queen biography freddie mercury

The life of Frederick Bulsara began on the East African island of Zanzibar on September 5, 1946. 25 years later in London under the name of Freddie Mercury he was fronting the now legendary rock group named Queen.

The son of Bomi and Jer Bulsara, Freddie spent the bulk of his childhood in India where he attended St. Peter’s boarding school. He began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. No one could foresee where a love of music would take him.

The Bulsara family moved to Middlesex in 1964 and from there Freddie joined up with a blues band called Wreckage while studying graphic design courses at Ealing College of Art. While singing for Wreckage, a fellow student introduced Freddie to Roger Taylor and Brian May, founder members of a band called Smile. Smile metamorphosed into Queen when Freddie joined Roger and Brian as the lead vocalist. The final member of the band, which was to stay together for the next 20 years, was bassist John Deacon, who joined the band on 1st of March 1971.

The rest is rock history. EMI Records and Elektra Records signed the band and in 1973 their debut album ‘Queen’ was released and hailed as one of the most exciting developments ever in rock music.

The immortal operatically styled single ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was released in 1975 and proceeded to the top of the UK charts for 9 weeks. A song that was nearly never released due to its length and unusual style but which Freddie insisted would be played became the instantly recognisable hit. By this time Freddie’s unique talents were becoming clear, a voice with a remarkable range and a stage presence that gave Queen its colourful, unpredictable and flamboyant personality.

Very soon Queen’s popularity extended beyond the shores of the UK as they charted and triumphed around Europe, Japan and the USA where in 1979 they topped the charts with Freddie’s song ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’.

Queen was always indisputably run as a democratic organisation. All four members are each responsible for having penned number one singles for the band. This massive writing strength combined with spectacular lights, the faultless sound, a sprinkling of theatricality and Freddie’s balletic movements made up Queen on stage and on film.

Through Freddie’s ability to project himself and the band’s music and image to the four corners of 70,000 seater venues they became known as the prime developers of stadium rock, a reputation perpetuated by their pioneering tactics in South America where in 1981 they performed to 231,000 fans in Sao Paulo, a world record at the time. They also became known as the key innovators of pop videos as their catalogue of 3-minute clips became more and more adventurous in style, size and content.

Their phenomenal success continued around the globe throughout the 80’s highlighted in 1985 by their show-stealing and unforgettable performance on stage at Live Aid.

In the mid 80’s, Freddie started concentrating on his solo career, which was to run in tandem with Queen (“the mothership”) for several albums commencing with the 1985 release of ‘Mr. Bad Guy’. Freddie’s much loved sense of self-parody reached a zenith with his cover version of The Platter’s song ‘The Great Pretender’ in 1987, the video of which recorded him descending a sweeping staircase among acres of identical cardboard cutouts of himself.

His first major collaboration outside Queen was with Dave Clark for the recording of London’s West End musical Time, in 1986. This was followed in 1987 with the realisation of one of Freddie’s long-term dreams; to record with the world revered opera diva Montserrat Caballé. The LP’s title song, ‘Barcelona’ went on to become an anthem for Señora Caballé’s home city and the theme for the Olympics in 1992.

While most publicly recognised as the front man to one of the most progressive rock bands of the 70’s, Freddie defied the stereotype. A taste for venturing into new territories – a trait that was to have a marked influence on the direction Queen would take – took Freddie to explore his interests in a wide spectrum of the arts, particularly in the areas of ballet, opera and theatre, even taking a participating role: in October1977 the sell-out audience of a charity gala at the London Coliseum organised by Royal Ballet Principal dance Wayne Eagling received the surprise of an unannounced appearance by a silver-sequinned leotard-clad Freddie performing an intricate routine choreographed for him by Eagling. In 1987 he made a one-night appearance in Dave Clarke’s Time at the Dominion Theatre, although legend has it Freddie occasionally turned up at the theatre to support friend Clarke’s musical, one night selling ice-creams in the stalls! Freddie would have loved the fact that The Dominion now plays host to the band’s phenomenally successful musical We Will Rock You which has now held the Dominion stage nearly seven years longer than Time’s two year run.

Freddie returned to the studios to record ‘Innuendo’ with Queen in 1990.

On November 24th, 1991, Freddie’s struggle against AIDS ended when he passed away just over 24 hours after he had publicly announced he had the disease. Musicians and fans from all over the world paid their highest respects as the passing of rock’s most innovative, flamboyant ambassador signified the end of an era at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium on April 20, 1992 which gave birth to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the AIDS charity set up in Freddie’s memory by the remaining members of Queen and Freddie’s Executor, Jim Beach.

Freddie Mercury, who majored in stardom while giving new meaning to the word showmanship, left a legacy of songs, which will never lose their stature as classics to live on forever. Some of the most poignant of these were immortalised on the Queen album ‘Made In Heaven’ released in November 1995. The sleeve of the album shows a view from Freddie’s Montreux home.

Despite twenty years having passed since Freddie lost his life to HIV complications, he remains in the minds of millions throughout the world as one of the greatest artists we will ever see. In September 2010 (coincidentally, around Freddie's 64th birthday) a poll carried out among rock fans saw him named the Greatest Rock Legend Of All Time, beating Elvis Presley to claim the title, and ahead of David Bowie, Jon Bon Jovi, Jimi Hendrix and Ozzy Osbourne.

September 5, 2010 saw The Mercury Phoenix Trust launch ‘Freddie For A Day’, a major annual initiative designed to celebrate Freddie’s life each year on his birthday and to support the on-going work of the Trust. The project encourages fans to dress as Freddie for a day and in doing so raise funds for MPT through sponsorship. No one could have imagined the extraordinary response which resulted, with fans from 24 countries around the world, from Argentina to Ukraine, seizing on the idea to pay their own special tribute to Freddie.

Some sent pictures strutting their stuff at home, singing into a microphone in their bedroom. Others took the plunge and spent the whole day as Freddie, including one US enthusiast who dressed herself as ‘Slightly Mad’ Freddie and then spent her day at the local mall and then at Columbus Zoo in Ohio with a penguin and a gorilla. Another took a TGV trip from France to Switzerland dressed in a harlequin leotard. The stories of extraordinary and fun days spent come in their hundreds, and as a result, Freddie For A Day is now an annual event.

Taking it one stage further, Freddie’s 65th birthday, September 5, 2011 was celebrated with a major party in London in aid of The Mercury Phoenix Trust, hosted by Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor.

A major Hollywood movie about Freddie and Queen, produced by GK Films, Robert de Niro’s Tribeca Productions and Queen Films is expected to start shooting shortly.

Freddie Mercury would have been 70 this September and as part of the celebrations a Mercury Phoenix Trust produced fan party will be held in his honour near Lake Geneva, Montreux.

Biography of Freddie Mercury

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Farokh "Freddie" Mercury ( September 5, 1946 - November 24, 1991) was one of the most acclaimed rock vocalists of all time with the rock group Queen . He also wrote some of the group's biggest hits. He was one of the highest profile victims of the AIDS epidemic.

Freddie Mercury was born Farokh Bulsara on the island of Zanzibar, now part of Tanzania, when it was a British protectorate. His parents were Parsis from India and, along with his extended family, were adherents of the Zoroastrian religion.

Mercury spent much of his childhood in India and began learning to play the piano at age seven. When he was eight years old, he was sent to a British boarding school near Bombay (now Mumbai). When he was twelve years old, Freddie formed his first band, The Hectics. They covered rock and roll songs by artists like Cliff Richard and Chuck Berry .

Following the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution in which many ethnic Arabs and Indians were killed, Freddie's family fled to England. There he entered art college and began a serious pursuit of his musical interests.

Personal Life

Freddie Mercury kept his personal life out of the public spotlight during his lifetime. Many of the details about his relationships emerged after his death. In the early 1970s, he began arguably the most important and enduring relationship of his life. He met Mary Austin and they lived together as a romantic couple until December 1976 when Mercury told her about his attraction to and relationships with men. He moved out, bought Mary Austin her own home, and they remained very close friends for the rest of his life. Of her, he told People magazine, "To me, she was my common-law wife. To me, it was a marriage. We believe in each other, that's enough for me."

Freddie Mercury never mentioned his sexual orientation when he rarely spoke to the press, but many associates believed it was far from hidden. His performances were very flamboyant on stage, but he was known as an introvert when not performing.

In 1985, Mercury began a long-term relationship with hairdresser Jim Hutton. They lived together for the last six years of Freddie Mercury's life and Hutton tested positive for HIV a year before the star's death. He was at Freddie's bedside when he died. Jim Hutton lived on until 2010.

Career With Queen

In April 1970, Freddie Bulsara officially became Freddie Mercury. He began performing music with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor who were previously in a band named Smile. The next year, bass player John Deacon joined them and Mercury chose the name Queen for the new band against the reservations of his fellow band members and management. He also designed for the group, which incorporated symbols for the zodiac signs of all four group members into a crest.

