#queen scans
Smash Hits (1989 Sticker Book): 132/?
Credits to Michael Kane.
QUEEN
• FREDDIE MERCURY
When he was very young in the ‘70s Frederick Bulsara had alarmingly long hair and great big huge front teeth and he thought it would be a great idea to be an infamous rock singer called Freddie Mercury. So he created an outfit called Smile but quickly thought better of it and changed the name to Queen, whereupon they invented a tune called “Bohemian Rhapsody” which had many “foreign” bits in it and was an enormous hit. They became famous and were announced to be the “best live band in the world” (hem hem), and Freddie Mercury grew an unspeakable moustache and looked like Lord Lucan (deceased member of the aristocracy). Nowadays, Fred spends much of his time being an operatic sort with Montserrat Caballe — an enormous woman in a bedspread.
News Of The World - November 24, 1991
Credits to Silvia C. and Queencuttings.com
FREDDIE: I’VE GOT AIDS
FREDDIE: I’VE GOT AIDS
Anguish of Queen star
By ANNETTE WITHERIDGE
FREDDIE Mercury last night admitted: “I’ve got AIDS.”
The 45-year-old gay star of rock group Queen issued a statement confirming he had the virus.
It said: “Following the enormous conjecture in the press over the last two weeks, I wish to confirm I have been tested HIV positive and have AIDS.
“I felt it correct to keep this information private to date in order to protect the privacy of those around me.
"However, the time has now come for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth.
“I hope everyone will join with me, my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease.”
Freddie’s spokeswoman, Roxy Meade, said the singer was in Britain, but not in [TURN TO PAGE 6]
[Photo caption: MERCURY: "I’ve tested positive”]
MERCURY: IT’S AIDS
[FROM PAGE 1] hospital. Miss Meade would not discuss Freddie’s condition or how it had affected him.
She said: “He just wanted to let people know he has the disease and that’s as far as it goes.”
Last night Mary Austin, who lived with the star for seven years, vowed to support him in his battle.
She said: "I will constantly be with him to help him fight his illness.
“I love him very much and have loved him for the last 21 years.”
Freddie’s statement follows months of speculation after the star’s weight dropped dramatically.
He became a gaunt, frail figure — a virtual recluse,l ocked in his £4million home in Kensington, West London.
Rumours were fuelled by reports Freddie was suffering pneumonia and periods of blindness.
He was also reported to have consulted AIDS specialists.
Freddie was last night sald to be at his mansion, which is surrounded by a 12ft wall.
Queen guitarist Brian May releases a song tomorrow which will be seen as a haunting lament to his tragic friend and colleague.
The track, called Just One Life, tells of the sorrow of losing a talented pal.
One verse says: “Just one life that is born, and has gone, I was so glad to know you.”
A spokesman for Brian denied the song — B-side of his new single — was about Freddie, but the poignant lyrics ars sure to bring a tear to the eyes of millions of Queen fans.
[Photo caption: PALS: Freddie lived with Mary Austin for seven years.]
FREDDIE’S SONG OF SADNESS
Star’s hit was clue to AIDS suffering
By ANNETTE WITHERIDGE and GERRY BROWN
THE SHOW MUST GO ON
‘Does anybody know what we are living for..?
Outside the dawn is breaking but inside, in the dark, aching to be free…
I’m never giving in… I have to find the will to carry on …’
FREDDIE Mercury gave a haunting clue to his fatal disease only a month ago — in the lyrics of Queen’s last single.
His almost-prophetic record The Show Must Go On questions reasons for living and admits: “I have to find the will to carry on.”
The lines — some published above — are taken from the album Innuendo.
Last night psychologist Jane Firbank described the song — which reached No. 16 in the charts — as “deeply depressing.”
She added: "Freddie dwells on the question of life and death.
"It is not inconsistent with the idea that he is very ill and knows it.”
Freddie’s admission yesterday that he has AIDS follows months of speculation that he had the killer virus.
The gay star’s weight has dropped dramatically and he has become a virtual recluse.
In January this year party-lover Freddie refused to attend a bash to launch Innuendo.
And when the title track rocketed to No. 1 fans were amazed to see an animated video — again fuelling rumours Freddie, 45, was seriously ill.
In a rare interview last week Freddie spoke of his loneliness.
Affairs
He said: “I don’t have any real friends. Nobody wants to share their life with me.
"I don’t really think about when I’m dead or how they are going to remember me.
"It’s up to them. When I’m dead who cares? I don’t.”
It was all a far cry from the 1970s when his life was a flamboyant Bohemian Rhapsody.
Freddie was born Freddie Bulsara in Zanzibar on September 9, 1946.
He admits has admitted his first gay affair was at the age of 14 — at boarding school in India.
For seven years Freddie lived with close pal Mary Austin.
At first he thought he had found Somebody To Love.
But when Mary, now 35, moved out he made no secret of his sexuality — and admitted he went weak at the knees whenever he saw a photograph of Hollywood hunk Burt Reynolds.
He is now godfather to Mary’s son Richard. He says they are still "hopelessly in love” but their relationship is platonic.
Freddie’s former manager Paul Prenter — who died of AIDS this year — once told of the star’s fear at catching the disease.
He said Freddie admitted having HIV jests and told him: “I’m scared I could develop AIDS.”
Prenter added: "Anybody that did the amount of travelling and was as promiscuous Freddie was bound to be worried, especially when he knows people who have died from AIDS.”
Maybe, in the words of another of his hits, he was praying for The Miracle.
Indeed, may of Freddie’s hit song titles could ironically echo his own tragedy… It’s A Hard Life, Who Wants To Live Forever and the Invisible Man — something Freddie became as the disease took its withering control on his once-perfect physique.
Fears
On tour, Prenter said, Freddie had a different man every night and even at home he cruised gay bars and clubs.
He added: “By 6 or 7am he would probably go to bed — but very rarely alone. He has a fear of sleeping alone.”
Freddie has advised young fans to beware of the disease.
And he admitted his fears had changed his life.
He said: “I’m not as promiscuous as I used to be. It’s done that. I’ve adopted an intelligent approach.
“After all I’ve had a lot of lovers. I’ve tried relationships on either side — male and female. But all of them have gone wrong.”
Freddie’s camp stage performances and outrageous spending sprees and made him the darling of the pop world.
He became a multi-millionaire after Queen shot to fame in 1974 with their first single Seven Seas Of Rhye.
Freddie’s spending has been second to none.
