Late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury‘s ex-girlfriend and best friend Mary Austin shared some heartbreaking details about his final days and the months following his death with OK Magazine. A Freddie Mercury ‘cowboy’ plane video was also revealed.
Mary said the months after Freddie died from AIDS in November 1991 were “the loneliest and most difficult time of my life.”
Austin said, “I lost somebody who I thought was my eternal love.” She added, “When he died I felt we’d had a marriage. We’d lived our vows. We’d done it for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health.
“You could never have let go of Freddie unless he died – and even then it was difficult.”
She described Freddie’s last days as “distressing.” She said, “The quality of his life had changed so dramatically and he was in more pain every day.” She added, “He was losing his sight. His body became weaker as he suffered mild fits.
Freddie’s AIDS ‘makeup’ was revealed last week. Freddie Mercury Club wrote: On October 24th 1988, exactly 31 years ago, “The Golden Boy” was released as the second single from Barcelona.
Originally included in the 1988 album Barcelona, the song was released as a 45 rpm two weeks after its appearance in the main album, with another excerpt from the LP, “The Fallen Priest”, as the B-side. An instrumental version of the song was included in both the 12″ vinyl and the 5″ CD single releases. The single reached #83 in the UK Singles Chart.
The Golden Boy’s music video is footage of the artists’ performance at the open air “La Nit” festival in Barcelona on 8 October 1988 (Mercury’s last live performance before his illness got worse), where the song was performed along with ‘Barcelona’ and ‘How Can I Go On.’
This song also included lyrics from Rice and was recorded on 1 December 1987. The celebrity gospel choir featured Madeline Bell, Dennis Bishop, Lance Ellington, Miriam Stockley, Peter Straker, Mark Williamson, and Carol Woods.
P.S. This is one of my absolute favorite songs on the Barcelona album.
Freddie’s powerful voice hits you and grips you like a thunderbolt from the very first words he sings. And then Montserrat’s voice slides into Freddie’s and the two beautifully compliment each other.
I believe “The Golden Boy” in the song is Freddie himself who “had a way with words, he sang, he moved with grace” and of course “He entertained so naturally, no gesture out of place” and in the end he was “the master of his fate”…
I love how in the video they make a grand dramatic entrance holding hands and then Freddie slips his hand out of hers in his own adorable way…
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I still can’t get over the fact that this incredibly elegant gentleman with that wonderful operatic voice is our own flamboyant rock god…No one else could pull such an epic marriage of Rock and Opera and no one certainly ever will. A gaunt Freddie Mercury video was recently revealed.