In 1973 Queen signed a recording contract with EMI Records. They released their self-titled first album in July, and it was heavily influenced by the heavy metal of Led Zeppelin and progressive rock by groups like Yes . The album was well-received by critics, broke into album charts on both sides of the Atlantic, and was eventually certified gold for sales in both the U.S. and U.K.

With their second album Queen II , released in 1974, the group began a string of fourteen consecutive top 10 charting studio albums at home in the U.K. The streak continued through their final studio release, 1995's Made In Heaven .

Commercial success came a little more slowly in the U.S., but the group's fourth album A Night at the Opera hit the top 10 and was certified platinum on the strength of the legendary hit "Bohemian Rhapsody," a mini-opera wrapped in a six-minute rock song. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is often listed as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.

The peak of Queen's pop success in the U.S. took place in 1980 with the #1 charting album The Game, featuring two #1 pop hit singles "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Another One Bites the Dust." It was the final top 10 album in the U.S. for the group, and Queen failed to reach the pop top 10 again with later studio singles. 

In February 1990, Freddie Mercury made his final public appearance with Queen to accept the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. A year later they released the studio album Innuendo . It was followed by Greatest Hits II released less than a month before Mercury's death.

Solo Career

Many fans of Queen in the U.S. are unaware of Freddie Mercury's career as a solo artist. None of his singles were significant hits in the U.S., but he had a string of six top 10 pop hits in the U.K.

The first Freddie Mercury solo single "I Can Hear Music" was released in 1973, but he didn't approach solo work with serious dedication until the release of the album Mr. Bad Guy in 1985. It debuted in the top 10 on the U.K. album chart and received strongly positive critical reviews. The style of the music is influenced heavily by disco in contrast to the majority of Queen's music being rock. He recorded a duet with Michael Jackson that was not included on the album. A remix of the album's song "Living On My Own" became a posthumous #1 pop hit in the U.K.

Between albums, Freddie Mercury released a series of singles including a cover of the Platters' classic "The Great Pretender," a top five pop smash in the U.K. Mercury's second solo album Barcelona was released in 1988. It was recorded with Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballe and combines pop music with opera. The title track was used as an official song for the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain a year after Freddie's death. Montserrat Caballe performed it live at the opening of the Olympics with Mercury joining her on a video screen.

By 1990, despite denials, Mercury's low public profile and gaunt image fueled rumors about his health. He was visibly weakened when Queen accepted their Outstanding Contribution to Music honor at the Brit Awards in February 1990.

Rumors that Freddie Mercury was ill with AIDS spread throughout early 1991, but his colleagues denied the truth in the stories. After Mercury's death, his bandmate Brian May revealed that the group knew of the AIDS diagnosis long before it became public knowledge.

Freddie Mercury's final appearance in front of a camera was the Queen music video "These Are the Days Of Our Lives" filmed in May 1991. In June, he chose to retire to his home in west London. On November 22, 1991, Mercury released a public statement through Queen's management that, in part, said, "I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV positive and have AIDS." Just over 24 hours later on November 24, 1991, Freddie Mercury died at age 45.

Freddie Mercury's singing voice has been celebrated as a unique instrument in the annals of rock music history. Although his natural voice was in the baritone range, he often performed notes in the tenor range. His recorded vocals extended from low bass to high soprano. The Who's lead vocalist Roger Daltrey told an interviewer that Freddie Mercury was, "the best virtuoso rock 'n' roll singer of all time. He could sing anything in any style."

Freddie also left behind a catalog of phenomenal hits in a range of musical styles, including "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," "We Are the Champions," and "Somebody To Love" among many others. 

Extravagantly theatrical live performances endeared Freddie Mercury to live concert fans around the world. He influenced generations of rock performers with his ability to connect directly with an audience. His performances leading Queen at Live Aid in 1985 are considered to be among the top live rock performances of all time.

Freddie Mercury stayed silent about AIDs and his own sexual orientation until just before his death. His intention was to protect those close to him in an era in which AIDS carried a heavy social stigma for its victims and their inner circle of friends and acquaintances, but his silence has also complicated his status as a gay icon. Regardless, Mercury's life and music will be celebrated for years to come, both in the gay community and in rock history at large. 

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Culture History

Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) was a British singer, songwriter, and the dynamic frontman of the legendary rock band Queen. Born as Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar, Mercury’s vocal prowess and flamboyant stage presence made him an iconic figure in the music world. With Queen, he contributed to numerous hits, including “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You,” and “Somebody to Love.” Mercury’s extraordinary vocal range, theatrical performances, and songwriting talents solidified his status as one of the greatest rock musicians of all time. He passed away in 1991 due to complications from AIDS.

Mercury’s early life was marked by cultural diversity. Born to Parsi parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, in Zanzibar, he spent his formative years in India before moving to England in the 1960s. His interest in music emerged early, and he started playing the piano at a young age. After completing his education at St. Peter’s School in Panchgani, India, Mercury moved to England and enrolled at the Ealing Art College. It was during this time that he formed a deep bond with music and began exploring his artistic inclinations.

In the late 1960s, Mercury joined forces with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, and bassist John Deacon later completing the lineup. This collaboration marked the birth of Queen in 1970. The band quickly gained attention for its unique sound, blending rock, pop, and opera influences. Freddie Mercury’s vocal prowess and stage charisma set Queen apart, and they became a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.

Queen’s self-titled debut album, released in 1973, laid the foundation for their success. However, it was the follow-up album, “Queen II” (1974), that showcased Mercury’s songwriting abilities with tracks like “Seven Seas of Rhye.” The band’s breakthrough came with the album “Sheer Heart Attack” (1974), featuring the hit single “Killer Queen.” This success was followed by the epic “A Night at the Opera” (1975), which included the iconic “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The groundbreaking nature of the song, combining various musical styles and featuring elaborate vocal harmonies, solidified Queen’s status as innovators in the music industry.

Freddie Mercury’s stage presence became legendary as Queen embarked on world tours. His dynamic performances, marked by theatricality and audience engagement, showcased his ability to command a crowd. The 1980 album “The Game” featured the hit singles “Another One Bites the Dust” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” further diversifying Queen’s musical style and appealing to a broader audience.

Despite his flamboyant onstage persona, Mercury was known to be a private individual offstage. His personal life became the subject of speculation and tabloid scrutiny due to his relationships, particularly with Mary Austin, whom he referred to as his “common-law wife.” Their romantic involvement eventually evolved into a close friendship that endured throughout Mercury’s life.

The 1980s brought both challenges and triumphs for Queen. While Mercury faced health issues and increasing rumors about his well-being, the band continued to produce successful albums, including “The Works” (1984) with hits like “Radio Ga Ga” and “I Want to Break Free.” The Live Aid performance in 1985, considered one of the greatest in rock history, showcased Queen’s enduring appeal and raised funds for charity.

In 1987, Queen released the album “The Miracle,” featuring Mercury’s powerful vocals on tracks like “The Show Must Go On.” It became evident that Mercury’s health was declining due to complications from AIDS, a fact he had kept private. Mercury faced the challenges of the illness with courage and continued to work on music.

Freddie Mercury’s final studio album with Queen, “Innuendo” (1991), was released months before his death. The album showcased a range of emotions and musical styles, with Mercury’s poignant lyrics reflecting on life and mortality. The title track, “Innuendo,” and the haunting “These Are the Days of Our Lives” are considered poignant reflections of Mercury’s state of mind during his final days.

Freddie Mercury passed away on November 24, 1991, at the age of 45, just one day after revealing to the public that he was battling AIDS. His death was a significant loss to the music world, and his legacy endures through Queen’s timeless catalog and his impact on subsequent generations of musicians.

Posthumously, Freddie Mercury remains an influential and beloved figure. The 1992 tribute concert held at Wembley Stadium in his honor featured an array of renowned artists, including Elton John, David Bowie, and George Michael. The concert raised funds for AIDS research and celebrated Mercury’s life and contributions to music.

Mercury’s legacy extends beyond his role as Queen’s frontman. He is remembered for his ability to connect with audiences, his diverse musical influences, and his fearlessness in breaking musical boundaries. In 2018, the biographical film “Bohemian Rhapsody” brought Mercury’s life story to a new generation, with actor Rami Malek earning an Academy Award for his portrayal of the iconic singer.

Freddie Mercury’s impact on music, performance, and the acceptance of diversity in the industry is immeasurable. His contribution to Queen’s success, coupled with his unique voice and stage presence, has solidified his place as one of the greatest and most influential figures in the history of popular music.

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A half a century ago, the world first heard the voice of Freddie Mercury

Shereen Marisol Meraji

On this day 50 years ago, the band Queen released its first album and introduced the world to the singular voice of Freddie Mercury. ( Note: Story first aired on Morning Edition on Aug. 30, 2010 .)

50 Great Voices

Freddie mercury: rock 'n' roll's humble showman.

