16 July 2024
Marco Gandolfi
Queen star Brian May has recalled Freddie Mercury's bravery in the days leading up to his death.
The We Will Rock You singer passed away in 1991 at the age of 45 after contracting HIV and succumbing to bronchial pneumonia caused by the AIDS virus.
Despite knowing his end was nearing, the star refused to be down about his predicament, Brian, now 76, recalls.
Speaking to AXS TV last Thursday, the guitarist said, "We made the last album, the Made In Heaven album with the tracks that Freddie had left us to play with and it became a real labour of love because he left some lovely little bits and pieces.
"He was very undramatic about it. I never ever saw him cry or go you know self-pity. He never did that, he was like 'Let's just do it, let's keep doing stuff'. Freddy was always inspiring. If he was here now, we'd be doing what we always do I'm sure."
Brian also explained that he and fellow Queen member Roger Taylor almost quit the band permanently after Freddie's death.
He recalled, "We'd always said that if one of us goes, that's it. So Roger and I both went out kind of grieving to the max and saying it's over, we don't even want to talk about it for quite a long time."
Queen released 15 albums between 1973 and 1995 with seven of them, A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, The Game, A Kind of Magic, The Miracle, Innuendo and Made In Heaven, all hitting number 1 in the UK.
The band continues to tour with American singer Adam Lambert providing lead vocals and with their most recent show, The Rhapsody Tour, concluding in Japan in February this year.
