Freddie Mercury: Lover of life, singer of songs

When I was about 13 years old growing up on the east coast of Australia I remember listening to a song called "Radio Ga Ga" and thought what a weird name for a song. And I also remembering listening to another song called "Another one bites the dust". These songs were of course sung by the iconic band Queen with front man Freddie Mercury as the vocalist. I used to love those 2 songs and would listen to them over and over again. Then as I got into my teenage years I started to listen to the popular bands of the day such Guns and Roses, Poison and Metallica as well as Australian rock bands such as Cold Chisel.

As I got older I didn't tend to listen to Queen much. I did know though that they were hugey popular band and that Freddie Mercury was a great entertainer particularly in front of large crowds.

I was 15 years old when Freddie Mercury died of AIDs. I do remember that AIDs was prominent in the news at the time with other famous people such as Rock Hudson and Anthony Perkins succumbing to the virus. Little was known about AIDs and HIV around the time of Freddie Mercury's death so it made news not just because this great singer was dead but because he died from a disease we didn't know much about.

Recently I watched a documentary on Queen called Days of our LIves. It gave me a new found appreciation of how good the band was and what a magnificent singer Freddie Mercury was. The doco tracked the bands history and their biggest hits such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We will rock you", "Another one bites the dust" "The show must go on" "Don't stop me now", "Crazy little thing called love", "We are the Champions"....so many great songs that continue to live on through radio play and bands covering their work.

The show told how Queen had their highs and lows with band members Brian May and Roger Taylor trying side projects for a while. Freddie himself also released a solo record without much success. There were fights in the studio and creative disagreement but Freddie Mercury's creative energy and talent could not be denied, he was the glue that kept Queen together.

Watching old videos of Freddie you can see how much he loved performing, especially at Wembley Stadium. He was a show man in every sense. Dancing, singing, strutting around on stage Freddie Mercury was the pentultimate performer. He loved his fans and they loved him.

The doco also outlined how private Freddie Mercury was off stage. He rarely gave interviews and enjoyed spending time in his garden in Kensington with his cats. Queen struggled at times and there were periods where record sales were low. But it was Live Aid in 1985 where Queen changed music forever. Queen's performance that day has been hailed by Bob Geldof, Elton John, David Bowie and Dave Grohl as the greatest live performance of all time.

Opening with Bohemian Rhapsody Freddie starts playing the piano and then hundreds of thousands of people at Wembley Stadium erupt. It is is truly one of the most mesmerising performances of not only a band but one of the great singers the world has seen.

From that Live Aid performance Queen and Freddie Mercury went on to tour for the last time in 1986 breaking numerous audience records around Eastern Europe. In 1988 they released the album The Miracle which gave them European hits "Break Thru" and the great song "I want it all".

It was around 1988 that Freddie Mercury appeared gaunt and ill. Rumours flew around but Freddie and band members denied anything was wrong. Over time Freddie Mercury's appearance deteriorated and the media swooped alleging he had AIDs. Freddie though, whilst suffering from the hideous HIV disease instructed his fellow Queen band members that although he had AIDs he wanted to keeping making music and singing. And so they did.

Freddie Mercury made some great music even when he was gravely ill. His appearance in videos such as "It's a Miracle" and especially "Days of our lives' show how sick he was. The song "I'm going slightly mad" seemed to tell the story of Freddie's battle with AIDs. But despite this he kept singing and making music.

On November 21 1991 Freddie Mercury unable to hide his illness any longer from the media and the public released a statement saying he was suffering from AIDs. No more than 24 hours later Freddie Mercury passed away at his home in Kensington.

Remaining members of Queen Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor continued to play and tour together with various other acts. The legacy of Queen cannot be understated. Hundreds of artists from Jeff Buckley, Foo Fighters to Nirvana have cited Queen and Freddie Mercury as a major influence of their music.

The memory of Freddie Mercury it seems will live on forever.