Was Freddie the greatest rock star of his generation?

“𝐀𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞. 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐙𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐨 – 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧 – 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰.”

Did he have a certain presence off stage as well as on?

“𝐎𝐡 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐡. 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞. 𝐈 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝. 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐉𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐝, 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐚. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐟𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥.”

For all the charisma that Freddie had, did you sense that beneath it all he was insecure?

“𝐎𝐡, 𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲. 𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 – 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲.”

Peter Hince 2018
Roadie to Freddie Mercury and John Deacon
Head of Queen Crew
He’s now a photographer

Freddie Mercury holding the audience in the palm of his hand at Slane Castle, July 1986
Absolutely phenomenal

Photo from the Richard Young Collection

Freddie being Freddie…..

“Well, Freddie was unusual. He was a person of, some would say, no compromise, and I think the compromises were made inside of him, but he didn’t want to appear as if he was compromising because he wanted to come from a position of strength. So that’s one thing. It’s unusual.

I think most of us in the world like to please people. We feel a need to be liked and need to please them. Freddie didn’t have that. He somehow got beyond that and if he didn’t want to do something he would say, “No, I’m not doing that,” and if somebody wanted an autograph at a particular time when he was doing something else, he would say, “No, fuck off darling,” which is quite rude, but everybody understood that he was so focused that it made sense for him.

Freddie represented to me a kind of freedom which we all strive for, which is the freedom not to be governed by pleasing people. You can appear selfish, but in fact, you achieve more this way.”

Brian May 2019

“I thought up the name Queen early on. It couldn’t have been King, it doesn’t have the same ring or aura as Queen. It was a very regal name and it sounded splendid. It’s strong, very universal, and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts of interpretations. I feel that the name Queen actually fitted that time.

It lent itself to a lot of things, like the theatre, and it was grand. It was very pompous, with all kinds of connotations. It meant so much. It wasn’t just one precise label. I was certainly aware of the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it. Anyway, we always preferred to think of Queen in the regal sense rather than in the queer one. We just knew our music would override the image because we’d concentrate on putting out good product the whole time.”

Freddie Mercury