Oh god this was in my drafts since February, I'm so sorry!!! 😭
Some interesting things Ratty said during the various interviews at his exhibition's opening in Milan and that's not already in his books:
He didn't work for David Bowie for a long time, but remembers the stark contrast between working for the singer and for Queen. With Queen, the group was everything, teamwork was very important and Freddie was never treated as more important than the other three, unlike Bowie who was "the only boss". He reminded to the interviewer how important the group was for Freddie and how he didn't considered himself the leader. (For us it's obvious but not much for the general public and the press.)
He recalled the first time he saw them. It was in a very cold cinema, for a rehearsal as opening act for Mott the Hoople in 1973. Everyone was wearing coats and hats, but Queen arrived in light silky clothes, high boots and feminine shirts, already in their stage outfits ignoring the temperature. Then treated the rehearsals as if it was a real show, with Freddie cheering up an invisible audience like a madman. Ratty and the others thought they were a bit silly, but soon changed their minds as Queen kept growing.
(Again, nothing new for us, it's all in his book but it was lovely to hear it directly from him...) When asked, he said he used to have the closest bond with John. Sure he worked for both, but "because Freddie was gay and used to go out at night to other places he stayed with John and spent more time with him." He praised John as "very quiet and very intelligent, he was an extraordinary musician."
While having the strongest bond with John and Freddie, he said he considered all of them as a very close family.
Having played more than 600 concerts, he couldn't remember much from Milan 1984 (obviously he got asked about it ahhah) but he remembers the South American tours in '80 and '81 as the most fun and memorable, despite it was also dangerous.
He said that if Freddie were still alive, he would've loved to do more movie scores and cinema music. But probably less live concerts, as he was getting tired of being on the stage and perform.
Here you can read a bit more about my experience meeting him!