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Fifty years ago today, the world was introduced to one of rock 'n' roll's greatest voices.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KEEP YOURSELF ALIVE")

QUEEN: (Singing) Now, they say your folks are telling you be a superstar. But I tell you just be satisfied and stay right where you are. Keep yourself alive. Yeah. Keep yourself alive.

MARTÍNEZ: Freddie Mercury led Queen until his untimely death in 1991. That iconic band dropped its first album on this day 50 years ago. Now, really, that's all the excuse we need to go back into the archive for this 2010 profile of Freddie Mercury by Shereen Marisol Meraji.

SHEREEN MARISOL MERAJI, BYLINE: Mercury is an element that stays fluid when the temperature dips low or soars high. Mercury is the Roman messenger god, wings on his sandals, moving quickly from place to place. Freddie Mercury was the mercurial rock star who chose a stage name in perfect harmony with his voice.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T STOP ME NOW")

QUEEN: (Singing) I'm a shooting star, leaping through the sky like a tiger, defying the laws of gravity. I'm a racing car passing by, like Lady Godiva. I'm going to go, go, go. There's no stopping me.

MERAJI: He wasn't always the unstoppable British glam rocker Freddie Mercury.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "FREDDIE MERCURY, THE UNTOLD STORY")

JER BULSARA: The name we selected for him is Farrokh. That was his birth name.

MERAJI: That's Mercury's mother, Jer Bulsara, from the film "Freddie Mercury, The Untold Story." Farrokh Bulsara was Parsi, a group with ties to ancient Persia. But both of his parents were from India. He was born on the East African island of Zanzibar, once a base for Persian Gulf traders.

UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: In this very hospital, the government hospital Zanzibar, on the 5th of September, 1946, Farrokh Bulsara first saw the dazzling light of the world.

MERAJI: The film was directed by Rudi Dolezal. He portrays Mercury as an artist who mastered his craft in the West but came of age in the East.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MUSTAPHA")

QUEEN: (Singing) Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah will pray for you. Hey. Mustapha, Mustapha, Mustapha Ibrahim. Mustapha, Mustapha, Mustapha Ibrahim.

RUDI DOLEZAL: For example, if you listen to a song like "Mustapha," you think, I mean, this is very strange. I mean, what kind of cultural influences? Where does it come from? If you now know that Freddie was born in Zanzibar, then went to India, then came to London, which again was like a culture shock, then you sort of can see it's like a little bit of multiculturalism that was sort of combined in Freddie Mercury and the way he used his voice.

QUEEN: (Singing) Vontap ist ahiln avil ahiln adhim, Mustapha. Aleikum Salaam. Hey.

MERAJI: Freddie Mercury's voice was untrained and unpredictable, mercurial, throttling from an earthy baritone to a wild but heavenly tenor. Singer Adam Lambert spent hours upon hours listening to Queen, trying to figure out how Mercury did it so he could do it for his "American Idol" audition.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "AMERICAN IDOL")

ADAM LAMBERT: (Singing) Mama, just killed a man - put a gun against his head.

Freddie's voice is - it has such a texture to it. He kind of, like, grabs at everything. He squeezes it.

MERAJI: A virtual unknown before "American Idol," Adam Lambert finished the season belting out "We Are The Champions," taking Mercury's place beside Queen guitarist Brian May. But Lambert says no one can sing it quite like Freddie

LAMBERT: During "We Are The Champions," there's that one part where he goes, of the world. And he holds that out for a really long time. And it kind of, like, echoes off into the distance. You know what I'm talking about?

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS")

QUEEN: (Singing) Of the world.

LAMBERT: Instead of just being, like, open with, like, world and just singing it through an open throat, he kind of goes like, world - like, he squeezes it. And it's like it makes it - it gives it this, like, emotional intensity.

MERAJI: That squeeze gave Freddie Mercury the ability to hold a strong, forceful note that also trembled with vulnerability - not quite vibrato, more like a shout on the verge of crumbling into a sob.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY")

QUEEN: (Singing) Mama, ooh, didn't mean to make you cry. If I'm not back again this time tomorrow, carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters.

MERAJI: The mercurial showman. Freddie Mercury could go from singing a ballad at a baby grand to high-stepping like a rock star, wielding a microphone that looked like it was just ripped from its base.

LAMBERT: It was about the music, but he also really captivated the audience because he was so electric. That's why he's an icon, because you remembered what he did onstage. He had a presence.

MERAJI: Freddie Mercury's stage performance was humorous, camp. But he was very serious about entertaining the fans.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

FREDDIE MERCURY: (Vocalizing).

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Vocalizing).

MERCURY: (Vocalizing).

JACKY SMITH: Freddie's day-O's, they used to call them (laughter), because he would do the (singing) day-O, you know, that kind of stuff. And the audience would do them straight back at him perfectly every time. And he was always quite amazed by that.

MERAJI: Jacky Smith met Mercury in 1982 after responding to a want ad for a Queen fan club manager. Twenty-eight years later, she still has the job. Smith always had a backstage pass to Queen's stadium shows. But she preferred to watch Mercury from the stands.

SMITH: The atmosphere was incredible at the front. There were 120,000 people, I think, at the last show, which was Knebworth. And it was like you were still part of an intimate crowd because Freddie almost reached every single one of those people, even those right at the back.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RADIO GA GA")

QUEEN: (Singing) All we hear is radio ga, ga, radio goo, goo, radio ga, ga. All we hear is...

DOLEZAL: Two hundred-forty thousand hands in sync doing, all we need is, (clapping), was like, oh, my God.

MERAJI: Rudi Dolezal, director of "Freddie Mercury, The Untold Story," adds that offstage, Mercury was humble and always put his voice before his ego.

DOLEZAL: I can tell you one thing about his voice which I think is a unique story. We all know that Freddie Mercury had very strange teeth. And we would ask ourselves, well, a guy who is that rich, why didn't he change his teeth? And he was very afraid that if he would change his teeth that his particular sound of how his voice sounded would go away. So his voice was more important to him than his looks. And I think that says a lot about the man.

MERAJI: The humble showman from the East and the West with a quicksilver voice. Freddie Mercury chose a stage name that represented who he was and how he sang.

QUEEN: (Singing) Oh, I'm burning through the sky, yeah, 200 degrees. That's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit.

MERAJI: Shereen Marisol Meraji, NPR News.

QUEEN: (Singing) I want to make a supersonic man out of you. Hey, yeah. Don't stop me now. I'm having such a good time.

Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Bohemian Rhapsody

The story of the legendary British rock band Queen and lead singer Freddie Mercury, leading up to their famous performance at Live Aid (1985). The story of the legendary British rock band Queen and lead singer Freddie Mercury, leading up to their famous performance at Live Aid (1985). The story of the legendary British rock band Queen and lead singer Freddie Mercury, leading up to their famous performance at Live Aid (1985).

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• Trivia Queen 's set at Live Aid is widely regarded as one of the best live performances in rock-and-roll history. In a 2005 Channel Four poll of over 60 artists, journalists and music industry executives, Queen's Live Aid (1985) performance was named 'The World's Greatest-Ever Live Performance.'
• Goofs The film indicates that the band's manager Jim Beach was trying to get them onto the list of acts to play the Wembley Live Aid concert. In reality, Bob Geldof had held a press conference in early 1985 to announce the concert and named Queen as one of the acts who had agreed to play. Geldof had not spoken to any of the acts beforehand so this was the first any of them had heard about it. However as nobody wanted to look like the party pooper and back out, almost all the acts Geldof name-checked played at the concert, including the band Dire Straits (who had sold out a concert at nearby Wembley Arena on the night of the Live Aid concert so had to play two gigs in one day).

Brian May : It's America. They're puritans in public, perverts in private.

• Crazy credits The 20th Century Fox fanfare is performed in a rock music style (composed by Queen members Brian May on guitar and Roger Taylor on drums).
• Connections Featured in Lorraine: Episode dated 16 October 2018 (2018)
• Soundtracks Somebody to Love Written by Freddie Mercury Performed by Queen Courtesy of Queen Productions Ltd for the World excluding USA & Canada/Hollywood Records, Inc. for USA & Canada

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• How long is Bohemian Rhapsody? Powered by Alexa
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• I saw the movie but was trying remember what Freddie said right near the end when they were getting ready to play Live Aid, and he told them he had aids but he said something about he didnt want them to be sad that he was a performer and thats what he would do? Does anyone remember?
• Are all the songs lip sync? Does Malik sing any of the songs?
• November 2, 2018 (United States)
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• Nov 4, 2018
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• Runtime 2 hours 14 minutes
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The Best Freddie Mercury Biographies: Three Must-Reads About The King of Queen

By Joshua Kanter

Joshua Kanter

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.

After Bohemian Rhapsody , 2018’s blockbuster Freddie Mercury biopic, there was a surge of renewed interest in Queen and its charismatic frontman. Younger fans began discovering the group  – digging out their parents’ dusty LPs, launching the title track to over a billion streams on Spotify, and even making viral YouTube reaction videos of their first time hearing Mercury’s magnum opus.

