As if he wasn’t interesting enough already, Freddie was also an avid animal lover, especially cats. He had ten cats at home, which he treated like children. His first pair cats were Tom and Jerry, which he adopted when he was living with Mary Austin.
But he did have a favorite, a calico cat named Delilah. Mercury even wrote a song about her, appropriately called “Delilah”, which is featured in his “Innuendo” album. The cat was just as in love with Freddie, and stayed by his side until the day he passed away.
Queen Got A Huge Offer
The band was shocked, especially after getting an offer to do a concert in a massive soccer stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. First of all, they were doubtful of whether they could actually fill an entire soccer stadium, and secondly, they were hesitant about visiting a country that was still very much under dictatorship.
Nonetheless, Queen decided to go for it, and soon enough, they were in conversations with the country’s Army General to decide whether they could put together a concert that could hold more than 50,000 people in a single space. Afraid of big crowd riots, the general had his doubts, but Queen still decided to take the risk.
An unforgettable performance
Queen flew to Argentina in 1981 and gave one of the biggest performances in their career, to an audience of 100,000 people. Turns out, Freddie was a master when it came to entertaining large crowds. The way he carried the microphone everywhere on stage, and the way he danced, was something no one had ever seen before.
His stage performance dazzled audiences in Argentina in Brazil, and when they returned to the UK, they felt the sky was the limit. Shortly after, they traveled to Canada to record in one of the best studios in North America.
A bump in the road
Even after their big success in South America, and their rising fame in the United States, Queen still had its issues with record sales. Turns out some of their albums weren’t selling as well as their second and third ones.
The band decided to take a break, and each member started working on individual projects. Of course, the plan was always to regroup. This is when John Deacon wrote “I Want to Break Free” and Roger Taylor wrote “Radio Gaga”. The band had quickly climbed back to the top of the charts, and they were ready for a big comeback. But once again, something stopped them.
Their music video was banned in the United States
Even though the song, “I Want to Break Free”, was a major hit in the US and England, the music video wasn’t so well received. They wanted to dress in drag and film a unique music video to go with the powerful song. But the US wasn’t so keen about it.
They wanted the video to be a comical reference to a famous British TV show at the time, called “Coronation Street”. Unsurprisingly, European countries understood it and got a kick out of it. But Americans, not so much. The video was banned by several American television stations.