Blog 11

Sorry they are not exactly regular…. I am doing quite a lot at the moment, and time is getting shorter and shorter!

Pertuu has asked about drugs and cats!
Second part first I think. During my time with Freddie he had 10 cats! Not all at the same time. By November ’91 there were 6 cats in the house. This was one of the reasons that even though they had all been ‘done’, there were still territory issues that were decided by spraying, and we would be cleaning up after them. It is on record that Freddie took cocaine, but he controlled it, it never controlled him. It wasn’t something he used everyday, just something for him to use recreationally. I remember a time he used some in the studio one night and was furiously making music which he thought was great. He went back into the studio the next day and listened to what he had recorded…… ‘What is this rubbish?’….. he asked.

Dylan wanted to know about Freddie’s inspirations.
Freddie was mostly inspired by situations and emotions he found himself embroiled in, as he said in an interview, he wrote about love in all it’s forms, as that is what he spent most of his life looking for, or being part of. People that inspired him particularly were Elvis Presley and John Lennon. He loved listening to Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Prince and just about anything produced by Quincy Jones. He was also impressed by Pavarotti’s voice, until he heard the best voice in the world…. Montserrat Caballe.

Denise asked about the nicknames Freddie gave to the band and people he liked.
The tradition started in British theatre where males were given female names and vice versa. Freddie carried this on with Elton and a friend of their’s, Tony King. With the band he picked fairly obvious ones, MAGGIE for Brian, LIZ for Roger but John was harder to come up with, but in the end he became BELICIA after the flashing yellow lights at road crossings. Their manager Jim Beach became Miami, Freddie’s partner, Jim, became BETTY, and even Mary Austin was named and was STEVE after the 6 Million Dollar Man.

Michea from Poland asked about Freddie’s favourite song.
Freddie was asked many times about this in interviews and most of the time he avoided the answer, mainly because he didn’t want his words to be turned around in print. He told me his favourite song was SOMEBODY TO LOVE. The reason he didn’t want to say this was because it was one of his own songs, and he didn’t want it said that he only liked his own music and not any of the other band members.

Cariad and Dario have asked about Freddie, his music and recent Queen collaborations.
Freddie wasn’t ‘precious’ about his music. He wrote it because that is what he felt. He wrote it with himself in mind, because it was written as part of a Queen or solo project. He did write a few pieces of music for other people, but usually as a duet where he would be singing. The biggest of these was of course BARCELONA, which was a massive undertaking for him and really took him into totally new territory. I am sure Freddie would have been really impressed with most of the singing that happened at his Tribute Concert. Freddie. Don’t forget, Freddie recorded music for the band to work on after he was gone…. He certainly did not expect them to hang up their instruments just because he was not there anymore. Brian and Roger were and definitely still are musicians. That is what they have done all their lives. If they want to tour with other people that is their prerogative, maybe you don’t agree with who they perform with, but at least we are still getting the chance to see and hear them. It also keeps the music that Freddie and the others wrote alive.

Charlie asked about Freddie’s last words.
I remember Freddie’s last words to me. I was with him the whole of the night on Friday 22nd November. There was someone with Freddie 24 hours a day for the last week. I remember sitting on the bed holding his hand. Freddie would doze, wake up, doze, so I held his hand so that he knew someone was there. One of the times he was awake we had a short conversation… about how things were downstairs and if everything was clean and tidy. The very last thing he said to me was ‘thank you’. To this day I’m not sure if it was for the night I was sitting there with him, or for the 12 years we had been together. I suppose it is something I will never know.

Ok guys, time to start sorting out some clothes to take to Dresden. I am looking forward to be at the opening of QUEEN BACKSTAGE exhibition which will be there for 6 weeks. I know a few of you will be coming and will look forward to seeing you there. You would also be supporting the Mercury Phoenix Trust if you come…. So make sure you do!