20 years without a great Rock-idol (Prekladatel´ský Blog)

20 years without a great Rock-idol – 20 years without Freddie Mercury

On 23^rd of November 1991 people could read a confession in the news papers made by a man who protected his privacy and was an extroverted entertainer on the stage. Yes, he was HIV positive and he had AIDS. Less than 24 hours later Freddie Mercury died in the age of 45.

His name still is well known and it’ll always be. He was the lead singer of the famous band Queen and wrote numerous songs for them. Amongst them a lot of Queen’s greatest hits like “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We will rock you” and “Another one bits the dust”. But he also performed several songs as solo artist. Together with the Catalan opera singer Montserrat Caballé he recorded the grandiose song “Barcelona”.

Mercury was born in 1946 in Zanzibar as Farrokh Bulsara. But during his school time he already started calling himself Freddie. There he also played in his first band. When he was 17 his family moved to England. In 1970 he eventually also changed his surname and in the same year the band Queen with which he should be so extremely successful was formed.

When performing he was an extroverted person. I couldn’t really believe it when reading that the music clip to “I want to brake free” (my favourite Queen song) had been banned by MTV cause the guys were dressed up as women! But in private Mercury was a quite introverted person. He always referred to Mary Austin as his only true friend. She had been his girlfriend for a long time and even though he had been in a relation with Jim Hutton until his death it’s been her who inherited most of his estates.

He’s referred to as being one of the greatest if not THE greatest singers of all times. And in my opinion he is, as he had a fascinating range over four octaves! Also in the West End Musical “We Will Rock You” his spirit is staying alive. It’s a breathtaking experience when audience and actors perform Mercury’s song “We are the champions” together in the end of the show.