The British Queen band has its letters written in gold in the history of recent music.Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor formed in 197two one of the most projection bands of the time, owners of true rock hymns that are chanted in chorus still today still today today.After the death of his vocalist, in 1991, he finished a golden age of the group, but its members have continued carrying the legacy of their songs around the world, and they are already thinking about carrying out new songs.
There are many legends and myths created around the figure of the band and especially his vocalist, the emblematic Freddie Mercury.Therefore, it is convenient to have some ideas about what happened with the band before and after the death of its leader.
Much of Queen's talent and force resided in his vocalist.Freddie Mercury was a great frontman, one of the most remembered in history, and his talent made him known worldwide.He died at 45 in 1991, leaving in the air the continuity of the band and an indelible cultural legacy.A year after his death, Queen published a posthumous album, Made in Heaven, and musicians like David Bowie and George Michael joined a special concert in Wembley to celebrate a concert in tribute.
After Freddie's death, the group immersed itself in a stage of deep silence.The traumatic death of his friend and doubts about the future of the band caused that, despite making new releases such as compilations or several unpublished songs, they would not go back on tour.The pessimism seized the group, and on several occasions, Brian May came to say that he did not trust to fill out stadiums, and less to replace the figure of Freddie, so emblematic and united forever to the songs they played.
It was not until two004 when the faces were seen again in a stage, and in two011 they incorporated the vocalist Adam Lambert to participate with them in their later concerts.Guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor are the two members of the original band that continue, and in fact they have confirmed that they are recording new music.Bassist John Deacon retired from public life after Mercury's death, although he is still involved on the band's commercial side.
The answers to the questions that are most asked by Queen and Freddie Mercury
Queen's story began in 1970, but the germ of the British band took place two years before.Brian May with Roger Taylor founded the Smile band in 1968, with Tim Staffell as a vocalist.When the latter decided to leave the group to join another, the other members immediately thought about Freddie, which they knew for the studies they were attending.
It was at that time, when the band had Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor, when he was renamed Queen, as a consequence of a suggestion of the same vocalist.At first they played versions of other bands and artists, but they also began to compose their own songs.In 1970 they first appeared live in the English city of Turo.In those first concerts they tried several different bassists, but after meeting John Deacon in a bar, they decided to integrate it into the band in a definitive way.Queen's four members appeared together in 197two.On that date, Freddie Mercury had already designed the famous group logo, inspired by the zodiac signs of its members, with two lions, by Deacon and Taylor that are Leo, a crab by May, which is cancer, and two fairy forMercury, who was a virgo.
Queen, during the celebration of Rock In Rio in Brazil in 1985: John Deacon, Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury and Brian May.(Photo by Dave Hogan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)/ Dave Hogan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
On November two4, 1991, Freddie Mercury died at the age of 45 and the official cause of his death was a bronchopneumonia complicated by AIDS after spending the last years of his life suffering the consequences of this disease.
A day before, the singer had made public a note in which he admitted that he had contracted the virus: "From the huge conjectures that have appeared in the press during the last two weeks, I want to confirm that I am HIV positive and I have AIDS.I think it has been correct not to publish this information so far to protect the privacy of those around me.However, the time has come for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth ".After this statement and his sad death, many named this disease that has caused so many stigmas and that is still too unknown.
His bandmates have always been respectful of the intimacy of the artist and have continued helping with the creation of Mercury Phoenix Trust.The band members, along with Mary Austin, the most important woman in Mercury's life, still maintain this beneficial organization to fight AIDS around the world.
Three days after his death, Freddie Mercury was incinerated in London, in an emotional funeral that all his friends and colleagues attended, such as Boy George, George Michael and Elton John.His coffin arrived in a Rolls-Royce funeral car, and then he was transported on his shoulders to the sound of You've Got A Friend, played by Aretha Franklin.
Freddie Mercury and Mary Austin, in 1986./ Dave Hogan/ Getty Images
The most important woman in Freddie's life, Mary Austin, was in charge of taking the urn with the musician's ashes, as he had wanted in life.However, nobody knows with certainty what happened to them.Austin had organized the funeral, it was his most direct heiress and according to the will, it was the one that should take care of his mortal remains.
