11-25-1991 – Evening Mail – The Lonely Heart!

Love Is Russian Roulette For Me

He was the superstar who had everything – wealth, talent, fame and all that money could buy – but true love eluded him, Rob Scully reports.

Queen’s Freddie Mercury was the outrageous lead singer with one of rock music’s biggest supergroups. The star had talent, fame, amassed a huge fortune and had everything money could buy except for the one thing he craved – True love.

He once said: “You can have everything in the world and still be the loneliest man, and that is the most bitter type of loneliness.

One Night Stands

“Success has brought me world idolisation and millions of pounds, but it’s prevented me from having the one thing we all need – a loving, on going relationship. I can’t win love is Russian Roulette for me. I try to hold back when I’m attracted to someone but I just can’t control love. It runs riot. All my one night stands are just me playing a part.”

He never made any secret of his bisexuality saying: “I’ve had a lot of lovers, I’ve tried relationships on either side – male and female. But all of them have gone wrong. Obviously I’m not a good catalyst.”

But despite being a recluse for more than two years battling against a wasting illness which left him frail and gaunt, he said he had taken an AIDS test which proved clear.

Passers by his luxurious £5million 28-roomed , high walled, fenced West London mansion caught glimpses of the fading star being helped to limousines on trips to Harley Street specialists and rumours were rife. A statement to The Press Association confirmed those rumours: Freddie had AIDS. Everything about his stage persona was over the top, camp glamour with spectacular costumes and elaborate sets all playing glitzy support to his powerful, distinctive voice. Even Elton John, never noted for shyness, said Queen stole the show when they appeared in Live Aid at Wembley in 1985. But he wasn’t telling their millions of fans anything they didn’t already know.

Freddie Mercury was born Frederick Bulsara in Zanzibar on 5 September 1946, the son of a Government Accountant and was educated first ar a boarding school in Bombay. When the family returned to England he attended Ealing College of Art and after joining Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor to form Queen in 1971, designed the band’s logo using their four zodiac signs as a base. Biggest Seller

Their debut album was Queen in July 1973, followed by Queen II a year later with a single Seven Seas of Rhye which made the British charts. The Sheer Heart Attack album gave them a big hit with Killer Queen but it was A Night At The Opera which gave them a massive number one with Bohemian Rhapsody and established Mercury as one of rocks greatest personalities. Queen’s Greatest Hits remains one of the biggest sellers ever and singles such as We Are Champions (sic), Crazy Little Thing Called Love plus Mercury’s solo efforts such as The Great Pretender were all hits.

They played stadiums to six figure audiences all over the world with Mercury centre stage pulling ever increasing stunts for which the only word was ‘outrageous’.

He once performed I Want To Break Free with 50 sets of false bosoms. His after show parties went on for days and were legendary for those who had any recollection. After Wembley in 1987 (sic) he hired a body painter from Germany and guests were amazed to find the ‘uniformed’ bell boys were naked and at a banquet in New Orleans he hid a nude model in a huge tray of raw liver making it quiver.

For another he hired Concorde and few friends over the Atlantic at vast expense for a sky high party. He lavished money-no-object gifts on friends and lovers alike and the good times were never far away when Freddie was around. But as questions began to be asked about his health he eased up and adopted a more sedate lifestyle which he insisted was more the real Freddie Mercury.

He said: “I’m so powerful on stage that I seem to have created a monster, When I’m performing I’m an extrovert, yet inside I’m a completely different man.”

Proud Godfather

His longest love affair was with blonde haired Mary Austin which ended after seven years, although they remained close friends until the end. She worked on his staff. He even became a proud godfather to her son Richard in 1989 and he said the sense of responsibility it gave him calmed him down considerably.

But after a kamikaze lifestyle of ‘sex and drugs and rock ‘n’ roll’ the damage to his health was beyond repair. He died peacefully at his luxury home in Kensington, West London. His publicist Roxy Meade, added ‘His death was the result of Broncho-pneumonia brought on by AIDS.

His death came just hours after he had announced to the world he had the disease. After his death had been announced the Terrence Higgins Trust said he had got the timing of the announcement right, even though he had known he has AIDS for two years, saying it was proper that he should be remembered for his music and not for his health.

The flamboyant star had lived like a recluse during that time, the illness leaving him frail and gaunt.

His statement to The Press Association said: “The time has now come for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth and I hope that everyone will join with me, my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease.”