Older fans were reinvigorated too, revisiting the albums of their youth, reminiscing about seeing the band live (those who were lucky enough to), and seeking to learn more about Mercury with all the newly available information regarding the theatrical but notoriously private singer.

Both groups will discover something new in these Freddie Mercury biographies, which offer three completely different perspectives of Mercury’s incredible life. 

The first book is from his partner, Jim Hutton, who gives a wistful retelling of his time with Mercury right up until the end. The two had a complicated relationship – intimate and close in private, yet Mercury always kept a distance from Hutton while in the eye of the public and the relentless British tabloids, at a time when being openly gay was not yet widely accepted (homosexuality had only been decriminalized in the UK less than a decade earlier). Though their relationship was rocky at times, Hutton loved and cared for Mercury, was by his side when he died, and offers a fly-on-the-wall observation of his life and a heartbreaking account of his final days. 

Another, a collection of quotes and interviews from Mercury himself, paints a picture with verbal pieces. Freddie’s quotes, quips and insights fuel the timeline along, creating a look at his life through his own thoughts and observations.

Finally, Somebody to Love delves deep into the history of HIV/ AIDS , eventually incorporating Mercury into the disease’s trajectory, and telling the story of his final years battling the virus that eventually took his life in 1991.

All three are must-reads for any fans of Freddie looking to learn all they can about the singer’s life offstage and behind closed doors. 

1. Mercury and Me

For those more interested in a glimpse beyond the glitz, Jim Hutton’s book provides a unique perspective of Freddie Mercury in his final years.

Hutton, Mercury’s partner and close friend from 1985 to 1991, was also his caretaker and confidant (and gardener as well, for a time), and offers an accurate and intimate account of the singer’s life and death. The book is almost an epilogue of sorts to the Bohemian Rhapsody film, which ends before the majority of these years take place.  

Hutton, who died in 2010, gives insight into the Freddie that he knew –  the tumultuous ups and downs and everything in between. He wasn’t in the spotlight, and maybe even preferred it that way, but he was alongside Mercury for the ride, and gives what often times feels like a fly-on-the-wall narrative of the singer’s life that was hidden from the public eye. 

The book does touch upon the musical side of things briefly, mentioning what Mercury was working on in his last years, his devoted work ethic right up until the end, and which songs and artists were most inspirational to him. But mainly the focus here is the relationship between the two.  

PROS:  Hutton’s book offers a one-of-a-kind window into Mercury’s life that won’t be found anywhere else. Hardcore Mercury fans that want to learn as much as possible about the legend’s life will enjoy this. The paperback also includes color photos as well. 

CONS:   Readers looking specifically for Mercury’s life story, or behind-the-scenes rockstar tales about him and Queen, may want to sit this one out. The main focus is the deep, rocky and complicated relationship Hutton and Mercury shared until the end. While some users appreciate Hutton’s storytelling of the memories shared with Mercury, others find the writing style to be dull and uninteresting. There’s also controversy among readers about the book itself, and if these intensely personal and private moments of Mercury’s life really needed to be shared publicly. 

Buy Mercury and Me

2. A Life In His Own Words by Freddie Mercury

The title may be a bit misleading here – yes, it’s his own words, but this is more a collection of quotes and interviews than a true autobiography. Still, Mercury didn’t give many in-depth interviews in his life, and this book acts as a nice collection of his humor, wit, and insight into his creative process. 

While most quotes are about music and the business, there are poignant ones that break the mold regarding friendship, societal problems, personal thoughts, and heartbreaking reflections on his own mortality. 

Though it’s not in the format of a traditional autobiography, A Life in his Own Words gives the reader the most intimate one-on-one feel with Mercury, almost as if he’s speaking directly to you.   

PROS: True Queen fans will love this one. Even if they’ve already watched the interviews quoted here, having them in one collection gives a look at Mercury’s legacy from the inside out. The forward is also written by Freddie’s mother, Jer Bulsara, giving it an even more special and bittersweet tone. 

CONS:   The book doesn’t really provide a narrative or a timeline, which can be confusing to new fans. There’s also not much context into where Mercury was in his life with each quote, or the situations he’s referring to when he said these things, which makes his words less impactful to the average reader and casual Queen fan.

Buy A Life In His Own Words by Freddie…

3. Somebody to Love: The Life, Death and Legacy of Freddie Mercury

Somebody to Love , a well-researched collaboration by Mark Langthorne and Matt Richards, two entertainment industry veterans, is wholly unafraid to show Mercury from all sides. A rock legend living a lifestyle of excess, the choices he made along with their consequences, and being one of the first victims of AIDS in the early days of the epidemic. 

The narrative provides a parallel and intersecting storyline about the history of HIV/AIDS, dating all the way back to the early 1900s in Africa, and chronicling the devastation the LGBTQ community went through in the Seventies and Eighties. There’s a heavy focus on Mercury’s promiscuity here, and his sexuality in general. At times it’s relevant, such as the difficulty of coming out in an era before being gay was widely accepted, but can also get lost in the extremely uncensored details and detract from the main storylines.

The book could be a standalone epidemiological study about the history of HIV/AIDS even without Mercury. But eventually, it weaves him into the timeline, giving a detailed account of his personal life, and his battle with the disease that tragically took him at age 45 in 1991. The result is a powerfully emotional read.

PROS: Fans of Mercury who are already well-versed in the legend’s life will learn something new here, providing a new lens into his life and death.  

CONS: Mercury’s personal life and the history of the HIV/AIDS virus are the main subject matter here, and fans looking for stories about Queen may be disappointed here. While the book does give some attention to the band’s music, it’s mostly their mega-hits, without much insight into the lesser-known fan favorites. 

Buy Somebody to Love: The Life, Death and… $11.30

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The finest Freddie Mercury songs reveal an artist committed to exploring all avenues of expression.

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Freddie Mercury loved writing songs and said inspiration came to him with such force sometimes that he was “known to scribble down lyrics in the middle of the night without even putting the light on.” From his earliest songs with Queen , Mercury built a reputation as one of the most popular songwriters of his generation, and the best Freddie Mercury songs reveal an artist committed to exploring every musical avenue open to him.

“A lot of my songs are fantasy, I can dream up all kinds of things,” said the singer, who wrote some of the rock band’s most memorable songs. He also went on to pen songs for an acclaimed solo album, Mr. Bad Guy , in 1985.

Here is our pick of the 20 best Freddie Mercury songs, chosen to provide a rounded view of his work both with Queen and as a solo artist. Think we’ve missed some of yours? Let us know in the comments section, below.

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Listen to the best Freddie Mercury songs on Apple Music and Spotify .

20: Let’s Turn It On

After his hugely successful career with Queen, Freddie Mercury took a break in the mid-80s to record his solo album, Mr Bad Guy . “I was always keen to do a solo album,” explained Mercury. “I just wanted it to be the right time and the right place so that I could actually work properly on the songs that I wanted to do before I got too old. I had a lot of ideas bursting to get out and there were a lot of musical territories I wanted to explore which I really couldn’t do within Queen.” The album opened with his fast-paced, synthesizer-driven dance song “Let’s Turn It On.” Mercury played synthesizers on the record, along with Canadian session musician Fred Mandel.

19: Foolin’ Around

One of Freddie Mercury’s regular sayings was “we’re fooling around” – it was how the singer described his collaboration with David Bowie for “Under Pressure” – and he used it to explain his behavior on stage. For his first solo album, Mercury wrote “Foolin’ Around,” a disco song about a “foxy lady” (“You’re the catch of the season every night and day”) which also served as a vehicle for Paul Vincent’s funky guitar playing.

18: Guide Me Home

“With the Barcelona album, I had a little bit more freedom and a bit of scope to actually try out some of my crazy ideas,” said Freddie Mercury. One result was the sweeping ballad “Guide Me Home,” one of the last songs he wrote (with the help of Mike Moran). The song, which opens with the lines “Now my heart begins to bleed/Who will find me?”, was originally titled “Freddie’s Overture.” The single version was first released in Japan and proved a superb song to showcase his powerful duet singing with Spanish operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé.

17: Your Kind Of Lover

“Your Kind Of Lover,” an upbeat love song from Mr. Bad Guy , features some vibrant fast piano playing from Freddie Mercury, mixed with the driving bass work of Stephan Wissnet. “I like to write nice little catchy tunes. It’s just something that I have to keep doing, but I do enjoy it, too. It’s a kind of hobby, in a funny way,” said Mercury.

16: Seven Seas Of Rhye

By the time Freddie Mercury did his solo project, he had been writing songs for nearly two decades. He got into his stride on Queen’s eponymous 1973 debut album , with five completely solo-written songs, including the instrumental “Seven Seas Of Rhye.” The tune proved so appealing that it was resurrected, with lyrics, for Queen II , the band’s second album, in 1974. “At that time, I was learning about a lot of things in songwriting, like song structure – I was just learning different techniques all the time,” admitted Mercury.

