Author: Alexia Fernandez / Source: PEOPLE.com
Almost 27 years after the death of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, he continues to be an enigma.
Mercury, who died from complications of AIDS in 1991, is at the center of a Queen biopic that touches on his life — and shocking death at the age of 45.
Born Farrokh Bulsara in Tanzania in 1946, Mercury was an intensely private person who rarely granted interviews to reporters.
Even as he faced intense scrutiny from the press beginning in 1986 when rumors circulated he had been tested for HIV/AIDS, Mercury kept his health concerns to himself and closest friends.
Diagnosed with the fatal disease in 1987, the news of his declining health led Queen to abruptly end the Magic Tour that was seen by over a million people — making it one of their largest tours.
Around that time, Mercury denied he had tested positive for the disease.
Despite the singer’s denials, media scrutiny surrounding his health intensified and was fueled by photographs of Mercury which ran in the British press showing him as increasingly frail and thin.
In one of his last public appearances, a gaunt Mercury joined band members Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon on stage at the 1990 Brit Awards in London, where they accepted the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.
While the “Don’t Stop Me Now” singer continued to battle his illness in private, he didn’t stop working. In May 1991, a very thin Mercury was featured in the Queen music video “These Are the Days of Our Lives” in what would be his final video for the band.
The foursome traveled to a studio in Montreux, Switzerland where their final recording as a band with Mercury was made.
“We all knew there wasn’t much time left,” May told The Telegraph in 2013. “Freddie wanted his life to be as normal as possible. He obviously was in a lot of pain and discomfort.”
May added, “For him, the studio was an oasis, a place where life was just the same as it always had been. He loved making music, he lived for it.”
Toward the end of his life, all Mercury wanted was peace.
“He was pursued…
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