Dgoonforever

‘We thought he’d go on for ever’ To the world Freddie but how does Mercury his mother rememberwas Queen’s flambo him? Tim Teemanyant frontman, finds out SOUNDS SOUNDS Freddie Mercury at Wembley, scene of his band’s greatest triumph er and Bomi Bulsara went to on the outskirts of Nottingham looks a lot like her son.) In the corner so one rumour goes, dwarves serving press over the last two weeks, I wish am famous for my lack of interviews. Like her son, Jer rarely gives inter- most of Freddie Mercury’s con- where Jer now lives. It is called “Fred- there is a statuette commemorating cocaine) yet if he was in the UK he to confirm that I have been tested Please understand this policy will views, but she is keen for him “to be certs. But not Live Aid, on July mira”, combining the names of her his accession into the Rock and Roll would visit his mum once a week for HIV positive and have Aids. I felt it continue.” remembered and celebrated”. She 13, 1985, when their son, quite lit- two children, Freddie and Kashmira. Hall of Fame. A painting he did when his favourite meal (dhansak) and talk correct to keep this information The next day Mercury died of bron- grips a tissue throughout our conver- CD reviews Jerally, rocked the world. “It was such With its plumped cushions, chiming he was 14 of two horses, one black, about “normal family things”. He private to date to protect the privacy chial pneumonia resulting from Aids. sation. With her is Roger Cooke, a huge event it would have been too carriage clock and neutral decor, it’s the other white, hangs on the wall. told New Musical Express in 1974 that of those around me. However, the He would have turned 60 on Tues- Kashmira’s husband. Downloads complicated,” Jer recalls. “So we not the kind of place you expect a Mercury’s life was a game of con- he was as “gay as a daffodil” but that time has come now for my friends day and the occasion is being marked Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara watched it on television. I was so rock god’s mother to inhabit. trasts. He was a cartoonish, mega- information slipped from public view. and fans around the world to know by a number of events: a tribute day in Zanzibar. The family lived in a flat Gig guide proud. My husband turned to me and Yet here he is, her much-loved and showman, belting out anthems such He was an old-school celebrity who the truth and I hope that everyone in Montreux, where he had a home overlooking the sea, “a comfortable said, ‘Our boy’s done it.’ ” missed Freddie, in a series of stills as Radio Ga Ga and, most famously, wilfully shrouded himself in mystery. will join with my doctors and all and where a bronze statue of him life”, Jer, 83, says. As a young boy Far- Classical It’s hard to square Mercury’s clam- from his videos, looking matinee- Bohemian Rhapsody. But he was also Then on November 23, 1991, Mer- those worldwide in the fight against stands, an exhibition of photographs rokh was very happy and loved orous, strutting stage presence with idolish handsome. (With her full lips fiercely private and softly spoken. He cury issued this statement: “Follow- this terrible disease. My privacy has in London, and an ITV documentary music, she says: folk, opera, classical.[[ Clubs NEAL PRESTON - RETNA the small, immaculately kept house and wide smile, the diminutive Jer had huge, insane parties (featuring, ing the enormous conjecture in the always been very special to me and I examining his life and his legacy. He would throw parties. At 8, 24 timesonline.co.uk/theknowledge September 2 - 8, 2006 September 2 - 8, 2006 timesonline.co.uk/theknowledge 25 . [[ they sent him to boarding “I’m completely panto Did she know he was gay? Did he it was getting better. Freddie said: about the future,” says Roger. baritone Matthias Goerne school in India. “I cried when we left come out to her? ‘You have to understand that what I Mercury’s songs come on the radio TOP in Schubert lieder, and his him but he just mingled with the compared with his “No.” She grips the tissue, wells up, have is terminal. I’m going to die.’ which is “sometimes emotional” for last Wigmore appearance other boys,” Jer recalls. There he looks down. “That area’s too sensi- That was it. He didn’t say it was Aids. Jer. Her favourite is Somebody to CLASSICAL with the pianist Elisabeth adopted the name Freddie (the boys voice and him as an tive,” Roger says, and