He once confessed to The News Of The […]
[Photo caption: ON STAGE: As a harlequin]
[Photo caption: EMBRACE: Bare-chested with a friend, Vince]
[Photo caption: STAR IS BORN: Freddie in Queen’s early days]
[Photo caption: ROCK IDOL: Freddie before AIDS turned him into a shadow of a star]
Loverboy who died in agony
THE father of Freddie’s ex-lover Paul Prenter wept as he told of watching his son die agony from AIDS.
William Prenter sald in Dublin: “We went through so much. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”
Paul was Freddie’s assistant for seven years. The pair jetted round the world on sex and drug binge, rubbing shoulders with Michael Jackson.
But they split four years ago and fell out for good when Paul revealed that two of Freddie’s previous lovers were killed by AIDS.
The same fate overtook Paul earlier this year. He was just 40.
[Photo caption: JETSETTERS: Paul with Michael Jackson and Freddie]
[…] World’s Sunday magazine: "Darling, I’m simply dripping with money. It may be vulgar, but it’s wonderful.”
London jewellers Cartier stayed open after hours so Freddie could lavish gems worth thousands of pounds on trusted pals and lovers.
He said: “I love buying antiques at Sotheby’s and Christie’s and I could buy all the jewellery in Cartier’s.
"On days when I’m fed up, I just want to lose myself in spending.”
Freddie thought nothing of flying his friends out to New York first class for his 35th birthday bash.
He rented the entire penthouse suite at the Berkshire Hotel, on swish Central Park South, and stocked a floor to ceiling fridge with £30,000 worth of champagne.
The party was supposed to last three days — but the celebrations continued for an entire month.
Actor Peter Straker, who received a £3,000 plane ticket from Freddie to fly to the party, was treated to a surprise bash for 150 pals when he celebrated his own birthday.
And he revealed how Freddie went on legendry spending sprees — once splashing £3,000 in Harrods on perfume for every woman he knew.
When he paid out £2million on his Kensington mansion 11 years ago Freddie forked out another £500,000 on alterations.
The eight-bedroom house, set in three quarters of an acre, has doubled in value.
Freddie’s moods are also legendary.
He once hurled an iron and smashed full length mirror in his dressing room over faulty microphone.
Another time he threw a Japanese vase out of his window before bursting into tears.
He said: “I’ve cried rivers,” he said. “I may be hard on the exterior but I’m very soft centred.”
But Freddie’s spend, spend, spend lifestyle began to fall as his life was shadowed by the threat of AIDS.
He went for the first of several tests five years ago at a Harley Street clinic.
Sine then he has watched the disease become the curse of the showbiz and arts world — cutting a deadly swathe through the ranks of the rich and famous.
Freddie’s announcement comes just two weeks after basketball superstar Magic Johnson revealed he has the killer virus.
Other big names who have been hit by the AIDS virus include Elizabeth Taylor’s daughter-in-law Aileen Getty, 33; former Dallas hunk Dack Rambo, and Coronation Street star Lynne Perrie’s son Stephen, 38.
High-profile victims killed by the virus include Rock Hudson, Liberace, fashion designers Halsten and Will Smith, actor Ian Charleson, Labour MP Alan Roberts and Princess Di’s ballet dancer pal Adrian Ward Jackson.
Other pop victims have included former Bay City Roller Billy Lyall and guitarist Alan Murphy of chart-toppers Level 42. And last week Cher was rocked by the sudden death of her close pal and backing group dancer Peter Tramm.
One of the most tragic case involved Starsky and Hutch star Paul Michael Glaser and wife Elizabeth. Their seven-year-old died, and both Elizabeth and a five-year-old son also have the virus.
Last night TV presenter and former pop columnist Nina Myskow was devastated to hear Freddie has the disease.
Nina first interviewed him when he released the Flash Gordon album early in 1981.
She said: “I was told he could be difficult. But we were soon screaming with laughter.”
“He can seem a bit forbidding when you first meet him but in fact he is quite shy off-stage.
“The news is heart-breaking. If I could wave a hand and make everything right for him I would.”
Now Freddie must hope against hope that doctors can emulate the title of another of his greatest hits… SAVE ME.
Di is the champion
PRINCESS Diana, who has turned helping AIDS sufferers into a personal campaign, is a long-time fan of Freddie.
A close friend said: “She’ll be very upset by the news. She’s a big fan of Queen and I’m sure she’ll send him a message of support.” In her work for the AIDS Foundation caring Di has opened clinics, embrased vistimg and cuddled AIDS babies.
[Photo caption: DI: Freddie fan]
Queen + Paul Rodgers live at the O2 Arena in London, UK - October 13, 2008
Photos supplied by: Sarah Watkin, Maciej Bogusz
Al Murray guested in Cosmos Rockin’. Roger’s mum was in the audience.
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HIGHLANDER
Manhattan: 1986. In a vast underground garage beneath Madison Square Garden, two men are locked in mortal combat. The huge cavern echoes with the sound of clashing steel, for although this is the 20th century, one combatant wields an ancient samurai sword, the other a broadsword. bromtrwert. The duel rages in deadly carnest, ending only when the loser is decapitated.
This action-packed opening scene from “Highlander” is just one of the many tense duels and battles featured in this mystical science-fiction film which opens in Britain in August.
Christopher Lambert stars as Connor MacLeod, a Scottish clansman who, in 1536 is seemingly mortally wounded in battle by a terrifying warrior, the Kurgan. Miraculously, his wounds heal and he discovers that he is and Immortal, one of a rare breed of men who can only die by being decapitated with a sword. He then has to duel down the ages to a distant time called the Gathering when the last survivors of the Immortals meet in climactic combat for a prize which will grant them powers beyond imagination.
The unusual thriller was directed by Russel Mulcahy, who pioneered pop videos in Australia when he was nineteen. He came to England and established a reputation in both America and Britain for the music videos he directed for a range artists including Duran Duran, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Boy George and Go West.
The music score for the film was composed by Michael Kamen, although the songs and additional music were written and performed by Queen. Queen were originally to have issued the soundtrack album under the title of ‘Highlander’, but have now delayed release to turn the album more into an LP for Queen fans, which they have retitled ‘A Kind Of Magic’ and have introduced other material apart from the ‘Highlander’ songs. This is their first album release since ‘The Works’ in 1984.
‘A Kind Of Magic’ is a Roger Taylor song which is featured over the closing titles of the film and has been issued as a single, backed with another song from the film — ‘A Dozen Red Roses For My Darling.’
Russel Mulcahy worked with Queen on a promo film for ‘A Kind Of Magic’ which incorporates some of the most extensive animation ever seen on a promo. Curiously, this is first collaboration between Mulcahy and Queen. He comments: "When I did the film there was only one band in my mind for the music and that was Queen. Their music is just right for it; they have a keen sense of visuals and write powerful, anthem-type songs which is just what the film needed.
