Somebody to Love: The Life, Death, and Legacy of Freddie Mercury

Cue the instrumental version of the Gospel song, Guide Me Home. --An appropriate tune to accompany the arresting prose with which Matt Richards and Mark Langthorne describe the final fortnight in the life of the frontman of one of the most popular bands on Earth. Amid the news events of November 10,1991, a private jet flies home from Switzerland to London with a terminally ill passenger who may well have been oblivious to world events, but whom, by month's end, would be the focus of world attention once again. As a car takes the patient, now with failing eyesight home, and the electronic gate of his Garden Lodge, Kensington estate mansion closes behind him for the last time in his life, we are given a sense of a life that is permanently (and prematurely) shutting down, amid trappings of splendor, including Japanese objets d'art, collected from the country that loved and warmly embraced him and his three colleagues so well for 16 years, and perhaps, more relevantly, a grand piano with a closed fallboard its owner will never play again. Upstairs in a master bedroom with faded yellow walls, he receives his medication intravenously.A favorite film--1959's Imitation of Life plays on a VCR.But he is too Ill to weep at the ending any longer. He could hear the press and paparazzi--speculative about his condition for years--chattering outside his Japanese garden.The terminally ill male, aged 45, suffered from AIDS, and had loaned himself out for the testing of experimental drugs for three years.In previous times, his strong constitution withstood copious amounts of booze, unprotected sex, and cocaine.But the experimental drugs have proven futile. As a cold, grey wet Autumn day shrouded London, and the master of the Garden Lodge Estate has decided to go off his medication, taking only painkillers, the Zanzibar born master pianist, and rock showman extraordinaire with the given name of Farrokh Bulsara, better known as Freddie Mercury, is holed up with his nearest and dearest, resigned to his fate. The intriguing aspect of this 2016 biography--released in time for the 25th anniversary of the singer's death, is that in addition, it chronicles the history of AIDS from its origin and journey around the world as it finds its way towards Freddie Mercury through, unfortunately, every hedonistic fault of his own. We review the life of the gifted singer/songwriter through his birth in Zanzibar, time in boarding school in his parents' native India where he formed his first band, the Hectics, had his first sexual encounter, and the likely impact of being sent away from home at such an early age had on his later behavior. After his return home, an uprising drove the Bulsaras--including father, Bomi, a government accountant, wife, Jer, 12-year-old daughter,Kashmira, as well as 17-year-old Farrokh--out of Zanzibar, they settled in London, near Heathrow Airport, where Farrokh later worked. Studying at Isleworth Polytechnic College, then at Ealing Art College--a pre-cursor to a music career for many rock stars, Freddie Bulsara(as he was known before a final name change)meets his future lifelong colleagues, including Brian May, who lived not far from the Bulsaras, Roger Taylor, who became his roommate, and with whom he ran an antique clothing stall in their salad days,and later bassist, John Deacon. Beforehand, he is involved with a band called Ibex, who name changed to Wreckage, and another short-lived band called Sour Milk Sea. Mercury had a brief romance with one Rosemary Pearson, who grew disenchanted with his attraction to men.A later romantic interest who became his lifelong friend and confidante, Mary Austin, would be a bit more tolerant. His status as a hanger-on of May and Taylor's band, Smile changes, as will the band's name from Smile to Queen.As the legends-to-be come together, beginning their epic but tempestuous 20-year odyssey, the virus that would impact the band's history, which was traced from a slain monkey that bit and infected the Bantu hunter that killed it in the Congo in 1908,and which the hunter may have transmitted to one or more prostitutes, whose clients may have spread it to wives and/or girlfriends back home in Europe, had by that point, been spread by re-used, but badly washed hypodermic needles used to combat African Sleeping Sickness, but which still carried traces of HIV, had by the 1970s, been spread to Haiti by teachers, and social workers who were exposed during time in the former Belgian Congo , where they filled in jobs formerly occupied by Belgian officials who returned home--the backfiring of UNESCO Goodwill program.A blood plasma center in Port-au-Prince was open for two years.Impoverished Haitians donated blood for money to sustain the US blood bank because well-to-do Americans were less likely to.But since supplies of donated blood were not checked for a virus no one thought to look for at the time, many may have received HIV that way as well. The plight of Missouri teenager, Robert Rayford, who died of what is now recognized as HIV in 1969, and who case was publicized in 1986 is duly noted.But how he contracted it remains a mystery.A Canadian flight attendant named Gaetan Dugas, who would be misidentified as Patient Zero, contacted the virus in the 1970s, as did actor, Rock Hudson. Mercury was acquainted with both men, and the partner he and Dugas had in common was John Murphy. In 1976,three members of the Roed Family of Bored, Norway would become the first known cluster case of the disease all three died within a year. The hedonistic atmosphere of New York during the US Bicentennial celebration provided more opportunities for the disease to spread.A West Greenwich Village club for gays called The Mineshaft opened in the meat packing district that year.Mercury would join its list of notable clients around 1980, and the book suggests this is where he may have been infected around 1982, although other sources claim that may have happened between 1976 and 1978.While the world enjoyed Queen's musical catalog, including Killer Queen, You're My Best Friend, Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon, Somebody to Love, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Another One Bites the Dust, We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, Radio Ga Ga,A Kind of Magic, Under Pressure, and of course, Bohemian Rhapsody, among others, the self-destructive behaviors will alter the band's fate. The book notes an observation by one Dr. Thomas Schmidt about the almost compulsive promiscuity among homosexuals, but also of how unfulfilling many of them find their own behavior.The most popular band in the world by 1980, Queen would continue to have its ups and downs.By mid-decade, they faced penalties for violating a UN ban on artists performing in South Africa in protest of Apartheid by playing at the resort in Sun City. But a high point of drama is the story of the band's redemption at Live Aid the following year when at 6:44PM on Saturday, July 13,1985 Queen's African-born frontman and colleagues took the stage to perform to help starving children in Africa before 72,000 at Wembley Stadium, 100,000 at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, and a worldwide television audience of 1.9 billion .With the best amplified performance, they were truly the Champions of the moment, and that is known as The Day Queen Ruled the World! But signs of Mercury's impending downward spiral were visible even then, in the hoarseness of his voice (he had a cough that day and ignored the advice of a doctor at Wembley against his performing),and a purple mark on his right arm which may have been one of his first sarcomas. Later that year the death of Rock Hudson from AIDS further fueled his anxiety.In counterpoint to the main narrative are the perspectives of his mother,his sister, his band mates,Mary Austin, his friend, actor/singer, Peter Straker, journalist, Lesley-Ann Jones, rock critic, Paul Gambaccini, who claims to have unsuccessfully tried to warn Mercury about modifying his behavior, singer Marc Almond, Jim Hutton, Peter Freestone, Montserrat Caballe,et.al. that round out the story.We also read about the destructive influence of Mercury's lover and personal assistant, Paul Prenter, who succumbed to AIDS three months before the singer did. It begins with a famous quote by Socrates:The unexamined life is not worth living. But this cautionary tale of a gifted, but self-destructive life, like so many before and since, also recounts how a tragic loss further galvanized the fight against AIDS, especially via the memorial concert at Wembley the following spring, and the foundation of the anti-AIDS organization, The Mercury Phoenix Trust, and how the musical stylings of Freddie Mercury continue to delight and inspire, with wisdom and much relevant insight on offer. The star may have fallen, but the legacy continues to rise.

