All language subtitles for Freddie 2023 1080p

[upbeat music]

♪ Buddy, you're a boy,
make a big noise ♪

♪ Playing in the street,
gonna be a big man someday ♪

♪ Mud on your face,
big disgrace ♪

♪ Kicking your can all
over the place, singin' ♪

♪ We will, we will rock you

♪ Yeah, sing it

♪ We will, we will rock you

- [Interviewer] You have
a very extrovert stage act

by any standards.

Will you be able to go on with-

- You mean I flaunt it?

- [Interviewer]
You're over the top.

[upbeat music]

- Each song that we do
has a different sort

of meaning to it.

So I mean it is rock and roll,

it has that sort of
label from the 1920s

Vaudeville to the heavy, the
real sort of raw rock and roll

to the ballad to, you know.

[upbeat music]

♪ School babe

♪ Your Mamma says you don't

♪ Your Daddy says you won't

♪ And I'm boilin' up inside

- People wanna know about
Freddie above all that.

No one's asking me
questions about Roger

or Brian's private
life [chuckles].

[upbeat music]

- And I think as time
went on the stage persona

really took over from
the original individual.

And he lived this
larger-than-life character.

♪ Give me all your
love tonight ♪

- He would be thrilled to
know that I've been asked

to talk about him
years after his death.

♪ We are the champions

♪ No time for losers

♪ 'Cause we are the champions

♪ Of the world

[crowd cheering]

[attendees chattering]

[gentle music]

- The manager of the
group Queen Jim Beach

decided it would be a good idea

to do a photo collection
of my brother.

But naturally, he only
had all the pictures

from when he was famous.

So he approached my mom to see

that if she'd got
any old photographs

if she would like
to help out in this.

And naturally, my
mom loved the idea

and started digging in, delving
into the old photographs.

[gentle music]

- I've always been intrigued
by show business artists

who become their own image.

Very few people who were
Freddie Mercury fans

know he was Farrokh Bulsara.

And indeed, if you bear in
mind that I got to know him

in 1974, I never heard
anybody call him Farrokh.

It's rather like Elton John,
you didn't call him Reg.

Once he decided he
wanted to be Elton,

you called him Reg
at your apparel.

And Farrokh wanted
to be called Freddie.

Within music, everyone
was calling him Freddie.

- By the time I met him,
he was definitely Freddie.

And in fact, it was some
time before I realized

what his original name was

because he still had a
passport in his birth name.

But he lived his character.

He was Freddie Mercury and
that was all he wanted to be.

♪ One voice, one hope,
one real decision ♪

♪ Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa ♪

♪ Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah

[upbeat music]

- His parents had
come from India.

They'd only gone to
Zanzibar so that his father

could continue his job with
the British government.

And when Zanzibar
won its independence,

they then moved to England.

They were Zoroastrians.

And I know that to
many Zoroastrians

is a matter of great
pride that Freddie Mercury

is their great rockstar.

- I was at a place called
the Chateau Del Aviv,

which was just outside Paris.

And Bowie was recording Pin Ups

and his co-producer and engineer
was a guy called Ken Scott

and he was affiliated
with a company called

Trident Audio Productions
who had Trident Studios

in the middle of London Soho

where they recorded
Transformers,

Ziggy Stardust, All
the Young Dudes,

a whole bunch of slew of
stuff around that time.

Anyway, they also,
they had a studio

but as a sidebar, they
had a production company

and they signed a few acts
to the production company.

And during that visit,
Freddie mentioned to me

that they were interested
in working with me.

This would've been, I suppose
like August, September of '73.

And for whatever, you know, I
was like in my own modest way,

a hot photographic
commodity for what

that was worth back then
which was a lot less

than it is now because
of the glam thing.

And especially because
of David, Lou, and Iggy,

and my connection there,
so they were big fans,

and especially Freddie.

I think Freddie, well he
was always the driving force

behind the visual
aspects of Queen.

[upbeat music]

- Freddy being interested
in music from an early age

would've known that there
had never been a pop star

called Farrokh.

When you think that Freddie
persuaded Brian and Roger

to rename Smile Queen,

taking it up a level

of both audaciousness
[chuckles] and status.

