Freddie Mercury - Legend Above Legends

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Freddie Lives! 👑✨✨

September 5, 1946 - Forever ✨

Among the most influential artists in the history of rock, composer, songwriter, musician, extraordinary interpreter, sublime singer, entertainer, unforgettable performer, unattainable frontman, crowd puller...

and then:

skilled draftsman, stylist, perfectionist,

it's still:

style icon, art lover, refined collector, esthete...

Visionary artist: brought together different musical styles (world of rock music and opera). He is the first and only person to have done this

...and above all a man of uncommon generosity!!

September 5th, 2023 ends the exhibition at Sotheby's which allowed us to get to know a little more closely the man who lived behind the artist with all the facets of him to thus deepen his artistic culture ....

Freddie an all-round artist who loved art in its entirety, without borders!!!

Thank you Mary for allowing all of this!

👉 👉 "THE COLLECTION TAKES YOU DEEPER WITHIN THE INDIVIDUAL, AND THE MAN I KNEW.

YOU SEE THE SPECTRUM OF HIS TASTE, WHICH IS QUITE ECLECTIC

Freddie was a naturally gifted, articulate and intelligent collector who showed us that there is beauty and fun and conversation to be found in everything.

He relished the emotive qualities of everything he bought. He was inspired by them, he talked about them, and he shared them with all the visitors to his beloved home. Garden Lodge.

The obiects he surrounded himself with were not only of visual beauty, but also pieces that reflected a love of romance and often a hidden narrative that intrigued him or with which he found a natural empathy. From the artistic methods of the Japanese block prints to the intimate 18th-century portraiture, we feel the stories within.

His tastes were varied but always led by his love of a piece in whatever form that took.

This sale and this beautifully curated book are opportunities for me to now lovingly respect his wishes while sharing all the many facets of Freddie, both public and private, so the world can understand more about, and celebrate, his unique and beautiful spirit.

It is indeed the word 'celebrate' that means so much to me in the context of this sale.

👉 It is, most importantly, a celebration of his life, his intellect and his influence.

I hope you all enjoy it and find as much wonderment in it all as I have over the years"

- Mary

👉 Foreword

by Mary Austin

© Sotheby's

📸 Freddie Mercury on stage -

'Works Tour' ('August '84 / May '85)

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

September 5, 1946 - Forever 👑✨✨

We still love you Freddie, we still love you, Forever in our hearts ❤️

-

-

-

-

📸 Summer 1986

'Magic Tour'

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

✨✨ Happy Birthday ✨✨

🔸 According to Pliny the Elder, Zarathustra “laughed on the very day of his birth”. So did Freddie, and he was still laughing a year later when and Indian photographer in Zanzibar took his picture and won a prize with it.

Jer remembers that the photographer was so pleased with this beaming baby that he put him up in his shop window, so perhaps this counts as Freddie Mercury’s first public performance.

Extract from Sunday Times – Star Of India

Sunday Times Magazine - 11/17/1996

👉 Today, on 5th September, 1946

Freddie Mercury born in Stone Townn, on the East African island of Zanzibar

👑 The Can Be Only One!! 👑

💫 Happy Birthday Freddie!! 💫

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today, on April 29, 1985

Freddie Mercury released 'Mr. Bad Guy', first solo album in the UK/Europe

👉 Reached number 6, on chart for 23 weeks, achieved Gold Status

Artwork by The Artful Dodger

📸 Photographs by A. Sawa

👉 Special thanks to Brian, Roger and John for not interfering

Special thanks to Mary Austin, Barbara Valentin for big tits and misconduct, Winnie for board and lodging.

👉 This album is dedicated to my cat Jerry - also Tom, Oscar and Tiffany, and all the cat lovers across the universe - screw everybody else.

Freddie Mercury's first solo album, which was recorded in Germany featuring German musicians. The album took roughly almost two years to complete on and off due to other commitments with Queen.

👉 The album was originally going to be titled 'Made In Heaven'.

👉 The 15th and last album by Queen ended up with the title 'Made In Heaven' instead

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

"Freddie had passed on November 24, 1991, and weeks after the funeral, I was still grieving.

On Christmas day, I learnt that Freddie had left me one final testament to his selflessness.

"I was moping about when a friend showed up at my door and handed me something wrapped in a pillowcase. I opened it up, and inside was a painting by one of my favourite artists, the British painter Henry Scott Tuke. And there was a note on the front from Freddie."Years before, Freddie and I had developed pet names for each other, our drag-queen alter egos. I was Sharon and he was Melina. Freddie's note read, 'Dear Sharon, I thought you'd like this. Love, Melina. Happy Christmas.'

"I was overcome, 44 years old at the time, crying like a child. Here was this beautiful man, dying from AIDS, and in his final days, he had somehow managed to find me a lovely Christmas present."

"As sad as that moment was, it's often the one I think about when I remember Freddie, because it captures the character of the man. In death, he reminded me of what made him so special in life."

