Teammate Brian May recalled that in his final days, Freddie could not stand firmly next to the microphone. However, his voice was still high, round and resonant.
It is hard to believe that for a human being, just walking is a challenge…
At the end of 1989, when the members of the British band Queen implemented the plan to produce the album Miracle, the doctors sincerely advised the leader Freddie Mercury to end all professional activities. The AIDS he unfortunately contracted had entered its final stage.
However, not only did he complete the aforementioned album with his quartet, not long after, Freddie returned to the studio to record “material” for the next album. Not only that, when he was close to the limit of exhaustion, the artist still managed to complete the work, so that many years later his colleagues would include it in the album – Queen’s final masterpiece.
3 weeks of singing/ 2 weeks of hospital stay
Having contracted HIV in 1987, Freddie did not reveal his serious illness to anyone, including his bandmates. He only admitted that he had recently felt weak and unable to go on long tours. However, by the end of 1990, when Queen won the prestigious Brit Award for their contributions to British culture, the public witnessed the leader and solo singer of the legendary band in a terrible state of health. That was also Freddie’s last public speech. Beardless, skinny as a stick and barely able to speak, the artist was no different from the shadow of the rock star who had shined for many years on the European and North American stages…
However, there was one detail that remained unchanged. Mercury’s voice continued to be passionate. Moreover, Brian May, the band’s bass guitarist, even asserted that his voice had never been as strong as it was that day! The solo singer’s passion for singing did not wane. Since 1989, Frieddie and his band have been working on a new album. The work has been going on for a long time, seemingly hopelessly, because of the solo singer’s tragic health condition, every 3 weeks of working in the studio, Mercury was forced to stay in the hospital for treatment for at least 2 weeks.
Freddie Mercury, the greatest rock singer of all time on stage in the early 80s.
1 foot in the coffin
The superb Innuendo album, promoted by the video clip These Are the Day of Our Lifes, was made in a rather unusual way, compared to the band’s previous work of the same type, the publication was shot in black and white, reminiscent of early 20th century cinema. It was not by chance that the producer chose that technique. During the time of making this project, Marcury was so severely ravaged by AIDS that even the thickest layers of “paint” applied to the face, as well as the oldest version of the video disc itself, could not hide the fact that the hero had one foot in the coffin.
When Innuendo was shining, winning the best albums chart, Frieddie did not even think about the option of resting for a moment in the spotlight, to welcome the approaching death. During a meeting with the band, the leader sincerely confided: “You guys just let me sing any song. You guys just compose freely, I will perform it right away! I will do my best. I will send you all the unfinished manuscripts.”
His bandmates confirmed that at that time, the torrent of work in the studio became a useful form of psychological therapy for Freddie, so they indulged him. However, everyone was aware that there was no chance, not even the slightest, for Mercury to witness the moment the album was completed, before he breathed his last. Every day the leader came to work could be the last time. The whole band, except Freddie, lived together in a rented studio in the Montreux area, Switzerland. Freddie himself, whenever he could squeeze out even a little bit of energy, he would join his teammates to record, even if it was just a part of the song.
Unable to stand, still singing
Teammate Brian May recalls that in the last days Freddie could not stand firmly next to the microphone. However, his voice was still high, round and resonant. It is hard to believe that for a human being, just walking was a superhuman challenge, completing songs like Winter’s Tale!
Finally, the inevitable outcome came. Freddie did not return to the studio. Not long after, the artist passed away. As the irony of fate – Mercury was taken by AIDS exactly 3 months before the new drug appeared on the market, allowing AIDS patients to maintain their lives for many more years.
It took 2 years before the remaining members of the band decided to return to the project they had been working on. Unfortunately, the “material” left by Mercury was not enough to assemble into a complete album. May, Taylor and Deacon were forced to improvise a bit, to complete the work.
In fact, only the two songs Winter’s Tale and Mother Love were Mercury’s only new compositions. Although he had not yet completed the second song. It was a rather strenuous task for the author with the help of Brian May. Both were aware that, both musically and lyrically, Freddie considered the death of an artist’s life fading away as a form of farewell to contemporary life. The musician, singer, and AIDS victim was near death at the time of recording his composition, but he still struggled to complete the work. At a certain point, dissatisfied with his singing voice, Freddie asked the group to re-record a part of the song. Sitting down on a chair, the artist always demanded that he complete all tasks excellently, poured himself a few doses of strong alcohol, brought it to his mouth, drank, tried his best to approach the microphone, tried to utilize the last reserve of internal energy, to make the highest sounds. Unfortunately, his strength was beyond his control. “I had to take a few minutes off…” – Freddie confided. And he never finished a song that he was not satisfied with. Brian May sang the last line of “Mother Love” to the deceased.
Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) was a famous English singer and songwriter. The artist became famous from his days as a solo singer and author of many songs for the rock band Queen… As the leader of the band Queen, Mercury was honored in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. Next, in 2002, Mercury ranked 58th in the BBC’s list of the 100 Greatest Britons. In 2005, the artist was voted the best male vocalist of all time by Blender magazine and MTV2. Next, in 2008, the editors of Rolling Stone magazine ranked Mercury 18th in the list of the 100 greatest singers in the world. In 2009, Preddie Mercury was voted the greatest rock singer of all time following a poll conducted by Classic Rock magazine.
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