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Freddie Mercury

Author: Peter Freestone
Publisher: Omnibus Press
Category: Book

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

17 reviews
Sales Rank: 11356

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.9

ISBN: 0711986746
Dewey Decimal Number: 790
UPC: 752187482901
EAN: 9780711986749
ASIN: 0711986746

Publication Date: November 1, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Amazon UK

Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - Freddie Mercury
•	Paperback - Freddie Mercury: An Intimate Memoir by the Man Who Knew Him Best
•	Paperback - Freddie Mercury: The Real Life
•	Unknown Binding - Freddie Mercury: The Afterlife

Similar Items:

•	Mercury and Me
•	The Mercury Man: Freddie Mercury in My Life
•	Queen: Complete Works
•	The Complete Guide to the Music of "Queen" (Complete Guide to the Music of)
•	The Show Must Go on: Life of Freddie Mercury

Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...

2 out of 5 stars

Disappointed March 25, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful

I'm not a Queen fan but I bought this book by "gluecklicher Zufall" - happy accident, after literally stumbling into Freddy's statue in Montreux Switzerland. The Swiss just don't do statues and I was really touched as people came up to kiss and touch this fantastic image of Freddy in what became his adopted city.

Two weeks later in Paris (sorry for blatant name-dropping) I saw the book and bought it immediately. I wanted to know "the real Freddy Mercury" and with wife and kids away I plonked myself down eagerly looking forward to reading this "intimate memoir by the man who knew him best" (Cover page).

Oh dear. A great disappointment.

I found out about lots Freddy's taste in curtains, linens and bathroom fixtures, but precious little I didn't already know about the man. No dirt, no sleaze - not an issue for me, but I just didn't feel I knew this man any better even after 250 pages. It was just mundane and superficial anecdotes. Memorable tales? No.

Sorry Queen fans, there must be better biographies on the market.
But I would say to you - go to Montreux if you've not already been and see how the Swiss have have commemorated this great musician and entertainer. I think you'll enjoy your trip.

1 out of 5 stars

A fake story fron fake friend November 7, 2007
0 out of 5 found this review helpful

This man was officially presented as Freddie close friend. But really he is a servant who made himself famous spreading dirty stories about Freddie private life. And everybody believe in it because his lie officially supported by Queen Productions, Queen official fan club and Queen manager Jim Beach. This man is a total liar, his stories - a total fiction, his photos - cheap fake. The people who worked with photoshop laughed hysterically when they saw this kids created photos with "Freddie and his loves".
So, it's taken from this book.

...this lady arrived in the early part of the concert days with the intention of orally catering of the physical needs of as many people as possible involved in the show. It goes without saying that Freddie had admiration for this woman's severance, technique and capacity!

So, teenagers can buy it! Shame.

4 out of 5 stars

Life Behind The Keyhole. April 20, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

As a card carrying member of the Queen Fan Club, circa 1977, I was really looking forward to reading this. It wasn`t bad, but some of the detail regarding Freddie`s house furnishings was downright dull. I wasn`t really sure whether it was written by the house-keeper of an outrageous rock star or Lloyd Grossman. There is absolutely no scandal or tittle-tattle, and believe me, I was looking forward to tittle-tattle. Freestone mentions how Freddie`s ex-manager had hurt him without going into any detail, I read later that he had sold stories to the press. The book has it`s really good moments such as describing Christmas and New Year at Garden Lodge, and the last years of Freddie`s life. The final times are really poignant. It is obvious the author cared deeply for his subject, and in some ways life at Freddie`s place was like a gay Gracelands. Everyone did their duty whether it was feeding the cats or cooking the dinner. Freddie had nothing to do except be Freddie. And he never got doing that for anywhere near long enough.In the end, the greatest rock star ever seen just faded away because of that awful disease. Interestingly, Freestone makes no reference to his own sexuality, we are unaware whether he is gay, straight or bi. What amazed me was the apparent lack of contact between Queen`s lead singer and the other members of the group. There are some good pictures, although everyone looks the same, short hair and black moustache. It was hard to spot Fred. The most disturbing photo showed a bunch of happy men, all wearing hats, all in the prime of life and all mugging for the camera. It was possible to draw a line through the group to connect Freddie, his ex-manager and one of Freddie`s ex-lovers, and realise they were now all dead. Tragic.

5 out of 5 stars

Freddie Mercury The AfterLife by David Evans and Peter Freestone. March 3, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I wrote this because all the other reviews seemed to be about the first book and not this second book, so I thought this second book, Freddie Mercury The Afterlife, needed an actual review, so here goes: The front cover is a lovely, sweet picture of Freddie and Miko, the back cover is a portion of the final arrangements made for Freddie. I wasn't expecting to see that and it made me very sad even though I know he has been gone 16 years now. This second book takes up where the first one left off and is a description of Peter (Phoebe) Freestone's life since Freddie's passing. He talks about the various things he has been doing throughout the years. Peter mentions what the people talked about in the first book are doing as of 2003. There are some pictures I hadn't seen before within the book. Peter describes a visit he paid to Garden Lodge in 2003, where he met with Mary Austin and got to see Delilah again. He discusses some of the many books which have been written about Freddie and what he thinks of them. I only mentioned some things, the book contains much more than what I mention. David Evans speaks in it too and there's even Recipes of the different foods that would be made for Freddie.
Personally, it helped me to read this second book because it cleared up some confusion I had about some things written in the first book and too, even if it is silly on my part, it was nice to learn that Peter was okay, I had wondered since reading the first book.

3 out of 5 stars

Can't make up my mind June 11, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

This was the first book about Freddie (and generally Queen) that I'd read (I have more now haha), and to be honest when I first read it I idolised it. Now, thinking back on it, it's not all that impressive.

Freestone seems to drone on and on about the tours and doesn't really pick up on anything particularly interesting whilst doing so. It's a bit of a case of "They dressed up, they performed, then Freddie and I (best chums that we were) went out clubbing". It just all got a bit repetitive for my liking, and incredibly confusing in others. I ended up finding it very difficult to distinguish between the characters mentioned in the book, and although I did find some parts genuinely interesting; I found Freestone's style incredibly boring. There didn't seem to be much passion in the book. Yes, I did cry upon reading the end because it is a genuine tragedy no matter who has written about it - but generally the book was a disappointment.