So similarly changing your
name from Bulsara to Mercury

while you're choosing the
name of one of the gods.

So you are elevating yourself

in terms of your image at least.

And this is an amazing case
of personal reinvention,

but it worked.

- We were told that there was
a really good band playing

at Imperial College.

And I went along with some
of my friends from EMI

and one of two other people

not really knowing
what to expect.

This would've been
November 1973.

And I was absolutely blown away.

I don't think I've ever seen
a new band play like that.

The place was absolutely packed.

- You can see it's
this microscopic stage.

And Freddie is performing like
he's already in a stadium.

I mean he's big,
he projected big.

- In the early days,
there was a tradition

that they always wore
black and white on stage

and Freddie would be
incredibly careful.

Everything matched,
everything fitted.

He would have black and
white painted fingernails

and he loved what
was always referred

to as Freddie's frocks.

And he would come out in
the most amazing things.

Zandra Rhodes designed some
for him in the early days,

one with wings like an angel.

And it was a long time
before they changed that

for a very long time.

It was always black and white.

The others weren't
quite as flamboyant,

but that was their theme.

- In those days, you
didn't necessarily

have great expectations
of the first album.

And quite often
if you had a hit,

it kind of skewed the process.

We released "Keep Yourself
Alive" off the first album

and the album went okay.

And by, I guess three
or four months into it,

we'd made a modest impact
because by that time

the Imperial College
gig had happened

and the first press started

and it was just a
little whisper building.

- Well, Roger was in a way

the most obvious
rockstar material.

I mean the girls loved him.

This cute little blonde fellow.

And Brian was more cerebral
but looked terrific

and he's still got that
incredible mop of hair.

Freddie, of course, was
the flavor of the time

because he was Mr. Androgyny.

His bisexuality was
pretty much acknowledged,

but that was very
fashionable at the time.

I mean, David had made sure
that androgyny and bisexuality

were extremely fashionable.

So even all kinds of people
that weren't the least bit gay

would be running around
acting like they were gay

because you actually got
the hottest babes that way.

- Anyone looking back at
the early years of Queen

have to understand the
context of the time.

Being in a group was
like participating

in the social
network of that time.

This is before the
internet so there were none

of the social networks.

And the way that young
people related to each other

and communicated
was through music.

And you expressed your
views through the type

of music you liked
through the earnest

and excited communications
you had with your friends

about the latest records.

The DJs on the radio were
the human incarnations

of Facebook or
Twitter or LinkedIn.

And the music had
a role in society.

- Queen and Freddie's
writing in particular

was very different
from other people

in that he could explore
so many different avenues.

The fact that he could
relatively early in his career

write something
like "Killer Queen"

which is actually really
an unusual record.

You didn't fit what was
going on at the time.

You couldn't put it
alongside, you know,

other comparable bands
like Roxy Music or whatever

and say, well that's kind
of that sort of thing.

It was just a unique record.

♪ She keeps her Moet et
Chandon in her pretty cabinet ♪

♪ Let them eat cake, she says

♪ Just like Marie Antoinette

♪ A built-in remedy

♪ For Khrushchev and Kennedy

♪ At anytime an invitation
you can't decline ♪

♪ Caviar and cigarettes

♪ Well versed in etiquette

♪ Extraordinarily nice

♪ She's a Killer Queen

♪ Gunpowder, gelatine

♪ Dynamite with a laser beam

♪ Guaranteed to blow your mind

- They wanted a black
and white theme.

They wanted a gatefold and they
wanted to feature the band.

So that was my brief.

I was working with Mott
the Hoople at the time,

David had put them on the
map with All the Young Dudes,

he's song he wrote and
the production of it

and Queen got some
gigs supporting them.

I photographed both
bands performing live.

And afterwards, I
sat with Freddie

and I showed him this
picture of Marlene Dietrich

and suggested that that
should be the approach

for the black shot of the band.

Well, he loved it.

I mean, whether it was the shot

or whether it was the fact
that it was Marlene Dietrich,

"I should be Marlene, you know."

I mean he, he
immediately responded.

He corralled the
rest of the band

and they went along with it.

There was the black shot and
then there was the white shot.

