Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender imagine...

We knew and loved him as the flamboyant frontman

of one of Britain's biggest ever rock bands,

but Freddie Mercury's private life

was very different to his self-invented public persona.

You're about to see director Rhys Thomas' touching portrait

of Freddie's life and music outside of Queen,

which is rarely celebrated or explored.

The story begins in 1985 after Queen have triumphed at Live Aid

and explores Mercury's personal life,

someone who never came out as a gay man until the day he died,

and Freddie's creative life,

his determination to establish an identity as a solo artist without the band.

We follow Freddie's solo career,

through some unexpected collaborations,

which includes Michael Jackson, and ends, triumphantly,

with the opera singer Montserrat Caballe and Barcelona.

Using rare and sometimes unseen interviews,

what we discovered is the nearest we'll get to the real Freddie Mercury -

a shy man in search of love,

and a driven artist living behind the protection of his stage persona.

This programme contains some strong language

# I want to break free... #

You sing it.

CROWD: # I want to break free

# I want to break free from your lies

# You're so self-satisfied I don't need you

# I want to break free

# God knows... #

Queen have been together 13 years or so and you want to do different things.

I wanted to write a batch of songs that actually came out under the name Freddie Mercury.

# I want to break free

# I've got to break free... #

So ask me about my solo album, then, huh.

-Yeah, what about your solo album?

-Oh, it's great.

# Dee doh day day # Dee doh day day

-Do you miss the rest of the guys?

-Not at all.

He was always pushing boundaries, changing tack. Keep them guessing.

I'm going into opera, you know. Forget rock 'n' roll.

# Barcelona!

# Such a beautiful horizon... #

In his mind, he had to create the best music he could for Barcelona,

because it might be the last thing that he was ever involved in.

I was extremely promiscuous.

I thought sex was a very important thing to me,

so I lived for sex and everything.

In those days, since there was no treatment, a lot of people chose not to get tested.

They didn't want to know.

And Freddie was one of them.

You think, "No, it can't happen to our mate. It can't happen to Freddie."

# Still around. #

# Ay oh! #

Why haven't you done any interviews in the past few years?

-Cos I hate them.

-Why?

I hate talking to people I don't really know.

# Ay, oh! #

People do get the wrong impression of me because...

It's the media, basically, built me up being a real ogre

and a tyrant on stage because of the way I come across.

# Ay oh

CROWD: # Ay oh

# Ay oh

# Ay oh

# Ay oh oh oh oh oh

# Ay oh oh oh oh oh

-# Ay oh

-# Ay oh

-# Ay oh

-# Ay oh

-# Ay oh

-# Ay oh

# A-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y oh

# A-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y oh

-# Ay oh

-# Ay oh

-# Ay oh

-# Ay oh

# Dee doddy doddy doddy doddy oh

# Dee doddy doddy doddy doddy oh

-# Day doh

-# Day doh

-# Day doh

-# Day doh. #

All right!

'That's the only part they see of me.'

I don't talk to everybody,

so they don't really know the real me, and I don't think anybody will.

I was put in an environment where I had to, sort of, fend for myself at a very early age.

-Your birthplace is Zanzibar?

-Yes, that's right.

When I was about seven, I was put in boarding school in India,

so I went from Zanzibar to India for a while and then came back to England.

A very...upheaval of an upbringing.

Freddie had whatever you were taught in the choir at school

and that was it. That was his vocal training,

everything else came from within him.

I went through art college.

I was going to be a graphics illustrator, you know?

Obviously, I mean, I can paint and do that,

but when I was going through college,

I was very interested in music,

so I joined other bands, and I got to know Brian and Roger.

And then I realised that through college I spent more time rehearsing

our songs and things than doing the other thing,

and I just said, "Look, I'm going to try and make money out of this,

"or make a life out of it."

I remember we were in our management offices and Fred just says,

"Oh, by the way, I'm changing my name.

And we said, "Really? What to?"

"I'm going to be Freddie Mercury."

# Fear me, you lords and lady preachers... #

He created this umbrella which was like Queen music,

and underneath that, you could pretty much do anything you wanted.

We all do different things. They'll leave me to just the wardrobe I guess.

THEY LAUGH

They'll leave me to the wardrobe and writing the hits.

Oh!

# She's a killer Queen

# Gunpowder, gelatine... #

I think when we found we had our first number one in England,

that was very nice.

# He's just a poor boy from a poor family

# Spare him his life from this monstrosity... #

We were checking in to a hotel and we realised that Bohemian Rhapsody had gone to number one.

# Bismilla!

# No, we will not let you go... #

The four of us were in a lift jumping up and down and the fucking lift stopped.

So there we were, thought,

"My God! Here's the number one group in England, going to suffocate in this damn lift."

# Find me somebody to love

# Find me somebody to love

# Find me somebody to love... #

People can't put us into one category.

There's a lot of ingredients that make up Queen and you can't put your finger on it, really.

# No time for losers cos we are the champions

# Oh, burning through the sky, yeah!

# 200 degrees - that's why they call me Mr Fahrenheit

# Travelling at the speed of light

# I want to make a supersonic man out of you

# Crazy little thing called love... #

Now what happens when one of them writes a song that...

-If I don't like it...

-Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

Well, I'm not going to say, "Yes, the song's good," if it's not good.