adds that Mer- It didn’t register immediately. We Love. Hearing his soft spoken voice is Richard Morrison Leonskaja was a sensational used to adopt “English” Christian entertainer. His voice cury never came out to his family. were driving home and I put a cas- harder as it’s more “him”. Bomi died event. Wigmore Hall, names) and formed a band, the But later, more relaxed, Jer says sette on, and of all the things it was three years ago, which “left a big Wigmore Street, W1 Hectics. was like a Freddie wouldn’t have minded peo- him singing Who Wants to Live Forev- hole”, but Jer keeps busy and has (www.wigmore-hall.org.uk 020-7935 2141), Fri Her son wasn’t a rebel, Jer insists machinegun. It hit ple finding out that he was gay, that er? That suddenly brought home the grown used to being recognised in in her quiet precise way, “but he al- everything perfectly” he didn’t care what people thought of significance of what he had said.” the street and supermarket. The JOHN METCALF: ways wanted to be a showman”. In him. But he cared enough not to say How would he have felt about the other day one man said to her: “It’s 3 A CELEBRATION 1964 there was a revolution in Zanzi- Robbie Williams it openly? “At that time. Society was criticism that he could have done good to see you looking so well.” The Lontano ensemble bar and the family came to England, different then,” says Jer. “Nowadays more good had he come out and She has gone through what every performs Metcalf’s Paradise settling in Feltham, West London. it’s all so open isn’t it?” Jer thinks that been open about his Aids diagnosis? parent shouldn’t — outliving their BBC PROMS 2006 Haunts, Not the Stillness, “Freddie was so excited: ‘England’s “He had theatricality, had he been alive today, Mercury, “He would have thought, ‘F*** ’em, own child — and she remains as im- 1 Who better to kick off and Messiaen’s Quartet the place we ought to go, Mum.’ But too, would have become more open. it’s none of their business,” says Rog- mensely protective of him as he was the final star-studded week for the End of Time. The it was very hard.” Bomi got a job as a he was larger than Roger thinks that Mercury may er. “It was only Jim Beach, his manag- of her. One thing that keeps her go- than Simon Rattle and the Warehouse, Theed Street, cashier, Jer as an assistant at Marks life, new, fresh, cool. have worried that coming out would er, who convinced him to release that ing, she says, are the letters she gets Berlin Philharmonic? SE1 (020-8521 8075), Fri & Spencer. affect record sales, though he was nat- statement.” Jer says quietly: “He from people (addressed to “Freddie Highlights include Freddie went to art school. “I said, This is a god that urally private. “His attitude was ‘My wanted the world and his fans to Mercury’s mother, Nottingham”) say- Szymanowski’s First Violin LET THE WOMEN ‘What are you going to do, son?’ and walks as man” life is my business.’ The distinction know the truth.” ing what his songs have meant to Concerto (Sat). Later in 4 WEAR THE TROUSERS he said he didn’t know. I remember was that he was private, not shy.” Mercury once told his mother that them. Had he been alive now, she the week, the refined The mezzo-soprano him filling out application forms for Mike Myers “He didn’t want to upset us,” Jer he might retire and paint. “We just thinks he would have composed rock Philadelphia Orchestra plays Katherine Allen teams jobs and saying, ‘I hope I don’t get says. “I don’t think it was aimed at laughed and told him we wouldn’t let operas. In an interview he once said Beethoven’s Ninth (Sun). up with the harpsichordist it.’ ” Watching Elvis Presley on TV, he the family,” Roger says. “He liked to him. We thought he would go on for that he wanted to go to Hell, rather Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Julian Perkins to show that “The difference vowed: “I’m going to be like him one have people in different sets.” ever.” The last time Roger saw him than Heaven: “Think of the interest- Gore, SW7 (www.bbc.co.uk/ the arias composed by between Freddie and proms 020-7589 8212) Handel for castrati can day.” He hung out on the music scene, “When he came home he was just he spoke about “normal things, cer- ing people you’re going to meet get a fabulous showing changing his surname to Mercury almost all the other ‘Freddie’,” Jer says.

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