15: My Love Is Dangerous

It took Freddie Mercury more than two years to complete Mr. Bad Guy , and his attention to detail comes across in the personal song narratives. “I once wrote a song called ‘My Love Is Dangerous,’” the singer recalled in Freddie Mercury: A Life, In His Own Words . “I feel that maybe that’s what my love is – dangerous. I haven’t actually analyzed myself, but after all these years I just feel I’m not a very good partner for anybody, and I think that’s what my love is… Who wants their love to be safe, anyway? Can you imagine writing a song called ‘My Love Is Safe’? It would never sell.”

14: Crazy Little Thing Called Love

One of the curiosities about songwriting is that inspiration can come in a flash or take a long time to come together, said the singer. Freddie Mercury admitted that his 1974 song “March Of The Black Queen” “took ages to complete”, but said that the 1979 Queen hit “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” took him less than 10 minutes to complete… and was penned while he was soaking in the bath.

13: Man Made Paradise

“Come into my life/It’s a man-made paradise,” sings Freddie Mercury on the Mr. Bad Guy track “Man Made Paradise.” It was a song that was originally written and recorded in 1983 during sessions for Queen’s album The Works . Though the song went unreleased at the time, Mercury liked the lyrics and returned to it for his solo album, where it featured drum programming by the producer Reinhold Mack.

12: Death On Two Legs

Though a lot of Freddie Mercury’s songwriting reflects his positive, fun-loving side, he showed that he could pen a visceral song with “Death On Two Legs,” which appeared on Queen’s 1975 album, A Night At The Opera . “‘Death On Two Legs’ was the most vicious lyric I ever wrote,” said Mercury. “Just listen to the words carefully, kiddies. It’s a nasty little number that brings out my evil streak. I don’t usually like to explain what I was thinking when I wrote that song, but it’s about a nasty old man that I used to know. The words came very easy to me.”

11: Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow

“Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow,” which was inspired by Freddie Mercury’s relationship with Austrian actress Barbara Valentin, reached No.76 on the UK singles chart in 1985. “One of my favorite tracks is ‘Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow,’ because of the way it came out,” said Mercury. “It was a very personal thing. I wrote it in five minutes and everything just gelled into place. It was just very emotional, very strong. I love that track.”

10: Barcelona

The title track from the classical-pop crossover album Barcelona , featuring opera singer Montserrat Caballé, is a stirring and dramatic triumph that has proved to be one of Freddie Mercury’s biggest successes in the digital age. The track, also written with the help of Mike Moran, peaked at No.8 on its 1987 release. A reissue shortly after Mercury’s death, to coincide with the 1992 Olympic Games, sent the song back into the charts, reaching No.2. By 2019, it had been streamed more than three million times.

9: Made In Heaven

“Made in Heaven” was Freddie Mercury’s original choice for the title of his solo album. The song opens with a pulsating piano beat and some of most potent opening lines Mercury composed: “I’m taking my ride with destiny/Willing to play my part/Living with painful memories/Loving with all my heart.” “Made in Heaven” was issued as a single in 1985 and reached No.57 in the charts. Following Mercury’s death, the song’s title provided the name for Queen’s 1995 posthumous album , with the previous vocals used over a newly-recorded instrumental track. “I think my songs are all under the label emotion – love and emotion and feeling,” said Mercury. “Most of the songs I write are love ballads and things to do with sadness and torture and pain.”

8: I Was Born To Love You

“I’m a true romantic,” said Freddie Mercury, whose song “I Was Born to Love You,” from Mr. Bad Guy , is one of his most catchy disco love songs. The single was accompanied by a stunning video, which was directed by David Mallet and choreographed by Arlene Phillips. The song was a hit in America, breaking into the Billboard Top 100.

7: We Are The Champions

The 1977 song “We Are the Champions,” which appeared on Queen’s album News Of The World , showed that no one wrote a better anthem song than Freddie Mercury. “‘We Are the Champions’ is the most egotistical and arrogant song I’ve ever written,” said Mercury. “I was thinking about football when I wrote it. I wanted a participation song, something the fans could latch on to. It was aimed at the masses. I wanted to write something that everyone could sing along to, like a football chant. And at the same time, I thought it would be nice to have a winning song that’s meant for everybody.”

6: Mr. Bad Guy

One constant theme in Freddie Mercury’s remarks about his songwriting was that he hated trying to over-analyze his songs. “You should never ask me about my lyrics,” said Mercury. “People ask, “Why did you write such-and-such a lyric and what does it mean?’ I don’t like to explain what I was thinking when I wrote a song. I think that’s awful. That’s not what it’s all about. I don’t like to analyze it. I prefer people to put their own interpretation upon it – to read into it whatever they like.” He said he did not want to explain the song “Mr Bad Guy,” except to say “Mr Bad Guy is me. I won’t explain that totally, you can take it from there.” In 2019, Belfast-born expressionist artist Jack Coulter produced a painting inspired by the song. It went on display at a Queen exhibition in South Korea.

5: There Must Be More To Life Than This

“There Must Be More to Life Than This,” which appeared on Mr. Bad Guy , was originally recorded by Queen for 1982’s Hot Space , as a duet with Michael Jackson . The version went unreleased at the time and Freddie Mercury returned to the lyrics for his solo album. The song was in part inspired by the songwriting of John Lennon , one of the many formative influences on Mercury’s work. “I wrote a song called ‘There Must Be More to Life Than This’, and that is probably the nearest thing I could cite to a message song – and that’s not even a message as such,” said Mercury at the time. “It’s the nearest I want to go to in terms of talking about world politics or the disasters that are happening in the world. I don’t really like writing songs in that sphere, but there comes a time when I feel emotional in that way and it’s just a very small part of what John Lennon actually did.”

4: Killer Queen

Freddie Mercury always talked about his pride at writing “Killer Queen,” which appeared on Queen’s 1974 album Sheer Heart Attack . He said it was written in one night and was a song that he could have imagined Noël Coward singing. The song won Mercury his first Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy Of Songwriters. “It just fell into place, as some songs sometimes do,” said Mercury. “‘Killer Queen’ was one I wrote the words for first. It was one song that was really out of the format that I usually write in. Generally, the music comes first, but that time it was the words, along with the sophisticated style that I wanted to put across.”

3: Living On My Own

Freddie Mercury was honest in his interviews and one of the reasons that “Living on My Own,” a single from Mr. Bad Guy , is such a fine representation of his songwriting is that it captures his personality, including his scat-singing tribute to jazz star Ella Fitzgerald . “If you listen to ‘Living On My Own,’ that is very me,” said Mercury. “It’s living on my own, but having fun. There’s a bit in the middle where I do my scat singing and I’m just saying that when you think about somebody like me, my lifestyle, I have to go around the world and live in hotels and that can be a very lonely life. But I chose it. That song is not dealing with people who are living on their own in basement flats, or situations like that, it’s my living on my own… I’m just saying that I’m living on my own and I’m having a boogie time!” In 1993, after Mercury’s death, the No More Brothers mix of the song struck a chord with the public and topped the UK charts for two weeks, and has since been streamed more than three million times.

2: Don’t Stop Me Now

In 2011, Queen fans voted the chorus of “Don’t Stop Me Now” as the band’s “best ever lyric.” “Don’t stop me now/I’m having such a good time/I’m having a ball,” sang Freddie Mercury on a song he penned for the band’s 1978 album, Jazz . “I like to think that I write songs in lots of different ways, depending on my mood,” said Mercury. “Don’t Stop Me Now” reflects Mercury at his feel-good, life-affirming best.

1: Bohemian Rhapsody

“ Bohemian Rhapsody ” is regarded as one of the masterpieces of 20th-century popular music – yet Freddie Mercury admitted that he almost rejected it in its early stages. “People still ask me what ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is all about, and I say I don’t know. I think it loses the myth and ruins a kind of mystique that people have built up,” said Mercury. “‘Rhapsody’ is one of those songs that has a fantasy feel about it. I think people should just listen to it, think about it, and then decide for themselves what it means to them.” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which gave its name to the 2019 biopic about the singer, has an operatic aspect that eventually informed “Barcelona.” The song was full of dazzling wordplay, delivered in wonderful harmonies. “Somebody said it was like Cecil B De Mille meets Walt Disney,” said Mercury, who sat at the piano and delivered a section of this tour de force song at the start of Queen’s legendary Live Aid set in 1985 , the same year he released his solo album, Mr Bad Guy .

The career-spanning Freddie Mercury box set, Never Boring , is out now. Order it here .

11 Comments

November 22, 2019 at 7:36 pm

were is we will rock you

November 22, 2019 at 7:37 pm

April 19, 2020 at 12:18 pm

That’s a song Brian May wrote, so it wouldn’t be on a list of Mercury songs.

