Who did Freddie Mercury live with in recent years? Freddie Mercury: the star that died too soon

At the head of Freddie Mercury's bed, with the keys to him, there was a piano - so that if the musician needed to play something, he could do it without wasting time. With all his hectic lifestyle, the leader of The Queen did not waste a second, confirmation of this are dozens of songs that have become classics ..

PHOTO Getty Images

Freddie Mercury's real name is Farrukh Bulsara. "Farrukh" in translation from Zanzibar means "beautiful", "happy". Officially, the future rock star changed her name in 1970. When they addressed him as Farrukh, Mercury became furious.

By nationality, Mercury was a Parsi (an ethnic group of Iranian origin, practicing Zoroastrianism).

The first group of Mercury, then Bulsara, was the school ensemble The Hectics (“Fidgets”).

After graduating from London's Ealing College of Art, he received a diploma in graphic design. The emblem of the group The Queen, consisting of the signs of the zodiac, Mercury invented and drew himself.

Freddie Mercury had a long (7 years) relationship with Mary Austin. In 1976, the artist confessed to her his own bisexuality, the couple broke up, but until the end of their lives they were close friends. Austin served as Mercury's secretary; according to her will, part of the musician's fortune and his house were transferred to her.

In everyday life, Freddie Mercury was extremely shy. This was one of the reasons why the artist rarely gave interviews.

Mercury loved cats, at the same time he sometimes had at least 10 animals. The solo album of the musician Mr Bad Guy is dedicated to the tailed ones, the Delilah song from the last album of The Queen (Innuendo) is dedicated to the beloved cat. While on tour, Mercury regularly called home and talked to cats for hours.

The favorite country of the leader of The Queen was Japan.

His idols in music were John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix.

Mercury himself considered The Game (1980; includes songs such as Play the Game and Another One Bites the Dust) to be the best album by The Queen.

The song Crazy Little Thing Called Love from The Game was written by Mercury in the bathroom, arranged and recorded in the studio in half an hour. This is the only track in which Freddie Mercury plays the guitar.

The artist considered Somebody To Love his most successful song.

The artist's favorite color was yellow. A special variety of yellow roses is named after him.

He was an avid philatelist.

Before one of the concerts in Britain, Mercury got into a fight with his then partner Billy Reid. He bit the musician's hand until it bled.

During another quarrel, Reid and Mercury yelled at each other for several hours in a row, as a result, the artist lost his voice the next morning - and this was on the eve of a performance on the Saturday Night Live television show. The medical team spent a lot of effort and money so that by the evening the singer's vocal abilities would return to normal.

While on tour in the US, Freddie Mercury found out that his partner Tony Bastin was dating someone else. Mercury demanded that Bastin fly to him and at the meeting said that everything was over between them. Immediately after that, the artist sent the unfaithful boyfriend back to England, and after returning from the tour, he took the cat away.

The greatest hits compilation The Queen, released in October 1981, is the best-selling British album in the history of music (over 25 million copies).

The song Barcelona from Mercury's eponymous solo album, released in 1988, became the anthem of the 1992 Olympics.

The Queen's concert in São Paulo in 1981 went down in history as having the largest number of listeners who paid for tickets (251,000).

Despite a classical musical education, Mercury has repeatedly admitted that he does not know the notes well.

In 1987, Mercury covered the 60s hit The Great Pretender (“The Great Pretender”). In his performance, the song received a second life, and the artist himself was regularly called the "Great Pretender".

The artist made a statement that he had AIDS the day before his death. Mercury was positively diagnosed with AIDS four years earlier, in the spring of 1987.

The last song he recorded was Mother Love, which was not included in the Innuendo album (four years later it was released on the Made in Heaven record). The final verse for the seriously ill artist was sung by the band's guitarist Brian May.

The sixth film in the Freddy Krueger film franchise, Freddy Is Dead. The Last Nightmare hit theaters on Mercury's last birthday, September 5th. The soundtrack to the film was written by the full namesake of The Queen guitarist Brian May.

According to the Zoroastrian tradition, a person is buried, giving his body to the vultures - so as not to offend fire, water, earth, air. Despite this, Freddie Mercury was cremated, as British law allows for burial either by cremation or by burial. The funeral ceremony of the singer, however, was attended by a Zoroastrian priest.

One version says that the ashes of the artist were scattered in his homeland in Zanzibar. According to another, it was made near Lake Geneva, next to Mercury's house.

Freddie Mercury is mentioned in Kurt Cobain's suicide note: the Nirvana leader speaks of his admiration for his colleague, his ability to accept the love of the public.

In a biography released last year, musician Rod Stewart talked about plans to create a supergroup that would include himself, Elton John and Freddie Mercury.

Ranked 58th on the list of the 100 Greatest Britons. The list is based on a poll conducted in 2002 by the BBC.

The Queen is the first band to use video screens in concert, the first classic rock band to have more than 2 million downloads on iTunes.

Then, in 2002, Mercury's Bohemian Rhapsody was named the most beloved British pop song in the history of music.

CHAPTER II. THE SECRET LIFE OF FREDDIE MERCURY

The personal life of Freddie Mercury has become the subject of numerous books, articles, films, programs and discussions among Queen fans. No wonder - the private life of the stars always attracts the attention of the public and gives a piece of bread to hundreds of writers and journalists. Especially the life of a man declared the most depraved homosexual in human history.