-And they come and tell you that?

-Of course. Of course they do.

-And I tell them to fuck off.

-THEY LAUGH

# Another party's over

# And I'm left cold sober

# My baby left me for somebody new... #

'Well, I don't think the music industry, generally, understood Freddie.'

He was always pushing boundaries, you know, changing, changing tack.

Keep them guessing and keep the public interested.

# Wanna be intoxicated with that special brew... #

When I first met him,

he was this guy who was already a bit of a rock star,

but poised to be a major rock star.

And the Liza Minnelli Cabaret soundtrack's playing in the house,

and there's cats everywhere, so I thought,

"It, kind of, doesn't compute!"

I'd always known him as someone

whose personal interests were beyond rock.

My interests are in what's going on now and so it's, kind of, research.

So I go to the ballet,

I go to all the musicals to find out what's happening.

I want to do interesting things and things I haven't done before.

I knew Sir Joseph Lockwood, who was the chairman for EMI, quite well,

and, as he was also the chairman for the Royal Ballet,

he and Freddie took to each other like ducks to water, it was amazing.

I think Freddie had a general interest in the ballet,

but Sir Joseph really got him fired up.

He was fascinated by the scale.

I mean, it's quite epic,

and everything about Freddie's performance was epic.

In 1979, he said to me,

"You've got to come to the Coliseum.

"I'm performing with the Royal Ballet."

They asked me.

They actually thought I could dance,

so they actually asked me to do a charity concert,

and then I realised how I couldn't dance.

# Mama, just killed a man

# Put a gun against his head

# Pulled my trigger, now he's dead

# Mama, life had just begun

# But now... #

This included that moment when he had his jump,

where he just goes whoosh.

-# Momma, ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh

-(Any way the wind blows)

# I don't want to die

# I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all... #

He disappeared behind a wall of dancers,

and about 20 seconds later, they just sort of lifted him up

and there he was, wearing a silver sequin outfit.

# So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?

# So you think you can love me and leave me to die?

# Oh, baby

# Can't do this to me, baby

# Just gotta get out

# Just gotta get right outta here...#

As a ballet dancer, I'd be terrible.

-INTERVIEWER CHUCKLES

-But I can kick my legs up real high.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

In the early '80s,

he was living very much in the gay circle in New York.

He bought a beautiful apartment on about the 52nd floor

of 52nd Street, actually, East 52nd Street,

looking over the bridge there,

And he was really living it up.

He was in the bars every night.

He loved Donna Summer,

and that's where, sort of, musical influence came from.

We got more publicity from him growing a moustache

than we would have done if he'd committed suicide, I think.

It was the height of gay hedonism,

and I think Freddie lived that life outside of England,

where he could be a bit more anonymous and,

you know, he wasn't the only one doing it.

Everybody was taking drugs, so the combination of all those things,

and the massive success...

Well, you know, you start to think you can do anything,

and lead any kind of life without any consequences.

# Love kills

# Drills you through your heart

# Love kills

# Scars you from the start

# It's just a living pastime

# Ruling your heartline

# Stay for a lifetime

# Won't let you go

# Cos love, love

# Love won't leave you alone... #

I like to try different things every time.

I'm more in to the black kind of thing, I like more the disco.

That's why on Hot Space, we went off on a limb,

and I said, "Let's just do some of this black stuff,"

that I liked, and I sort of forced the other three to do it.

They hate me for it now cos it didn't sell that much.

# Staying power... #

Freddie's particularly looking for a certain sound

which sounds good in a certain kind of club.

It was actually quite painful for me to record,

because it was very intense,

and it led to some very inspired moments,

but it also led to some conflicts, which were difficult.

We still fight like kids.

-Every time I'm in the same room with Brian, within five minutes we sort of...

-Sparks fly?

Yeah. I haven't hit him yet...

-..but there's still time!

-I was just thinking...!

When I got involved with the band,

one of the first things Freddie said,

"Well, we need to have a personal, a personal."

I said, "What's a personal?"

So I figured out that they needed somebody that's a kind of runner, general dogsbody,

somebody that I could relate to, so I knew Paul Prenter and I hired him.

Paul Prenter was an important part of Freddie's life.

He showed Freddie what he could do,

and what was available in the nightclubs,

you know, in the club scene.

# Let me show it to you... #

And there was disrupting creative moments

where something would be actually working,

and he would sort of pace up and down the control room,

looking at the watch and, you know,

it's like 7 o'clock, oh, it's 8 o'clock, it's club time.

He was scoring guys and scoring coke,

and scoring opportunities to get debauchery happening.

You know, less said about him the better, you know.

# Staying power... #

I saw him as a very subversive influence in the worst possible sense.

I don't see Queen touring when they're in their 60s.

I won't be with them if they are.

I hope that I'm sleeping, you know.

What Paul Prenter was to Freddie was his partner in crime.

If there was criticism of him he didn't attempt to, say,

curtail or, sort of, just dampen things down at various times,

and that would have helped a lot.

The band, sort of, rejected Paul Prenter,

and so Paul Prenter wanted to take Freddie away from the band, I suppose,

and, to a degree, he did.

Freddie took him on his own payroll when the band disagreed

and didn't want him around any more,

because they didn't think he was a good influence.

When we toured America that last time,

as it turned out to be the last time,

he was the guy who answered the phone.