October 4, 2020 at 11:30 am

How can Somebody to Love been ignored? Love of my Life also…

Martin Wood

February 2, 2021 at 6:55 pm

Absolutely so many great Queen tracks written by Freddie missed out and too many solo songs included. In the Lap of the Gods, Love of My Life…

June 19, 2021 at 10:09 pm

There’s a great list online at https://shanemcdonald.ie/queen/queen-discography/queen-songs-written-by-freddie-mercury/ which shows how prolific Freddie was at writing songs. The ultimate frontman.

February 20, 2022 at 11:32 am

This is junk, just an advert for his solo albums. ‘Bring Back That Leroy Brown’ is unlike anything ever written by a popular songwriter in the last 50 years. Seriously, who from Lad Zeppelin/Rolling Stones or even The Beatles could have written that?

Catherine MacAdam

January 16, 2023 at 2:25 am

Great choices!!! And I loved the way you had Freddie singing each #1 2 are my favs! Is there and way I can save this great piece of work?

June 4, 2023 at 3:44 pm

Where’s Radio Ga Ga???

August 13, 2023 at 11:27 pm

AI, Freddie didn’t write Radio Ga Ga so it wouldn’t be on this list. Roger wrote that.

November 4, 2023 at 3:46 pm

Save me. I love it

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Meet Mary Austin, the Woman Who Stole Freddie Mercury's Heart

“All my lovers asked me why they couldn’t replace Mary, but it’s simply impossible,” Mercury once said of Austin. “The only friend I’ve got is Mary, and I don’t want anybody else. To me, she was my common-law wife. To me, it was a marriage.”

When Mercury died in 1991 of AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia at age 45, Austin was by his side as she had been for much of his adult life. At one point in their relationship he had asked her to marry him, and when he died he left her half his reported $75 million estate, including the 28-room London mansion in which he passed away and Austin still lives in to this day.

Today Austin lives a quiet life away from the spotlight she often experienced as part of Mercury’s inner circle. The pair lived together on and off for the better part of two decades as Mercury’s profile rose and Queen became one the most beloved rock bands of the twentieth century. And due to the success of Bohemian Rhapsody , Austin is reportedly set to inherit more than $50 million as she now owns 75 percent of his estate.

Mercury and Austin quickly fell in love

Mercury and Austin met in 1969, a year before he would form what would become Queen with bandmates Brian May, Roger Taylor and eventually John Deacon. Mercury, real name Farrokh Bulsara, was born in Zanzibar, Tanzania in 1946 and had moved to England with his parents in the 1960s. Austin was born in 1951 into an impoverished family in South London’s Battersea neighborhood. Her father worked as a wallpaper trimmer and her mother a domestic for a small company. Both her parents were deaf.

It was while working at the fashionable London clothing store Biba when Austin first came into contact with Mercury, who had just completed art college and worked in a clothing stall in nearby Kensington. Austin was initially hesitant about the sometimes larger-than-life Mercury, but they were soon a couple living in a cramped flat together as he worked on his music career. “He was like no one I had ever met before,” Austin told OK! Magazine in 2000. “He was very confident, and I have never been confident. We grew together. I liked him – and it went on from there.”

“She seemed to be grounded,” says Mark Blake, author of Is This the Real Life?: The Untold Story of Freddie Mercury and Queen . "They got together quite quickly apparently. They’d known each other for a few months and then the next thing they were living together.”

READ MORE: The Complicated Nature of Freddie Mercury's Sexuality

Mercury's marriage proposal was unexpected

The couple would eventually move to a bigger flat in London’s Holland Road and in 1973, the year Queen’s eponymous debut album was released, Mercury asked her to marry him. “When I was 23 he gave me a big box on Christmas Day. Inside was another box, then another and so it went on. It was like one of his playful games. Eventually, I found a lovely jade ring inside the last small box,” Austin told the Daily Mail in 2013. Not understanding what was going on, Austin asked Mercury on which hand should she place it. He replied the left and asked her to marry him. “I was shocked. It just so wasn’t what I was expecting. I just whispered, ‘Yes. I will.’”

In the following years, Queen’s profile grew with the release of albums “Sheer Heart Attack” (1974) and “A Night at the Opera” (1975), the latter containing the Mercury-penned ballad “Love of My Life,” reportedly written for Austin. As the band’s fame grew so too did Mercury’s. His wild mane of hair, toothy grin, showy costumes, and camp performances alongside his thrilling, almost four-octave encompassing singing voice had audiences flocking to see the band.

Austin believed Mercury was gay, not bisexual

At home, things were not fairing as well. Six years into their relationship marriage was no longer being discussed and Austin began to think something was wrong. She decided to discuss the matter with Mercury. “I told him, ‘Something is going on and I just feel like a noose around your neck. I think it’s time for me to go,’” she recalled to OK! Mercury insisted nothing was wrong. Austin recalls the relationship cooling after that, the same time the band was experiencing incredible success.

Returning home later and later most nights, Austin thought Mercury was having an affair with another woman. But in 1976, already an international star, he decided to discuss his evolving sexual feelings with her. “I’ll never forget that moment,” Austin told the Daily Mail . “Being a bit naive, it had taken me a while to realize the truth. Afterward, he felt good about having finally told me he was bisexual. Although I do remember saying to him at the time, ‘No Freddie, I don’t think you are bisexual. I think you are gay.’”

The revelation ended their physical relationship and Austin moved to a nearby flat purchased for her by Mercury’s music-publishing company. Yet she remained part of the band’s extended circle. “She went on the road with them. There are photographs of them together backstage at concerts into the late seventies by which stage they were no longer a couple,” says biographer Blake. “He was to all intents and purposes a gay man. It’s a very interesting part of their story, that having lived together as a couple and her believing that at one point they would be married and then having to come to terms with the fact that he was sleeping with guys. And they remained such good friends for so long after that. She stayed as part of the band’s entourage because she was part of his entourage. She was the most important person in that entourage.”

Austin was by Mercury's side until his death

Austin would witness Mercury go on to live a life of lavish excess, a rock god’s existence fueled by substance abuse and random sexual encounters. Austin would make her own path. She has two sons with painter Piers Cameron, Richard to whom Mercury was godfather, and Jamie, born shortly after Mercury’s death. Though she never married Cameron, a marriage to businessman Nick Holford ended in divorce after five years.

Never absent for long from Mercury’s life, Austin reportedly worked for his management company and was a constant in the years leading up to his death. When Mercury was diagnosed with HIV in 1987 there was no treatment for the virus and he died of AIDS-related complications four years later on November 24, 1991. Austin was by his side.

“He kept her close by when he became ill,” says Blake. “The fact that she was so well looked after in the will. She got the house and a share of the publishing. He effectively left a lot to her as if he was leaving it to his widow. Mary was probably good at keeping him grounded. She had been there before the money, before the fame and she was there at the end.”

Of his passing Austin says she lost somebody she thought of as her eternal love. “When he died I felt we’d had a marriage,” she told OK! “We’d done it for better or worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health. You could never have let go of Freddie unless he died – and even then it was difficult.”

Austin supported Mercury in his decision to keep the nature of his illness secret until shortly before he died. He also asked her to collect his ashes and place them at a private location never to be disclosed.

It’s a promise she kept, waiting two years after his death to secretly remove them from the house he died in, the house in which she still resides surrounded by many of the same furnishings chosen by Mercury. “He didn’t want anyone trying to dig him up as has happened to some famous people,” Austin told the Daily Mail . “Fans can be deeply obsessive. He wanted it to remain a secret and it will remain so.”

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Best Freddie Mercury books 2024: Dive into the life and music of the Queen icon

We take a look through a selection of publications documenting the life and times of much-missed Queen frontman Freddie Mercury

Searching for the best Freddie Mercury books on the market throws up the same issues that seem to surround every globally famous rock star – there are almost too many to choose from.

As you would imagine, some exploring the late Queen frontman’s life are worthwhile reads, others less so, but most of them offer something for fans to get their teeth into, be it a hitherto unknown factoid or a new image of the great man strutting his considerable stuff. 

And following the massive success of the Mercury and Queen film Bohemian Rhapsody – which became the biggest music biopic of all time and scooped an incredible  four Oscars ,  two Golden Globes  and  two BAFTAS – the spotlight has once again fallen on the vocalist's life and career.

We’ve done some extensive reading in order to uncover a number of books about Freddie Mercury that will not only cater for seasoned Queen veterans, but will give newcomers to the band an insight into one of rock's greatest ever frontmen.

Best Freddie Mercury books: Our picks

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1. Freddie Mercury: A Life, In His Own Words by Freddie Mercury

An absorbing read which was compiled by Queen archivist Greg Brooks and film producer Simon Lupton. The book comprises narrative transcripts of interviews that Mercury gave to both print media along with TV and radio, and is set out in a number of chapters that broadly follow the chronology of the singer's legendary career.