I did both setups and I had
to light them very carefully

'cause I wanted to make it
a little bit more dramatic

than the Marlene Dietrich shot.

So I wanted to hood the
eyes so that the shadow

really encompassed the
eyes and I had to get them,

all four of them arranged
in the correct way

so I could do this.

And I was up and down on a
ladder and they were buzzing up

and down in the makeup.

I mean, they were
very like, you know,

wanted to look fabulous.

And of course, I wanted
them to look fabulous too.

And I actually did
a lot of shots.

And afterwards we reviewed
them and for quite a while

the rest of the band
were a little bit,

they thought maybe
that word pretentious

was sticking in their
head and they weren't sure

that the black shot
was the right shot.

I think because it was
a very powerful image,

obviously it was.

Of course, they duplicated
it two or three years later

for the "Bohemian
Rhapsody" video.

♪ Is this the real life

- When we got "Bohemian
Rhapsody", we were concerned.

♪ Is this just fantasy

- Everyone was in shock.

♪ Caught in a landslide

♪ No escape from reality

- It was crazy.

♪ Open your eyes

♪ Look up to the skies and see

- What on earth do they
think they're doing?

It's so long, it's
three records in one.

- Never heard anything like it.

♪ I'm just a poor boy
♪ Poor boy

♪ I need no sympathy

- Just a song.

You can't call it something
as grand as an opera.

It's a piece, it's a mini-opera.

- I was the idiot who
said, why don't we ask them

to do an edit?

And the response was
a couple of words.

♪ To me

- [John] And of course
the rest is history.

♪ Mamma

♪ Just killed a man

♪ Put a gun against his head

♪ Pulled my trigger,
now he's dead ♪

♪ Mama

- I don't think there
was ever a disagreement

because nobody ever asked our
opinion and didn't need to.

- He said to me, "Oh,
we made a short film

yesterday afternoon
with Bruce Gowers.

And of course the reason
they'd made it was

because they couldn't do
it on "Top of the Pops"

because they couldn't
do that many overdubs,

they couldn't do the segments
of styles, and so forth.

But to be on "Top of the Pops",

they wanted to give
them this clip.

So they made a short film.

Well, that short film
happened to revolutionize

the way that music is consumed.

Because neither MTV
or VH1 would exist

had it not been for
that short film.

- The whole thing was
quite extraordinary.

And again, I think
people weren't quite
sure how to take it

but once they saw it, they
realized just how good it was.

- The point about Freddie
was that he was, you know,

he obviously had some
strand of eccentricity

about his lyric writing and
some very left-field things.

I mean, the music
itself was so bizarre

that you had no idea
what the lyrics meant

and really who cared.

- I think one of the
interesting things about Queen

is that their songs wrote
into such interpretation,

but I'm not gonna say on camera

who I think it's about [laughs].

- Bohemian Rhapsody
was basically, I was
writing three songs

and they were going
to be different

and I just couldn't finish them.

And I just thought, oh, damn it,

I'll just put the
three together.

[gentle music]

♪ Any way the wind blows

- We just about do all
our own production.

And we have Roy Baker who
sort of co-producers with us

and all the four albums have
been a co-production with him.

- Do you feel that the
"A Night at the Opera"

is perhaps you're reaching now,

you've reached a climax
at a certain stage

in your career?

'Cause I believe it's
definitely the best

that you've ever done.

- Thanks.
- Yes.

- I think it's possibly
the peak so far

because it's the
most successful.

But I mean, we hope
we're gonna get better.

- Next one will be better.

- It is gonna be difficult,

especially with
"Bohemian Rhapsody"
being as large as it is.

- [Interviewer] Well, a kid
wrote me a letter about that

and said, "I study demonology
and Satanic things.

Why do they use Beelzebub?"

- Oh.

- [Interviewer] I suppose
that's a legitimate question.

- Why do we use it?
- Yeah.

- It's just a, I mean,
why do we use anything?

I mean it doesn't necessarily
mean I study demonology

and things.

I just love [laughs]
the word Beelzebub.

[all laughing]

Great word, isn't it?

[drowned out by laughter]

- [Interviewer] Actually
the letter was signed

at the Cloven
Hooves at the time.

- Oh.
- Same sect.