So radio stations would phone up and he would be the intermediary,

and he was telling everybody that Freddie wasn't interested.

"Freddie says, 'Fuck off,'" or whatever, you know,

which really wasn't true most of the time, as far I know.

But, you know, we know now because that information has come back to us.

So, basically, this one person, who was a sort of personal assistant,

managed to piss off the whole of America.

Being a world-famous rock star,

does this make it more difficult for you to actually keep a friendship going?

Yes. Yes, because I think it's harder for other people

to try and understand me as a normal person.

There must be times when you do need to turn to someone.

I don't have that many people to turn to.

The only one, if you're talking about it, is Mary,

who's, you know, a long...

You know, she's been a girlfriend of mine from a long time,

and even though we're not together right now,

I, sort of, refer to her a lot.

When I met him, he was living with Mary, and the cats, and Liza,

and I think the most difficult thing for him was to not hurt Mary.

I wasn't around when, you know, they had the talk,

but he was very conscious of not embarrassing her,

or putting her in any difficult positions.

Mary's gone through just about everything.

She's about the only person I can think about.

Otherwise I just... I fend for myself and I come... I just...

You know, I cross my hurdles in my own way.

# Can...

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Can you find me

# Somebody?

# Somebody... #

I'm sure there comes a time when you want to share your life with someone.

Yes, but nobody wants to share their life with me.

# Somebody... #

'The more I open up, the more I get hurt.'

So I mean, you know, basically what happens is, you know,

I'm just riddled with scars, and I just don't want any more.

# ..body to love

# Can you find me

# Somebody to love? #

It's not easy living with me.

In one way, I think, I think...the more mishaps I have,

the better the songs are going to be, you know.

'Once I find somebody,

'I mean, I can find a long-lasting relationship,

'bang goes all the research for wonderful songs.'

At the moment, you know, I'm sort of living on past mishaps.

And... Well, having said that...

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what's in store for me.

# Oh, oh!

# Somebody to love. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Action.

Well, action, Freddie. You have certainly been in action.

We've come to expect the unexpected from you Freddie,

and you've certainly done it this time - a solo project, a solo album.

And a new haircut.

Well, I think we decided we needed a break,

but I think it was fuelled by Freddie wanting, you know,

having a bit of an itch to do something on his own.

Is it like starting a new career?

Um, not really, no, no, because to start a career

I mean, you have to sort of go through all the pitfalls.

No, it's just, it's just a sort of bit on the side.

He made it very plain that wasn't a question of leaving Queen or anything like that.

It was just something he wanted to do and get done.

He also, typically, Freddie, I think,

wanted to see how much money he could make out of it as well.

It's a track called Mr Bad Guy and that's what the album's called, so I'm happy with that.

-Why is it called Mr Bad Guy?

-Because it's me.

# I'm Mr Bad Guy

# Yes, I'm everybody's Mr Bad Guy... #

Do you miss the rest of the guys?

No.

# I'm Mr Mercury

# Whoa, oh

# Spread your wings and fly away with me... #

'He liked being in Munich and being away from it all.'

He said once, "This is so wonderful, I can eat sausage on the street.

"Nobody bothers me and I'm totally happy.

"I can be a person just like anybody else."

Not that he would like that too much, but still!

What do you think from your stay in Munich?

I've learnt a lot.

All I know is all the swear words, like bloder Hund and bloder Affe,

leck mich am Arsch. That means "lick my arse".

He took a liking to how we lived together as a family,

which might have been what he had wished for when he was younger,

because he was shipped off to school and, you know,

he wasn't really all that close with his parents for a lot of time.

Who plays on the album, are there any sort of surprise guests?

Yeah, me.

And Michael Jackson was going to do a song, cos I've worked with him before.

He used to just come and see our shows, at the Forum in LA.

I guess he likes us and so I got to meet him

and he kept coming to see us, and then we started talking.

Michael suggested they might record something together,

so Freddie went up to Michael's studio

and they started working on a couple of tracks.

# There must be more to life than this

JACKSON: # There must be more to life than this

-BOTH:

-# How do we cope in a world without love?

# There must be more to life than this... #

They got on well,

except for the fact that I suddenly got a call from Freddie saying,

"Miami, dear, can you get on over here, because you've got to get me out of this studio."

I said, "Well, what is the problem?"

He said, "I'm recording with a llama.

He said, "Michael's bringing his pet llama into the studio every day,

"and I'm really not used to recording with a llama,

"and I've had enough and I want to get out.

I think one of the tracks would have been on the Thriller album, if I'd finished it.

But, um, I missed out.

# I was born to love you... #

By the time I actually got in to recording I found I was doing it all myself.

Then I turned the other way and said, "I want to do it completely myself."

# Yes, I was born to take care of you... #

'I don't like to write message songs.

'I'm not like a John Lennon or a Stevie Wonder.'

I'm in to writing songs about what I feel about.

And, basically, what I feel very strongly about is love and emotion,

and I think my solo album is filled with that.

# I want to love you

# I love every little thing about you

# I want to love you, love you, love you... #

'Michael Jackson had just finished the Thriller album and it had sold 25 million copies,'

and CBS were very much awash with money,

so I approached Walter Yetnikoff in New York,

and proposed a deal which Walter accepted.