Originally published in 2006, the 2019 revised edition of Freddie Mercury: A Life, In His Own Words features text taken from a number of interviews that were unearthed from Queen’s expansive archive that hadn't previously made it into the public eye.  The book includes a heartfelt preface from Mercury's mother Jer Bulsara which adds to the intimacy of the project. 

For a man famously wary of the press, there are some lovely insights to be found here.

2. Freddie Mercury: The Biography by Laura Jackson

Also responsible for the patchy Queen & I , the ‘definitive biography’ of guitarist Brian May, rock biographer Laura Jackson rolls up her sleeves and gets stuck into her task with gusto here. When compared to other books featured, Jackson refreshingly avoids shining a light into the darker and more sordid corners of Mercury’s life, content instead to stick with descriptions of the familiar path of his journey from the small African island of Zanzibar to the stadia of the world.

Freddie Mercury: The Biography is well written and competently-researched, and while it’s unlikely to tell the reader anything radically new about Mercury's life, it's enjoyable nonetheless – especially if you’re after something lighter in tone.

3. Somebody To Love: The Life, Death And Legacy Of Freddie Mercury - by Matt Richards & Mark Langthorne

This excellent book from two highly experienced authors focuses more closely on the horrors of AIDS than many of the other publications on this list and, as such, is a timely reminder of just how terrible the disease is. 

This approach to Mercury’s life and career is fascinating and although much of the band-related info here will be familiar to fans, the fact that the spectre of HIV and AIDS lurks throughout makes for a sobering read. It’s the antithesis to the Bohemian Rhapsody biopic that has been accused of glossing over this part of Mercury's life and, as such, is definitely worth getting hold of.

4. Bohemian Rhapsody: The Definitive Biography of Freddie Mercury by Lesley-Ann Jones

Enjoyment of this controversial book will depend on whether you can stomach Jones’ self-reverential ‘I was there!’ style of writing. Queen guitarist Brian May has publicly disputed her supposed closeness to his former bandmate - most recently on his Instagram page back in 2019 - but the breadth of the contributions Jones has assembled does lend the familiar content some depth. 

The trial of ploughing through pages detailing her boozy experiences as a rock journalist in the 80s is more than balanced by her eminently readable prose, with the chapters concentrating on Mercury’s early life especially absorbing. Definitive? Hardly, but one to check out nonetheless.

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5. Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender, a Life in Pictures by Sean O’Hagan & Richard Gray

This sizeable coffee table book features the musings of respected writer Sean O’Hagan and is sprinkled with images selected by Richard Gray, who oversees Queen’s mammoth picture archive – and we’d suggest that if you’re only going to buy one book on the list, it’s probably this one.

The foreword has been written by Rami Malek, who portrayed Mercury in the smash hit Bohemian Rhapsody biopic – and it's a nice touch. However, even his charms are eclipsed by the slew of baby pictures from the Bulsara family’s days in Zanzibar and, as you turn the pages you find some new images alongside a number that are much more familiar. 

It’ll be Mercury's early life that will attract the most attention, but the whole package is thoroughly engrossing.

6. Mercury and Me: An Intimate Memoir by the Man Freddie Loved by Jim Hutton & Tim Wapshott

The success of the Bohemian Rhapsody film has led to Jim Hutton being painted as something of a baddie in the story of Queen and interest in this undeniably one-sided memoir has certainly rekindled. To be fair though, Mary Austin aside, he was probably as close to a significant other as Mercury ever got, as the book goes to great pains to regularly point out.

Written partly as a cathartic exercise for Hutton, the details contained within are intimate, especially the passages concerning Mercury’s final days, and the 50 or so intensely personal images also included do shed some additional light on their relationship. Definitely worth a look.

7. Freddie Mercury: An Intimate Memoir by the Man Who Knew Him Best by Peter Freestone

Peter Freestone was Mercury’s personal assistant between 1980 and 1991, and there’s little doubt that this access to the band’s inner sanctum has given him some telling insights – a number of which are recounted here. It’s utterly fascinating to read about the day-to-day workings of a band of Queen's stature on the road.

The harrowing description of the great man’s very final moments may well be deemed unnecessarily ghoulish, but it’s plain that the two felt a great deal of affection for each other. In addition, if Grand Design-style descriptions of the décor of Freddie’s homes are of any interest, then this is the book for you.

8. Freddie Mercury in New York: Don’t Stop Us Now! by Thor Arnold & Lee Nolan

A personal account of Mercury’s reinvention and his embroilment in New York's gay scene, marked in public by the appearance of the hated/loved moustache in the video for 1980’s Play The Game single. Thor Arnold and Lee Nolan were part of a group that took Mercury under its wing to show him the ropes, as it were, and the resultant book contains convivial tales of the singer enjoying life away from the spotlight.

Also included are some never-before-seen images taken by Nolan at the time and selective though the audience for such a book may seem, it opens the door to a rarely-seen facet of the man’s life.

9. This was the Real Life: The Tale of Freddie Mercury by David Evans & David Minns

David Minns dated Mercury during the mid-70s when Freddie was still coming to terms with his feelings – especially in the wake of his doomed relationship with Mary Austin, and the book does give an insight into the turmoil he was going through.

First published back in 1992, the revised version features relevant sections from Minns’ unfinished memoir of his life and includes excerpts from letters from Mercury alongside pictures that have never been published before. The past tense of the title is poignant to say the least and this is a tale of a love story painfully innocent in its fuzzy closeness.

10. Freddie Mercury A to Z: The Life of an Icon by Steve Wilde and Paul Borchers

A concept that lays out the pivotal moments and characters from Mercury's life in, as the title suggests, an A-Z format – C is for Cats, X is for X-Rated, and so on – and, although accompanied by illustrations from Paul Borchers that are pretty ordinary, the dip-in-and-out appeal is undeniable.

However there are a number of glaring inaccuracies that dispel any authority the book may hope to wield and there’s no possible excuse for vouchsafing, as it does, that Bohemian Rhapsody is the closing track of Queen’s second album. Any real fan will know that it is, of course, the penultimate song of their fourth record A Night At The Opera . Fun but flawed.

11. Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic by Mark Blake

With each chapter preceded by a timeline of the period of Mercury’s life that it covers, this is a well-designed and excellently-written book from former Q magazine journalist Mark Blake, and is notable for the amount of detail on offer. 

We are again drawn to Mercury's early years and, thanks to a series of exhaustive interviews with former school chums, the reader can easily imagine what life was like at St Peter’s Boys School in Panchgani, India; who knew Fred was an accomplished boxer?

The high levels of minute detail continue throughout and there is something new to discover on almost every page. Great stuff.

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The Meaning Behind “Somebody to Love” by Queen and the Singer Freddie Mercury’s Paying Tribute to

Introduction of "somebody to love" :  queen's 1976 hit built on their previous successes while showcasing a new side. freddie mercury's admiration for aretha franklin influenced the song., contextualizing queen's journey :  amidst the shadow of "bohemian rhapsody," queen aimed to follow up their breakthrough. despite earlier hits, the pressure was on for their next album., mercury's inspiration from aretha franklin :  freddie mercury's fondness for aretha franklin's gospel style heavily influenced "somebody to love," though his bandmates were initially skeptical., musical elements and meaning :  the song blends queen's signature layered vocals with gospel influences, showcasing mercury's vocal prowess and romantic despair., narrative and triumph : "somebody to love" portrays mercury as a hapless romantic seeking relief. despite setbacks, there's a hint of triumph and optimism in the face of adversity., read the full article: the meaning behind “somebody to love” by queen and the singer freddie mercury’s paying tribute to.

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• 1946 births

Freddie Mercury

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In 1970 , Mercury joined the band Smile , which, at the time, consisted of Brian May and Roger Taylor . A year later bass guitarist John Deacon joined as well. Mercury insisted on renaming the band "Queen" to give it a stronger, more regal connotation. This was around the same time he changed his last name from Bulsara to Mercury. He also designed the logo for the band. He is renowned as our almighty God, and later in his career became a gay icon.

• 1 Biography
• 2 Health deterioration
• 4 External Links

Biography [ ]

The doors of Mercury's former residence in Stone Town, Zanzibar.

Farrokh Bulsara was born on 5 September 1946 in Stone Town, Zanzibar to Jer and Bomi Bulsara , who were both Parsis . Farrokh was born with four extra incisors and he claimed that it gave him his famous four-octave vocal range. Farrokh had a younger sister named Kashmira , who was born in 1952 .

Farrokh spent much of his childhood in India, attending St. Peter's boarding school . This was when he started going by the nickname "Freddie", instead of "Farrokh". He also started learning to play the piano at age seven and developed the ability to instantly play music off by ear. When Freddie was twelve, he formed a band, the Hectics . One of his former band members recalled that he had a taste for Western pop music, which would become a large factor later in life.

Freddie Mercury (far left) with the band Sour Milk Sea .

In 1964 , the Bulsaras moved to Middlesex, England to avoid the violence and persecutions occurring in Zanzibar. There Freddie studied art at Isleworth Polytechnic in London and after that, graphic art and design at Ealing Art School . During this time, he joined a Liverpool-based blues group called Wreckage .