Full track listing is: ‘Princes Of The Universe’, the song which is performed over the opening credits of the film; ‘A Kind Of Magic’; ‘One Year Of Love’’, a John Deacon song from the film; 'Pain And Pleasure’, a Freddie Mercury song which is his own tribute to Motown; "Friends Will Be Friends’, which will be the next Queen single; ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’, a Brian May song from the Movie and ‘Gimme The Prize’ and ‘Don’t Lose Your Head’, both of which are also featured in ‘Highlander.’
La Stampa - November 20, 1991
Credits to Cristian and Queencuttings.com
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QUEENING AROUND!
Much as we think Freddie Mercury of Queen is adorable, we do wish, he’d invest in some different stage costumes. Can’t say we enjoy looking at these knobbly knees — even if they do belong to Freddie!
Smash Hits (October 18 - October 31, 1989): 128/?
Credits to Michael Kane.
[Scandal advert]
~~
[Scandal lyrics]
~~
QUEEN: Scandal (Parlophone) In which Freddie and his mates get their own back on the popular press, deservedly lashing the rotters for their ever increasing tendency to make up fibs in their never ceasing quest for smut. Marvellous stuff, full of thumping synths and a perky Brian May guitar bit, though due to the sheer sensibleness of its theme, it lacks the usual over-the-topness that makes a good Queen single great.
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THE HUNT IS ON
“I need help!” says Queen’s singer Freddie Mercury. “I’m on this great hunt at the moment, but there’s so much work involved that I can’t possibly do it all on my own.
“You see, when I was a young lad,” he explained. “I went to Art College, and although I say it myself, some of the pictures I painted were really quite good and I liked them.
"But when I left, I found myself rather short of money and the only way I could raise some was by selling my precious masterpieces — but that’s something I’ll always regret.
"So now, I’d just love to buy them back, even if it cost me quite a lot of money. I suppose you could say that they have sentimental value, a bit of my past I’d like to recapture.
“The only trouble is, they seem to have completely disappeared, and even though I signed every one of them, no-one knows where they are.
"So when your readers are out and about, perhaps they could keep their eyes open? And, if they find one, I’d really be delighted to hear about it!”
Smash Hits (December 12 - December 25, 1990): 135/?
Credits to Michael Kane.
Has VANILLA ICE been stealing other people’s songs?
DearGordon!, I think Vanilla Ice is really great. However, I gather that bits of the “Ice Ice Baby” song are stolen from an old Queen song. Is this true and if so why did he choose that record?
G. Herrick, Sussex.
Gordon investigates: Indeed you’re right! The bassline of "Ice Ice Baby” is “borrowed” from Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” — a Number One record in 1981. Vanilla Ice discovered the song quite by chance, as he told Blimey!:
“The way I do stuff is to go through old records that my brother has. He used to listen to rock ‘n’ roll and stuff like that. I listened to funk and hip hop because rock wasn’t really my era. But having a brother like that, well, I just mixed the two, and he had a copy of ‘Under Pressure’. And putting those sounds to hip hop was great.“
Although Vanilla did give both Queen and David Bowie a credit on his single, the latter is rumoured to be suing Ice.
Il Corriere della Sera - November 25, 1991
Credits to Ferdinando Frega and Queencuttings.com
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LYNN BARBER REPORTING
Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Rod Stewart, Elton John — all have benefited from the Gerry Stickells’ treatment. His latest charges have been Queen, who last night climaxed their biggest-ever European tour at Knebworth. So what makes Gerry Stickells a legend in pop circles?
Queen’s highway man
There was a moment in the recent Queen concert at Slane Castle when Freddie Mercury was prancing along catwalk at the top of the stage, and an enormous bearded man rose slowly over the edge of the catwalk behind him like King Neptune arising from the waves. Freddie Mercury faltered just fractionally and then danced on again, reassured. The bearded man looked down over his kingdom — the 80,000 spectators packed into the field in front of Slane Castle, the 50 technicians sweating over the lights and sound consoles, the 100 security men tussling round the front of the stage. He beamed. All was well. Slowly, securely, he sank again out of sight.
The legendary Gerry Stickells. No big pop concert is considered complete without his reassuring presence: he is the tour manager, the one who brings order out of chaos. He is 43, six foot one, and (maybe) 16 stone. He walks with solid, stately tread, resplendent in his yellow Hawaiian shirt, his jazzy Bermuda shorts, with his Staff /All Areas / Backstage Passes chained round his neck whence even the most determined fans will have trouble stealing them. Like an eastern potentate, he processes round the backstage frenzy and the front-of-stage mayhem, bestowing calm with a beatific smile.
Before the concert, he was sitting in the stars’ trailer dishing out enormous wads of punts (Irish pound notes) to assorted technicians, while Freddie Mercury, in a yellow tracksuit, picked daintily at the Smarties on the buffet (pop stars live on Smarties, don’t ask me why). During the concert, Gerry seemed to be everywhere — checking the crews’ loos and the stars’ helicopter, keeping an eye on the carnage in the St John Ambulance tent (eight broken legs and more blotto drunks than anyone could count), and whistling up fire hoses out of the blue to plug the gap where things in the audience had broken down the security fence. “Just high spirits,” said Gerry benignly.
Gerry Stickells grew up in Kent, where his parents were farmers, and trained as a car mechanic. “I’m one of the few people in this business who isn’t a frustrated musician.”
But he was a teenager in the ‘60s, and when a friend who played in a dance band came and asked him to be their roadie, he obliged. One of his friends teamed up with a mad black guitarist Jimi Hendrix, and suddenly Gerry was thrown into the sex ‘n’ drugs ‘n’ rock ‘n’ roll marlstrom, organising Hendrix tours all round Britain and America. Those tours — Hendrix setting fire to his guitars — are fondly remembered wherever two or three old rock fans are gathered together.
“People still come up to me,” says Gerry, “and talk about how they saw Hendrix at the Forum and ‘Wow, it was so loud!’ But it really wasn’t; it couldn’t have been. The whole PA (amplification) for Hendrix at the Forum was smaller than the monitor system we use for […]
Smash Hits (March 7 - March 20, 1990): 134/?
Credits to Michael Kane.
THE BRITS AWARDS
SPECIAL AWARD
(For Outstanding Contribution To The Music Industry)
Queen
“Rumour” had it that Queen were going to perform a’mazin’ number but the audience left so swiftly in the middle of “Bohemian Rhapsody” (the worst song ever written) that they couldn’t. Oh dear.
