Born on September 5: Freddie Mercury, the long reign of Queen

Freddie Mercury was born in Stone Town, the capital of the island of Zanzibar, in 1946 and died of AIDS in November 1991.

Farrokh Bulsara, whom we all know by his stage name Freddie Mercury, is quite a character. A singer with an exceptional vocal range, he composed Queen's greatest hits, such as "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Somebody To Love," "Don't Stop Me Now," and "We Are The Champions," which has become a veritable anthem in football stadiums (for the winning teams, of course!). All these choruses allow him to give pride of place to his operatic tremolos, unexpected counterpoints to Brian May's devastating solos. Just for fun, during one of his rare solo escapades, Mercury even convinced soprano Montserrat Caballe to respond to him on "Barcelona," the hometown of the woman nicknamed La Superba. Some see it as a monument to kitsch, while others prefer to applaud the open-mindedness of the two artists. I'll let you be the judge. It must be said, however, that the singer has always wielded a form of self-mockery, tinged sometimes with absurdity, sometimes with burlesque. While he might make some feminists cringe nowadays, his character in the music video for "I Want To Break Free" (see the photo illustrating this article) was completely unapologetic.

Languishing for two decades, like a phoenix, Queen rose from the ashes in 2011. Despite his undeniable technical prowess, American singer Adam Lambert, who toured with the original survivors, had the greatest difficulty rising to Mercury's level. Especially staying there for two hours...

Alongside countless tribute bands of often questionable quality, Freddie Mercury's legacy also lives on with the musical "We Will Rock You," premiered in 2002 at London's Dominion Theatre (and produced by Robert de Niro!). The show would run continuously on the West End stage for twelve years.

In 2023, some of the objects patiently collected by the singer were put up for sale at Sotheby's in London. Before being dispersed, the collection was the subject of a month-long (free) exhibition that attracted nearly 150,000 visitors, proving how intact the singer's aura remains more than 30 years after his death. The centerpiece of the sale, the Yamaha baby grand piano on which he composed "Bohemian Rhapsody" and which he considered an extension of himself, sold for nearly two million euros. Few fans have shoulders broad enough to make this kind of purchase. As if to exonerate themselves, a spokesperson for the auction house stated at the time that Freddie Mercury "loved auctions as much as he hated museums." He was even a regular at Sotheby's, where he acquired works by Chagall, Picasso, and other Dali artists that adorned the walls of his home.

All these objects (one might even call them relics) kept for 30 years by Marie Austin, his sole legatee and longtime friend, in her home at Garden Lodge in West London could have remained there, to the delight of fans who, even before his death, were already flocking there on pilgrimage. They covered the large green door of the property with their messages and graffiti, which was also put up for sale for nearly 35 million euros and ultimately sold for 700 million!

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo : Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Freddie Mercury with Queen performing "I Want To Break Free" on stage at Forest-National in Brussels, Belgium, on September 21, 1984