Somebody To Love: The Life, Death, and Legacy of Freddie Mercury, by Matt Richards & Mark Langthorne; Weldon Owen, $24.95.
It is possible to read the journey of the legendary Queen rock star Freddie Mercury as a parable of gay life from the mid-1960s to the early 90s, with both its triumphs and disasters. Mercury was the most famous rock performer to die of AIDS. This biography begins with Mercury lying on his deathbed, a recluse in his own house, his body riddled with KS and practically blind, unable to stand. The authors seem intent on making the case that Mercury's life was defined by AIDS. Mercury's and Queen's rise, then fall, then rise again, alternate with chapters detailing the history, trajectory, and consequences of AIDS, a mini-summary in the vein of And the Band Played On . Yet, by chronicling Mercury's achievements, the book shows he was much more than an AIDS statistic.
Exotic and original from the very beginning, he was born Farrokh Bulsara. His parents were Indian Parsees, religious followers of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster. They left India and emigrated to the British African colony Zanzibar, where Bulsara debuted on Sept. 5, 1946. At age 8 he was shipped off to an English-boarding school in Panchgani, India, and did not see his family for years. Teachers began calling him Freddie as an affectionate term, which he loved. Despite being homesick, he became interested in sports, art, and music, forming his first band, The Hectics, able to play any instrument.
In 1964, a political revolution in the newly independent Zanzibar led to Freddie and his family escaping to London just in time for the Swinging 60s. He enrolled at Ealing School of Art to study fashion design, but his real passion was music. He met Brian May and Roger Taylor, forming the band Smile, which in 1970 morphed into Queen, a name Mercury suggested. For their first album he wrote a song with a line about Mother Mercury. He told May, "I'm going to become Mercury because the mother in this song is my mercury." Shy Freddie Bulsara was transformed into flamboyant Freddie Mercury.
Inspired by David Bowie and glam rock, he used Queen and their music "as a window of opportunity to liberate himself." He had been dating women and became involved with Mary Austin, who worked at the fashionable Biba department store. She became the love of his life. But during their relationship he began secretly dating men. He had no intention of coming out as gay, knowing it would forestall any music career. Instead, Mercury used Queen to express his gay persona, though it would be many years before he revealed his secret to his bandmates. Never during his life did he give an interview to confirm or deny his sexuality.
In 1975 Queen became global superstars, with their artistic pinnacle the release of their album A Night at the Opera , featuring Mercury's magnum opus "Bohemian Rhapsody." With its operatic section and six-minute running time, it remains one of the unique tracks in rock history. The authors maintain this was Mercury's song admitting he was gay. "It is possible to create a homosexual subtext to virtually any phrase from it, and confirm it's about Freddie coming out to his mother and reconciling his own sexuality." The song became Queen's biggest hit, selling over 6 million copies, voted #166 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time."
Almost all of Queen's biggest hits were written by Mercury, including "Another One Bites the Dust," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," "Somebody To Love," and "We Are the Champions," many of them hybrids of hard-rock, pop, heavy metal, cabaret, and classical elements. In his stage performances this talented showman could be his real self in all his outrageousness. His performing passion reached its apex with Queen's 20-minute set during the Live Aid benefit concert for the Ethiopian famine in 1985. In a 2005 BBC poll it was named the greatest live rock performance of all time. It revived Queen's faltering career.
By his own admission, Mercury's sex drive was enormous. He wanted sex with no strings attached, although in the last six years he had a fairly constant though non-monogamous lover, Jim Hutton, a hairdresser. His party lifestyle was mythical, consuming large amounts of cocaine, but not becoming addicted to it. "One of his favorite games involved groups of young men being invited to his room, where they were made to strip naked and parade in front of him wearing nothing but women's hats. Freddie would then choose who would be his companion or companions for the night."
Mercury took 12 AIDS tests in the hope one of them would come up negative, but he was finally diagnosed in 1987. The authors believe Mercury could have been exposed as early as 1982. Mercury and Queen stopped performing live in 1986, though they continued to make studio albums.
Increasingly gaunt, he withdrew from public appearances. The authors chart a long physical decline, culminating in his death on Nov. 24, 1991, at 45. He had released a statement to the press the day before admitting he had AIDS, hoping "that everyone will join with my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease." He had never told his parents and had only informed his bandmates a few months prior to the end. Austin, his main benefactor, scattered his ashes, sworn never to reveal their location.
The book, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of Mercury's death, is a labor of love. AIDS killed Mercury, but it never overshadowed him, and today he is remembered as among the greatest rock entertainers of the 20th century.