Finally, 95 appears. Please accept my apologies for the huge gap, but my days have taken on a life of their own, particularly since Bohemian Rhapsody came out at the cinemas. Things aren’t calming down yet either as any of you who follow my new official page on Facebook have seen, as Milan Satnik and I re-launch the Titanic Freddie AIDS project now with the backing of a major radio station, Frekvence 1, here in the Czech Republic. This is basically aimed at schools for students aged 12-18, warning them about the dangers of HIV/AIDS, which is still with us today. We are carrying on doing what the MPT has been doing for the past 28 years!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year and are now prepared for what 2019 will bring.
I have seen that there are a lot of new fans following these pages, so older fans; please forgive some often basic answers and already answered questions.
There have been a few inquiries about Freddie’s origins. He was born Farrohk Bulsara on 5/9/46 in Stone Town on the island of Zanzibar. His parents moved from the Gujarat area of India in order for his father to work at Government House there. He was sent to a boarding school in India and remained there until he was about 16/17. That was where his interest in music was really sparked. It was also at this school where he acquired the name, Freddie. The whole family left Zanzibar because of the revolution there and settled in the UK. The rest hopefully you know!
There have also been questions about Freddie’s footwear. Before I started work, Freddie was seen in platform boots, these were both fashionable at the time, but also added a few inches to his 5’ 9” (175cm) height. When he started with the harlequin type outfits and included his balletic movements he wore actual ballet shoes. He was also seen barefoot at times during shows. He then started wearing his favourites, the wrestling boots, which he wore till the end of touring. These were made of a thin synthetic/leather combination which, because of the laces up above his ankles, helped to support his movements. The reason for most of these choices; comfort! Even before he became unwell, he always liked his feet to be comfortable. He even wore his favourite blue and yellow trainers while he was wearing suits.
Freddie and Elvis! Freddie had two musicians on pedestals, who he looked up to; John Lennon and Elvis Presley. I remember a time when someone said something like Elvis wouldn’t have sounded nearly as good without the Jordanaires. He became really angry and told the person they had no idea about music and Elvis in particular, so please would they shut up! One of his prized possessions was a scarf worn by Elvis given to Freddie by Lisa Marie Presley.
I have found a question asking about Freddie’s memories. Of course, he had memories, just like all of us, but he rarely spent evenings full of nostalgia, reminiscing about past exploits, whether in the studio, on tour or in his personal life. Freddie was very much a man of the present. The past had happened; he had either enjoyed the times or there were times he would like to forget, and tomorrow would take care of itself. I never heard him talking about what he wanted to do in five years time, nor about what had happened five years ago at any length.
I’ve had quite a few questions on where people might be able to get some of the clothes Freddie is seen wearing at various parties or publicity photos. Most of Freddie’s clothes were got for him by Joe and some by me. If something caught our eye, whether, for the colour or maybe unique design, we would buy it, take it home and see if Freddie liked it. Because we knew what he preferred, generally everything was put into one of his wardrobes and he would wear them when he wanted. He loved tracksuits and sweatshirts, because of the comfort factor. There are many photos of him in a bright yellow tracksuit holding the crown and also from his birthday party in Garden Lodge where he has on the red sweatshirt. Sadly I cannot help you with brands etc. Many things we found in shops in Japan and we rarely went to specific ‘brand name’ shops.
There have been quite a few questions regarding Freddie’s stage costumes. Right from the beginning, Freddie had input in his stage wear. In fact, everything up until the Magic Tour was all the result of his vision. Freddie would come up with his ideas and it was up to us to find what he wanted or find someone who could make it. I remember when we had the ‘arrow’ jacket made, it was a jacket covered in 100s of multicolored satin arrows that he wore on stage twice! The reason it was discarded was that he couldn’t take it off easily as he sweated on stage and the satin stuck to his skin. It was with his solo single ‘I Was Born To Love You’ that he was introduced to Diana Moseley who became his designer of not only his stage and video outfits, but also helped him with some of his styling, suits etc, in his personal life. She became a good friend for Freddie and she really took care of him during the filming of his last videos including ‘I’m Going Slightly Mad’ and of course ‘Days Of Our Lives’. She made sure he had thermal underwear that was comfortable for him as he always felt the cold, even when he was at his peak.
So, I hope there is something there for you to get on with. I will endeavour to keep this up fairly regularly now, definitely not the huge gap since the last one. Please take care of yourselves until the next time!