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After Bohemian Rhapsody, 2018’s blockbuster Freddie Mercury biopic, there was a surge of renewed interest in Queen and its charismatic frontman. Younger fans began discovering the group – digging out their parents’ dusty LPs, launching the title track to over a billion streams on Spotify, and even making viral YouTube reaction videos of their first time hearing Mercury’s magnum opus.
Older fans were reinvigorated too, revisiting the albums of their youth, reminiscing about seeing the band live (those who were lucky enough to), and seeking to learn more about Mercury with all the newly available information regarding the theatrical but notoriously private singer.
Both groups will discover something new in these Freddie Mercury biographies, which offer three completely different perspectives of Mercury’s incredible life.
The first book is from his partner, Jim Hutton, who gives a wistful retelling of his time with Mercury right up until the end. The two had a complicated relationship – intimate and close in private, yet Mercury always kept a distance from Hutton while in the eye of the public and the relentless British tabloids, at a time when being openly gay was not yet widely accepted (homosexuality had only been decriminalized in the UK less than a decade earlier). Though their relationship was rocky at times, Hutton loved and cared for Mercury, was by his side when he died, and offers a fly-on-the-wall observation of his life and a heartbreaking account of his final days.
Another, a collection of quotes and interviews from Mercury himself, paints a picture with verbal pieces. Freddie’s quotes, quips and insights fuel the timeline along, creating a look at his life through his own thoughts and observations.
Finally, Somebody to Love delves deep into the history of HIV/AIDS, eventually incorporating Mercury into the disease’s trajectory, and telling the story of his final years battling the virus that eventually took his life in 1991.
All three are must-reads for any fans of Freddie looking to learn all they can about the singer’s life offstage and behind closed doors.