# I was born to take care of you... #

It's actually, I think, the worst deal he ever did.

CBS - cock, bollocks and satisfaction.

He underestimated the workload.

When Michael Jackson has three or four number ones,

there's probably 60 songwriters and 900 songs involved,

and he was just doing everything himself.

# Fooling around with me # You keep foolin'

# You keep foolin'... #

I would love my album to be better than the last Queen album,

because that will set a precedent and then the next Queen album -

we're going to say, "It had better be better than Freddie Mercury's solo album."

I was in Munich for a playback of the Mr Bad Guy album,

and we were all sitting there in Musicland Studios.

It was a strange playback cos I could tell that Freddie was slightly bored

and not really listening to it,

and we were halfway through the album and he suddenly said,

"Switch it off, switch it off. I want to play you something else."

And he put on this opera singer singing.

And he said, "That's the most beautiful voice in the world."

MONTSERRAT CABALLE SINGING

Freddie had some of the best ears in the business so maybe he sat there,

at that early stage, thinking, "This is not going to work."

Maybe that's why he interrupted playback,

because he was moving on, I think already,

sitting in the studios in Munich,

aware that maybe he'd produced an album which wasn't his greatest work.

Out of the songs you've put on this album, Freddie,

which one do you find the most rewarding personally?

Oh, I don't know, the one that sells the most.

Unfortunately, the album didn't sell and so,

from CBS's point of view, it was their worst deal, financially,

because they paid a lot of money for it.

Freddie always said, "Money's great. It tells me that I'm successful.

"It tells me that people like my work."

Well, this must have been very odd for him, because he had a lot of money, which was the advance,

but it wasn't real money because the record wasn't selling.

Freddie didn't like failure.

And this album was a failure.

And the fact it was a failure meant that he moved on.

Instantly.

So you will be working with Queen again?

Oh, yes, definitely.

-Even if...

-Otherwise, I'm going to be car mechanic, dear.

He came back slightly with, I think, his tail between his legs, really.

The next project will be a Queen album.

-When will it be?

-Soon I hope, soon.

If we're still talking to each other, that is.

OK, thanks a lot. Just cut there.

# Buddy, you're a boy Make a big noise

# Playin' in the street Gonna be a big man some day

# Mud on your face Big disgrace

# Kicking your can all over the place... # Sing it!

CROWD: # We will, we will rock you! #

Yeah, do it!

# We will, we will rock you! #

I like it! Sing it again!

# We will, we will rock you! #

One more time!

'How does it affect you when you know that you've won an audience?

'I always win an audience.'

So how are you affected, then, every night you play to a crowd that big?

Actually, no, that's, that's, that's part of my role.

I have to win them over, otherwise it's not a successful gig, you know?

It's my job to make sure that I win them over

and make them feel that they've had a good time.

He was just a natural at communicating with the whole audience.

An amazing thing to watch, actually.

HE SCATS

'On stage, you give this impression that you're quite a formidable individual, Freddie.'

I am.

-# Another one bites the dust, yeah!

-Another one bites the dust... #

I'm very frivolous and I like to enjoy myself.

And what better way to do it than on stage in front of something like 300,000 people?

'And, you know, I just cook.'

-Yeah, yeah!

-Yeah, yeah!

-Yeah, yeah!

-Yeah, yeah!

-Yeah, yeah!

-Yeah, yeah!

-Yeah, yeah!

-Yeah, yeah!

# Another one bites the dust

# Another one bites the dust

# All right!

# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! #

-Yes!

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

'The thing about Freddie was that he was so flamboyant on stage,

'you know, he was like a hurricane.'

Before that, he was quiet and quite shy,

and he was always very cautious with new people.

He was definitely two characters, two people.

Everybody looks at me on stage and they think that's how I am,

like arrogant and, you know, that's the way I am.

And when you look at me now, you know, I'm quite boring, really!

A lot of people think that you are reclusive.

I am a bit, actually, yes, yes.

-Are you?

-But not in a Greta Garbo way. It's not alone-alone.

I like to be alone with my friends and shut myself off, yes.

I'd hate to be on a desert island.

I'm petrified of being alone.

I'm very happy with my relationship at the moment,

and I couldn't ask for better.

I've finally found a niche that I was looking for all my life.

Well, we first met accidentally, I suppose, in a club.

He offered to buy me a drink and I told him to sling...

sling his hook, basically.

-Did you know it was Freddie Mercury?

-I didn't know who he was, no.

-Really?

-Total absolute stranger to me, yeah.

-So then what happened after that?

I think some months after that, I was out in a restaurant,

a friend I was with just happened to mention,

"Oh, guess who's behind you." I said, "Who?"

"Freddie Mercury again."

I didn't see Freddie again for, ooh, gosh, I think about 18 months,

and I bumped in to him in a club.

-And that was it, was it?

-And that was it.

Same routine again - "Let me buy you a drink."

What was he like in real life? What was he like off-stage?

He was quiet, very reserved.

Just plain, ordinary Joe Bloggs on the street, really.

I'm not scared of doing what I want to do.

Before, I'd sort of hide in my...

So, like, when I went out, I had to sort of try

and perform a little as well and, like, in not letting them down,

cos Freddie Mercury - I don't know what it means -

but he had to react in a certain way, what the press had told people.

