Freddie Mercury: 31 Years Gone

He was already long gone when I came this world, but I never knew he was dead til over a decade after the fact (I was a wee little boy then) when my dad brought home a copy of the Tribute Concert. I remembered thinking "who are these guys? and where's the dude on the cover?" That's when my dad told me he died a long time ago from AIDS. Being a little kid, I thought he meant First Aid which confused me for a while.

31 years gone, but never forgotten.

For me i got the news on Monday the 25th of November, i was a paperboy at that time.
On the Newspaper`s evening issue front page it said:Queen`s vocalist dead of Aids. I was shocked, and
and i sat down for a while and i thought i t was incredibily sad. i was 17, but i remember it clear as day.

There's plenty on YouTube, I expect. Let's not have them all posted on here though. The world is depressing enough at the moment!

I was at Dover harbour on the morning of the 25th, waiting for a ferry to Holland, when I saw the newspapers.
The colours in the dawn sky were unbelievable and it was easy enough to believe that Heaven had welcomed a new angel. I wish I'd had a camera.
It was a crap week, and even though I never learned dutch, I found it reasonably easy to get the gist of all the reports in the dutch papers.
It was on MTV Europe on the monday night that I saw "These are the Days" video for the first time.
It was also that week I found "Blue Rock" on CD in a dutch record store. It wasn't available in England for some reason.

Frankly it was a day (week) I'll never forget.

I was 5 years old when Freddie died - strangely enough during this last November's days 1991 I caught pneumonia and I got better exactly on 24th - that's why I vividly remember how my parents saw the news on the TV that Freddie died and my late father said 'such a loss... he's so young...' - all I remember is Freddie's smile and moustache, glimpses of The Show Must Go On video. Four years later I rediscovered Fred with Made In Heaven - and it impressed me so much I became musician myself - so actually, Freddie, it was you, who gave me the direction of my life, changed it for better, taught me how to sing, play piano and write songs - it would have been all a different life without you, I think of you no less as a close soulmate and my guardian angel, and to this day sometimes I cry that I've never met you in real life, but who better than you then know the difference between the fantasy and real life, right? To put it simple: you are the main man in my life. Thank you for being with us, and for staying with us no matter in what worlds you are now - I know that you smile at us with your wicked smiles as we discover the third verse in Breakthru, or different bits in I want It All, or Miracle's different coda... or when we have to face it all alone. The whole world loves you and misses you. Mister Mercury, Mister Bad Guy, Freddie, darling, Freddie, dear - you didn't die, it's just that you work a lot on your new songs, and they are that great, that they lifted you up to heaven. Sleep in heavenly peace, dear Freddie, and may God rest your beautiful soul in a Garden of Eden where you plant your new pomegranate trees. I know that by the time I die one of those who I would think about would be you. And it's so good to have such a nice man as you to think about at such an uncertain time like dying. And to enjoy living this life, listening to your voice that makes it all so much better and easier. I love you, Freddie, I love you, Melina, and I always will. God bless your wonderful spirit in eternity. Bismillah.

Freddie and Queen were talked about on (UK) Channel 4's Countdown quiz show this afternoon. They always seem to mention him on this day, and on his birthday. I'm struggling to think of another artist who is still quite such a legend so long after their death. You don't hear constant mentions of Elvis, Bowie, or even John Lennon. Freddie was one of a kind and there will never be another.

This and this. 

I can remember it as clearly today as when the news broke on the Monday morning of November 25th 1991.  I wasn't a proper Queen fan at the time (that didn't come until MIH in 1995) but I remember feeling very sad. My mum and dad loved Queen and I had fond memories of my dad getting The Works for Christmas of '84 and me going around in my vest with a brush, miming to IWTBF. Still not a huge fan, as I say, but his death seemed to affect me. It hung over me the entire day, a horrible feeling that I couldn't shake off. 

When I got into Queen properly and realised exactly what I was missing, I couldn't get enough of them. I bought every album I could, got every video I could, and every bootleg too. There wasn't enough Queen to satisfy my hunger, and I've lived, breathed and worshipped them ever since. With Queen now being a big part of my life, and as much as I was captivated by what had gone before, the sadness of no more Freddie never really drifted. It's funny how you don't know someone, yet they are with you every day - and yes, it feels like a family member is gone. He was - is - the greatest of all time. No bias, just saying it like I see it. 

It still hurts.  It effing hurts. 

All we can do is be thankful for what we got, having the privilege to know his voice and talent, and to have the memories preserved forever.  

Cheers Freddie! I hope you're having champagne for breakfast! 

I found out by seeing a brief "footnote" story, at the end of the local 10:00 PM TV news,  a few days before the US Thanksgiving holiday.

The entire weekend was dark for me.

In truth, I had already been stepping away from the band after the Magic Tour. I had taken a girlfriend to the Wembley 12/7 gig, promising it would be the greatest thing she had ever seen. We got crushed at the start and it blighted the entire gig for both of us, tbh. We broke up a while later and that put the tin-lid on Queen for me at the time. Bought The Miracle and that did absolutely nothing to tempt me back.

Having been fanatical about band since 1974, I still can't quite understand how I never realised Freddie was gay. I just didn't. The Montreal gig (those shorts!!) brought hoots of derision from my Dad and I manfully presented Mary as the absolute evidence in my/our defence. Even the stories in later years didn't really shake my conviction. I had a boss who died of liver cancer in 1988 and that was what I believed was wrong with Freddie - there being no way of denying he was extremely ill from the few pictures and last video appearances we did see.

All that said, I was out my friends the night it was confirmed Freddie was ill and it was very much the main talking point, for a while anyway, particularly as it swept away any defence I had presented of Freddie through the years. Friends in that situation can be merciless.

The night of his death, we were all out again and (all this being entirely pre-social media and mobile phones) I returned home to my folks house quite a bit the worse for wear and, for the moment, in blissful ignorance of the news. While squinting at the keyhole and trying to open the door, my sister opened it from the inside, very much to my surprise. She was normally a very early-to-bedder.

"Come in and sit down" she said and proceeded to put on Teletext for me. She had waited up to make sure I had a friendly face and a hug. The news sank in and I absolutely burst into tears. She went to bed and left me on my own sitting in my Dad's chair in stunned disbelief. Eventually, I went to bed and I awoke the next morning to my radio/alarm confirming the horrible news yet again.

My mother shouted upstairs to check I was OK. She got no response and on coming into my room just held me while I sobbed my wee heart out.

27 years old and absolutely no effort on my part to hold it back......

Eventually, I had to go to work and the rest of day passed in a blur.

As much as I had stopped listening to them on any regular basis, it truly was like losing a member of the family. I was utterly bereft the night of his death and the following morning.

They were the soundtrack to my youth - first girlfriend, exams, first job, just about every significant life event for that 20-odd years, even though my fanaticism had dimmed quite a bit latterly. A musical date-stamp to my life at that point.

I raise a glass of whisky every 24th November (which, bizarrely, I don't even do for my much beloved grandfather who died the year before).

Their 70's output still grabs me in a way no other music can and that glass will continue to be raised for many years to come.

I had a gig that Monday night. Muddled through it in a daze and couldn't remember a single thing afterward. No alcohol involved though. Then I had most of the week off to get used to the idea that the music had stopped for good (his music anyway). I don't believe it has ever completely sunk in.