From year to year, this topic has been overgrown with more and more incredible details and wild details even from the point of view of the yellow press, especially since this can be done with absolutely impunity - the ex-members of Queen and their management, as well as the management of EMI, not only did they not fight the spreaders of such rumors, but, on the contrary, supported them in every possible way. After all, the image of the homosexual Freddie Mercury, who died of AIDS, was used by them to receive social dividends as fighters against AIDS and for the rights of sexual minorities and to create a dubious charitable foundation.

Briefly, the well-known biography of the intimate life of Freddie Mercury looks like this:

“He was a homosexual. True, he struggled with his nature for a long time and even got himself a girlfriend, Mary Austin, with whom he lived for seven years, while having an affair with producer David Minns. In 1977, Freddie confessed to Mary Austin in non-traditional sexual addictions and broke up with her. But they forever retained tenderness and love for each other. Mary was Freddie's only woman, the love of his life. He continued to love her, despite violent sexual adventures. She, too, had loved him all her life, and had never been able to love anyone else. Mary worked for Freddie, they constantly appeared together. It was Mary who left his fortune.

After parting with Mary, Freddie finally went on a spree. He became a regular in the gay bars of the Old and New Worlds. He constantly hunted for sexual partners and could not sleep without a boyfriend at night. He had dozens of regular (i.e. not for one night) lovers, hundreds or thousands of casual relationships. There was also a strange short affair with Barbara Valentin, during which Freddie went with his girlfriend to gay bars in Munich and kept her third in bed during homosexual orgies. Finally, after 1985, Freddie settled down a bit and spent the last few years of his life in the company of his constant lover Jim Hutton, in whose arms he passed into another world, having died untimely from AIDS.

It is curious not even that they believe in this nonsense. And the fact that the well-known personal life of Freddie Mercury is almost one hundred percent fiction, created to discredit the late musician and raise money supposedly for the "fight against AIDS" and is part of a campaign to change attitudes towards homosexuals. The real life of Freddie Mercury had nothing to do with bad pornographic stories. Only a few friends and relatives know about it, but they prefer not to talk about it publicly and not get involved in places where important people and huge money are involved. They talk about it almost in a whisper. Under secret. With the sine qua non of anonymity. These people know what they are afraid of.

Almost nothing is known about Freddie Mercury's personal life until 1970. His friends said that he had girlfriends, but they do not remember the names and details. In 1970, his first serious romance with Mary Austin began - the only one about which some details are known.

Mary Austin worked as a saleswoman in the Biba clothing store, located in the Kensington Market area in London. At that time, Freddie, then still a poor student, worked in the same market on a stall selling designer clothes and shoes. Soon a romance began between the young people.

True, at first their relationship looked strange. Mary tormented Freddie for three months, seeking reciprocity, without telling him "yes" or "no." Didn't go on dates. She could come with him to a party, leave him with her girlfriend and quietly leave. When Freddie invited her to his birthday party, Mary pretended that she had no time that very evening. However, she found a psychologically correct way to control a man - defiantly leave, then allowing herself to return; not to appear on dates, to make him go crazy, but not to resign, occasionally encourage him so that the poor fellow does not lose hope. All the time saying “you don’t need me”, “I should leave”, “I’m superfluous”, in order to listen again and again to ardent assurances to the contrary. Finally, after torturing Freddie for several months, Mary returned his feelings.

Freddie lived with Mary Austin for seven years. During this time, he went from being a poor student forced to work in the market to a world-famous musician. However, over time, family relationships became more and more complicated.

Freddie devoted all his free time to music, spent the day and night in the studio, disappeared for months on tour. And there was no money and no money. The couple was able to move into their own apartment only in 1976, when their relationship was already running out.

The situation was aggravated by another circumstance. A smart, well-read, brilliantly educated artist and musician, Freddie grew spiritually, studied, developed, acquired acquaintances and friends from the highest spheres of British society; Mary remained the same saleswoman from Biba. The original difference between an art student and a girl just out of high school has turned into a real chasm. It couldn't go on for long. By 1975, their union gave a strong crack. For a couple more years, he held on by inertia. Finally, in 1977, it was all over.

The break with Mary was a serious test and disappointment for Freddie, for whom this was the first serious love. It is believed that his famous songs “Love of my life” and “My melancholy blues” were dedicated to her.

However, Mary did not disappear from Freddie's life. They remained friends. Mary worked for him as a secretary and personal assistant, and in the future as a housekeeper. Freddie spoke of Mary as a good friend who can be trusted.

But if we look again beyond the fateful date of 11/24/1991, we will once again find a lot of interesting things.

So, it turns out that until the very "day X" neither the fans nor the general public knew almost nothing about Mary Austin.

The Queen press and literature of the 1970s mentioned that Freddie Mercury has a girlfriend named Mary Austin, a Biba store manager, and they have been living together for several years. Then the mentions became less and less, until, finally, it became clear that Freddie and his girlfriend broke up. Since no photographs of Mary Austin were published, only Mercury's friends and acquaintances knew what she looked like.

In the 80s (more precisely, between 1984 and 1987), Mercury began to appear in public places in the company of his personal assistant - a thin blonde named Mary ...