~~
Queen are off having their own super-posh party elsewhere in London.
The Sun - November 25, 1991
Credits to Mirkuss and Queencuttings.com
FREDDIE IS DEAD
[Photo caption: Showman… Freddie draped in a Union Flag during a typically flamboyant performance]
By STEPHANIE SCAWEN
ROCK star Freddie Mercury is dead — just two days after he confirmed he had AIDS.
The Queen singer’s parents were at his bedside as he slipped away late last night at his £1million London mansion.
His spokesman Roxy Meade said just before midnight: “Freddie Mercury died peacefully this evening. It was the result of bronchial-pneumonia, brought on by AIDS.”
The 45-year-old gay star’s death stunned the showbiz world. Comedian Kenny Everett, a close friend, said: “He burned the candle at both ends and in the middle.”
Radio One DJ Simon Bates said: “I can’t believe that he’s gone so suddenly.
"Freddie was a man who played hard and paid the most dreadful price. The saddest thing is that the world of entertainment has lost a great genius.” Simon was working [Contiuned on Page Four]
Freddie
[Continued from Page One] through the night at the BBC preparing a tribute to Freddie which will be broadcast later today.
Freddie’s parents Bomi and Jer Bulsara had rushed to his bedside from their home in Feltham after being warned he was close to death.
His closest friend and former lover Mary Austin was also with him at the house in Kensington, West London, as she had been daily for the last two weeks.
Their seven-year affair ended in 1977. She married and Freddie became godfather to her son Richard, now two.
Freddie’s doctor and close friend Gordon Atkinson was with him at the last.
Dr Atkinson said during three visits to him yesterday: “Freddie has slipped bit and I shall be staying here tonight ”
HOPED
Freddie’s body was taken away by a mortuary van at 12.40am watched by a handful of fans.
The street outside his home was filled with 20 police in four vans and two cars.
Freddie announced on Saturday that he had the killer virus after months speculation.
DJ Tony Blackburn, who has lived next door to him for five years, said: “All I can say is that I am very, very sad.”
Former Sun columnist and music expert Jonathan King said: “Freddie was without doubt the most outrageous star that rock ever produced. We could badly do with more like him now.”
Queen’s last single The Show Must Go On was almost an epitaph.
A private cremation is to be held later this week.
THE KING OF QUEEN
He made them a supergroup worth £100m
By PETER WILLIS
FREDDIE Mercury was an outrageous, over-the-top character, extravagant and generous with money — but he never forgot the time he lost it all.
He was born on the isle of Zanzibar in 1946 and his early childhood was spent in luxury at his parents’ mansion in Bombay, India, during the last days of the Raj.
Freddie and his sister Kashmira were treated like royalty by their servants.
But the privileges vanished overnight for Freddie at the age of 14 when his father, Bomi Bulsara, a British government accountant, was transferred to England.
The family were forced to move into a semi-detached house in Feltham, Middlesex.
Freddie vowed that one day he would have it all again.
He was an outsider from the beginning, the butt of cruel jibes because ofhis colonial accent and Persian origins.
He left school with three O Levels in history, art and geography, and an A Level in art.
Smile
Defying his parents, he went to Ealing College Of Art in West London, which spawned rock greats such as The Who’s Pete Townshend and Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood.
It was there Freddie met two students who were to change his life — guitarist Bryan May and drummer Roger Taylor.
Freddie was singing with two blues bands, Sour Milk Sea and Wreckage, but left them to join May and Taylor’s outfit, Smile.
In 1969 he graduated with diploma in graphic art and design and set up an art and fashion stall with Taylor in London’s Kensington Market.
It gave them the excuse they needed to dress in the high-camp clothes they loved and for which Freddie later became famous.
When Smile broke up, Mercury formed a new band with May, Taylor and bassist called John Deacon.
Queen was born. Their first concert was at Hornsey town hall, North London, in February, 1971, in front of 300 people.
Queen first hit the charts with Seven Seas Of Rhye, which reached No 10, and the follow-up Killer Queen, which made No 2 in 1974.
Freddie’s inspiration brought the group their chart-topper, the operatic Bohemian Rhapsody.
His experience in graphic design was behind the video which promoted the single and launched the pop video industry.
And it was Freddie who remained the driving force behind a band which amassed £100million fortune.
Freddie himself made more than £25million.
A stream of hits followed including Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Radio Ga Ga and I Want to Break Free.
But it was the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in 1985 which turned Queen into a supergroup.
Even Elton John admitted later that Freddie had stolen the show with his exceptional ability to capture the crowd.
Legend
Freddie’s reputation as one of rock’s greatest showmen soared with the size and scale of the group’s spectacular concerts in huge stadiums around the world.
Freddie became increasingly wild and flamboyant and his videos became more outrageous.
The fun didn’t stop on or off-stage. Freddie was the anything-goes host of a never ending party.
Freddie boasted: “I’m simply dripping in money, darling. It’s vulgar but wonderful. All I want from life is to make lots of money and spend it.”
A shadow fell over Freddie’s life when his former manager Paul Prenter revealed that two of his ex-boyfriends had died from AIDS.
In 1989 Freddie had an AIDS test which proved negative but concern for his health grew.
Colleagues insisted he was "as fit a fiddle” but he looked gaunt and frail. His weight plummeted from 12st to under 9st.
Thrill
Towards the end, he was rarely spotted out in public.
To the public, the rare photographs of him outside his home made him look a sad, haunted figure, no longer able to enjoy the lifestyle he had craved.
[Photo caption: Showman… Freddie flaunted his sexuality]
[Photo caption: Guitar man… he started as a blues singer]
[Photo caption: Supergroup… Freddie with Queen pals John Deacon, left, Bryan May and Roger Taylor]
[Photo caption: King of rock… fans marvelled at Freddie’s outrageous costumes]
TRAGIC TOLL OF THE SHOWBIZ PLAGUE
[Photo caption: GAUNT… recently]
Stars pay tribute as AIDS claims Freddie
By PIERS MORGAN AMANDA CABLE and PETER WILLIS
SHOWBIZ stars were stunned last night after hearing that Queen star Freddie Mercury had died of AIDS.
He was the latest victim of the disease which has taken terrible toll of showbusiness and arts personalities.
Last night one showbiz insider said: “A lot of stars are gay, bi sexual or promiscuous. This is just the tip of a tragic iceberg.”
Freddie, 45, had become a recluse in the past few years — losing weight and looking frail and shambling in his rare personal appearances.
