Phoebe’s blog 1

Ok first questions have come in…

Donna Plageman asked; Freddie seemed to me to be constantly on the move,… Did he however have times when he needed to be by himself? If so, where would he go and what would he do…?
Freddie loved being in the centre of things, he needed friends around him, he had to know there was always someone there for him. At home, in Garden Lodge, he was able to be on his own when he wanted, still with the security of a 2 metre wall. On the occasion of his needing some quiet time, he would go into the garden and sit on a bench in the corner by the small waterfall of his koi carp pond. If he wanted company he would ask one of us to go with him, but if he said nothing we knew he wanted to be by himself.

Susan asked; we gave our son… the middle name Mercury. Do you think Freddie would have been honoured, embarrassed or both?
I think Freddie certainly would not be embarrassed by people giving their children the name of Mercury. Don’t forget, that was the name he chose for himself! While he might not have openly supported this, I think inside he would have a quiet smile to himself.

Baq wanted to know; what was Freddie’s favourite music album?
I have been here in Atlanta, USA for the American Queen Fan convention, BREAKTHRU, and the topic of Freddie’s favourite album came up. He had many vinyls which would be the favourite of the day. He had an eclectic taste, so the collection included many different styles from symphonic, opera, musicals and of course the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin and Prince. We always had to buy the latest ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’ edition, so he could keep up with what was current, but I think one album that he actually listened to more than any other, was ‘The Dude” produced by Quincy Jones. I still have memories of this cassette tape being played on the stereo system in his New York apartment almost every day as Freddie and I got ready to ‘hit the town’!

I mentioned BREAKTHRU before. This was a gathering of Queen fans from all over North America. There was a great atmosphere, with old friends meeting up and a lot of making new ones. One, of many things that stood out, was the embroidered red ribbon, which many people used to attach their name tags. This has remained the standard awareness symbol of HIV/AIDS, that made it’s first appearance in Europe at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Show at Wembley Stadium all those years ago in 1992.