Mary Austin - a Queen fan will instantly correct. However, an analysis of lifetime sources reveals that neither the press nor the fans associated the blonde with the "same" Mary Austin. The lady was mentioned without a last name, just as Mercury's personal assistant. Next to the name of the blonde was neither the name Austin, nor the inevitable “his former girlfriend”, which had stuck with 11/24/1991, along with “love of his life”. There was no gossip about Mercury's special relationship with the lady accompanying him. No one mentioned who the blonde was to him in the past.

In the press and fanzines, several joint photographs of Freddie and the blonde were published, capturing their footage can be seen in the films “Queen Magic in Budapest” and “Queen Magic years” released in 1987. The blonde was not singled out anywhere, there was not even a hint that she plays some special role in his life. To everyone, it was just another face out of dozens of others that flickered around the Mercury.

After 1987, Mercury almost stopped appearing in public. The blonde disappeared with him.

When exactly she was introduced to the public as Mary Austin, Freddie's ex-girlfriend and only love, to whom he left all his fortune. When all the newspapers of the world were full of photographs of a grieving blonde, carefully substituting her mournful face, swollen from tears, under the lenses. When Queen fans were surprised to learn that behind the modest young woman next to Freddie was a personal drama and great platonic love.

And that very myth began, year by year acquiring more and more interesting details both from “closest friends” and biographers, and from the blonde herself.

The collapse of photos of Freddie with the "love of his life" began. Unknown to the public photographs from the personal collection of Mick Rock from 1974, in which Freddie, young and almost heterosexual, gently squeezed in his arms the very same young blonde circled in a thick black line ...

A bunch of unknown photos from the famous photo shoot of the 1976 races, in which, besides John Reid, the same blonde was found next to Freddie. A snapshot from around 1974: "behind the scenes" - Freddie, and in the background - she. A series of photographs: "tea drinking at Zandra Rose", "Freddie in the studio", "Freddie with a cigarette", next to him is the inevitable blonde. Dozens of photographs of the 80s - frank collages "from Garden Lodge", depicting a blonde mixed with Hutton, Freestone, cats and other members of the Freddie Mercury family. There are many more photos from events with Mercury, both famous ones published in the 80s, and new ones, in which Freddie and the blonde appeared in very frivolous poses.

Freddie and the blonde standing... Walking... Sitting... At home-Backstage... In the studio... At events... At each other's birthday parties... With gay partners... The highlight of the program is a tear-jerking Christmas video "from Garden Lodge", in which Freddie plays with Mary's little son, not with his own, but with her son...

It seemed that Freddie spent with the blonde, if not 360, then at least 300 days a year. It was only incomprehensible why our hero, known for his reverent attitude to his personal life, had several times more photos with his real and then ex-girlfriend than the rest of the Queen members combined, with all their wives and girlfriends, taken together.

And the blonde posed for the press at the funeral of her beloved. Gave rare interviews. Could disappear for years. Could leave on September 5 and November 24 from Garden Lodge to the assembled fans. From time to time paraded around the house on Logan Place. Fashionably cut and prettier, she told a touching story about her unhappy love in "Untold story" to the hysterical piano parts of Thierry Lang.

Another actor in the play... Sorry, another actress... Another project person.

Amazing in arrogance and at the same time impeccable in execution operation. Those who did not fall for the bait of propaganda could think of the blonde as badly as they liked, criticize her, condemn her, suspect a personal interest in Mercury's untimely death; but even the most daring could not come up with such a thing. Everything is clean, ends in the water. And those who saw and knew Mary Austin will keep quiet - there are no fools.

After that, none of the many questions about Freddie Mercury's strange relationship with his ex-girlfriend and her role in the events after 1991 remain. Only one question remains - where is Mary Austin?

The next seven years can be considered a white spot in the biography of Freddie Mercury. During these years, which he lived mostly outside of England, almost nothing was known about his personal life. Everything that was connected with his intimate life, Freddie hid from prying eyes. He preferred to answer journalists' questions evasively, speaking in general terms about loneliness and the search for love.

The novels that happened during these years did not last long and ended in a quick and indispensable disappointment. As Freddie honestly admitted, they did not love him, but his character, his money and fame. He said: “I fall in love too quickly, and as a result, I can be very offended. Maybe I'm attracting the wrong people. The problem is that when you love, you lose control of yourself and become vulnerable. I would really like to have a truly beautiful relationship with someone, but this very rarely happens. Apparently, there was a catastrophic lack of time for personal life - the whole life went in the mode of "recording an album - tour - recording an album" ...

In the early 80s in New York, Freddie experienced a short but stormy affair with a woman whose name is unknown.

Presumably she was an actress or a dancer. A beautiful, cold and calculating woman. She also needed Freddie Mercury, his money, fame and connections. The novel lasted a little over a year and ended, as usual, in failure. The beauty disappeared from Freddie's life, leaving him with a memory not only of a broken heart, but also of their daughter Natalie. In addition to the daughter, the novel left songs for the Hot Space album, written under the impression of the experience, from the mischievous sexual "Staying power" to the sad "Life is Real".

Taking his daughter to him, Freddie did not want to attract the attention of the yellow press and sensation hunters to her. He did not bring the girl out into the world, she did not live with him in the same house, and only the closest people knew about her existence.

