(Ed: There are many factual inaccuracies in this article as might be expected, I started to put notes beside the errors but they were so many that I gave up!)
THE SUN NEWSPAPER 25/11/91
'FREDDIE IS DEAD'
Rock star Freddie Mercury is
dead - just two days after confirming he had AIDS.
The 45-Year old gay star's parents were at his
bedside as he slipped away late last night.
Showbiz stars were stunned after Freddie announced on
Saturday that he had the killer virus. DJ Tony Blackburn, who has lived next
door to him for five years said "All I can say is that I am very, very sad.
Former Sun columnist
and music expert Jonathan King said: "Everyone has suspected it for a long
while but we all hoped the rumours weren't true.
"Freddie was without doubt the most outrageous star that rock ever
produced. We could badly do with more like him now.
"On stage and record he could be stunningly tacky but do it with class and
style like no-one else."
Status Quo's Francis
Rossi said: "I'm shattered. I think we all feared it might be coming, but
when it does, well what can you say? It's sad."
American rock queen
Cher, whose backing group dancer Peter Tramm died from AIDS last week said:
"Oh my God. I'm devastated. It's such a huge shock."
TEARS
Bananarama
star Sara Dallin fought back tears and said: "I am devastated. He has
always been my favorite performer and I am very, very upset."
Freddie shied away
from all publicity in the past year.
Queen's last single "The Show Must Go On was almost an epitaph for the
singer.
A private cremation
is to be held later this week.
THE KING OF QUEEN
HE MADE BAND A SUPERGROUP WORTH
£100M
Freddie
Mercury was an outrageous, over-the-top character, extravagant and generous with
money - but he never forgot the time he lost it.
He was born on the isle of Zanzibar in 1946 and his early
childhood was spent in luxury at his partents mansion in Bombay, India during
the last days of the Raj.
Freddie and
his sister Kashmira were treated like royalty by their servants. But the
privileges vanished overnight for Freddie at the age of 14 when his father, Bomi
Bulsara, a British Governement accountant was transferred to England.
The family were forced to move into a semi-detached house in
Feltham, Middlesex.
Freddie vowed that one day he would have it all again.
He was an outsider from the beginning the butt of cruel jibes
because of his colonial accent and Persian origins.
He left school with three 0 levels in history, art and
geography, and an A-level in art.
SMILE
Defying
his parents, he went to Ealing College Of
Art in West London, which spawned rock greats such as The Who's Pete Townsend
and Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood.
It was there Freddie met two students who were to change his
life - guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Meddows Taylor.
Freddie was singing with two blues bands, Sour Milk Sea and
Wreckage, but left them to join May and Taylor's outfit, Smile.
In 1969 he graduated with a diploma in graphic art and design
and set up an art and fashion stall with Taylor in London's Kensington Market.
It gave them the excuse they needed to dress in the high-camp
clothes they loved and which Freddie became famous for.
When Smile broke up, Mercury formed a new band with May,
Taylor and a bassist called John Deacon.
Queen was born. Their first concert was at Hornsey town hall
in Essex in February 1971, in front of 300 people.
Queen first hit the charts with Seven Seas Of Rhye, which
reached No. 10 and the follow-up Killer Queen which made No 2 in 1974.
Freddie's inspiration brought the group their chart topper,
the operatic Bohemian Rhapsody.
His experience in graphic design was behind the video which
promoted the single and launched the pop video industry.
And it was Freddie who remained the driving force behind a
band which amassed a £100milion fortune.
Freddie himself made more than £25million.
A stream of hits followed including Crazy Little Thing Called
Love, Radio Ga Ga and I Want To Break Free.
But it was the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in 1985
which turned Queen into a supergroup.
Even Elton John admitted later that Freddie had stolen the
show with his exceptional ability to capture the crowd.
LEGEND
Freddie's
reputaion as one of rock's greatest showmen soared with the size and scale of
the group's spectacular concerts in huge stadiums around the world.
Freddie became increasingly wild and flamboyant and his
videos became more outrageous.
The fun didn't stop on or off-stage. Freddie was the
anything-goes host of a never-ending party.
Freddie boasted: "I'm simply dripping in money, darling.
It's vulgar but wonderful. All I want from life is to make lots of money and
spend it."
A shadow fell over Freddie's life when his former manager
Paul Prenter revealed that two of his ex-boyfriends had died from AIDS.
In 1989 Freddie had an AIDS test which proved negative but
concern for his health grew.
Colleagues insisted he was "as fit as a fiddle" but
he looked gaunt and frail. His weight plumeted from 12st to 9st.
Towards
the end, he was rarely spotted out in public.
To the public, the rare photographs of him outside his home
made him look a sad, haunted figure, no longer able to enjoy the lifestyle he
had craved.