When Freddie Mercury passed away on November 24, 1991, the world knew Queen would never be the same again.
However, the past 30 years have shown that the band’s remaining members Brian May, Roger Taylor and (prior to his retirement) John Deacon would not allow Queen to come to an end following Freddie’s untimely death.
Instead, the group have gone on to honour the ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ singer by releasing more music, regularly paying tribute to Freddie, and even arranging a concert and setting up a charity in his honour.
Here’s a round up of all the ways Queen have continued to honour Freddie Mercury since his death…
The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness – funds from which would go to setting up the Mercury Phoenix Trust – was the first way in which Queen’s members honoured their lead singer after his death.
The show was announced by the group at the BRIT Awards 1992, with Brian telling audiences at the time: “We’re incredibly proud of everything Freddie stood for and we feel like his spirit is definitely still with us.”
Held on April 20 1992, the concert saw legends from across the world of music such as Elton John, Liza Minnelli and Tony Iommi join forces with Brian, Roger and John to perform tributes to Freddie.
The show led to iconic performances such as George Michael’s hugely moving performance of ‘Somebody to Love’ and David Bowie’s recitation of The Lord’s Prayer.
The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert would be one of John Deacon’s final times performing live with Queen, but it is clear the private bassist felt positively about Queen continuing to perform following Freddie’s death.
Echoing one of Freddie’s last songs, he told crowds at the start of the show: “The show must go on.”
Final album
One year on from successfully producing the “biggest send-off in history” (over a billion people from around the world tuned in to join the 72,000 people gathered in Wembley for the tribute concert), Queen continued to honour Freddie’s legacy by beginning to produce his last songs for their final album, Made In Heaven.
Brian, Roger and John worked with vocal and piano recordings which Freddie had made prior to his death to release songs like ‘Mother Love’ and ‘You Don’t Fool Me’.
Made In Heaven (released November 1995) was an album created expressly to follow what appeared to be Freddie’s dying wish, as the band believed the lead singer had left them with so many recordings in the knowledge he would not survive long-enough to finish each track.
Returning to making the album wasn’t easy, however, and guitarist Brian May has admitted to initially feeling “reluctant” about returning due to his grief.
“Roger made the first inroads… and, of course, that was the trigger I needed because I hear what he’s done, and I go ‘No, no, no, don’t do it like this. You’ve got to do it like this!’” he admitted in the band’s Queen The Greatest series on YouTube.
Made In Heaven went on to become Queen’s fastest-selling and most successful studio album.
“There’s no replacing Freddie Mercury”
Following Made In Heaven, Queen went on a hiatus from releasing new music for another two years until they released ‘No-One But You (Only the Good Die Young)’ as a trio in January 1998.
The song was dedicated to Freddie, and all who die too soon.
Following this single’s release, John went on to retire from performing altogether, and again Queen faced potentially coming to an end.