In 1983 or 1984 in Munich, Freddie experienced another short romance with actress Barbara Valentin, which lasted about a year. However, Barbara was not suitable for family life. Former pornographic actress, married several times, mother of two, living a typically bohemian life. Such a relationship could not last long. It was a typical short-term "acting" romance, which is full in show business. And again, on the part of her lover, there was a consumer attitude typical of Freddie Mercury women - an affair with such a person was supposed to help make new connections and get new roles ...

Barbara later recalled: “We lived together for a whole year. I had a lot of things to do, there were rehearsals in the theater. I could not combine work and private life ... He completely exhausted me, in the literal sense of the word. But, I must say, I let him do it. I was fascinated by this man, and he was probably fascinated by me. And it miraculously fit one to the other. We were well suited to each other. We had a wonderful but very stressful time with each other. And I will never forget about it. It's been a crazy year."

Already in 1984, their relationship ended, in the future becoming just friendly. Freddie experienced a new love, and this 1X13 was serious.

Love doesn't always happen at first sight. Freddie had known Katherine Larry for ten years. They also met in 1974 in London at a Queen concert. Katherine became close friends with Freddie. She has always accepted and loved him for who he is. She didn't care about his money and fame. She never tried to make a name for herself on this friendship and never told anyone about it. Perhaps she loved him for a long time, but did not dare to open her feelings.

Mary Austin and Barbara Valentine were lovers for Freddie, but they became friends - but not sincere friends, but prudent ones, who did not want to lose such an acquaintance. With Katherine Lary, the opposite happened - a close friend became a lover. Perhaps it's better this way - their love has stood the test of time.

Freddie is in love. For real. After many years of resentment, disappointment and loneliness, he found exactly the one he was looking for all his life. Your woman. Who loved him like a man, not like Freddie Mercury. Who did not need his name and his wealth. Which did not require going out and expensive gifts, did not want to pose in front of the lenses and drag a particle of his fame onto itself, did not quarrel about the fact that he did not take her to social events and did not show it to the public. The one who just loved him.

They were happy with each other. Freddie dedicated his most joyful love song "I was born to love you" to Katherine. In it, he spoke about his love to the whole world.

He wasn't going to talk about it literally. He protected the woman he loved especially carefully. Freddie, who by that time had many enemies, was very afraid for his beloved. They met at her house or with a few mutual friends. Only the closest people knew about Freddie's new novel. Freddie and Katherine exchanged wedding rings. To avoid unnecessary questions, Freddie wore a ring on his right hand - in the West, wedding rings are worn on the left, and it looked like an ordinary piece of jewelry. And in 1985 their son Sam was born.

Freddie's family was his most closely guarded secret. Katherine, Natalie and Sam lived in the suburbs of London. Freddie tried to visit them when he could. At the end of 1985 he moved to London and could now be closer to his family. In an interview, he carefully hinted that he now has a loved one with whom he is happy, but did not name. Now he especially often appeared in the light with Mary Austin, then with Barbara Valentine - screens that diverted the attention of society from the real beloved. She and Mary openly flirted with each other in front of everyone, so there were even rumors about the revival of their romance. In fact, it was just a game for the public.

But happiness did not last long. In 1987, Freddie was diagnosed with a serious illness. Katherine was ready to support her beloved to the end. But in September 1989, Katherine died in a car accident. As the investigation showed, the brakes were faulty in the car. It is possible that Catherine was removed by those who prepared the future myth of the depraved homosexual Freddie Mercury. If it was possible to negotiate with corrupt Mary and Barbara, then Katherine would never agree to betray her beloved. For loving too many objectionable Freddie, she may have had to pay with her life.

The death of Katherine was a terrible blow to the seriously ill Freddie. His health deteriorated sharply. He was getting weaker every day, and it was necessary to think about the future of the children. At the family council, it was decided to give Natalie and Sam to be raised by Freddy's childless sister Kashmira. To protect the children from unnecessary attention and gossip, Kashmira and her husband Roger Cook officially adopted their nephews. From now on, they bore the surname Cook and were considered the nephews of their father.

Freddie Mercury died on November 24, 1991. Until the last hour, he did not part with his wedding ring and was cremated with it. Standing at the funeral near Kashmira were two small children who looked a lot like Freddie, looked a little like Kashmira, and didn't look at all like their official father, Roger Cooke. Few knew who these children really were.

However, attention was then drawn to another woman, a blonde in a black veil, artistically depicting grief. Mary Austin waited for her finest hour - now for everyone she was the "widow" and heiress of Freddie Mercury, the only woman in his life whom he loved, although he was a homosexual. The payment for this role was worldwide fame, Freddie's house and 4 million pounds sterling, departing Mary according to Freddie's false will, forged by his executor. Another 4 million tightly shut the mouth of Freddie's relatives. There was no one to object to the fictional biography of Freddie Mercury.

Who doesn't know this woman's name? Mary Austin is the first and eternal love of Freddie Mercury. And the life of Mary Austin is not a life, but the life of Saint Mary.

Mary adored Freddie. Freddie adored Mary. They lived happily ever after, and would certainly have gotten married if Freddie suddenly did not understand who really attracts him. After the breakup, they remained good friends and continued to love each other deep down. Mary devoted herself to her beloved without a trace and kept him spiritually faithful all her life. All her novels ended in failure, because she could not forget Freddie.

