Freddie Mercury makes one of his final appearances on stage – he sings live for the last time!
14 April 1988 – Freddie Mercury did something he always said he’d never do, he appeared in a staff musical. He made a special guest appearance at a charity performance in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust – ‘Time the Musical,’ starring Cliff Richard at the Dominion Theatre, in London.
Freddie sang: “It’s Only Rock’N’Roll” and “In My Defence” with Cliff and “It’s In Every One Of Us”
This marks Freddie’s final live performance, ever!
(Freddie will appear on stage one last time in October of 1988, for “La Nit” with Montserrat Caballé, but it’s not a live singing performance, he mimed)
Who is Terrence Higgins:
Terry Higgins was one of the first people in the UK to die of an AIDS-related illness. He died aged 37, on 4 July 1982 at St Thomas’ Hospital, London. By naming the trust after Terry, the founder members – his partner and friends – hoped to personalise and humanise AIDS in a very public way.
Setting up the charity:
In 1982, after Terry’s death, his partner Rupert Whitaker and his friends Martyn Butler, Tony Calvert, Len Robinson and Chris Peel met to discuss what could be done. The Terry Higgins Trust was subsequently set up by Martyn Butler and Rupert Whitaker with the intention of preventing others from having to suffer as Terry had. It focused on raising funds for research and awareness of the illness that was then called ‘Gay-Related Immune Deficiency’ (GRID).
The following year, a public meeting about GRID was organised by London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard and the Terry Higgins Trust at which a small group of committed volunteers from a range of backgrounds came together. This included Tony Whitehead, who went on to become the first chair of the trust’s steering committee.
In August 1983, the trust was reborn as a formal organisation, Terrence Higgins Trust, with a constitution and a bank account. By November they were a limited company with a Board of Directors, and by January 1984 they had gained charitable status. They also provided direct services immediately, including buddying/home-help, counselling, drug education and sex education. This was the first charity in the UK to be set up in response to the HIV epidemic and have been at the forefront of the fight against HIV and AIDS ever since.
Source: 👉 https://www.tht.org.uk/our-work/about-our-charity/our-history/how-it-all-began 👈
The only footage available of Freddie Mercury singing at this amazing charity event, is only audio https://youtu.be/NevOxx7Eve4
