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Freddie Mercury Quotes: The Legendary

Queen Singer, In His Own Words
Offering insight into the life of one of rock’s greatest singers, these Freddie
Mercury quotes reveal the unflinchingly honest man behind the songs.
Published on
 September 23, 2019
By
 Martin Chilton 

Photo: Peter Röshler © Mercury Songs Ltd


 

Freddie Mercury, universally recognised as one of the greatest performers in the

history of rock music, lived up to his promise that he was going to become “a legend”.
His action-packed life took in being an art student, triumphs as the lead vocalist
of Queen and a spell as a successful solo singer and songwriter in the 80s. As
a new edition of the book Freddie Mercury: A Life, In His Own Words (compiled and
edited by Greg Brooks and Simon Lupton, with Adam Unger) is published by Mercury
Songs, we look at his remarkable life through some of the most memorable Freddie
Mercury quotes.
Listen to the best Freddie Mercury songs on Apple Music and Spotify.
On childhood
Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara, on 5 September 1946, in Zanzibar, which
was then part of the Commonwealth and is now part of Tanzania. His father, Bomi, was
working for the government as a civil servant.

“My parents were very strict. They thought boarding school would do me good. So,
when I was about seven, I was put in one in India for a while,” recalled Mercury. “That
background helped me a lot, because it taught me to fend for myself from a very early
age, and to be responsible. It was an upheaval of an upbringing, which seems to have
worked, I guess.”

Freddie’s mother, Jer Bulsara, made sure he took piano lessons during his time at St
Peter’s School near Bombay.

Going to art school

In 1964, Mercury and his family fled Zanzibar to escape violence and moved to
Feltham, in Middlesex. When he was 20, Mercury started an art and graphic design
diploma.

“I went to Ealing Art School, in London, the year after Pete Townshend left. Music
was a sideline to everything we did, and the school was a breeding ground for
musicians. I got my diploma and then I thought I’d chance it as a freelance artist. I did it
for a couple of months but then I thought, My God, I’ve done enough. The interest just
wasn’t there.”
After graduating in 1969, Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand
clothes in Kensington Market.

The early days of Queen

In April 1970, Mercury teamed up with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor to
become lead singer of their band Smile. Queen evolved from that, with John Deacon
joining in July 1971.

“I thought up the name Queen early on. It couldn’t have been King; it doesn’t have the
same ring or aura as Queen. It was a very regal name and it sounded splendid. It’s
strong, very universal, and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all
sorts of interpretations. I feel that the name Queen actually fitted that time. It lent itself to
a lot of things, like the theatre, and it was grand. It was very pompous, with all kinds of
connotations. It meant so much. It wasn’t just one precise label. I was certainly aware of
the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it.”

The ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ breakthrough

After three acclaimed albums – Queen (1973), Queen II and Sheer Heart
Attack (both 1974) – Queen became an international phenomenon with their 1975
album, A Night At The Opera, which contained the six-minute
masterpiece ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Mercury, who said he “almost rejected the
song”, said the single, which was released on 31 October that year, marked a turning
point.
“That was really when the Queen volcano erupted, when it suddenly just went bang!”
said Mercury. “That single sold over a million and a quarter copies in Britain alone,
which is outrageous. Imagine all those grandmothers grooving to it!”

Queen as video stars

As well as the famous video for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, Queen created some
memorable videos throughout the 70s and 80s, including the one for ‘I Want To Break
Free’, from the 1984 album The Works, in which they dressed as women in a
suburban house to parody the British television soap opera Coronation Street.
“That video shocked quite a lot of people, because they thought we didn’t have that fun
element,” said Mercury. “We got into our roles so easily. My God! I think that’s one of
our best videos to date. In fact, it still makes me chuckle every time I see it, and I’ve
seen it a lot of times. I’m glad we did it.”

Rocking the world at Live Aid

Queen’s Live Aid performance at Wembley Stadium, on 13 July 1985, has not only
gone down in history as the day’s show-stopping event, but one of the greatest live
concerts of all time. It was a significant achievement for the band.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m doing it out of pride,” said Mercury. “It’s something to be
proud of: that I’m actually in with all the ‘Biggies’ – all the biggest stars – and that I can
do something worthwhile. Yes, I’m proud more than anything.”

Unflinching honesty
Mercury said that when he was performing he was the ultimate “extrovert”, but revealed
that “inside I’m a completely different man”. He described himself as “The Great
Pretender”, admitting that he was “a very highly-strung person” with insecurities about
“the way my teeth protrude”. He joked that he was “rubbish” at adding up sums and that
science was a “useless” handyman. He loved watching films and listening to music
– and enjoyed being rich enough to employ his own gourmet chef – but said he hardly
ever read books “because I think that’s a waste of time”. He talked openly about his love
for longtime friend Mary Austin. “I open up to her more than anybody else. We have
gone through a lot of ups and downs in our time together, but that has made our
relationship all the stronger,” said the singer.
‘We Are The Champions’ was his version of ‘My Way’
Queen’s 1977 hit ‘We Are The Champions’ became one of the most successful rock
anthems of all time, and Mercury joked that it was his version of ‘My Way’.
“‘We Are The Champions is the most egotistical and arrogant song I’ve ever written,” he
said. “I was thinking about football when I wrote it. I wanted a participation song,
something the fans could latch on to. It was aimed at the masses. I wanted to write
something that everyone could sing along to, like a football chant. And at the same time,
I thought it would be nice to have a winning song that’s meant for everybody. It worked
a treat.”

On success as a solo artist

The 80s was another hugely successful decade for Queen – with hit albums
including A Kind Of Magic – and also marked the creative blossoming of Mercury as
a solo artist. In 1986, he released the album Mr Bad Guy.
“I was always keen to do a solo album. I just wanted it to be the right time and the right
place so that I could actually work properly on the songs that I wanted to do before I got
too old. I had a lot of ideas bursting to get out and there were a lot of musical territories I
wanted to explore which I really couldn’t do within Queen,” explained Mercury.

This was followed in 1988 by the album Barcelona, a collaboration with operatic

soprano Montserrat Caballé.
On death
Early in 1987, Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS; within five years he would be dead. In
the intervening years, he worked with passion and dedication in a frenzy of creativity
that would produce enough material for three Queen albums: 1989’s The Miracle,
1991’s Innuendo and Made In Heaven, released after the singer’s death.
Mercury, who was 45 when he died, on 24 November 1991, was always philosophical
about the end of life. “I don’t expect to make old bones, and what’s more I don’t really
care,” he said. “I certainly don’t have any aspirations to live to 70. It would be so boring.
I will be dead and gone long before that. I won’t be here… as far as I’m concerned, I’ve
lived a full life and if I’m dead tomorrow, I don’t give a damn. I’ve lived. I really have
done it all.”
His life inspired a hit biopic in 2018
After making more than $900 million at the global box office, the Queen
biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, starring the Oscar-winning Rami Malek, became the
highest-grossing music biopic of all time.
Mercury anticipated that his life would be turned into a movie. “I have visions of actually
having a film made of my life story, one day, which I would have a key part in,” said
Mercury. “I might not play the lead myself. My dears, the things I’ve done in my
lifetime… it’ll be totally triple-X-rated, I’ll tell you!”

The career-spanning Freddie Mercury box set, Never Boring, is out

now. Order it here.

FREDDIE MERCURYHOMEPAGE FEATUREDNEVER BORINGQUEENQUOTESROCKROCK

LEGENDSROCK LEGENDS FEATURED

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