Princess Diana — who has begun a crusade to help AIDS victims — was said to be “very upset” by the news:
A friend said: “The princess is a great fan of Queen. I am sure she will send a message of sympathy.”
Phil Collins said: "This is a tragedy. I had the greatest admiration and a lot of affection for him.
"But if you go around leading a pretty much promiscuous life as he did, then you always run the risk of AIDS.”
Freddie’s former personal manager Paul Prenter lifted the lid on the singer’s lifestyle in The Sun four years ago.
Prenter, who died from AIDS two months ago, claimed his one-time boss slept with hundreds of men, partly because he was terrified of sleeping alone.
Lovers
He lavished expensive gifts on his lovers — diamonds, Mercedes cars and money.
Prenter said: "It was more likely that I would see him walk on water than go with a woman.
"Freddie told me his first homosexual rela tionship happened while he was at boarding school in India when he was 14.
"While we were touring there would be different man each night.
"He would probably go to bed by 6am or 7am but rarely alone.
"He has a fear of sleeping alone, or even being alone for long stretches.”
Prenter said Freddie phoned him after airline steward John Murphy, a one-night stand, died of AIDS in 1987 and admitted: “I am afraid I could develop AIDS.”
Fortune
The manager claimed AIDS also killed another of Freddie’s lovers — courier Tony Bastin.
Despite his hundreds of male lovers, Freddie is expected to leave his £25million fortune to a woman — his one-time girlfriend Mary Austin.
He once said: “The only real friend I’ve had is Mary. She will inherit the bulk of my fortune.
"Nobody else will get a penny — except my cats Oscar and Tiffany.”
Freddie and Mary lived together for seven years until 1980, when the relationship broke up due to his increasing gay urges and the pressures of his farne.
But he kept in constant touch with her because she was the only person he really trusted.
He said: “I don’t want anybody else. Over the years I have become bitter and I don’t trust anybody else because they’ve let me down so many times.”
Freddie showered gifts on Mary — including a £600.000 house just round the corner from his own.
When she gave birth to a son in February 1990, he was the automatic choice as godfather.
Freddie said: "Our love affair ended in tears. My life is extremely volatile and someone like Mary couldn’t cope with it.
"Success has brought me millions and world idolisation, but not the thing we all need — loving relationship.”
NOT SCARED OF DYING
FREDDIE once revealed he was not afraid of dying — because he had “lived a full life.”
The tragic singer once said: “If I’m dead tomorrow I don’t care a damn. I really have done it all.”
Four years ago he predicted: “I don’t expect to make old bones.
"What’s more, I really don’t care. I certainly don’t have any aspirations to live to 70 — it would be boring.”
Freddie cleaned up his love life after several pals died from AIDS. He said: “I was totally devastated when I heard about my friends who had died from AIDS.
"It brought the seriousness of the illness home to me.
"When you’re young it is so much harder. I was thinking the other day, ‘We’re lucky, we’ve sown our wild oats — but they are only just starting.’
It is something the young have got to get to grips with.”
He added: “I used to live for sex. Amazingly, I have just gone completely the other way now.
"It has changed my life. I have stopped going out and have almost become a nun.
"I was extremely promiscuous but I have stopped all that. I don’t miss that kind of life.”
[Photo caption: OUTRAGEOUS… Freddie knew the way he lived put him at risk from AIDS]
Smash Hits (1990 Yearbook): 133/?
Credits to Michael Kane.
September 5: Freddie Mercury
LORD FREDERICK OF MERCURY — HIS STITCH IN ROCK’S TAPESTRY!
[Photo caption: Freddie’s the one at the front with a moustache]
Freddie Mercury was born Clarence Ohio Smedley Jnr. somewhere in England in 1932, but it was not until some time in the 70s, after he met a warm-hearted poodle breeder from Grimsby by the name of Brian May — and the other two blokes of course — that he became the lead singer of a group called Smile. At the time he was working as an aerobics teacher and thus stumbled on a triff gimmick for his group — they should all wear leotards. Freddie renamed the group Queenie, after his granny’s cocker spaniel, and they became a big hit with the kids. Ten years later he grew a moustache and dressed up in a black leather mini skirt, met a portly foreign woman wearing a bedsheet and made some dreadful opera music with his blue suit on, and that’s about it really. Viva Freddie.
(x)
SUN SCOOP: Secrets of Queen star’s minder
FREDDIE ASKED ANDY TO A GAY CLUB!
• BEEFY MINDER Peter Jones shared the secrets of pop superstar Freddie Mercury.
For more than five years he comforted, cooked for and protected the lead singer of Queen.
• NOW Jones has quit — and today for the first time, he talks about the astonishing private life of the rock cult figure and the stable of stars who were his friends.
[Photo caption: Andrew… keen to take up the invitation]
Interview by IAN SMITH
THE PRINCE was poised to accept a Queen’s invitation to Heaven — until royal bodyguards stepped in and brought him back to earth.
Prince Andrew had innocently jumped at the chance of adventuring into the unknown. But his protectors saw the danger immediately. The knew the trip would cause a public scandal.
Because Heaven was not on the astral plane — it was an exclusive gay club in the heart of London.
And the invitation was extended by Freddie Mercury, multi-millionaire pop star and self-confessed gay.
Can you imagine the headline? “Randy” Andy’s Night With Gay From Queen.” Anti-royalist MP Willie Hamilton would have had a field day.
“The royal encounter was one of an endless procession of bizarre incidents which happened during my five years as Freddie’s minder, driver, confidante and father confessor. I spent more time with him than I did with my wife and three children.
Publicly Freddie presents a macho superstar image. Privately he thirsts for outlandish excitement — the more outrageous the better.
The unscheduled meeting with Prince Andrew happened at the end of a charity gala featuring the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden.
“Will you sing me a song,” asked Prince, recognising Freddie. “Only if you’ll swing from the chandeliers first,” was Freddie’s retort.
Laugh
The Prince had a laugh and they began chatting. After a few minutes Freddie suggested the Prince might like to join a group of us who were taking some members of the Royal Ballet Company on to a club.
The club was Heaven and even when Freddie explained what kind of place it was, Prince Andrew was still keen to go until his bodyguard said No.
Freddie’s introduction to ballet came through Wayne Sleep.
He contacted Wayne when Queen wanted to incorporate some ballet movements into their video Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
Wayne arranged for some coaching from one […]
[Photo caption: Minder Peter keeps tabs on his boss]
[…] of the Royal Ballet’s principal dancers in their rehearsal studio at the rear of Covent Garden Opera House.