And a lot of the times I used to do that,

so that I was actually living, in a way, living a false image of myself.

# Guilt stains on my pillow... #

# Blood on my... #

That party in Munich was really something else,

but it did feel at the time it was like the last hurrah.

It felt as though those decadent days were,

if not over, winding down.

And it was kind of like Freddie saying goodbye

to that old hedonistic lifestyle.

# Success is my breathing space

# I brought it on myself... #

Freddie was tiring of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle I think.

# I can take it or leave it

# Loneliness is my... #

It was kind of like the last days of Berlin.

That was Freddie's last hurrah.

# Is this the world we created?

# We made it on our own

# Is this the world we devastated right to the bone? #

'I know there'll be a time where I can't run around on stage'

because it'll be ridiculous, you know.

I mean, I know when there comes a time when you have to stop.

# To the world that he created. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I remember the very last gig in Knebworth.

Freddie said, "Look, I can't fucking do this anymore."

You'll have to bleep me again, won't you?!

It's very hard to quote Freddie without swearing.

It was just part of his vocabulary.

He said, "I can't do this any more. You have to understand,"

and we thought, "Oh, that's just Freddie being Fred," you know.

He was quoted as saying that he can't do this forever,

that there are going to be different phases to his career,

because rock 'n' roll is a young man's game,

and when he's going to be middle-aged,

he's going to have to do other things.

You might not have the physical fitness to run around on stage,

but you can still write songs.

So one way or another, the music side is always going to be my life.

# I don't want my freedom... #

So the rest of the guys have houses in LA - I assume you mean the other members of Queen.

-Yeah, who did you think I meant?

-What are their names again? I'm sorry.

-Stop that shit! There's Brian, Roger and John.

-Roger and John. Yes.

I sometimes forget them, too, you know.

-But you don't really hang out with them or anything, do you?

-No.

# Ridi, Pagliaccio... #

They have very different characters and they like different things,

I like to go to ballet and opera and things. They don't like all that.

They just keep going to rock 'n' roll shows.

# ..pianto... #

He liked listening to Pavarotti's voice, just for the control,

for the, you know, the amount of training that that voice had had,

and just the sound that he was able to produce.

# ..t'avvelena

# Il cor. #

I said, "Look, why don't you hear him live?

He says, "OK, yeah, that's fine."

I got tickets. We were in the front of the Grand Tier...

..and Freddie was...

"I like that, he's good."

Act One, Scene Two, the soprano gets her bit in.

SHE SINGS IN ITALIAN

From the minute the voice started,

Freddie's jaw had just sort of fallen open.

He could not believe what he was hearing.

SHE SINGS IN ITALIAN

I was at Covent Garden, the Opera House,

for a recital by Montserrat Caballe.

SHE SING IN ITALIAN

And then out of the corner of my left eye, gesticulating, waving arms,

and I look over, and there in a box seat is Freddie.

And he's leaning up like that, and he's pointing at the stage,

and he's going...

He was just like a 12-year-old kid seeing the Beatles.

The grin on his face, he was just...

You know, he was just so up from that whole show.

He said, "Look, I have now heard the best voice in the world."

I think I've done enough with Queen.

I think maybe the time has come where I'm actually going to...

In terms of solo projects,

I mean, I did one solo project and...so it was an album,

but now I want it to be more than just an album,

so I think I'm actually thinking of actually trying to do a musical.

I first met Freddie Mercury at Abbey Road Studios in the mid '80s,

and it came about because I was musical director

on a musical called Time.

Dave Clark and I had worked on the album of Time,

which featured a wonderful selection of really great artists -

Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Cliff - and he told me one day,

"I think Freddie Mercury's going to do two tunes."

I said, "Well, that's fantastic."

I met Freddie. Well, this incredible force of nature hurtled through the door.

It was just this immense presence,

enthusiastic, keen...

Freddie Mercury, for goodness' sakes, you know.

He contacted me not long after that to say,

"Look, would you be interested in working on a solo album with me?"

That was agreed and he said,

"Well, before we do that,

"I've really always wanted to record a cover version,

"something I've never done in my own name,

and he said, "The song I want to do is The Great Pretender."

# Oh, yes, I'm the great pretender

# Ooh, ooh-ooh

# Pretending I'm doing well

# Ooh, ooh-ooh

# My need is such I pretend too much

# I'm lonely but no-one can tell... #

I wanted to do a cover version, you know, a long time ago,

and you can't do that with Queen, you know,

cos I mean, we just write our own sort of original material,

and I've always had that in the back of my head.

And this song was the one I always wanted to do.

# Ooh, ooh-ooh

# I seem to be what I'm not, you see... #

He thought it was appropriate cos he was a "pretender".

# I'm wearing my heart like a crown... #

He was certainly the great self-invention.

# Pretend that you're still... #

In Freddie, you had a shy person who lived with the protection of his persona.

Most of the stuff I do, it is pretending, it's like acting.

So you go on stage, I pretend to be a macho man and all that,

and then in my videos, you know, you go through all the different characters

and then you're pretending anyway.

# Yes, I'm the great pretender... #

So I think it's a great title for what I do

and it sort suited to what I was doing.

All this is a pretence, and it's just fun.

# Pretend that you're

# Still around. #

When we got to the end of The Great Pretender, I said,

"Fred, one thing we haven't thought about is a B side,"

and he said, "Look, I'll tell you what.