I belong to that one.

- Are you sticking pins
in effigies and that?

- [Interviewer] The next single

is coming off "A
Night at the Operas"

"You're My Best
Friend", I understand

and already we're getting
a lot of requests for that.

But it's entirely
different in structure

to "Bohemian Rhapsody"
and that's what makes

the album attractive to me.
- Yes.

This is Johnson.
- Yeah,

John wrote the track.
- Yes.

- I mean that's probably
one thing in the group

that we all do write,
which lends to the variety

of our albums, you know.

It's a very good thing, I think.

- [Freddie] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- There've been several
songs on your albums

instead of being involved
with death and all this sort

of stuff, is that just
an accidental thing or?

- [John] That's
Freddie's morbid mind.

[all laughing]

- One of my docile
moods actually.

- I think they had this
amazing sensibility

and curiosity and it
was something about

the chemistry between them.

They were very energetic,
they were very curious people.

They were very intelligent.

I think to give due respect,
they were very bright

and they fed off their success

that only made them like
a band like The Beatles,

they didn't wanna
stay stuck anywhere.

- The main problem
Queen had with the press

is that they were immediate
descendants of the Beatles

because when the
Beatles stopped in 1970,

Queen make their chart debut
only three years after.

So they wouldn't be taken
as revolutionary artists

because they weren't.

So it seemed.

They were working
in the same format

as someone who had already
been the definitive artist

of popular music.

- To some extent, it's no
publicity is bad publicity.

If there's controversy,
then you've got profile.

You can build on that you
can make a plus out of that

because it's a talking point.

And I think over the years,
that was always the case

with Queen until they reached
the national treasure status.

- In the early days
of popular music,

the two greatest stars were
Enrico Caruso and Al Jolson.

And that is because both
of them could be heard

in every corner of the
theater without amplification.

'Cause they were working
before amplification.

[upbeat music]

♪ Don't cry, Tootsie,
don't cry, ah ♪

♪ Goodbye Tootsie, goodbye

- Freddie's voice can be heard.

♪ Pressure, pushing down on me

♪ Pressing down on
you, no man ask for ♪

- He would walk out on stage

and he could control the
audience immediately.

There was something about him.

And of course, especially
a little while later,

a lot of their songs
were anthems in a way.

I don't think I ever
met anybody who came out

of a Queen concert disappointed.

Now, perhaps I'm biased
because I suppose

in a way, I became a fan.

I tried to be objective,
it's kind of hard.

I think that they just
wanted to do the best

they possibly could
for as much of the time

as they possibly could.

And I think they achieved that.

[upbeat music]

♪ Hey

♪ Radio

- Everybody

♪ All we hear is radio ga ga

♪ Radio goo goo

♪ Radio ga ga

♪ All we hear is radio ga ga

♪ Radio blah blah

[crowd cheering]

♪ Ay-oh

♪ Ay-oh

♪ Ay-oh

♪ Ay-oh

♪ A-a-a-a-a-ay-oh

♪ A-a-a-a-a-ay-oh

♪ Ay-oh

♪ Ay-oh

♪ Ay-oh

♪ Ay-oh

♪ Ay-oh

♪ Ay-oh

♪ Ay

♪ Oh

♪ Ay

- I think Freddie was a
very affectionate person.

He was a very kind person.

He would always come 'round,
make sure people were okay,

he just liked people.

And if you were a friend
or family of Freddie's

then he was wonderful.

And I think he felt
like, I genuinely think

he felt like that
about his fans.

He was talking directly to them.

And I think that they felt that.

And I think that's why he had

such amazing control
over the audience.

Even if it was just
for those few moments.

He absolutely loved them.

And I think it was mutual.

- And when I asked
to think of a verb

to describe Freddie on stage,

I think of strut.

Like a peacock or some
beautiful rare creature,

just strutting across the stage,

not afraid to dominate.

♪ One, one, one

- The way he had
that unique mic thing

with the bit hanging
down, but not on a stand.

He moved about the whole time
and that gave him the freedom.

I don't recall him
ever standing there.

He used that mic,
that mobile mic.

He was a great
instinctive performer

who loved to be in
front of an audience.

