Rock band Queen to open the Oscars this year

British rock band Queen will open the upcoming 91st Academy Awards ceremony this Sunday, a representative for the band said, ending the mystery over how the telecast would begin without a traditional host. 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences earlier announced on social media that Queen would be among the performers at the February 24 ceremony in Hollywood, but did not specify when the band would take the stage.

It is notable that Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic about the band and its late singer, Freddie Mercury, has been nominated for five Academy Awards this year, including Best Picture.

The band now performs under the name Queen plus Adam Lambert, with two of the four original members -- lead-guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor -- fronted by former American Idol star, Lambert. 

The Oscars ceremony this year is to go ahead without a host and an opening monologue for the first time in thirty years after the withdrawal of comedian Kevin Hart because of outrage over his past homophobic tweets.