"Why don't you go and play some nice little classical thing on the piano?

"I'll warble over the top and we'll kind of figure something out."

It became the B side of The Great Pretender.

I was planning to do a solo project,

and I wanted it to have some kind of bearing, something different,

something different from another boring studio album.

I put the television on and there was the group,

and Freddie of all, and I said,

"What do you like more of Spain?"

And he was answering, "Montserrat Caballe."

She's the best. That's what I listen to.

I love very much Freddie,

but I was surprised he says that on television.

He said, "You'll never guess! I've had a phone call from Montserrat Caballe. She wants to meet us."

I said, "Well, she wants to meet YOU."

He said, "No, no, no. You're coming with me.

"We're going to Barcelona on Saturday."

He said, "I think we ought to take something to play her

"which might make her laugh and cut the ice a little bit."

He said, "Why don't we take this thing that we did?"

We built a full concert PA system,

and we laid out a lunch so that we could have lunch together,

the plan being that we'd all have a lovely lunch,

and then play her this song and say,

"This is the sort of thing we want to do."

We met here in the Hotel Ritz.

He was a little shy in the beginning to sing with me.

He was so nervous that instead of saying,

"How lovely to meet you. Would you like some lunch?"

and all the various plans that we had, he just blurted out,

"I've written a song for you. "Would you like to hear it?"

And I told him, "But you're sure you want to sing me?"

And he says, "Yes, I was dreaming of that all my life."

The only thing I ask him to have the score of Exercise In Free Love.

I'm saying, "Give it to me, the music,

"I will learn and, maybe from that, come something."

But I was tricking him,

because I wanted to sing that as a vocalise

in one of my recitals at the Royal Opera House.

Well, last night I mean,

she sang one of my songs at the Royal Opera House, so it's amazing.

I mean, I'm going in to opera, you know. Forget rock 'n' roll.

And we went after this to his home to have dinner,

and so we begin to, after the dinner, to work.

# Mi, mi amor

# Mi, mi amor

# Dee dee dah day

# Ee ee ah ay... #

She said things like,

"Only one song? Are you sure you only want to do one song?"

And I said, "Well, let's see how we get on, you know, if you like more of my music,"

and she said, "How many songs does a normal rock 'n' roll album have?"

And I said, "Something like ten." "Oh, we'll do ten songs, then."

And we knew we were away.

And then she went on to say,

"But the song I really want is about my home town.

"I want a song about Barcelona."

What drives you on?

At this very moment, it's Montserrat Caballe.

It's like a flippant gesture for me to start it off with,

and I really thought it would never come to any sort of fruition,

and when she accepted it, I was dumbfounded, so then I thought,

"My God, I'd better put my money where my mouth is!"

It's such a challenge, actually.

I've never thought of writing songs in that way.

Now she said she wants to do duets with me,

I have to sort of think in a totally different way.

I told him when we do an album,

it has to be an album of friendship,

and also of understanding musically, both.

Not like two worlds, everyone singing his way.

No. Two worlds come together.

# I had this perfect dream

# Un sueno me envolvio

# This dream was me and you

# Tal vez estas aqui

# I want all the world to see

# Un instinto me guiaba... #

I'm sure the opera critics will, you know, slam it and everything.

But I mean, this is something that...

It's a good challenge at this time in life, you know?

Pavarotti was saying, "That's bad, so bad. You're dumbing down opera."

# Barcelona!

# Such a beautiful horizon

# Barcelona!

# Like a jewel in the sun... #

The single, I thought, was fantastic.

You sometimes think, "Well, is he having us on?"

but it was so good musically,

and so intriguing,

wonderful melody and beautifully sung,

and Freddie matched Montserrat.

There's only ever really one Freddie who could do that kind of thing

and make that kind of record, and make it OK.

And I think the reason why it was OK is you've got this guy

standing in front of you going,

"It's all right, you're safe. You're with me.

"I know what I'm doing,

"Even though it's the most ridiculous thing in the entire world, it's OK."

# Barcelona! #

When Freddie decided to record his second album,

I went back to New York

and said to Walter that we'd come in to discuss the second album.

Well, the first album had sold about 130,000 copies

and CBS were reeling from the loss that they made on the first album.

So he sat there, he said,

"Well, I understand we've got to do a second album, so what is it?"

I said, "Well, it's a duet album."

And he said, "Oh, well, that sounds interesting.

"That's, that... Might get something in that. Duetting with who?"

And I said, "It's Montserrat Caballe. She's a Spanish opera singer,"

and he completely freaked. He said, "You have to be joking.

"You can't conceivably be delivering me an opera duet album as a second album,"

and, in the end, he paid us quite a substantial amount of money

to go away and deliver the album somewhere else, which is what we did.

I think one of the reasons that Freddie

put so much of himself into the Barcelona project

was the fact that he had just found out of his AIDS status.

He explained to me that, obviously,

he'd got some rather heavy news for me,

and, I suppose, like everybody's reaction,

it was just total disbelief.

"No, we must get someone else's opinion on this."

We talked a little about it, but then he just said,

"Look, these are the top AIDS specialists there are."

