British rockers Queen were honoured with the coveted Icon Award at the Bmi Awards in London on Tuesday night (04Oct11).
Bandmembers Brian May and Roger Taylor were on hand to collect the trophy at the event, held at the Dorchester Hotel, which celebrates U.K. musicians whose songs have been performed in America over the last year.
The honour comes within weeks of what would have been late frontman Freddie Mercury's 65th birthday last month (05Sep11), while the group also celebrates its 40th anniversary this year (11).
May tells Bbc 6 Music, "I'm very, very happy. It means a lot I think especially because it is an American award and although we were married to America for a long time, we never really did much in terms of awards. We're not bursting with Grammys, so it's nice to have that tribute from our peers."
Other winners on the night included The Script, who picked up Song of the Year for Breakeven, while Taio Cruz was honoured with the College Song of the Year title for his track Break Your Heart.
Van Morrison was also recognised at the event for his airplay success after his hit Brown Eyed Girl achieved 10 million plays on U.S. radio.