An insightful account of the life of Freddie Mercury and the awful disease that caused the tragic loss of so many we loved.

I think this is the longest review I’ve left on a book yet but man this book reached deep down into my soul and touched it.I came into this biography with a passing knowledge about Freddie Mercury, Queen and even the AIDS epidemic. I grew up listening to Queen as my parents were big fans. They had every one of their pre-90s albums on vinyl and I can still remember the very first one I listened to - News of The World, I picked that one because it had the "weird robot" on the front - I was instantly hooked. But growing up listening to their music and knowing their history are two different things. It wasn't until I was in my late teens coming to terms with my own sexuality that I learned who exactly Freddie Mercury was and how he died. I did some research on him, what limited stuff there was on the internet at that time, but it took until I was an adult to really take up an interest in him and his legacy.I watched the recent movie biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and it completely reignited the fire of how much I have always loved Queens music. And instead of trolling through Wiki pages trying to learn all I could about the history of Queen, and more specifically Freddie, that I stumbled onto this book. And out of the seemingly 100s of Freddie biographies I could have chosen to read - I am so glad I picked this one.Not only does this book seem to give a brash look at Freddies life, choices, and consequences but as it goes through his timeline it chronicles HIV/AIDS and its development and spread in history. Having these two story lines going on simultaneously made Freddies life and death all that more poignant. Not to mention, I was born in the late 80s. I was never around to see what our world was like at that time for LGBTQA people and the struggles they had to face with the AIDS epidemic. “We view the past from a different present” page 390. It is not something that is taught in school or anything so my knowledge of it was limited to hearsay, movie plots and what little information I had come across in my lifetime (ie I knew that our US Government at the time hindered a lot but I had no idea how badly they messed up our people until reading this).While reading this book, any of the singles they mentioned, performances, articles, places, events etc I looked up (unless I had them already). So I listened to and watched things while reading this so I could really get in it. That so helped. There were only a couple songs mentioned that I couldn't remember hearing, I looked up people who I didn't know - basically immersed myself in this as much as I could.And by the end of reading this, I had cried several times. This was an intense, incredibly emotional, powerful biography. Freddie may have made some questionable choices in his life but he deserves all the accolades and the legacy that came from his immense talents.

I have yet to read it but I am sure it will be worth the time and money

One of my favourite books in this genre. Freddie is one of my idiols but apart from that the book is written really well. Part of the book contains interesting info about the origin of AIDS and patient 0.

Definitely worth Reading. An appealing biography with a scientific and cultural background of AIDS and the 80's that makes the picture complete for Freddie's fans and not only.....Bellissima biografia che si legge tranquillamente con una discreta conoscenza della lingua. Biografia completata da informazioni su AIDS e la cultura anni 80 estremamente interessanti.

Excelente! Comprei após assistir a um espetáculo sobre o Freddie Mercury na minha cidade. Mais que uma biografia, o livro traz informações preciosas sobre a história do HIV. Vale muito a leitura mesmo se você não for fã do Queen ou do Freddie.

Esta edición es casi imposible de conseguir ya en tapa dura. Una ganga y un formato de lujo para el precio que tiene.