In terms of gay visibility back then,

you had some people like Jimmy Somerville,

people like that, who were quite political,

but there was something quite austere about them and sort of asexual,

OR you had gay people who were in the closet,

but Freddie, along with Elton,

was just quite flippant about his sexuality.

He didn't have a care in the world about it,

It was a really great kind of role model, I think.

He wasn't overtly sexual.

I mean, he was camp as anything, you know,

the most camp performer ever. He's got to be.

But I don't think there was ever anything sexual about it.

-Hello.

-Hello.

Frejjie, it's true that the song I Want To Break Free

is dedicated for the gay world?

No, not at all, not at all.

That song, to start off with,

that song was written by John Deacon, you know, and, well,

he's a very happily married man, you know, with about four children.

It's got nothing to do with the gay thing. In fact, it's not my song anyway. John wrote it.

I always feel terrible

when people are judged on their sexual behaviour in the '70s

from the perspective of today's knowledge because,

in fact, while we were going through the '70s,

it was assumed that there would be no consequences for whatever your sexual actions may be.

I was extremely promiscuous. It was excess in every direction.

I want everyone to get fucked all night, every day, just like I do.

He intentionally didn't get tested for several years.

Because in those days, since there was no treatment,

a lot of people chose not to get tested. They didn't want to know.

And Freddie was one of them.

I did this big interview with him in Ibiza, Pikes Hotel, Ibiza.

He had his friends round the swimming pool,

played a bit of tennis,

and it was sadly that day

when I realised something was wrong, that he might possibly have HIV.

And I brought this up in the interview,

and he was very, very honest.

Freddie, how has the AIDS thing affected you?

Well, I've stopped going out, whatever, and to be honest,

I tell you, I've almost become a nun.

I thought sex was a very important thing to me,

and I lived through sex and everything,

and now I've just gone completely the other way.

It's frightened me to death.

And I just, just... I-I-I have, um,

I've just stopped having sex, basically.

-Have you?

-Yes. I just like titillation now.

LAUGHTER

You know, I'm also an old bird now, dear.

One of these days in the studio

I saw two glasses of Champagne,

and I wanted to take one,

and he tells me, "Not this one, the other one."

I said, "I'm sorry, I not knew you have drunk out of this."

I wanted to make a kiss like we always have done - mwah, mwah - you know?

And he says, "No, don't kiss me any more."

And I thought, "You are angry?"

Because I don't understood.

And he says, "No, but, Montserrat - Montsi, he called me Montsi -

"Montsi, I am zero positive,

"and I don't want to make a kiss to you."

It was the beginning of this illness.

And, of course, I said, "But you look so good, you are so strong,

"and you sing so wonderful."

He says,

"Yes, but I know that it will come, one day, that I can't any more.

Freddie was incredibly loyal to his friends,

even in the case of Paul Prenter, Freddie supported him, basically.

He gave him money so that he could get his life together again.

But then he soon went back to Ireland,

once he'd sort of got on his feet again.

He disappeared back and that's where he sold the story.

When he betrayed him in the newspapers, that was it.

It was devastating, because I think it really was the first time

that Freddie had been publicly betrayed,

and that was a terrible shock.

If you entrust somebody with all your secrets,

and then they go and sell it to a newspaper for just £32,000...

I mean, it was just dreadful.

# When all the salt is taken from the sea

# I stand dethroned

# I'm naked and I bleed

# But when your finger points so savagely

# Is anybody there... #

One of the fascinating things about AIDS,

which is a fairly long death sentence,

is that it increases the creativity in artists.

Freddie was not alone in having an enormous burst of creativity towards the end of his life.

# How can I go on from day to day?

# Who can make me strong in every way? #

As a songwriter,

do you ever have a fear that your inspiration may dry up?

I don't wake up every morning and say, "Oh, look, have I dried up?"

# In this great big world of sadness... #

He's looking after me.

# How can I forget... #

When that happens, I'll, I'll...

It won't happen! That's all there is to it.

There you go. I don't think it'll ever happen.

I'll die first.

# They're lost and they're nowhere to be found... #

Every time I saw it, I see his adieu.

# How can I go on? #

He took the hand and I wanted to retain him.

He didn't want it.

It's significant, if you know,

every movement, every look,

everything.

In his mind, he had to create the best music he could for Barcelona

because it might be the last thing that he was ever involved in.

He absolutely immersed himself into this album, completely and utterly.

It was, for him, possibly the most important work he ever did.

# How can I go on? #

It was a huge success and it rode in on the back of Barcelona,

which was the big track...

..and it was a very successful album indeed.

As he looked back at his artistic life, of course he would be most proud of Queen,

Let's not pretend that he wasn't,

but, boy, would he be glad that he got this one in!

# I want it all

# I want it all

# I want it all

# And I want it now... #

After we took this long, sort of, holiday, doing our solo stuff,

we decided that we'd only come back together if we really wanted to,

and we felt that we really wanted to.

We just came in to the studio and things just evolved naturally,

straightaway, so we were hungry for it,

and it felt like the early days.

And that's why we got very, sort of, excited.

And out came a whole load of tracks.

# I want at all

# I want it all

# I want it all

# And I want it now

# I want it

# Now! #

In 1989, the doctors told him that you stop everything,

the cigarettes, the drink, everything.

"You stop and you will have a bit more life."

But they had also told us at that point,

"Be prepared that Freddie will not see Christmas."

