 on the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Top Singles chart.

Track listings

"Just One Life" is dedicated to the memory of British actor

Philip Sayer Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

. 7-inch and cassette single # "Driven by You" – 4:11 # "Just One Life" – 3:43 12-inch single :A1. "Driven by You" – 4:11 :B1. "Just One Life" – 3:43 :B2. "Just One Life" (guitar version) – 3:38 :B3. "Driven by You" (Ford Ad version) – 1:30 CD single # "Driven by You" – 4:13 # "Just One Life" – 3:38 # "Just One Life" (guitar version) – 3:38

Personnel

– lead and backing vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drum programming * Design by Richard Gray * Photography by Brian May, Simon Fowler * Written by Brian May

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

In popular culture

"Driven by You" was used by the Ford Motor Company in advertisements for the whole of the Ford range and included World Rally Championship footage of the Ford Sierra Sapphire Cosworth Rally Car. It was then used, at a later date, in an edited version for the launch of the

Ford Escort RS Cosworth The Ford Escort RS Cosworth is a rally version homologation special of the fifth generation European Ford Escort. It was designed to qualify as a Group A car for the World Rally Championship, in which it competed between 1993 and 1998. It was ...

, in which the Ford Sierra Sapphire Rally car was replaced by the Ford Escort RS Cosworth; in this advertisement,

Miki Biasion Massimo "Miki" Biasion (born 7 January 1958) is an Italian rally driver, two-time World Rally champion. Career Biasion was born in Bassano del Grappa, Veneto. Biasion came to prominence in the early 1980s, winning both the Italian and Europea ...

(a Ford rally driver at the time) compared his rally car to the road-going version.

References

External links

Lyrics at Queen official website
(from '' Greatest Hits III'') {{Authority control 1991 singles 1991 songs Brian May songs Hollywood Records singles Parlophone singles Songs written by Brian May