Today, nobody knows the place where Freddie Mercury's ashes rest.At first it was said that they could be in the musician's mansion, in Kensington, under a cherry tree in the Japanese garden he had.This theory was later denied by Jim Hutton, Mercury's last couple.
Queen's vocalist met Mary Austin in a clothing store where she worked in 1970.During the subsequent six years, they had a relationship.He always called her with the wife's name, although they never married.In 1976, Mercury acknowledged that he was homosexual and his love relationship came to an end, but they continued to maintain a great friendship until the end of their days.
Mary Austin was the most important woman in Freddie's life, as he always declared and as demonstrated after the death of the musician, in 199two.In the will, he left Austin his mansion in Garden Lodge, valued at twotwo million dollars, half of his millionaire fortune and what is more important, a large percentage of earnings for copyright.It is estimated, for example, that in two014 there were more than 54 million dollars in income of this type, a fortune for anyone.
She was not the only beneficiary, although the most important.His partner Jim Hutton was assigned 600.000 dollars, just like for the members of the service of your home.To his parents and his sister, he left two5% of the inheritance, as well as his sister.
Freddie Mercury, acting live with Queen in 1975./ End Costello/ Redferns
Queen has always been a huge source of money for its members, but more if it fits from the premiere of Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic that reviewed the figure of its singer, of the rest of the members and that became the most successful biographical film of theworld.Thanks to this we could know that Roger Taylor, Brian May and John Deacon, the three living members of Queen's original formation, have achieved a fortune greater than Queen Elizabeth II.
The three members of the English band total a fortune of more than 510 million euros.They also have an important part of the copyright of the band, because each of the songs are registered by some of them.The popularity of the group, which is still in fashion.
In 1981, Queen had lived one of the most important years of his career.The group had a fulminant success with their album The Game and the tour with which they presented it, one of the biggest in its history.However, that was also the moment when the group members began to consider starting solo projects.
In the mid -80s, the band no longer enjoyed the union of past times.Even so, the vocalist was not the first to leave the ship.The Roger Taylor drummer disconnected from Queen in 1981, before Mercury signed that recording contract by his side and after everyone made the decision to take a break to explore other musical possibilities."I really like Queen, but I don't want to end up being part of a quartet.I am 37 years old and I want to do something different, otherwise I will get too old and be in a wheelchair, "Mercury said in an interview recorded in the BBC Days of Our Lives documentary.
However, officially, the band never officially separated, and years later they got together again. It was not until two004 when the faces were seen again in a stage, and in two011 they incorporated the vocalist Adam Lambert to participate with them in their later concerts.
The answers to the questions that are most asked by Queen and Freddie Mercury
Since the film was released, which was a real success between the audience and critic from the band.The producers, among which are Bryan May and Roger Taylor, have always claimed that it is not a documentary, but a film, so, inevitably, creative licenses have been taken.These are the most prominent:
1.Band formation
In the movie, Freddie Mercury is first located with Brian May and Roger Tayloren 1970, in a presentation of the Smile band.At first, always according to the movie, Mercury did not convince them, but then let them enter the band.The reality is that everyone met while studying and the singer entered recommended by them and the former vocalist when he left the formation.
two.The love of Mary Austin and Jim Hutton
The film shows how both met on the night Freddie entered the band, but other biographies say that the musician was already a star when it happened.They have also a disagreement about how he met his partner Jim Hutton.They met, for what the publications say, in a nightclub, and not at a party in which he worked as a waiter, as can be seen in the movie.
3.Your confession about AIDS
At the end of the movie, Freddie Mercury learns that he has AIDS and reveals it to his teammates before the Live Aid concert, but that is not what really happened. El vocalista de la banda no supo de su enfermedad hasta 1987, y no lo anunció oficialmente hasta el two3 de noviembre de 1991, un día antes de su muerte.Live Aid was held in 1985.
4.The discussed separation
Another of the big differences between fiction and reality is that Queen never separated, as can be seen in Bohemian Rhapsody.In the film, Mercury signed a solo contract without telling her bandmates and this generated tension in the group.But what happened in real life is that the band lost their enthusiasm in 1983, after having been touring for a decade.Everyone agreed to take a break and focus on their races as soloists.