Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the band Queen, passed away from AIDS more than twenty years ago. It's hard to believe, isn't it? I remember being in junior high class the day after Freddie Mercury died and the disbelief. (Remember, this was before the internet. lol) Even though we were huge fans of Queen's music, none of us really knew much about the man - not like fans today who can do a search and 30 seconds later know just about every piece of gossip there is to be had. (Kids these days have it too easy! lol) In Mercury, the author and rock journalist Lesley-Ann Jones pieces together more than a hundred interviews with people who knew Freddie to bring fans a closer look at this superstar who left us far too soon. The book even contains personal photos, some in color, and some in black and white.
I had no clue that Freddie was actually from Zanzibar, or that he had been obsessed with Jimi Hendrix and wanting to play like him when he was young. How about that he loved cats, and had several. He loved to shop. Or how about Mercury, not his real original last name, actually came from a song he had written called "My Fairy King". If you're a fan of Queen's music, and you're interested in learning more about Freddie, you've got to pick up this book and read all of the personal stories about him - I don't think fans would be disappointed. At moments, I felt sadness though, in wondering what we lost that might have been, had he still been around today making music.
Now, go queue up your music list and put on some "Crazy Little Thing Called Love".
Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury by Lesley-Ann Jones is a hardcover biography book published by Touchstone. It is 368 pages long. The suggested cover price is $26.00, but Amazon has it available for $14.77 as of this posting.
I received a copy of this book in order to read it and share my thoughts on it. All opinions are my own, and not that of the author(s) or publisher.
No comments:
Post a Comment