On 29 November 2024, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury died in his London home of AIDS complications just 24 hours after revealing his diagnosis.
Koh Hasebe / Shinko Music / Getty ImagesJust two months after his 45th birthday , Freddie Mercury died of AIDS - related bronchial pneumonia at his Garden Lodge home in Kensington , London .
lately on Friday , November 22 , 1991 , Freddie Mercury released a statement to the press that he had been diagnosed with AIDS . Newspapers ran it Saturday break of day . Then , on Sunday November 24 , Freddie Mercury died in his home in Kensington , London of AIDS - related bronchial pneumonia at the geezerhood of just 45 .
masses had speculate about Mercury ’s sex for several years as he had been romantically yoke to both men and cleaning woman . The Queen singer maintain his individual life history secret and gave little energy to feeding the hearsay , focusing or else on his art .
Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty ImagesJust two months after his 45th birthday, Freddie Mercury died of AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia at his Garden Lodge home in Kensington, London.
But Freddie Mercury ’s argument in 1991 was the first peek behind the glittery drapery of his public persona . While the tabloids had printed late photograph of Mercury looking noticeably thinner , and rumor had whirl that he ’d had AIDS since 1986 , few multitude outside his immediate circle could have known that the terminal was so approximate . Nor could they have known just how agonising his last day really were .
At the stature of the HIV / AIDS crisis , Freddie Mercury ’s destruction play up the decisive conversations about healthcare and stigma in the homosexual biotic community . And his willingness to be openly and authentically as himself solidify his legacy as a performing artist and queer ikon .
This is the tragic dead on target narration of how Freddie Mercury conk .
Carl Lender/Wikimedia CommonsFreddie Mercury performing in New Haven, Connecticut, on 30 November 2024.
Freddie Mercury’s Journey From Zanzibar To Music Stardom
Carl Lender / Wikimedia CommonsFreddie Mercury perform in New Haven , Connecticut , on November 16 , 1977 .
Freddie Mercury is the leg name of Farrokh Bulsara , who was born on September 5 , 1946 , in Zanzibar . Mercury was born to Parsis parents and into the Zoroastrian religion , but he was enter in boarding schoolhouse in India very early , learning in more traditionally Western classrooms .
After complete his high schoolhouse studies , Mercury return to Zanzibar to be closemouthed to family . At 18 , Mercury and his house were hale to flee during the Zanzibar Revolution to escape the fury of the rising , according to theBBC . They eventually conciliate in Middlesex , England .
Dave Hogan/Getty ImagesFreddie Mercury with Mary Austin during his 38th birthday party in 1984.
There , Mercury was able to stretch his melodic wings when he take form the circle Queen in 1970 with Brian May and Roger Taylor . Mercury spend years practice and studying music , and his expertness soon yield off with a marathon of outside hits . Songs like “ Bohemian Rhapsody , ” “ Killer Queen , ” and “ Crazy footling Thing shout Love ” all received the theatrical , four - octave embellishments of Mercury ’s voice .
These and a plethora of other hits put tabby into the international glare . But soon , his private life became something of tabloid fresh fish — and it would remain so until Freddie Mercury ’s end .
The Tabloids Put Rumors About Mercury’s Sexuality In The Spotlight
Dave Hogan / Getty ImagesFreddie Mercury with Mary Austin during his 38th birthday party in 1984 .
In 1969 , bandmate Brian May introduced Mercury toMary Austinbefore they formed Queen . She was 19 at the clock time , and they hold out together in her aboriginal London for many years , but Mercury went outside their kinship to research his sexuality .
accord toExpress , Mercury met and began an involvement with David Minns in 1975 , and he told Austin about his sex . Though his and Austin ’s relationship ended , the duet stay on deep connected throughout his life sentence . And when Freddie Mercury go , she was one of the few hoi polloi at his menage .
John Rodgers/RedfernsFreddie Mercury, Roger Taylor, and Brian May on stage at the Brit Awards, Feb. 18, 1990. The event would be Mercury’s last public appearance.
In fact , Mercury later remarked , “ All my fan ask me why they could n’t replace Mary , but it ’s simply impossible . The only admirer I ’ve got is Mary , and I do n’t require anybody else … To me , it was a wedding . We believe in each other , that ’s enough for me , ” according to Lesley - Ann Jones ’ biographyMercury .