Later Freddie was invited to perform with the Royal Ballet at a charity gala in the Apollo Theatre. He got a standing ovation.
Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for Wayne Sleep when he decided to give an impromptu performance at one of Freddie’s parties.
It was a “shorts” party held in the garden of Freddie’s London home in Kensington and everyone came dressed in short trousers.
While a group of us were in the lounge Wayne came over and told me he was going to perform and that, for the finale, he would leap across the lounge into my arms.
He was brilliant and everyone stood mesmerised — until the time came for me to play my part.
With a flourish Wayne leapt into the air and sailed across the lounge towards me, arms extended like a graceful swan,
And then I missed him…
Crash Down he (…), sending champagne, glasses and (…) flying everywhere.
One of the biggest parties Freddie threw(?) was at the (…) elite London night (…).
Between 500 and 600 of the biggest names in showbiz were invited for an end of tour party.
Excited
Freddie had a helicopter waiting to whisk him back from the group’s last concert at Milton Keynes, Bucks, and when I collected him, he was wildly excited that Diana Ross, one of his idols, was at the party.
We shuddered to a (…) in front of the club. Freddie leapt out — and almost cannoned into Diana Ross who was walking out of the door.
She swept past without a backward glance — she hadn’t even recognised
[Photo caption: Freddie… has the urge to be outrageous]
[…] her host! Freddie was mortified.
While Diana was leaving, others were trying to sneak in without invitations. Two of them were Boy George and Marilyn — before they found fame.
John Conteh made no attempt to hide when he came to one of Freddie’s parties. He tried to take over Freddie’s bed instead!
We had met John and his then girl-friend Stephanie La Motta in a restaurant and rashly Freddie invited them back to his party.
It was at a time when John was really drinking heavily.
Just a couple of minutes after arriving he disappeared.
I found him lying propped up on Freddie’s pillows in the bedroom demanding food.
He just wouldn’t move. When Stephanie pleaded that she wanted to leave, he snarled: “If you don’t like it then get out, you slag.”
She dissolved into tears and went.
I called Freddie and asked him if he wanted me to get rid of the guy.
He might have been world champion at the time, but in the condition he was in he could not have punched his way out of a paper bag.
“No, leave this to me,” smiled Freddie.
Leaning over the bed he put his mouth next to Conten’s ear and whispered: “John dear, you’re in my bed so I’m just about to take off my clothes and join you. Won’t it be fun?”
Conteh obviously didn’t think so.
By the time Freddie had slipped out of his trousers he was out of the bed and halfway through the door.
Today - November 26, 1991
Credits to Louise Belle and Queencuttings.com
DEATH OF A SHOWMAN
DEATH OF A SHOWMAN
[Photo caption: POWER AND THE PASSION: Freddie Mercury’s music thrilled millions. Now his fans are mourning the death of a rock legend]
HE WAS SUFFERING, HE’S IN A BETTER PLACE NOW
By CHRIS HUTCHINS
FREDDIE Mercury dreamed of holding one last party. Arriving home at his Kensington mansion from dinner at a nearby restaurant on a cold night in February, the singer made a call to a showbusiness chum and said: “I’m planning a do — keep September 5 free.”
The date was the star’s 45th birthday and even then he knew that it would be his last — if he made it. Because Mercury was painfully aware that he had the Aids virus and that it was going to bring his fabulous life to an untimely end.
Tragically, that came true on Sunday, devastating friends like star-turned-impresario Dave Clarke, who had kept a bedside vigil.
Through tears he said: “He was a rare person but he suffered and when he slipped away I knew he was going to a better place.”
Back in February though, Freddie’s spirit was still strong enough to contemplate a birthday extravaganza. He telephoned his friend several more times over the next few days. He said he had told someone to ask Prince Andrew if he might borrow a state room at Buckingham Palace — fitting, he giggled, for the man who led Queen.
Then a worsening in his condition caused him to modify his plans. He mentioned to his friend that it might have to be a smaller event “perhaps at Claridge’s” and said he thought he would ask Lady Elizabeth Anson, who organises royal celebrations, to plan all the details.
Early in March Freddie called his friend again, this time to say that the party was in doubt. He sounded bitter and angry about having to cut himself off from the people he loved so much “because no one understands this sodding illness. I feel stigmatised, like a leper. I feel as if no one wants to have anything to do with me.”
By the summer’s end, Freddie realised that he was far too ill to party and his birthday would have to pass like any other day as he struggled to find the strength to soldier on.
His muscular body, which had served him well in the boxing ring as a teenager, was wasting pitifully away.
He resented the shocked looks on the faces of the decreasing number of visitors to his Georgian mansion who were permitted to share his [Turn to Page 22]
The insatiable quest for pleasure that drove Freddie to his death
[Photo caption: REIGNING IN SPAIN: Singing hit Barcelona with diva Montserrat Caballe]
[Photo caption: HOUSEWIVES’ CHOICE: Freddie dons a wig and vacuums the lounge in the video of Queen’s 1984 hit I Want To Break Free. But behind the singer’s camp antics is a serious message about domestic drudgery.]
[Photo caption: MY BEST FRIEND: With Mary Austin, his loyal companion for more than 20 years]
[From Page 21] tragic secret. The determination to succeed which had driven him to excel at the piano lessons he started aged seven, was leaving him as he gave in to the final realisation that he was fighting a losing battle.
Where once he had admired others only for their ability to match his excesses, Freddie began to tell those confidants who had managed to put an end to their life-sapping habits in time, that more than anything he lauded them for their restraint.
“Never go back to alcohol or drugs or to being promiscuous,” he urged them from his deathbed.
This was a very different Freddie Mercury to the one they once knew. If his house could talk, what tales of gay abandon it would have to tell.
More than anything else, the rock world knew him as the star who loved to party. Guests could have anything they desired as long as they arrived happy and remained deliriously so.
The highly-sexed singer wanted everyone around him to be as turned on as he was and he arranged every kind of titillation he could think of for his guests — gay and straight alike.
It had been his idea to hire a glamorous couple to expose their bottoms to guests arriving for a party at the Groucho Club last year to celebrate his Lifetime Achievement award.
At a celebration for Queen’s Wembley concert at Richard Branson’s Roof Garden, he booked girls who were adorned from head to foot only with body paint to act as lift attendants. He also hired a young man in chains and a leather jockstrap to run the ladies’ powder room. In the gents loo, guests were welcomed by a scantily-clad blonde who offered them a massage after they had washed their hands. Four caged, near-naked girls were the main attraction in the club’s gardens — much to Cliff Richard’s obvious surprise.