- He has very good annunciation

so everyone can understand
what he is saying.

And you can hear
it a long way away.

Well, this turned out
to be immensely useful

when Queen would do
stadium gigs or beach gigs

or outdoor gigs where
they had tens of thousand

or even over a hundred
thousand people.

- There are very few
people whose voices

are immediately recognizable.

And I think Freddie
is one of them.

Freddie had the most
incredible voice.

He had a wonderful
range, he had a depth,

he had a richness and
a power in it, I think

that meant that the
songs they'd written,

I don't think anybody
else could have sung.

And I find it very interesting
that there have been

very few cover versions
of Queen songs.

And I suspect they
frightened people

because it would be very hard
to copy what Freddie did.

- Several of the great
singers of all time

consciously use their
voices as an instrument.

Frank Sinatra, for example,
learned to use his voice

from listening to Tommy
Dorsey, who was the leader

of the band that
he was in in 1940.

♪ I long to kiss you

♪ But I would not dare

♪ I'm so afraid

♪ That you may vanish

- [Jim] And he noticed that
Dorsey, a trombone player,

had great breath control,

which enabled him to
draw out long notes.

And he wanted to draw
out long notes in singing

so he learned breath control.

And Freddie could
do the same thing

because he realized his

voice was like an instrument.

♪ If you

♪ Are but

♪ A dream

[gentle music]

- Freddie was extremely
interested in people
who had power.

Liza Minnelli was an
obvious influence.

Her style of belting.

He loved a belter.

The ultimate, of course,
was Montserrat Caballe.

[singing in foreign language]

I went to the Covent Garden
Opera House to see a recital

by Montserrat Caballe,
the great Spanish diva.

And I looked to my
left and not far away,

there's Freddie in a
box seat and he's going.

And he's so excited.

He's like a schoolboy.

♪ Barcelona

♪ It was the first
time that we met ♪

♪ Barcelona

♪ How can I forget

♪ The moment that you
stepped into the room ♪

♪ You took my breath away

- He's thrilled to be in
the presence of this woman

whose voice he loved.

Well it was no
surprise to me at all

that he shortly there
afterwards recorded with her

'cause he was into it.

♪ Let the songs begin

[singing in foreign language]

♪ Let the music play

♪ Ah

- He loved the way
that this woman

who did not look glamorous,

could become a
glamorous character

strictly through the use of
her voice and her attitude.

This was Freddie par excellence.

Freddie at "Live Aid" is
probably the best domination

of an audience I've ever seen.

[crowd cheering]

- They were looking around
saying, "Well, they've done it,

haven't they?"

You know, it was extraordinary.

♪ We will, we will rock you

♪ One more time

♪ We will, we will rock you

[upbeat music]

- They're stealing the show.

All the artists
backstage who had

of course their own egos,
their own sense of pride,

they're stealing
the show [laughs].

And they were.

♪ Shivers down my spine

♪ Body's aching all the time

- And you hear the audience
going completely nuts.

And you see on the monitor,

Freddie doing this
impromptu duet

with a BBC cameraman.

♪ Every night, every day

♪ A little piece of
you is falling away ♪

♪ But lift your face
the western way ♪

[upbeat music]

- And everybody said
they stole the show.

It just proved that
they were undoubtedly

one of the best live
band's there's ever been.

- Queen really did rule the
world for a short period.

[upbeat music]

[crowd cheering]

- The media get excited
about all kinds of things.

I mean, you can argue it's
none of their bloody business

but they're gonna make
it their business anyway.

So what are you
gonna do about it?

- Freddie and indeed
the band generally

were very single-minded
and also didn't necessarily

suffer fools gladly.

The band, and Freddie in
particular, is very flamboyance,

if you like, invited
negative comments from people

who like their rock and roll
to be more down and dirty.

- Freddie was as nice a
person as you'll find.

Extremely generous
to his friends.

Threw great parties.

And consumed too much of life.

He took to the gay scene in
New York in the late '70s,

like David Attenborough
would take to a nature film,

to forms of wildlife.

- When I first went
to Freddie's home,

he was living in a flat
in the Kensington area

with his girlfriend,
Mary Austin.

And he was still
the best of friends

with her 'till the day he died.