We were working really flat-out on everybody's ideas,

and not being kind of possessive about things.

It was quite a liberation really.

Actually, we had some fantastic times

and we were a very close-knit group, like a family,

and we would work in the studio until,

really until Freddie got very tired.

Are we not even taking him?

'He was having radiation therapy, but he had to do that about 5.30,

'6 o'clock in the morning,'

because it had to be done at the hospital.

It could not be done at home,

But it had to be done when as few people as possible were around to see him going in there.

Yet he would still go home,

have a couple of hours' rest and go and make music.

When we did discover that Freddie had this terrible AIDS virus in his body,

there was still a disbelief in us.

You know, you think,

"No, it can't happen to our mate. It can't happen to Freddie,

"There's going to be some way out of this. He's going to be cured."

And right up to the last minute, I think it was,

we knew but we didn't know.

We sort of refused to know, if you like.

# It's all so beautiful

# Like a landscape painting in the sky

# Yeah!

# Mountains are zooming high

# Little girls scream and cry... #

The last time we met was approximately ten days before he died,

and he and I had a long meeting,

and I talked to him about preparing a press release,

which he didn't really want to talk about.

He said, "Well, whatever you want to do, dear. I don't mind,"

because what he wanted to talk about was his music, still,

because, even at that very late stage in his life,

the music was the one thing that brought him to life.

# Ooh, it's bliss. #

The music world has been paying tribute to Freddie Mercury,

the lead singer of the rock group Queen.

He died last night,

24 hours after confirming he was suffering from AIDS.

The night after he died,

I went to 1 Logan Place.

There were probably 100 people there

and people were just crying and comforting each other.

And Queen music was blasting out of the house,

but it was just the saddest, saddest, saddest thing.

Why did you want to come today?

Just to pay our last respects to him.

Just to show what sort of person he was,

a person that everyone loved and never hurt nobody.

Why have you come?

I can't answer any questions.

'Some say the greatest gift Freddie Mercury left behind

'was his public acknowledgment that he had AIDS.

'Just 24 hours before he died,

'he ended speculation about his health

'by issuing a statement saying he was HIV positive.'

I think the press had their final bit of sort of vitriol

against Freddie at that time, you know?

Which was amazing, you know, that we had some nasty reports, saying...

Some of them even saying that he, kind of, deserved to die

cos he had a promiscuous lifestyle, you know?

Quite unbelievable things people wrote.

So Roger and I went on television to just sort of set the record straight, really.

We do feel absolutely bound to stick up for him

cos he can't stick up for himself any more, so...you know?

But I think you can't defend anybody

in the context of having Paul Daniels sitting next to you.

Were you a fan of Queen and of Freddie Mercury?

Well, no, cos I wasn't a fan of any music,

I just put my head down,

I should imagine like you did into music,

I put my head down into magic.

What a dick.

Now that we're at the 25th anniversary of the Barcelona song,

it seemed the right moment to do

what I'm quite sure Freddie would have wanted to do,

had he had the balls at the time,

which was to do the album with full orchestra, and not with keyboards.

So, we are working with Stuart Morley who's our musical director

from We Will Rock You in London,

and he has gone back to the album and orchestrated it, faithfully,

for a full 80-piece orchestra.

And then we will put Freddie and Montserrat's voice

back on to that, and realise the album

that I think should have been there,

had we had the balls to do it at the time.

# Barcelona

# Barcelona... #

It turned out to be such a success

that it sold better after he died than before he died.

In 1992, the Olympics actually happened in Barcelona

and the song goes to number two.

# Viva... #

It succeeded in its great purpose,

but its great purpose was after Freddie had died.

# Barcelona! #

# A-a-a-a-ah! #

Freddie was a shy boy who, sort of, worried about his skin

and his teeth and, you know, how he looked and everything,

but he overcame everything to become that rock god.

# Made in heaven

# Made in heaven

# It was all meant to be... #

Do you think you're going to get to Heaven?

No. I don't want to.

-You don't want to?

-No. Hell's much better.

Look at the interesting people that you're going to meet down there.

You're going to be there, too, you know.

# It was really meant to be

# So plain to see

# Everybody, everybody... #

He really invented this persona

which he inhabited in public with his outrageous sort of showmanship,

et cetera, et cetera, but at the heart of it,

he was a brilliant, brilliant musician,

and I think that's what people forget about Freddie Mercury.

# Written in the stars... #

How would you like to be remembered?

Oh, I don't know. I don't really think about it, it's up to them.

When I'm dead, who cares?

I don't.

Go on. And again.

-CLICKS FINGERS

-# Yeah! #

HE HUMS

# Yeah!

# Yeah, yeah, yeah!

# Yeah! #

HE SCATS

Your album's been round the world, Freddie.

Have you anything to say to the stations in Australia?

I'm looking to actually outrage them with my new costumes.

Do you have a message for the stations in Brazil?

I just want them to have a carnival every time they listen to my songs.

A message for the stations in Japan?

Japan, you'd better watch out.

And do you have a message for the stations in Mexico?

-No.

-LAUGHTER

-Why not?

-Because I don't... I don't give a shit!

And, finally, the stations in Sweden?

Fuck everybody else, that's it.

You forgot Tibet.

Oh, fucking hell! Now, come on, that's enough.