Table of Contents
Despite his HIV diagnosis, he stayed active with Queen’s recordings
Freddie Mercury, whose impact on rock music is still felt after his death, found out he was HIV-positive several years before he passed away and only told his closest friends. In fact, he kept denying the rumors of his illness that the press kept speculating, choosing to focus on making as much music as possible.
After Queen had finished their tour, the band kept on writing and recording at their studio in Montreux, Switzerland. Brian May in his memoir said that he could feel that Freddie didn’t have much time left and was trying to keep things going as usual; frequently, Mercury would come to the studio for a few hours to work when he would then have to give up due to lack of energy.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2)/freddie-mercury-2-2000x1333-af7693338b494ff5bc14be049dd5f7d1.jpg)
The Studio Was Still His Safe Place While He Forced Himself to Record His Part
“It was very clear that he was feeling a great deal of pain and discomfort,” Brian May shared with The Telegraph in December 2013. “For him, the studio was a refuge, a place where life went on as it always had. He was absolutely obsessed with making music, it was his life. … He kept on saying, ‘Write me more. Write me more stuff. I just want to sing this and do it, and when I am not here, you can finish it.’ Honestly, he didn’t show any fear.’”
In May 1991, the band laid down the tracks for their last song together, “Mother Love.” Mercury was too weak to finish the last verse; he promised to come back and do it but never made it.
He stopped singing the verse before the last one — and never returned
Brian May remembered that they were recording the second to last verse when Mercury abruptly became unwell and asked to stop the session, giving his word that they would finish the next time he came — a visit that never took place. Freddie went back to his London flat and later had to stay in bed for a while.
What you need to know about Freddie Mercury’s death, 34 years later.
Freddie Mercury Died from AIDS
According to Peter Freestone, his personal assistant and friend of a very long time, Freddie Mercury found out he was HIV-positive in 1987 after a biopsy was taken from a lesion on his hand. The virus eventually turned into AIDS, and in the last few weeks his condition became very poor. In fact, in early November, Mercury decided to discontinue the cocktail of drugs he had been taking in order to slow the development of the disease – a letter from Freestone stating that the decision was made somewhat under the influence of the actor thinking that the drugs were the only things that didn’t allow him to live a normal life at all.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2)/freddie-mercury-handwritten-lyrics-060123-tout-b116cce4a4344a18be7ca8858ff83e39.jpg)
Freddie Came Back Home and Ceased His Treatment, As He Was Fed Up With the Press
It was stated by Peter Freestone in his memoir that, on the day of the 9th of November 1991, Saturday, Freddie was not willing to continue his treatment in Switzerland and consequently returned home in the UK. Freestone recalled that Mercury was, in a way, locked at Garden Lodge — there was a permanent crowd of journalists outside the gate thus making it impossible for him to get out or for friends to come without being harassed — and that it was this deprivation of privacy which led him to a decision of discontinuing the drugs.
The New York Times has it that later on, the death certificate of the singer made the primary cause of his death bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS.
Freddie Mercury Died on November 24, 1991
Freddie Mercury passed away at his home in London, Garden Lodge, on Nov. 24, 1991.
He Passed Away at His Kensington Residence, Garden Lodge
When he died, Freddie Mercury was at his place, Garden Lodge, a Neo‑Georgian house in Kensington, London, which he had been the owner of since 1980. After seeing the house once, he decided to purchase it “right away” and subsequently renovated the interior with his designer Robin Moore Ede to match his unique style. Mercury kept living there until the time of his death, and he passed away at the house on the 24th of November, 1991.
Freddie Mercury died at 45
Freddie Mercury (born Sept. 5, 1946) passed away on Nov. 24, 1991, at age 45.
Freddie Mercury’s Last Public Words – His Private Last Words Were Not Recorded
The last publicly spoken words of Freddie Mercury were in a very short statement that he made on Nov. 23, 1991. In that statement, he confirmed that he had tested HIV positive and had AIDS – that announcement was his final public communication.