In 1969 , Freddie graduated from Ealing with a diploma in graphic art and design. After graduation and after Wreckage disbanded, he joined numerous other bands, including the short-lived blues band Sour Milk Sea , which fell apart in early 1970 . He also worked at Kensington Market with his girlfriend Mary Austin and at Heathrow Airport as a baggage handler (as shown in the Bohemian Rhapsody film).

A plaque noting the first public performance by Queen .

Around this time, Freddie's friend Tim Staffell introduced him to Brian May and Roger Taylor , who, along with Staffell, made up the band Smile . Freddie soon became a very keen fan of Smile and when Staffell left the group to join a band called Humpy Bong , Freddie stepped up to become their lead singer. He insisted on renaming the band " Queen " to give it a stronger, more regal connotation. This was around the same time he also changed his last name from Bulsara to Mercury.

On 18 July 1970 , Mercury, May and Taylor performed their first public gig as Queen. The band then started auditioning different bassists, having them play with the band for a few months at a time. The three known bassists they tried out were Mike Grose , Barry Mitchell and Doug Bogie . In March 1971 , the band finally settled on John Deacon , who seemed to fit well with the chemistry of the other members.

The Queen logo designed by Mercury

In a matter of time, EMI Records and Elektra Records signed Queen and the band produced their self-titled debut album in 1973 . Before the release of the album, Mercury used his graphic design talents from Ealing to design the group a logo , which features a large "Q" surrounded by animals representing each of the band members' Zodiac symbols.

After their debut album's huge success, their second one, Queen II , was then released in 1974 . Queen II only took a bit over a month to record and yet it started incorporating more diverse genres of songs, such as blues, metal, folk and pop. This diversity would soon become one of Queen's most common traits. Mercury has said that "I hate doing the same thing again and again and again. I like to see what's happening now in music, film and theatre and incorporate all of those things." The second album included a full version of " Seven Seas of Rhye ".

The opening shot of the " Bohemian Rhapsody " music video.

Queen's success came to fruition after the release of their third album, Sheer Heart Attack , which was released in 1974 as well. However, their popularity soared even more after A Night at the Opera , which featured classics such as " Bohemian Rhapsody ", " You're My Best Friend " and " Love of My Life ". "Bohemian Rhapsody" is the band's most popular song, written by Mercury and lasting nearly six minutes. EMI initially refused to release the song as a single, especially Roy Featherstone , who loved the band but did not approve of the song. However, it quickly became a commercial hit and topped UK charts for nine weeks. Mercury also wrote "Love of My Life", which was written for Mary Austin , his ex-fiancée and best friend.

Health deterioration [ ]

In 1987, Freddie was diagnosed with HIV, a disease which at the time was caused by unprotected sex. Two years before, Queen played at Live Aid. In 1986, the band played their final concert at Knebworth. In 1989, they released their thirteenth studio album The Miracle, but were unable to tour due to Freddie’s declining health. In 1990, Queen were awarded for an outstanding contribution to British music. Brian May made a speech, but Freddie, whose health had worsened to the point he began looking terribly frail and limp, told everybody “Thank you. Goodnight.” before leaving. In 1991, Queen released what would be their fourteenth and final studio album with Freddie, Innuendo. In the song “These Are the Days of Our Lives”, the video colour had been changed to black and white due to the fact Freddie did not want the public seeing the marks of the illness he had been diagnosed with four years prior. In “The Show Must Go On”, the music video captured old memories of the band, including one of a helicopter at one of their concerts. The band knew their iconic frontman was rapidly deteriorating, and they could tell that they would have to prepare themselves for what would happen, which would come true after the release of Innuendo. On November 14, 1991, the band‘s manager Jim Beach went to see Freddie, who told him he could do anything with his legacy, but never make him boring. On November 23, Freddie made a press release, stating that he was not just fighting HIV, but was battling AIDS. His health had worsened to the point he began to lose sight and couldn't get out of bed.

On November 24, 1991, 24 hours after making the press release, Freddie Mercury, passed away of bronchopneumonia caused by AIDS related complications at the age of 45. He was with his close friend Jim Hutton at the time who wrote in the aftermath... " Freddie woke up again at six in the morning and uttered what were to be his last two words: ‘Pee, pee!’ He wanted to be helped to the loo.

"He looked terribly weak and I had to carry him. As I lowered him back on to the bed I heard a deafening crack. It sounded like one of Freddie’s bones breaking, cracking like the branch of a tree.

"He screamed out in pain and went into a convulsion.

"I yelled for Joe. I needed him to pin Freddie to the bed to stop him injuring himself. "He said: ‘Freddie, calm down. Freddie, calm down.’ Then Freddie’s hand shot up and went straight for Joe’s throat. He was like a drowning man clutching for air.

"Joe freed himself from Freddie’s grip and eventually he calmed him down. Then, exhausted by the strain, Freddie promptly fell asleep.”

Later on, Peter Freestone arrived at Freddie's home to help. Upon arrival, he came to his room to see that Freddie had wet himself. They changed his bed sheets and clothes and tried several ways to get his attention to which he showed no awareness of their presence, that evening they finally made out that he passed away.

His body was cremated and his funeral was held at Kensal Green Cemetery on November 27. Mary Austin said Freddie wanted his ashes to be scattered somewhere away from prying eyes, so that nobody could disrupt his final resting place and find them.

External Links [ ]

• See Freddie Mercury on Wikipedia .
• 1 Frank the Robot
• 2 Ray Foster
• 3 Mary Austin

Freddie Mercury-produced Night at the Opera-era Classic Recovered

This historic release includes ten additional tracks from the era, including Freddie Mercury’s original production mix of Man from Manhattan.

LONDON, UK, March 29, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — Eddie Howell, the renowned musician and songwriter, alongside the MCM Global Team, proudly announces the launch of his remixed, remastered classic, “ Man from Manhattan “, on April 12th, 2024.

This announcement comes with a nod to Freddie Mercury’s memorable challenge after the final-mix playback of the original recording: “If this is not a hit dear, sue Warner Bros.”

“ I never did sue Warner Bros, but now, all these years later… we proudly release this track worldwide, to celebrate the recovery and restoration of this lost classic rock treasur e” Eddie Howell

Fortunately, the need for legal action never arose, but the moment marks a significant chapter inmusic history. Produced by Freddie Mercury in 1976 on the heels of Queen’s enormously successful November ’75 Night at the Opera release, the track features the legendary Queen frontman on piano and backing vocals, with Queen bandmate, Brian May, on guitar.

Despite achieving initial success in the UK and Europe, the track’s journey was cut short by a Musicians’ Union ban leading to an abrupt end to its rise in the charts.

After successfully regaining the rights to “Man from Manhattan” from Warner Bros Records, Eddie Howell has infused the track with new life. “I never did sue Warner Bros,” says Howell, “but now, all these years later, after securing the reversion of rights, we proudly release this vinyl special edition LP, worldwide, to celebrate the recovery and restoration of this lost classic rock treasure.”

The original multi-track tape has been digitally transferred, remixed, and remastered at the prestigious Abbey Road Studios, leveraging the latest advancements in recording  technology.

This meticulous process has resulted in a stunning vinyl boxed special edition LP, which includes a Dolby Atmos version of the title track, unique memorabilia, and ten additional tracks from the era, including Freddie Mercury’s original production mix of Man from Manhattan. This historic release is set to be a vital addition to the collections of rock fans and vinyl enthusiasts alike.

The release is not just a testament to Eddie Howell’s enduring legacy; it also commemorates a nearly lost piece of Queen-related musical history. The remastered tracks showcase not only Freddie Mercury’s original production but also feature his exceptional piano skills and layered vocals. Brian May’s unforgettable guitar solo and rhythm contributions further distinguish this extraordinary recording. Additional cameo appearances by renowned artists such as Phil Collins and Gary Moore enrich this landmark release, marking a pivotal moment for classic rock enthusiasts and showcasing the collaborative spirit of the era.

Fans can discover the whole story behind this classic track at themanfrommanhattan.com.

Eddie Howell’s impressive career has seen him work with iconic artists such as Phil Collins, Gary Moore, Brand X, Freddie Mercury, and Brian May. His songs have been covered by The Monkees, ABBA’s Frida, and Jon Stevens, whose recording of Eddie’s song “Jezebel” held the number one spot in New Zealand for nine weeks.

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Freddie Mercury's Tragic Death

F reddie Mercury is one of the all-time great singers in rock music history. The Queen frontman broke new ground and inspired millions as the songwriter behind electric hits like "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Don't Stop Me Now."

Sadly, after a legendary run as a performer, Freddie Mercury's life came to a tragic end at the age of just 45. He passed on in 1991 after health struggles and complications of AIDS.

Watch the video above to remember the life and unfortunate passing of the one-of-a-kind performer that was Freddie Mercury.