Even as she and Freddie
grew apart in some ways

they became the very
best of friends.

And she married,
she had children,

but their relationship
never really changed.

He just had other
relationships as well.

- Freddie, over the
years, got more remote.

Changing lifestyle really.

When you first knew him
actually personally,

quite a private person.

He was quite shy,

I don't think necessarily
really comfortable

with new people and strangers.

But his other side was the
flamboyant stage presence.

And I think as time went on,

the stage persona
really took over

from the original individual.

And he lived this
larger-than-life
character all the time.

So I think by the early '80s
and especially when they

were spending so
much time abroad,

his whole approach
to life changed.

[gentle music]

- It was fairly obvious
that there was this tension

that was unresolved in him.

And even in the end, 'cause
Mary came back at the end

and looked after him.

I mean, when he talks
about Mary as being

the one person in his
life that he truly trusted

and I've seen her on
film talking about him,

when he came out of the
closet and first spoke

to her about it.

Obviously, there was a battle
going on inside of him.

But I'm not, that was when
he came out of the closet.

But I know I have
pictures of the guy

that he was hanging
around already

with someone he was
having a relationship with

before he finally told Mary.

So he was hanging around in
'74, this particular guy.

[gentle music]

He certainly didn't wanna
talk about it publicly,

any of that.

He would discuss
things privately.

And I could name a couple
of interesting names,

but I won't, that
I happen to know

he had relationships with.

But that's not
for me to discuss.

I do believe even
for public figures,

that there is, you know,
there's an area of privacy

that I may be privileged
to have certain knowledge

but if they want to talk
about it's up to them.

So I don't want
people talking about

all the lured things
in my youth either.

It's none of their
fucking business.

Not that people are as
interested, they are

cases like Lou or
David or Freddie.

[gentle music]

- I think perhaps Freddie
was always looking for love

which he found in many
ways over his life.

I think he was always
looking for perfection

which is probably a
harder thing to find.

And I think he was
ultimately curious.

He wanted to know what was
out there to experience a lot.

And he found a lot of the
things he was looking for

but perhaps not all of them.

- There was "Don't Stop Me Now"

which has become a very,
very popular song in Britain.

♪ Don't stop me now

♪ Don't stop me

♪ 'Cause I'm having
a good time ♪

♪ Having a good time

♪ I'm a shooting star, leaping
through the sky like a tiger ♪

- And of course to this day,

Brian feels a bit
uncomfortable about it

because it's a celebration of
Freddy's hedonistic lifestyle.

Which was to kill him.

[heartfelt music]

I've said this
several times before,

but it's just a key
moment in my life

with Freddie and
as a gay person.

In Heaven in the
nightclub in early 1983,

I had returned from
the United States

and I said, "Have you
adjusted your behavior

in light of the new disease?"

'Cause, it had no name then.

And he said, with one of
his flourishes, and he said,

"Darling, my
attitude is fuck it.

I'm doing everything
with everybody."

And I had that sinking feeling.

There literally is
a sinking feeling.

I've had it twice in my life.

And that was once.

And I just felt at that
moment, we're gonna lose Fred.

And I also thought that
even though he's putting up

this great front, probably
in the back of his mind,

he thinks it's too late.

[gentle music]

But what was tremendously unfair

to the first wave of people
who died from HIV AIDS

was that they became infected
when it was not known

that the virus existed.

So they couldn't know that what
they were doing was unsafe.

They didn't know
there was any risk.

It's very easy for people to
look back on a previous era

with the mores and
morals of today.

But we have to
remember that the '70s

was this incredible era
of sexual expression.

There was about a
quarter of a century

where everything
was, if not safe,

at least treatable because
once you had penicillin,

knocked syphilis on
the head in the 1940s,

there was no sexually
transmitted disease

that was going to kill you.

So in the '70s, particularly

with the emancipation movements,

the women's liberation
and the gay liberation,

people were having sex
like there was no tomorrow.

It's easy to forget that today.

And then, of course,
millions paid.

[heartfelt music]

Now I know that Freddie
did not have a test

until the late '80s and did
not demonstrate symptoms

until the second
half of the '80s.

But remember there was a
10-year incubation period

on average between
infection and symptoms.

So if you were to say Freddie

starts showing
symptoms late '80s,

if he were an average case,
no guarantee that he was,

but if he were an average case,

he would've been
infected late '70s.

Which makes sense with
his lifestyle enthusiasms

as he'd conveyed them to me.

And that is so cosmically though
in no way uniquely unfair.

That sexual experimentation
should become a capital matter.

No one thought
that was possible.

- By that time, he was
being pursued everywhere

by paparazzi.

And, you know, the
tabloids were speculating

on a weekly basis, you know,

every time he was
seen in public.

So it was that time
when there were a lot

of similar casualties in and
around the music business.

And most of us knew somebody
who was similarly afflicted.

So you kind of had the
feeling what was going on.

He wasn't right.

The fact that their
activities have been

so much scaled back
by them, made it clear

that there was something
wrong regardless

of what it was or
what caused it.

He was obviously not
the same Freddie.

- I think most people
knew that he was ill.

I think nobody really
knew what was wrong

or how long he'd been
ill or how bad it was

until pretty much at the end.

- Freddie was one of
those persons with AIDS

who responded by not
wishing to be seen.

- [Interviewer] It would
be wrong of us not to say

that he has been depicted
in certain quarters

as sort of decadent, wild,
bisexual, irresponsible lover.

So what was actually
the truth of that?

- Yes, that's very, that
definitely makes us very angry

because he was certainly,
the Freddie we knew

wasn't wildly promiscuous.

He wasn't consumed by drugs.

Any of these things
that people are saying.

He had a very responsible
attitude to everyone

that he was close to.

And he was a very
generous and caring person

to all of the people that
came through his life.

And more than that, you
can't ask really, you know,

as he moved from a
relationship to another one,

he was always very, as
I say, you know, aware

of the effect he was
having on people's lives.

- We all knew that
there were many people.

My PA died for heaven's sake.

I mean, it was, it
was in our homes,

it was in our friendly circles,

and it was happening with
such suddenness and force

that you couldn't mourn
everybody as deeply

as they deserved at the
moment they were dying.

In retrospect, whenever you
think of one of these people,

then you experience
their passing uniquely
and individually.

But then because there
were so many involved,

you were just trying to
keep your head above water

and be good to everybody.

♪ Time

♪ Waits for no one

♪ Best not to be friends
with one another ♪

♪ Or we'd have no
more future at all ♪

♪ Time

♪ Waits for nobody

[gentle music]

♪ For nobody, nobody, nobody

♪ For no one

- One of the extraordinary
things about Queen and Freddie

was that they had an
instinctive commercial

and marketing nous.

With Queen, and I think
with Freddie's writing,

it was staggering how
year on year at that time

when we in the record
company were expecting

and waiting for the
new album knowing

that the crucial thing
was, is there gonna

be a natural big hit.

That year on year, they came
up with the most extraordinary,

always another step
into the unexpected.

Something incredibly
serendipitous.

When you, one year it
was "Killer Queen",

the following year, of course,
was "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Then it was "Somebody To
Love" the following year.

Then it was "We
Are The Champions".

And if you think
about those records

which were some of the
great anthems of rock,

every year we would
breathe the sigh of relief

and say, "Oh, got another one."

- Now for the band, it
would've been very difficult

and I give them full points
knowing that something was up,

knowing that something was up

that was completely
outside their own circle.

Because unlike the
theatrical community

or the gay community,

the heterosexual members
of Queen wouldn't know

as much about it.

They would just know he's
not looking too good.

What's happening?

But because they were
very much a quartet,

they stood by him to
the very, very end.

And the very, very
end, of course,

is that incredibly moving video.

♪ Those were the
days of our lives ♪

♪ Yeah

♪ The bad things in
life were so few ♪

♪ Those days are all gone now

♪ But one thing's true

♪ When I look and I find

♪ I still love you

[gentle music]

♪ I still love you

- Well, the one
thing he wanted to do

was keep on working
in the studio.

He was absolutely
determined to keep on,

keep the group going,
and to keep working.

And that actually kept him going

for a long time.
- You see,

we watched earlier "Those
Were The Days Of Our Lives"

and actually watching it
was unbearably poignant

just to watch it.