As far as is known, there is no widely recognized, publicly available record of his private last words. Based on closely quoted sources, it is reported that he spent his last night at Garden Lodge with his longtime partner Jim Hutton, and they reminisced all night about the good times. Mercury passed away the next day, Nov. 24, 1991.
Hutton Talks About Freddie’s Quiet Last Hours and His Final Simple Request
In his writing, Jim Hutton mentioned that he and Freddie “talked all night,” having a cheerful, meaningless kind of talk that they always used to have, and then they were lying cuddling until Freddie fell asleep.” Hutton also said that the very last words that Mercury spoke were in the early morning — a humble request to go to the toilet.
Mercury’s condition, however, deteriorated very fast on that day: he was going in and out of sleep, could recognize people and things but could not talk, and finally he died that night. Hutton recalled that moment like it was very clear: “He looked like a ray of light. One moment he was a boy with a thin, sad little face and the next he was a picture of ecstasy. The entire face of Freddie going back to all it had been before. He looked finally and totally at peace.”
Shock and a Flood of Tributes When the News Bubbled Up
For weeks, reporters and photographers had been camping out at Garden Lodge waiting for news of Mercury, and they found out about his death just a few hours after he passed away, with the very first reports coming in the early hours of Nov. 25. People couldn’t wait to show their love and support to the King of Queen. So fans kept on dropping flowers and their own handwritten notes, and it didn’t take long for the front of his home to be covered with tributes.
Many people found it very difficult to accept the loss especially because it was only a day after Mercury’s AIDS diagnosis had been made public, and even the bandmates — who had known about his illness — said that it was almost incomprehensible to them.
Bandmates Said It Only Felt Real After the Announcement
“We were all staring the possibility that it was just a trick and he was going to be better. One cannot really understand these things properly. After that we received the call,” Brian May told The Telegraph, recounting the moment when they found out Freddie had passed away in a very unreal way. He said the band got together, talked and had a drink, and it was only when the news was shown on the television that it actually dawned on them: “It was actually quite bizarre that this was the moment when it first seemed real. You thought, ‘God, he has really gone and now everybody knows. It can no longer be taken back.” ”
Freddie Mercury’s Lasting Heritage: Art, Generosity and Influence on Society
The passing of Freddie Mercury was a sad event for the music industry and the AIDS community. About a year after his death, Queen organized a tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in April 1992. The concert attracted over 72,000 fans and the money made from tickets was used to start The Mercury Phoenix Trust, a charity dedicated to AIDS caused in his honor. The trust has contributed more than $25 million to AIDS research and relief over the years, as well as being responsible for the yearly Freddie For A Day event. During this day, people who want to help put on the most recognizable costumes of Mercury to raise money and spread the news in different parts of the world.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(866x457:868x459)/freddie-mercury-death-main-112024-5dc29515124747859540759332081361.jpg)
Freddie Mercury’s Legacy Will Never Die: Albums, Distinctions and Annual Remembrances
Freddie Mercury has been hailed as one of the best rock vocalists after his demise. In 1995 Queen returned to the studio to complete Made in Heaven, their last album made up of Freddie’s final studio sessions and some of the already recorded material. After that, he has been featured in documentaries, a biopic and a variety of reissues. In 2001 Mercury was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and in 2003 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2004 one of the most iconic pieces of music “Bohemian Rhapsody” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and in 2009 “We Are the Champions” followed the same path. Every year, fans also pay homage to him on Freddie Mercury Montreux Memorial Day in the Swiss town where much of Queen’s work was recorded.
Queen’s Legacy Continues — Musicals, Tours and an Acclaimed Biopic
The compositions of Queen have been the main source of inspiration for the musical We Will Rock You, a production that has been running for a very long time, and the band keeps on performing internationally with Adam Lambert, a singer who started working with them in 2012. The life of Mercury was depicted in a biopic called Bohemian Rhapsody, a film for which Rami Malek received an Oscar, in 2018. Besides this, the band continues to put out new songs with the inclusion of Mercury’s vocals, the single “Face It Alone” being the most recent one, released in 2022.
