Freddie Mercury (22 page)

Freddie in Munich.

FM with Lee Nolan.

FM at the Berkshire Place Hotel, New York.

FM with Charles ‘The Canadian’ at the Berkshire Place Hotel.

FM on a video shoot, 1983.

This page and over: Freddie filming the notorious video for ‘I Want To Break Free’.

Freddie with Peter Freestone.

Freddie with Mary Austin.

Freddie with Winnie Kirchberger.

Peter Freestone, Paul Prenter, Freddie, Kurt Raab and Barbara Valentin.

Freddie with Trip Khalef.

Freddie in bed with his cats at Garden Lodge in the autumn of 1981.

Watching ‘The Miracle’ for the first time in maybe five years had me in tears. I can’t explain why but perhaps juxtaposing Freddie, who in hindsight we now know had only a limited life left, with the young child who had his whole life ahead of him was why I found it so affecting. The band didn’t have a great deal to do in this shoot and only had to act as they normally performed on stage. The real stars are the kids and I defy anybody not to find their performances any different from Queen’s. The boys watched many videos over and over again to perfect their technique. The band were given an impromptu performance by the boys at one point during the filming and the four men gave the kids a standing ovation. I don’t think anybody on set could believe how good the young boys were. Certainly not Queen.