Legendary stadium rockers Queen were honoured at last night's 2011 BMI Awards event in London, which recognises British music that has been performed and played in America over a twelve month period. 

The 'We Will Rock You' superstars were given the Icon Award at an exclusive ceremony that took place at the Dorchester Hotel on October 4 and it comes at a great time for the band who are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. 

Queen's guitarist, Brian May, told BBC's 6 Music that they were thrilled to have been awarded such a coveted title:

"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."

May also revealed that there are two Queen movies in the pipeline and added, "one is about Freddie and one is the movie version of We Will Rock You. Plus we uncle the We Will Rock You shows around the world. We keep very much hands on on those things and there just seems to be endless stuff to do." 

The Script also took home the Song of the Year prize, for 'Breakeven', and chart-topper Taio Cruz was awarded College Song of the Year for 'Break Your Heart'. 

Watch May talk about the '40 Years of Queen' book launch here: