In 1986, Queen singer Freddie Mercury stunned his bandmates when he said to them following their Knebworth gig that he couldn’t perform live anymore because of his ailing health. A new documentary reveals.
Brian May, guitarist, talks about how Roger Taylor, John Deacon, and his friend, Brian May, told him that he was going to end live performances in the upcoming Freddie Mercury.
May and Taylor did not know that Mercury had AIDS at the time they performed the gig in Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire.
“We just finished the most successful tour we had ever done in our lives. It was huge success, which made us very happy. And Freddie stated, “After this, I can’t do it anymore.” Then we said, “Oh”, to May.
Taylor says that Taylor was also quite firm about his decision not to perform any more live shows. This kind of indicated that something was wrong.
BBC also interviews Mercury’s closest friends, Kashmira Bulsara and Anita Dobson, to hear their memories of Mercury’s last years.
Mercury was born Farrokh Balsara in Zanzibar on September 26, 1946. He died yesterday from complications caused by AIDS at 45 years old.
To mark the anniversary, fans left flowers outside his former home in Earl’s Court – an echo of how floral tributes piled up at the residence in the days after he passed away.
Queen singer Freddie Mercury shocked his friends in 1986 by telling them, just after their Knebworth gigs, that he could not perform live due to his ailing body.
In the upcoming Freddie Mercury The Final Act, Brian May, guitarist, talks about how his friend informed him, along with fellow musicians Roger Taylor, and John Deacon, that he was going to end live performances. Above: Mercury (left), Taylor (second from right), and May (second form left) pose in a publicity photograph to promote the 1975 tour of Japan.
The final show of Queen’s Magic Tour was at Knebworth Park.
They performed some of the most popular hits, such as One Vision, Radio Ga Ga, Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, and ’Radio Ga Ga’.
Mercury requested that the concert be his last live performance.
In Saturday’s program, Mr Freestone tells how Mercury refused to take any additional drugs.
“The only things he’d take were painkillers. He says that for two weeks, he gradually let go.
Despite persistent rumours of his illness, the actor and writer didn’t confirm that he had AIDS until one day before his passing.
“We just finished the most successful tour we had ever done in our lives. It was huge success, which made us very happy. And Freddie stated, “I cannot do this anymore after this.” Then we said, “oh”, to May.
BBC’s programme hears also from Mercury’s family members, such as his sister Kashmira Bulsara (pictured), and longtime friend Anita Dobson. Personal assistant Peter Freestone will share their memories about Mercury’s final years.
Queen’s Knebworth was Queen’s final gig on their Magic Tour. They performed their greatest hits, including “One Vision”, “Radio Ga Ga”, and the “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” songs.
Mercury stated in a statement that he had been tested HIV positive after being contacted by Jim Beach, Queen’s manager. The statement was made public and distributed to the public.
“I considered it right to keep the information confidential to preserve privacy for those who are around me.”
“But the time is right now for my friends, fans, and doctors around the world, to find the truth. And I hope that everybody will stand with me, my doctor, and everyone else worldwide fighting this awful disease.
“My privacy is very important to me. I’m well-known for not giving interviews. This policy will not change.
Mercury first began to show symptoms of having HIV – which causes AIDS – in around 1982.
The disease was relatively new and had no treatment.
The virus has since spread throughout the globe and claimed 33 million lives.
David Wigg was an avid friend of Mercury and a BBC journalist. In the BBC program, Wigg says that while on holiday in Ibiza with Mercury in 1987, Wigg first saw signs that Mercury might have HIV.
He said, “We were sitting by the pool and it really sent a chill though me because Freddie’s cheek had a mauve marking. I know that HIV-positive people can get this type of mark anywhere on their bodies, it’s a sign they might have HIV.”
Wigg interviewed Mercury about his experience with AIDS two hours later. Mercury claimed that he’d’stopped going out’ and ‘almost became a nun’ because of the treatment.
Wigg claims that Mercury spoke out about his state of health after turning off his recorder.
Mercury with his bandmates during the 1990 Brit awards, where Queen received the Outstanding Contribution in British Music award
Mercury, Taylor and May pose in a 1978 publicity photograph. The group became internationally successful.
Yesterday, Mercury’s fans left flowers at Garden Lodge in Earl’s Court to mark the occasion.
It was as if the flowers left outside his residence after his death on November 24, 1991, were echoed in this moving tribute.
A black Rolls-Royce with the coffin belonging to pop superstar Freddie Mercury is seen arriving at West London Crematorium, Harrow Road, on the day of Mercury’s funeral
According to him, the singer said: “Well, if you tell me as a friend David that you won’t put it in your article,””.
He says, “I thought I knew what was coming, so I replied, “If you don’t wish to, then of course not. But I just hope that it’s different from what I believe it to be.”
‘And, he replied, “Well, I’m afraid that it is. But I’m going fight it. And we’re going to find the cure.” This is the end of this subject.
Mercury’s May 1991 final performance in studio was the music clip for Queen’s song “These Are the Days of Our Lives”, in which Mercury looked frail and gaunt.
Ms. Dobson became an actor and a friend of Mercury.
She continued: “And I think that after he sang as much as possible, he withdrew, and he was about to die.”
He adds that his sister felt it was a waste to live a beautiful and talented life.
“But it also meant that for the people who lost their lives in the same time period as Freddie it was such a stigmatizing and embarrassing thing, many families did not get it.
“People died all on their own,” I felt was such shame.