In turn, Freddie could not imagine his life without Mary. He wanted her to always be with him, and even bought her an apartment near his house. When Freddie found out that he was seriously ill, Mary was one of the first to know about it. Day and night, she cared for her beloved, and in the last months of his life, she sat for hours next to his bed, whether he slept or not. Before her death, she kissed her beloved for the last time and, sobbing, ran out into the London night. At his funeral, she could not hold back her tears. Her voice breaks every time she begins to talk about the last moments of the life of a loved one. Only children keep her from committing suicide, and she continues to keep his memory... To this day, she remembers him only with a sad and bright smile.

Beautiful fairy tale? May be. But, unfortunately, and perhaps, and fortunately, real life is not at all like fairy tales. And if you look at this touching story without the rose-colored glasses of the official myth, it will look different.

There are several versions of when and how Freddie and Mary met. Sometimes they say that they met at a party at Brian May's, sometimes they say that Freddie saw his first love in the Biba underground fashion store, sometimes they describe their meeting at a concert at Freddie's college ... The number and composition of secondary characters are also constantly changing. Next to the lovers is Roger Taylor, then Brian May, then Mary's girlfriend, then all of them combined. The years of dating range from 1969 to 1971. Then Freddie began to court Mary and for six months sought her reciprocity (enviable tenacity for a young man who in a few years will turn into the world's first debauchee!) Soon they began to live together.

There is also constant confusion with the date of the couple's separation - it ranges from 1975 to the end of 1977 - the beginning of 1978. Freddie himself said that the reason for the breakup was his crazy schedule, in which Mary did not see her lover for months.

However, Mary Austin claims that this happened only because Freddie changed his orientation. And the strangeness in his behavior, according to her, began a couple of years before.

And this is where I propose to stop. Because it was from 1975 that rather strange songs written by Freddie appeared in the repertoire of Queen.

Let's start with the well-known "Love Of Mu Life" - ("Love of my life", 1975, "A Night At The Opera", Mercury).

Love of my life, you hurt me

You broke my heart and now you're leaving me.

Love of my life, can't you see?

Give it back, give it back Don't take it from me

Because you don't understand what it means to me...

So, Freddie changed his mind and broke Mary's heart? However, what an impudent! He "walks", and then begs his girlfriend not to leave him. He himself wounded her in the very heart, and then says that it was she who wounded him ... There is no perfection in life. Here's a crook!

And he cheats, apparently, all the time. Next on our list of "weird songs" are "You Take Mu Breath Away" ("You Captivate Me") and "The Millionaire" waltz" ("Millionaire's Waltz"),(1976, ADAT, Mercury).

Look into my eyes and see:

I am the only one.

You stole my love

Took my heart.

Changed my life.

Every move you make drives me crazy

And every time you touch me

I lose control and my soul trembles - You captivated me ...

How many times in her interviews did the “saint” say that she asked Freddie not to leave her, begged him to return to her? One? Two? Ten?

No one!

And what do we see in the songs of Freddie Mercury? Love! The most real love and suffering of a person whom a beloved leaves.

There are several more songs in the group's repertoire that tell about the real relationship between Freddie Mercury and Mary Austin. Let's pay attention to "My melancholic blues" ("My melancholic blues", 1977, "News of the World", Mercury).

My baby left me for someone new

I'd rather not talk about that,

I want to forget everything...

Let me sink into my sullen state

Saying that my heart is broken like never before...

It is clear as day that the reason for the breakdown of relations between Freddie and Mary was not his "change of orientation" at all. The reason is something else. In Mary Austin.

No one knows if there were women after Mary Austin and how many there were, but it is absolutely known about his romance with German actress Barbara Valentin.

They met Mercury in Munich, where Freddie lived and worked in the first half of the 80s. The actress starred in Queen's music video for "It's a Hard Life". In 1985, Mercury and Valentin began to appear together in public places, rumors about their romance began to circulate in the capital of Bavaria.

After Freddie returned to London, his relationship with Barbara apparently ended for several years. They saw each other again several times after 1989. It is known that she was at his birthday party and went with him to Montreux.

The romance of two lonely people from a creative environment is a rather ordinary phenomenon. Neither Mercury nor Barbara hid this novel. However, in the version of Mercury's biographies, the history of their relationship looks highly peculiar.

The acquaintance of our originals took place in one of the Munich gay bars (by the way, if we consider all the false evidence, it turns out that Freddie met all his official friends exclusively in these respectable establishments). Mercury was there with a large company. Someone from the company hurt Barbara, a quarrel broke out, the artist came up to apologize, and a conversation began. It turned out to be interesting for them to communicate, and the conversation continued ... in the men's room. (Again, looking ahead, I note that the love of biographers and "friends" for this place is simply amazing.) Mercury, in fact, spoke - for no reason this terry gay was so imbued with confidence in a randomly met woman that he told her about of their miserable life, almost everything is in the best traditions of European auteur cinema. When they were about to leave, it turned out that the bar was locked, and everyone had already left. The cleaning lady let them out in the morning.

Why the club’s employees didn’t check the restrooms before closing, and most importantly, why none of Mercury’s “company” began looking for the missing superstar a maximum of an hour and a half after the event itself, is not explained. But after the tragic death of John Lennon, even desperate romantics probably became clear that the world is still imperfect, and among fans of rock bands there are personalities, to put it mildly, inadequate ... In general, if Mercury had bodyguards at that time, one can only hope that he fired them immediately after sleeping off after a sleepless night. If it wasn't... um. Well, the fool himself ... And lucky.

However, God is with them, with bodyguards. The romance between Barbara Valentine and Mercury still existed - and this had to be explained somehow. You understand, it's one thing - friendship to the grave and conversations about life, and quite another - something more ... uh ... intimate.

However, as it turns out, the Chief Gay of the planet was even stranger than it is commonly thought. “I didn’t have a normal sexual relationship with Freddie. He's gay and I'm normal. We just had fun with each other,” Barbara shared with readers via Rick Skye.

Indeed, a lot of fun.

It happens that a very close friendship arises between a homosexual and a woman. On the basis of common interests... to men. This is understandable and even sung in politically correct Hollywood melodramas, for example, in the movie "Best Friend's Wedding" starring Julia Roberts. But in the biographies of our hero there is no talk of friendship. It says that Fräulein Valentin often found herself in the same bed with Freddie. Do not think anything bad - just Mercury categorically could not fall asleep alone. He certainly needed a bedmate. Hot-water bottle, so to speak.

What is most interesting - it was completely unnecessary to strain Barbara. An analogue of a teddy bear in the form of another "truck driver" was always at hand. I mean, in the same bed. What exactly all three (or more) were doing there, think for yourself - if you really want to.

According to Barbara's memoirs - this time voiced by Lesley-Anne Jones, once the line-up was picked up downright classic: Mercury, Valentin and Winnie Kirchenberger. The trio had fun, including, of course, the invariable cocaine. At what exact moment the police raided them, it is not known. For what reason - too. In general, she turned up, and ... nothing happened. It must be assumed that by that time the stocks of cocaine had already dried up, and the comrades had not yet decided who exactly would go for a new portion.

Another case. When "Freddie was already sick", the three of them were also lying with "another guy", and Freddie coughed heavily. The guy, whose name the story did not save, woke up from his cough and said that he "never thought that he would be lying on a dying rock star."

It’s a truly historic moment - usually Mercury’s lovers are completely unaware of who exactly they are dealing with ...

It turns out that Mercury could not connect two words in German without the help of a girlfriend, he was terrified of airplanes (despite the fact that in an interview he mentioned that 20 minutes of sleep in this very plane is enough for him to rest and gain strength - it is obvious that fear is downright on the verge of a phobia) and even escalators, went crazy if he was left alone even for a minute, which made it impossible to leave him alone, even to run out to the store, wandered around gay clubs day and night, where he “filmed” incredibly stupid "partners" ... No, of course, a faithful friend in "group sex" from time to time reminded that a person of Mercury's level would be nice to look for a lover among equals. But the stubborn Mercury stubbornly believed that among gays it was impossible to find a mustachioed man of large build who would be more or less versed in art and read something other than nightclub signs ... There is not even a question of an equal financial situation. That's because ... homophobe!

Against this background, the story of how Mercury, under the influence of cocaine, tried to strangle Barbara in bed, seems like a cute prank. All the more curious is the reaction of the heroine herself, who spoke briefly and succinctly: “I don’t understand who could invent such nonsense!” ...

However, she allowed her name to be used in the information war.

Perhaps the main source in the legalization of the myth of Freddie Mercury as "Freddy Krueger" was the relatives of Freddie Mercury. Or, to be more precise, his named parents Bomi and Jer Balsara and his sister Kashmira Cook. And to be more precise - Jer and Kashmir; Bomi's involvement was limited to a silent presence at a few events.

The position of relatives often served as the last argument, forcing doubters to believe "friends-biographers." After all, relatives not only did not try to sue the authors of scandalous books, films and articles - they did not show the slightest displeasure about what was happening around Mercury. Their pleased faces and beaming smiles were supposed to serve as proof that "everything is in order and all this is true."

For the first few years after Mercury's death, the family's participation was limited to appearances as wedding generals at exhibitions and receptions. They did not confirm the scandalous gossip, but they did not refute it either. Further events dotted the "b>". Jer and Kashmira took part first in the film "Untold Story", and then in the anniversary 2006 in "Magic remixed", performed at the memorial days in Montreux with Freestone, posed in his company in front of the lenses and presented his book.

The intention of the directors is clear: in fact, what madman would suspect a mother of a crime against her own son? Would anyone dare to doubt the truth of the words backed up by such authority? Can the closest people slander their own blood?

The vast majority thought so. However, the authors overdid it - the names of Jer and Kashmiri hurried to decorate too frank dirt. Their participation in such a scandalous and dirty project as "Magic remixed", their public support for such an odious figure as Freestone, their revelations like Kashmira's story about Freddie's homosexuality, which was known and approved by his delightfully politically correct family of orthodox Zoroastrians, did not add credibility to the lie. , but destroyed the remnants of trust in the so-called "Freddie's blood family" ("Freddie's blood family"). And if you remember how the stories of relatives changed depending on the situation, if you remember how a satisfied smile does not leave the face of a disconsolate mother for years, how she and her daughter sell children's things and awards of her late son together with her daughter, it becomes clear that they are exactly the same participants in the play like Hutton, Freestone and the like.

Over the past years, the role of the family in official mythology has been completely rewritten - at first they were conservative emigrants, with whom Mercury had nothing in common, now Freddie has become a loving son, very close to his family, visiting his dear mother weekly and not missing a single her birthday. The names "Mrs. Balsara" and Kashmira took their rightful place in the gallery of "Freddie's native people".

Are we really dealing with a banal, unburdened conscience and biological instincts of a “celebrity’s family” (“celebrity family”), for which a star relative is simply a source of money and undeserved fame?

It seems so only at first glance. But Jer and Kashmira are not "celebrity's family". They don’t write memoirs, they don’t hang out on talk shows and music channels, they don’t advertise themselves in glossy magazines, they don’t tell people they meet and others about their lives, they don’t give voluminous touching interviews about the times “when Freddie was small with a curly head.” They only go where they are told to be, to a small number of official events. They are filmed only in certain films - basic, landmark projects that form a certain image of Mercury in the mass consciousness.

They give interviews for a small number of publications in the same direction. These interviews, if you can call them that, are propaganda agitation, in which, instead of living memories, a dead, memorized text is spoken. They seemed to have been born together with Mercury - there is no information about them, as well as about their life before 1946. These are indifferent, static faces with smiles on duty. These people do not look like unscrupulous relatives, but like extras, for whom Mercury is a stranger, like actors playing a role in a play they did not think up.

At the beginning of the book, I already touched on the question of who these people really are, and about the mysteries surrounding the origin and early years of Mercury. It's time to talk about this in more detail.

Not wanting to offend anyone, we have to admit that there is not a single beautiful person among the known relatives of Mercury.

Maybe Freddie retained the features of some ancestors unknown to us or to him? However, the mystery is that his appearance does not correspond to the typical appearance of the Parsee. Photographs and portraits of people of this people show us other anthropological types. As a result of numerous interminglings with the inhabitants of India, modern Parsis are more similar to the Indians than to their Iranian ancestors.

Perhaps it was these Iranian ancestors that manifested themselves in the appearance of our hero?

And with them - European aristocrats?

As already mentioned, the figure, thin hands, graceful fingers, facial features, become, gait, speech, manners - this and much more betrayed an aristocrat in Mercury. It is no coincidence that he was called "rock aristocrat", "king", "prince". Why is this aristocracy even remotely absent from any of his so-called family? Where did his European features come from? And, finally, what did he still hide?

We have already talked about the fact that Mercury hid his life until 1970 and his origin. He was called "a man without childhood", "a man without a past". He seemed to appear out of thin air in 1969-1970. It was possible to find out about the past of any of the Queen members without any problems. Talk to parents, find out the details of childhood, the name of schools. Everyone - except the vocalist of the group. Only a few years after the appearance of Queen, Mercury's surname, Balsara, was announced. It turned out that by and large no one knew her. In the future, fans and journalists had to limit themselves to the most general information - he was born in Zanzibar, studied in India at a boarding school, returned to England in 1959, studied at Ealing College in London. Parents live in the suburbs of London. All.

An exotic oriental boy, the son of a cashier-accountant - Farrukh Balsara, an equally exotic childhood in Zanzibar, St. Peter's School in Panchgani with attached details came into being after November 1991, along with gay clubs, lovers and cocaine parties. All this information is reproduced from the words of all the same relatives and some classmates in a narrow group of sources of a certain color and direction. At the same time, any attempts by independent researchers or inquisitive fans to learn something on this topic themselves are broken against an invisible wall. As magical inhabitants of a parallel world, classmates, teachers, childhood friends and neighbors of emigrant Farrukh Balsar appear exclusively in front of "Peter Freestone's friends", official pale blue biographers or bureaucrats from Queen Productions. The rest are finished books with exotic childhoods, documentaries like "Untold story" with staged scenes filmed in the pavilion, diluted with the talking heads of Jer, Kashmir and unidentified Indian actors.

Referring, as usual, to the fact that Freddie made a riddle out of everything, is stupid. As already mentioned, it is no less absurd to believe the official version, according to which he concealed his origin, fearing English racism. Why such an obvious lie, if he just did not hide his eastern origin, on the contrary, he emphasized it in every possible way? It turns out that out of fear of racism, Mercury emphasized what he was hiding. Sheer absurdity according to the same system as the non-traditional orientation, which he hid and demonstrated in every possible way.

Why are we being fooled? Are we not dealing with the same inversion? And did not Mercury seek to hide the OTHER side of his origin? Not oriental at all? And what is this side that needed to be so carefully hidden?

What do we have to prove that Bomi and Jer Balsara are his parents?

Several childhood photographs of Freddie, which appeared only after his death on behalf of the Balsara family. In view of the current situation, the question arises of their authenticity, the real source of their appearance, as well as who is depicted on them. And most of them depict a boy of oriental appearance with front teeth always protruding forward, covering the lower lip. Thanks to this "marker", which biographers and "friends" tightly tied to Mercury's appearance, any oriental person with a malocclusion automatically takes on a resemblance to a musician. Meanwhile, Freddie only had a few crooked front teeth, and this was noticeable only when he smiled, sang or laughed. The young man in the Zanzibar-Indian photos has much more serious dental problems - he seems to be unable to close his mouth properly at all. In addition, some images, such as the photo of The Hectics, show signs of editing.

There is one photo of an adult Freddy with both parents - low quality and blurry. One photo with a little girl, presented as a photo from Kashmir. Those same "some" children's things, school certificates and Freddie's awards from two Zanzibar suitcases, sold in abundance at auctions.

In general, this is where the evidence ends.