At one festival of fun in the very house where he breathed his last, Freddie engaged dwarves bearing small bowls to move among the assembled hedonists.
The bowls contained £12,000 worth of the best cocaine the star’s money could buy. When a dealer failed to obtain enough, a private plane whisked him to Marseilles to get more. Freddie had said: “I want the purest and I want the most.”
Servants
He told guests his parties were a throwback to his boyhood days when he was the young master surrounded by white-suited servants at his father’s mansion in Bombay.
Little Freddie grew up accustomed to being pampered, for these were the last, lingering days of the Raj and he could have anything he wanted.
Anything, he maintained, except the love he craved — for his father was a busy man and although Freddie always had someone on hand to tie up his shoelaces, there was rarely anyone there to kiss him goodnight.
Left to his own devices he created a fantasy world that he tried hard to turn into reality with the vast riches his talent and his monstrous drive provided.
The parties were a fantasy, a way of buying love for himself and his friends. He pushed everyone to the limit in his search for ongoing gratification.
When a party looked like breaking up, Fredie found a way to prolong it with the result that a “good event” as he called it, could last days, even weeks, with no expense spared.
On one occasion he spent £80,000 hiring Concorde to fly a large group of partygoers to New York where th fun went on for eight days. He had to be surrounded by people — he was both an exhibitionist and a voyeur.
Elton John, George Michael, Liza Minnelli, Mick Jagger, George Harrison, Rod Stewart, Barry Humphries and Duranduran were among those whose company Freddie enjoyed.
All of them agree that his friendship had to be experienced to be appreciated. He was full to the brim with both energy and love. The last of that seeped away on Sunday evening when Freddie — who liked to be called Mary in the confines of his own home — died in his £4 million house full of marble mahogany and memories.
Sixties star Dave Clarke was at his side.
“He was one of my dearest friends,” he said yesterday. ‘A very rare person and an amazing talent. He gave so much happiness to so many.
“He was also a very caring person, few people know about all the kindnesses he did. I don’t want to go into detail but he helped a lot of people who didn’t have much themselves.
"He’s gone now but he’s left an enormous legacy with his music. I worked with him in the early Seventies with Laurence Olivier on something for the musical Time and it was astonishing to observe him.
"He had an incredible personality and watching him work in a recording studio was just like seeing him perform at Wembley.
"It is a great loss and I’m stunned but I’m pleased to be able to say that the end was very peaceful. And, as I said, my friend is in a better place now”.
Clarke’s pointer to Mercury’s generosity is likely to be borne out if and when details of his will are published. Those close to his management suggest that, in anticipation of his demise, the star gave away almost half of his £20 million fortune this year. He bought ten small houses in west London to leave as homes for friends who had none.
The owner of one three-bedroom cottage in Chiswick was asked to “be out” when the prospective buyer called to view, but a neighbour recognised Mercury who later paid the asking price of £160,000 and the same amount for an identical adjoining house. Others who paid tribute to him yesterday include disc jockey and comedian Kenny Everett who said: “He burned the candle at both ends — and in the middle”. George Michael was told of Freddie’s death in Los Angeles where he is recording and was said to be “devastated.”
A friend said: “He is very upset because he always admired Freddie as a performer.”
Fellow star Phil Collins said: "I admired him and I admired his honesty in admitting he had Aids. It is all so sad.”
Peter Straker, now starring in the touring version of The Phantom Of The Opera, said: “Freddie is an inspiration to me.”
Gestures
“We worked together on three of my albums. He was a perfectionist and his inventiveness coupled with a meticulous attention to detail brought me enormous extra satisfaction.
"He loved parties and he celebrated his achievements with extravagant and sumptuous gestures, executed with enormous kindess.”
Sixties singing idol Sandie Shaw, now heavily involved with raising money for Aids charities, said: “This is so tragic.”
Sara Dallin of Bananarama added: “This is so sad, a great tragedy. He was a favourite performer.”
Musician-turned-politician Screaming Lord Sutch, who played on the same bills as Queen at colleges in the early Seventies, said: “We have lost a most original and entertaining singer who inspired many, many people.
He was a unique talent.”
He said Freddie ranked alonside the likes of Mick Jagger and Elvis Presley.
“We have no one else left like him except Mick Jagger. Like Presley he had the looks, physique, movement and that outrageous voice. It was almost like he had too much talent to pack into one body.”
Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballe said she knew she and Mercury would not be able to sing their hit Barcelona at next year’s Summer Olympics.
“We had discussed it in the past, but there was nothing definite,” Caballe told Spanish National Radio. “And I knew that surely he would not have been able to do it.”
The incongruous duo of the opera singer and the flamboyant rock star first performed Barcelona, written by Mercury in celebration of that city, at London’s Covent Garden theatre in 1987.
Caballe said she and Freddie had begun recording an album they were to have completed after the Olympics.
She had been in touch with him recently and found him “animated, withthat old sparkle in his eyes and with a tremendous desire to live through music.”
Francis Rossi, of Status Quo, said: “Freddie was one of the elite few who could really set a stadium alight.
"I am deeply upset to hear of the death of both a friend and a fine ambassador for British music.
"Along with millions of fans throughout the world I will miss his exceptional performance and brilliant voice.”
It is true the world will miss Freddie Mercury, especially his fans, the cocaine dealers and the partygoers.
“One way or another they all sampled something he had to offer.
[Photo caption: GLAM OPERA: Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody heralded the video age by transforming the medium into an art form]
TODAYComment
FREDDIE Mercury had the courage to admit that he was suffering from Aids and he wanted the world to focus on the agony this disease can cause.
What a fitting tribute it would be if his record company reissued Queen’s biggest hit, Bohemian Rhapsody, with all the proceeds going towards Aids research.
How much better to have a Christmas No 1 that would do some real good, rather than the latest pop sensation merely cashing in on a special time of the year.
Rock rhapsody that launched age of the video
QUEEN surged into the charts in the early Seventies. In two years they changed forever the way the rock industry presented and sold its stars.
Bohemian Rhapsody, a bizarre blend of pomp, multi-tracked vocals and operatic delivery, brilliantly caught the spirit of the time by mixing great rock musicianship with the showbiz pose of the glam-rock years.
Progressive rock fans were delighted as Queen wrapped the song up in a mini pop opera — all for the price of a single. The video helped keep Freddie and the band at the top for nine weeks at the end of 1975.
Rock critic Paul Gambaccini said: "Let us give them credit for the video revolution. Without Bohemian Rhapsody it would never have happened.”
In an interview on TV-am, Gambaccini added: “What a star Freddie Mercury was. He could hold an audience in the palm of his hand.”