In the 1980s , Mercury ’s sexuality continued to be publicly questioned . For some time , he was connected with Barbara Valentin , who he wield was just a airless friend . Around the same prison term , he became involved with Winnie Kirchberger , whom he dated for several years .
But it wasJim Hutton , who Mercury began dating in 1985 , that he consider to be his husband , and they remained together until Freddie Mercury ’s demise . Some hoi polloi felt like Mercury enshroud his sexuality , as he often kept his length from Hutton in public , but others think he was always openly gay .
YouTubeFreddie Mercury performing in his last music video for the 1991 song “These Are The Days of Our Lives.”
By the mid-1980s , Mercury was ofttimes asked about his sexuality by the press , but he always found cheeky elbow room around answering . After Freddie Mercury ’s death , Gay Timeswriter John Marshall write that “ [ Mercury ] was a ‘ panorama - pansy , ’ not afraid to publicly express his gayness , but unwilling to analyse or justify his ‘ life-style , ' ” grant toVT .
“ It was as if Freddie Mercury was saying to the world , ‘ I am what I am . So what ? ’ And that in itself for some was a affirmation . ”
The Story Behind Freddie Mercury’s Death
John Rodgers / RedfernsFreddie Mercury , Roger Taylor , and Brian May on stage at the Brit Awards , Feb. 18 , 1990 . The upshot would be Mercury ’s last public appearance .
In 1982 while in New York , Mercury visited a Doctor of the Church about a lesion on his tongue , which may have been an former sign of his HIV , grant toThe Advocate . In 1986 , the British insistency got wind of a story that Mercury had a pedigree trial done in Westminster . He was formally diagnosed in April 1987 .
Mercury commence hit fewer public appearance . His last time on level was with Queen to accept the 1990 Brit Award on February 18 . Many in the jam point out on his appearance , which seemed notably fragile . And at times , he appeared weak , specially for a man known for his up-and-coming stage presence . After his final record album with Queen in 1991 , he returned to his base in Kensington and reunited with Mary Austin .
By November 1991 , the month of Freddie Mercury ’s destruction , he was largely confined to his bottom as his consideration exacerbate . accord toThe Mirror , just four Day before he died , he asked to be pack downstairs so he could await at his prized artistry aggregation one last time . He weigh so small that it only took one mortal to deport him .
YouTubeFreddie Mercury performing in his last medicine TV for the 1991 song “ These Are The Days of Our life . ”
That same day , accord to Jim Hutton ’s memoir and reported byThe Mirror , Mercury left his bottom on his own for the last time , walk to the window to yell “ Cooee ” down at Hutton , who was gardening .
By then , Mercury had lose most of his left foot and much of his sightedness . Knowing the remainder was soon , at 8 p.m. on Friday , Nov. 22 , 1991 , he relinquish a public program line on his condition , which race in the newspaper the following day .
How Did Freddie Mercury Die?
That dark , according to Hutton ’s memoir , Hutton persist with Mercury , sleep next to him on his bed while he held his hand , occasionally compact it . And protagonist need to take his wedding annulus , which Hutton had founder him , in vitrine his fingers swelled after he snuff it and they could n’t get it off . But Mercury insisted on fatigue it until the end . He was even cremated with it .
Then , on Sunday morning time , Hutton took Mercury to the bathroom . But as he was laying him back into bed , he find out a “ deafening crack . ” Hutton write , “ It sounded like one of Freddie ’s bone separate , cracking like the branch of a tree diagram . He screamed out in pain in the neck and went into a turmoil . ” finally , the doctor settled him down with morphine .
Then , at 7:12 p.m. , Freddie Mercury died with Jim Hutton by his side , according to Hutton ’s memoir .
“ He looked refulgent . One minute he was a boy with a gaunt , sad little face and the next he was a picture of ecstasy , ” Hutton wrote . “ Freddie ’s whole face go back to everything it had been before . He looked finally and totally at heartsease . Seeing him like that made me happy in my unhappiness . I felt an overwhelming sense of succor . I have it away that he was no longer in pain .
The Isaac Merrit Singer was ever a stickler for privacy . And Freddie Mercury ’s destruction was no exclusion . He asked for a low funeral and for Austin to meet his ash and part of his estate . She has never revealed where he ask his ash to go .
After learning about how Freddie Mercury pass away , see thesephotos of Freddie Mercurythat show his larger - than - life life history . Then , take a look at 67revealing pictures of celebrities before they were celebrated .