And the meaning of subtle mockery of Bomi, Jer and Kashmira in a number of scandalous biographies of Mercury becomes clear - not as over conformists who sold their loved one, but as over people who do not occupy their place.

And all the more it becomes clear why the family did not challenge the special rights of Jim Beach in Freddie's will and did not sue him. They are the same fake heirs, like Mary Austin.

And now about some secrets of the Bulsara family.

1. Freddie's relative Cyrus Bulsara admitted to me in a private letter that Freddie has a daughter:

“I am a relative, but I have promised his daughter to keep family matters secret, because people have spoiled his name due to the AIDs. But I can tell you other general interesting things about him as a human.”

(“I am his relative, but I promised his daughter that I would keep family matters a secret, as people gave him a bad name because of AIDS. However, I can tell you other interesting things about him as a person.”)

True, in the future he refused to give any information, referring to the fact that the relatives were afraid:

“Due to confidentiality of money reasons for kidnapping by Russian mafia, they do not want to give details. After football star Beckham and Posh Spice kidnapping try... all English are fearful of Russian mafia... so no details.

I have told Mariam, that by and large the story seems OK. The Bulsara family has requested not to give out any details, due to continuous bad publicity and the fear of East European criminals/ kidnapping rings in UK hurting present living members.

So, I cannot help anymore... it is out of my hands. Sorry.

tandarosti,

Cyrus Bulsara.

(“They don’t want to divulge details due to confidentiality surrounding financial issues due to the risk of being kidnapped by the Russian mafia. After the attempted kidnapping of football star Beckham and Posh Spice in the family ... all the British are afraid of the Russian mafia ... so no details.

I told Mariam that the whole story seemed to be true. The Balsar family requested that details not be released due to persistent negative media coverage and fear that Eastern European criminals and kidnapping gangs in England could harm family members.

So I can't help anymore... it's out of my control. Sorry".)

2. In 1996, Barbara Valentine let slip in an interview with Leslie-Anne Jones that Freddie's sister Kashmira and her husband

Roger Cook adopted their children. This information was included in the book Lesley Ann Jones Freddie Mercury. The definitive biography", but drowned in a sea of ​​dirty tales.

3. All these years, the Balsara-Cook family has been pursuing a strange policy regarding the two children of Kashmira and Roger Cook.

Despite the family's fondness for interviews and posing for cameras, especially Jer and Kashmira, the children are carefully hidden away. Even in those rare publications where they are mentioned, they appear as "nephew and niece." All attempts to find out at least names and age run into opposition from relatives and unwillingness to give out this information. For comparison - as for the children of Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and even Mary Austin, their names and exact dates of birth are known. No one even thinks of hiding it.

In numerous interviews with Jer and Kashmira, the topic of children is not touched upon at all. Some kind of family taboo. They talk about anything - just not about children. Not even a mention. Only once in an interview in 1998 did Kashmira say a few words about how Freddie loved his nephews and attended their birthdays. At the same time, she obsessively pushed the idea that Freddie loved her children because he did not have his own. This topic was never mentioned again. Any normal woman will tell about her children, their successes, talents, etc. at the first opportunity. Not Kashmir Cook.

If in the 90s this could be explained by the general secrecy of the Balsara-Cook family and their unwillingness to meet with the press, then after 2000, when Jer and Kashmira began to work with pleasure as "Freddie's relatives" and endlessly photographed, filmed, went to events, to give interviews, it looks strange. It is difficult to explain this simply by the desire to protect children from the curious.

4. For all Jer and Kashmira's love of posing for cameras (their photos number in the dozens), they almost never allow children to be photographed and rarely take them with them. There are hardly a dozen photographs of "nephew and niece." Several family photos were taken in 1996 - the year of Freddie's 50th birthday (usually without children). In very rare photos and shootings with the participation of their nephews, they are wearing large glasses that greatly distort their appearance.

Paul Rogers claimed that the Queen & Paul Rogers concert in Sheffield in 2005 was attended by the entire Freddie family, including "nephew and niece". However, contrary to common practice, photos were not taken at events with the participation of relatives.

5. Although the family claims that Freddie was on good terms with her, visited his parents weekly, attended birthdays and other family holidays, so far no photos have been shown to the general public, as well as a photo of Freddie with his nephews. Until now, only childhood photos, early youthful ones and two photos of Freddie with his parents in the 70s, when they were visiting him, were published. In 1996, selected family photos showed a critique named Waldemar Januszczak, author of the Star of India article and the book The Great Pretender. The hidden life of Freddie Mercury. Including showed a photo in which Freddie teaches his niece to play the piano. Then Waldemar Januszczak noticed that the children of Kashmira are very similar to Freddie, but not to her husband Roger. He referred to the "genes of Balsara".

6. Genes are genes, but it is true that the rare available photos show that children in no way, even remotely, look like Roger Cook. One would think that Kashmira had some other marriage before Roger. But, as is known from D. Tremblett's book, as of 1976, Mrs. Cook was already in Kashmir.

Moreover, children are not like Kashmir either. There is a rare photograph from 1996 from the Rex collection that captures the entire family. The value of the photo is that the girl is photographed there without glasses. The resemblance to Freddie in the 70s is striking. One person.

The boy's face is constantly covered with glasses. But even under such conditions, one can see how similar the shape of the head, mouth, nose, even teeth are to Freddie ... He looks partly like Freddie, partly like Jer - but not like his parents.