- Elton John

📸 Pic: Screenshot from short video 1981 - Freddie Mercury and his friend Sir Elton John at party

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today, on 27th November, 1991

Private funeral service held for Freddie Mercury

UPI ARCHIVES NOV. 27, 1991

LONDON -- Family and close friends, including Elton John, gathered Wednesday for the cremation of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock group Queen, who died of AIDS during the weekend.

Wreaths lined the entrance of the West London Crematorium where a 25- minute private service was conducted by two Parsee priests.

A single red rose was placed on top of the coffin which was carried into the chapel as Aretha Franklin's rendition of 'Precious Lord Take My Hand' was played, followed by 'You've Got a Friend,' said Queen spokeswoman Roxy Meade.

The ceremony ended with Mercury's favorite aria, 'D'amour sull 'ali Rose' composed by Verdi and sung by Montserrat Cabelle, who joined Mercury in a duet on his solo album 'Barcelona.'

Fellow Queen members Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon attended the funeral along with pop stars Elton John and Anita Dobson. Queen had described the flamboyant Mercury as the 'most beloved member of our family.'

Flowers sent to Mercury by fans were carried in five hearses to the service, which was attended only by family and close friends, Meade said. The flowers were later distributed to AIDS wards in London.

Queen announced Wednesday it planned to re-release its best selling hit 'Bohemian Rhapsody' next month and donate the profits to charity

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today, on 27th November, 1991

Private funeral service held for Freddie Mercury

🔸"I lost somebody who I thought was my eternal love,' she confirms. 'When he died I felt we'd had a marriage. We'd lived our vows. We'd done it for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health. You could never have let go of Freddie unless he died - and even then it was difficult"

- Mary Austin

Interview 2000

Pic: Mary Austin at the funeral of Freddie Mercury from a Russian newspaper

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Queen Live Performance!

Freddie Mercury and John Deacon on stage - Birmingham, UK, National Exhibition Centre (Hall One)

November 24, 1979

'Crazy Tour'

📸 Photo by Kingpin

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

November 24 and 25, 1981 - Queen Story!

Montreal, QC, Canada, Montreal Forum

'We Will Rock You Concert'

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Freddie Mercury

September 5, 1946 - Forever 👑✨❤️

"When we lost Freddie, we not only lost a great personality, a man with a great sense of humour, a true showman, but we lost probably the best. The best virtuoso rock 'n' roll singer of all time. He could sing anything in any style.

He could change his style from line to line and, God, that's an art. And he was brilliant at it"

- Roger Daltrey

- Roger Harry Daltrey (1 March 1944) is an English singer and actor. Daltrey is the founder and lead singer of the rock band the Who -

Pic: Queen Live!

Freddie Mercury performing on stage during 'Works! Tour'

👉 'Works!' Tour started in Brussels on August 24th 1984 - Ended in Japan May 15th 1985

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

September 5, 1946 - Forever!!

We want to remember you like this!

We still love you, Freddie ♥

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

November 23rd, 1991

Freddie Mercury issued statement to the Press stating that he had AIDS

"Following enormous conjecture in the press, I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV positive and have AIDS. I felt it correct to keep this information private to date in order to protect the privacy of those around me. However, the time has now come for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth.

I hope that everyone will join with me, my doctors and all those worldwide in a fight against this terrible disease. My privacy has always been very special to me and I am famous for my lack of interviews.

Please understand that this policy will continue"

- Freddie Mercury

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

November 5th, 1985, Royal Albert Hall, London, UK - Freddie Mercury with Jane Seymour (actress) at "Fashion Aid", for Ethiopian Famine Appeal Fund

- Fashion Aid was created as an alternate funding initiative following on from the success of Live Aid earlier in the same year. Bob Geldof and his wife Paula Yates decided it would be an idea to bring together top artistic talent from the fashion world and the world of music to raise funds for Ethiopia -

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today, on 5th November, 1985

November 1985, Royal Albert Hall, London - Freddie Mercury attends Fashion Aid with his friend Mary Austin

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today, on October 14th, 1991 - Queen Story!

- 'The Show Must Go On' /'Keep Yourself Alive' released in UK on Parlophone

🔸"'The Show Must Go On' came from Roger and John playing the sequence, and I started to put things down. At the beginning, it was just this chord sequence, but I had this strange feeling that it could be somehow important, and I got very impassioned and went and beavered away at it. I sat down with Freddie, and we decided what the theme should be and wrote the first verse. It's a long story, that song, but I always felt it would be important because we were dealing with things that were hard to talk about at the time, but in the world of music, you could do it."

- Brian May, Interview 1994

- B-Side: 'Keep Yourself Alive' by Brian May

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today, on 14th October, 1984 Queen Story!

Sun City, Bophuthatswana, Super Bowl

'The Works Tour'

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

👉👉 He is not George Michael!!

👉 Let us clarify!

- The guy in these photos with Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé isn't George Michael, he's just a person with the same haircut as him

📷 10th October, 1988

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, UK - Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé host 'Barcelona' album launch