So for you fellas to be in that,

it must have been a difficult
session emotionally.

- So incredibly difficult.
- Yes.

It was hard, it was really,

but we were sort of trying
to support him through it.

And I mean, he was incredibly
brave at that time.

Obviously, he knew, you know,
and we all knew at that time.

But you know, the best
thing is just to get on

with life and to do it.

And he did that.

And I think he carried on
very bravely, actually.

- They put out that
video and there he is,

and you go, "That's not
Freddie, that's a spec."

Although he could still sing.

You know, however sick
he was, it was like

seeing that the
disgusting-looking blabby Elvis,

I've seen footage of his last
concert and he looks horrible,

but he sounds divine
still, you know?

So talent is a funny thing.

Disease doesn't
necessarily kill the talent

or self-destructive behavior.

And clearly, his talent was
intact right up until the end.

That last recording.

- The singles from
"Innuendo" are literal.

The "Innuendo"
single, which is about

being written
about in the press,

well, of course,
they were speculating

about him in the press.

"I'm Going Slightly
Mad", a direct reference

to having moments of disease

and "The Show Must Go On",
which was his philosophy.

[heartfelt music]

- Well, it was a sad thing.

I mean, how could it not be?

He was a very
sweet guy who died.

And I know he was in a
lot, because Mary told me

that he was in a lot
of pain at the end.

It was not an easy
death for Freddie.

But apparently, he
didn't complain.

Apparently, he was not...

And he didn't feel
sorry for himself.

I don't know what else
he could have done

because he, you know...

But apparently, he
was in a lot of pain.

- When Freddie died, that
was the end of Queen.

- There was just great sadness.

[heartfelt music]

You felt that like all the
artists that die young,

you say, "Well,
what would've been?"

You know, what would
Buddy Holly have done?

You know, what would
Eddie Cochran have done?

You think, well, what
would Freddie be doing now?

[heartfelt music]

- The glamour of the
world's rock stars

in a very unglamorous setting.

Rehearsals Studios
west of London,

where the final polish is
being put on tomorrow's show.

Casual dress was very
much the order of the day.

Elton John also sporting
a brand new hair look

for the big event.

A succession of stars
arrived throughout the day

to practice alongside the
surviving members of Queen.

For many, it's a
poignant occasion.

Wembley Stadium was
the scene of one

of Queen's greatest
performances back in 1986.

Today, a team of
400 technicians,

including Freddie Mercury's
original road crew,

were back in action
preparing the giant stage.

But the organizers here
hope that the message

will reach more than
half a billion people

in more than 70 countries.

And despite all the
glamour and razzamatazz,

it will be a serious
message trying

to promote AIDS education
on a truly global scale.

♪ No time for losers

♪ 'Cause we are the champions

[crowd cheering]

- Thanks, Freddie.

We just wanted to let you know
we were thinking about you.

Stay safe.

♪ Of the world

[crowd cheering]

[heartfelt music]

- He would love it.

He would be thrilled.

He would be thrilled to know
that I've been asked to talk

about him years after his death.

He would be so
excited [chuckling]

and in a conspiratorial way,

he would say, "Oh, I love this."

You know, he'd have that
little shoulder thing.

I once said to him, when "I
Wanna Break Free" was new,

there was a point where Freddie,

who was in drag
doing the vacuuming,

went from one room to the next

and as he crossed
the wall in the set,

he did a little double
time so that there was

the minimum time
spent out of vision.

It was a very
professional thing to do.

So he was almost
entirely in camera.

And I said to him, "You
know, my favorite part

of 'I Want To Break Free' is
when you go into double time

between the rooms."

And he said, "Oh, I'm so
glad you noticed that.

It's my favorite part."

You see, he was thrilled
to be a professional.

Being Freddie Mercury allowed
him to be the professional

and the legend that
he wanted to be.

I could say I would love
to be Arthur Rubinstein,

the great concert pianist.

Well, although I have a piano,
I'm not a great pianist.

But Freddie wanted to be
a great diva esque figure,

a legend.

And being Freddie
Mercury allowed Farrokh

to be that person.

[heartfelt music]

[heartfelt music]