One of Freddie's all time heroines was Spanish opera diva Montserrat Caballe, and in March 1986 he met her in her home city of Barcelona. An astonishing partnership was formed when Montserrat agreed to record an album with Freddie. He penned a song about Barcelona for her, and the two began to write and record the album. Freddie and Montserrat appeared on stage together for the first time in May 1987, at the Ibiza 92 Festival, held at the famous Ku Club on the holiday island. They performed Barcelona. The single "Barcelona" was released in Spain in September 1987, and 1 0,000 copies were sold in just three hours. The Spanish Olympic Committee adopted the song as the theme for the Olympic Games, being held in the city in 1992, then decided against it. which caused great anger amongst the fans.

On November 23rd 1991 Freddie announced to the world that he had AIDS. Just the next day his fight was over and he died peacefully at his home, surrounded by family and friends. The world was in shock. Freddie had kept his illness very private, and only those closest to him had been aware of just how close to the end he really was. Fans from all over the world sent flowers and cards and many travelled to London to be outside Freddie's house. In April, Brian had been commissioned by a London advertising agency to write a piece of music for an advertising campaign for Ford cars. The resulting track, Driven By You, was so good (and proved so popular) that Brian released it as his first solo single on November 25th. It made the top ten in the UK charts.

As a tribute to Freddie, and to raise funds for the Terrence Higgins Trust to continue the fight against AIDS, as Freddie's last wishes had requested, Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Our Lives was released as a double A sided single. It entered the UK chart at number one, where it remained for five weeks, raising over one MILLION pounds for the AIDS charity. In December 1991, Queen had no fewer than 10 albums in the UK top 1 00. At the awards ceremony where queen won the “Outstanding Contribution To British Music” award, Roger and Brian announced plans for a massive, open air concert at London's Wembley Stadium lo celebrate Freddie's life, and give him a send off to remember. The tickets went on sale the next day , with no announcement of who was going to play apart from Brian, Roger and John, and all 72,000 tickets sold out in just SIX hours. On Easter Monday, April 20th 1992, many of the worlds top stars joined Brian, Roger and John on stage at Wembley stadium to pay an emotional tribute to Freddie. The stadium was packed lo capacity and it was televised live to over one billion people. Prior to Christmas 1992 a double video of The Freddie Tribute Concert was released. The money raised by the trust is used to help those with HIV and AIDS. After Freddies dead the members of Queen started solo carriers.

Queen are one of the most collectable bands in the World, and their fan club is as strong as ever. Queen will be around for a lot longer yet!

Zurück zu CuliosMusik

Zurück zu EnglischReferate