Being the icon that he was, and his incomparable musical legacy, it’s only logical that a monument is built in his honor. In 1996, a ten-foot statue was erected in Freddie Mercury’s honor, overlooking Lake Geneva, in Switzerland.
They unveiled the statue in a beautiful ceremony, to which Mercury’s father and two of his bandmates attended – Brian May and Roger Taylor.
Freddie's Trademark “Bottomless Mic”
Freddie’s trademark “bottomless mic” started as a complete accident. As it turns out, during one of Queen’s first shows, Mercury’s mic stand broke while he was performing a song. Refusing to change it in the middle of the show and disrupt the song, he simply continued to sing. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Allegedly, Freddie much preferred it this way and demanded this setup was used for all subsequent shows. They called it “bottomless mic” because he basically just used the boom and the microphone, without the stand.
Freddie's Parting Gift To Elton John
Freddie loved giving nicknames to all his close friends. And Elton John was one of them. They both gave each other nicknames, calling them their “drag alter-egos”. Elton’s nickname was “Sharon” and Freddie’s was “Melina”.
On Christmas of 1994, a few weeks after Mercury passed away, Elton received a knock on his door. It was a mutual friend holding a package wrapped in a pillowcase. It was a gift Freddie had left for Elton just before he died. When John took out the package, he saw a painting by one of his favorite artists, the British painter Henry Scott Tuke, and a note that read “Dear Sharon, thought you’d like this. Love, Melina. Happy Christmas”
An Epic Send-Off
The first case of AIDS in the US was in April 1980. Seven years later, Freddie Mercury was diagnosed with the disease, and after his death in 1991, he became the first major rock star to die of an AIDS-related complication.
This helped shine a light and raise awareness for the terrible disease that took the U.S. by storm in the 1980s. AIDS had been a taboo subject and as an issue, had been ignored for years. Mercury’s bandmates decided to plan a concert in their friend’s honor, The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness. Some of the biggest artists in the history of rock and roll and pop performed live at the event. Including David Bowie, Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Spinal Tap, George Michael, Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin, Def Leppard, and more. Elizabeth Taylor gave an intense AIDS prevention speech.
Freddie Wrote “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” In The Bathtub
One of Queen’s most famous songs, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, came about in the most unexpected of ways. In the summer of 1979, Mercury was in a luxurious hotel in Munich, recording The Game studio album, when he decided to take a bath.
Within minutes, he tells the story of how he got a tune stuck in his head and he instantly knew that it had to be written down. He quickly got out, wrapped a towel around his waist, and asked Queen’s head of road crew to give him an acoustic guitar. Mercury played the tune and wrote a song in “five to ten minutes”, as he puts it. Turned out, he was right to be so hasty, as that little tune was “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”!