Mercury Freddie - Mercury: an intimate biography of Freddie Mercury

A REVEALING,

INTIMATE LOOK AT

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE

QUEEN

A s lead vocalist for the iconic rock band Queen, Freddie Mercurys unmatched skills as a songwriter and his flamboyant showmanship made him a superstar and Queen a household name. But despite his worldwide fame, few people ever really glimpsed the man behind the glittering faade.

Now, more than twenty years after his death, those closest to Mercury are finally opening up about this pivotal figure in rock n roll. Based on more than a hundred interviews with key figures in his life, Mercury offers the definitive account of one mans legendary life in the spotlight and behind the scenes. Rock journalist Lesley-Ann Jones gained unprecedented access to Mercurys tribe, and she details Queens slow but steady rise to fame and Mercurys descent into dangerous, pleasure-seeking excessesthis was, after all, a man who once declared, Darling, Im doing everything with everyone.

In her journey to understand Mercury, Jones traveled to London, Zanzibar, and Indiatalking with everyone from Mercurys closest friends to the sound engineer at Life Aid (who was responsible for making Queen even louder than the other bands) to second cousins halfway around the world. In the process, an intimate and complicated portrait emerges. Meticulously researched, sympathetic yet not sensational, Mercury offers an unvarnished look at the extreme highs and lows of life in the fast lane. At the heart of this story is a man... and the music he loved.

PRAISE FOR

Lesley-Ann Jones asserts that Freddie Mercurys was a big, extravagant, multifaceted life, and the rock journalist has certainly done a sterling job of documenting it here. DAILY TELEGRAPH

Exactly the sort of tribute that Mercury himself would have wanted... full of perceptive and moving insights. THE SPECTATOR

Rock journalist Lesley-Ann Jones is lucky enough to have known the man. She... formed lasting friendships with the band. She eventually gained access to Freddies colleagues and friends, and so we have this thoroughly researched portrait of the man behind the rock legend. BRISBANE TIMES

What makes this biography so enjoyable is that through it, Jones avoids the stars in your eyes view that dogs so many biographers. Queen is a backdrop to Freddie Mercury the man.... Really encapsulates the 80s music scene. BUZZ MAGAZINE

L ESLEY -A NN J ONES is an award-winning music journalist and author. She toured with Queen and had unrivaled access to the band. She lives in London. www.lesleyannjones.com

MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT

SimonandSchuster.com

THE SOURCE FOR READING GROUPS

Facebook.com/TouchstoneBooks
Twitter.com/TouchstoneBooks

FRONT JACKET PHOTOGRAPH BY GEORGE HURRELL

BACK JACKET PHOTOGRAPH DENIS OREGAN/CORBIS

COPYRIGHT 2012 SIMON & SCHUSTER

Touchstone

A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright 2011 by Lesley-Ann Jones

Originally published in Great Britain in 2011 by Hodder & Stoughton

Published by arrangement with Hodder & Stoughton

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Touchstone hardcover edition July 2012

TOUCHSTONE and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com .

Designed by Ruth Lee-Mui

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jones, Lesley-Ann.

Mercury : an intimate biography of Freddie Mercury /

Lesley-Ann Jones.1st Touchstone hardcover ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Mercury, Freddie. 2. Rock musiciansEnglandBiography. I. Title.

ML420.M389J66 2012

782.42166092dc23

[B] 2012017271

ISBN 978-1-4516-6395-2

ISBN 978-1-4516-6397-6 (ebook)

Picture acknowledgments appear at .

For my mother and father

For Mia, Henry, and Bridie

Contents

W e didnt write it at the time. We took notes, as journalists did in those days, by committing quotes to memory, then making our excuses and heading for the bathroom, where wed scribble into our notebooks before the booze set in. We had tape recorders, sure, but you couldnt use them. They were conversation killers, especially if you found yourself somewhere compromising. Where it wasnt cool to be up-front about being a hack.

So wea couple of scribes and a snapperhad broken rank from the media-fest raging up the road at the conference center, and had slipped out for a quiet pint at the only pub on Montreuxs main drag. Intimate little place, the Blanc Gigi, they called it: the White Horse. Freddie happened to be in that night, with a couple of tight-slacked friends who might have been Swiss or French. This typically English pub was a favorite haunt of his, which I think we must have known. Freddie didnt need a bodyguard. He needed cigarettes. The new bloke from the Express was an addict, he always carried four packs. Nights were long for young showbiz reporters. We came prepared.

This was not the first time Id met Freddie. Wed been in each others company several times before. A rock fan since childhoodId met Bowie when I was eleven, and Hendrix died on my birthday in 1970 (had to be a sign; wasnt everything?)I was introduced to the thrilling, complex music of Queen the summer I left school by sisters Jan and Maureen Day, fans from Aldershot. This was when I found myself traveling alongside them on a wheezing coach bound for Barcelona and the beaches of the Costa Brava. When everyone had a guitar, and a plectrum that had belonged to George Harrison. No amount of finger stretches was going to get the instrument to weep for me.

Never destined to be a Chrissie Hynde or a Joan Jett, from the early eighties until around 1992 I reported on rock and pop for the Daily Mail , the Mail on Sunday , its supplement You magazine, and The Sun . It was as a rookie journalist at Associated Newspapers that I first encountered Queen. I was sent to interview Freddie and Brian at Queens Notting Hill offices one day in 1984, and a lopsided acquaintanceship was struck: they called, you came. The years that ensued now seem surreal. The business was simpler then. Artists and journalists routinely flew together, limod together, stayed in the same hotels, ate at the same tables, painted far-flung cities the colors of hell.

A precious few of those friendships got to last.

Things hardly ever happen that way today. Too many managers, agents, promoters, publicists, label folk, and hangers-on, all on points. If theyre not, they pretend. Its in their best interests to keep the likes of me behind the barrier. Back then, we cheeked our way in everywherewith or without the laminate or an Access All Areas pass. We sometimes even hid them, just to keep our hand in. Blagging was part of the fun.