Before Queen was formed, Freddie attempted a solo career. And if his stage name of Freddie Mercury was perhaps rather a surprising choice, think what might have been if he had stuck to his original solo name — Larry Lurex!
Here is the full list of his hit singles.
QUEEN SINGLES - Chart position
Seven Seas Of Rhye (1974) - 10
Killer Queen (74) - 2
Now I’m Here (75) - 11
Bohemian Rhapsody (75) - 1
You’re My Best Friend (76) - 7
Somebody To Love (76) - 2
Tie Your Mother Down (77) - 31
Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy (77) - 17
We Are The Champions (77) - 2
Spread Your Wings (78) - 34
Bicycle Race (78) - 11
Don’t Stop Me Now (79) - 9
Love Of My Life (79) - 63
Crazy Little ThingCalled Love(79) - 2
Save Me (80) - 11
Play The Game (80) - 14
Another One Bites The Dust (80) - 7
Flash (80) - 10
Under Pressure + David Bowie (81) - 1
Body Language (82) - 25
Los Palabras De Amor (82) - 17
Backchat (82) - 40
Radio GaGa (84) - 21
I Want To Break Free (84) - 3
It’s A Hard Life (84) - 6
Hammer To Fall (84) - 13
Thank God It’s Christmas (84) - 21
One Vision (85) - 7
A Kind Of Magic (86) - 3
Friends Will Be Friends (86) - 14
Who Wants To Live Forever (86) - 24
I Want It All (89) - 3
Breakthru’ (89) - 7
The Invisible Man (89) - 12
Scandal (89) - 25
The Miracle (89) - 21
SOLO SINGLES
Love Kills (84) - 10
I Was Born To Love You (85) - 11
Made In Heaven (85) - 57
Living On My Own (85) - 50
Time (86) - 32
The Great Pretender (87) - 4
Barcelona + Montserrat Caballe (87) - 8
[Photo caption: STAGE ACT: Gymnast]
[Photo caption: STAGE ACT: Rocker]
[Photo caption: STAGE ACT: Shocker]
Mary tells of final weeks of anguish
MARY Austin, the woman who shared much of Freddie Mercury’s life and nursed him through his final weeks, has spoken of his “incredible suffering”.
Mary, his loyal companion for 21 years, had been with Freddie during the day but left his bedside just ten minutes before he died.
“I spent from 9.30am to 12.30pm with him at the house. I finally missed him by about 10 minutes,” she said.
Mary had an on-off relationship with Freddie for 21 years and although she married another man and had his child, she and Freddie remained close friends and the star was godfather to her child. She had visited him almost every day during the last months of his illness.
“He faced it with incredible bravery but he did suffer, mentally and emotionally as well as physically.
"He suffered a lot especially in the last few days. He couldn’t eat, and he was under heavy sedation.
"When I went round, sometimes we would talk if he had the energy but he was under such sedation. He would listen, or sometimes, we would just sit.”
On the night he died, Mary received a call at her home — just ten minutes’ walk away from the star’s £5 million Kensington mansion — but when she arrived, he was already dead.
Mary had to break the news to Freddie’s parents.
Courage
“He became very ill very quickly and he didn’t really want them to see him. I think his parents did accept him. They were very close. But Freddie was always away. He saw them more in the last five years when he came back to London.”
His mother had seen him eight days before he died.
Mary met Freddie in the days before his music fame, when she was a manageress in the plush London boutique Biba.“He used to come in all the time. He finally plucked up the courage to ask me out. It seems strange now; I didn’t even know he liked me until then.
"The more I knew him, the more I grew to love him as a person. He was very talented. There was a lot of sharing and bonding between the two of us.
She said she never regretted that they had not married. "I never stopped loving him and I don’t think he did either. I think he had got positive feelings about me. He trusted me. You don’t need a piece of paper to be married — it is in the heart and our marriage was in the heart.”
Mary said she was still trying to come to terms with her friend’s death. “Even though we knew the end was coming, it has still come very much as a shock. I am still finding it hard to find words for myself — let alone to share.”
“I thought it would be difficult but when you really love somebody, you can be strong and I was strong for him.”
Mary hopes that those who knew Freddie or admired his music will work together to campaign for Aids sufferers and to help fight the disease.
“I would like to see more and better education about what Aids can do. Having witnessed the suffering it causes, I hope some of Freddie’s friends and fans will get involved in the campaign against Aids.”
CLIVE NELSON
(x)
FREDDIE MERCURY stars in an explosive opera-styled video for his single, Made In Heaven, all based on Rites of Spring and Dante’s Inferno — with the Queen group singer outrageously standing on top of a revolving world!
Smash Hits (July 22 - August 4, 1992): 153/?
Credits to Michael Kane.
FREDDIE MERCURY/MONTSERRAT CABALLE:
Barcelona Written and originally released five years ago for an Olympic Games that only happens this year, Barcelona is a glorious, massively camp exercise in vocal gymnastics. Fred and Mont competing over five minutes. Brilliant, that most unusual of records: an event! Apparently Freddie knew he was dying of AIDS when he recorded this, hence the premature release. Sad, but a fitting tribute. Hear this and deny Freddie was a stunning singer at your peril.
La Repubblica - November 26, 1991
Credits to Silvia C. and Queencuttings.com
Smash Hits (May 27 - June 9, 1992): 152/?
Credits to Michael Kane.
Aa
HMV’s Top Five T-shirts at the mo:1. Queen(Crest),2. Carter(Condom),3. Nirvana(Nevermind),4. Def Leppard(Eyeball),5. Guns N’ Roses(Logo)
~~
BEST NEW ALBUM
QUEEN: Live At Wembley ‘86
28 — 28! — rocktacular classics, thousands of Brian May screechy bits, John Deacon bass “riffs”, Roger Taylor drum rolls but most importantly of all, the operatic overblown theatrics that made Sir Freddie of Mercury such a superstar. There’s nearly two hours of Queen faves here from the brilliant early stuff like Seven Seas Of Rhye to the more recent hits. If you’re a Queen fan but never got to see them live, this is a fine consolation.
Wayne Stamp
(x)
Freddie pulls a fast one
Quests of Freddie Mercury’s recent outrageous 39th birthday party in Munich (including myself) are in for a shock.
Unknown to us all, Mercury had the entire lavish event filmed for turning into a video for his latest chart success, Living On My Own.
“Mr Bad Guy” Mercury fooled all his male guests into dragging-up for the black and white costumed birthday ball, while he turned up dressed as himself!
[Photo caption: Mercury: A shock for his guests]
