Dear Freddie,
Some news stories have been bugging me lately. They use quotes from Lesley-Ann Jones, historical fiction book she labeled a biography and that travesty of lies and speculation Somebody to Love. I want to tell people the books they can count on and what to expect if they pick up a biography written by anyone else than those that truly knew you. I wish I could beat this into people’s heads, but alas, lazy journalists keep spreading the rumors. *face palm*

Let’s talk about the stuff that’s out there…..

We all know that the press is not exactly the most unbiased of institutions. Though lately, they have been worse than ever. Newspapers wonder why their circulation is suffering, well the lack of fact checking, and research comes to mind.

Freddie never dressed Princess Di in drag though at least once a month I see this mythology repeated in some article or something.

If Freddie had known her don’t you think he would have turned up at Live Aid and said Hi to his BFF? The rest of the band did. Roger was drooling over her and honestly that doesn’t surprise me in the least.

I will hand it to Lesley-Ann Jones, in this one thing she is very smart, she is great at promoting herself. She, NOT ANYONE ELSE, put on the cover of her bullshit Freddie biography the word Definitive. That was a genius move on her part. That is why journalists take her word for it, though a lot of the facts are if not made up, lies and exaggeration.

There are 3 books that you can rely on to get to know who Freddie is.

Peter Freestone wrote a book simply called Freddie Mercury. It’s hard as hell to find though, good luck. I hope you have several sources for books. I found it on google play. Don’t try Amazon it’s insanely expensive and no one should pay that much for a soft cover book.
No one knew Freddie better than Peter Freestone or as Freddie called him “Phoebe.” Pheebs was basically Freddie’s shadow and never left his side except to sleep because you know, three’s a crowd. But otherwise it was Peter everywhere he went. This book is reliable. It is written by a human man who maybe wasn’t meant to write a book for a very diverse audience. I have a really good vocabulary, but I still from time to time needed to have a dictionary handy while rereading this book. His writing is not super easy to read, but it is informative. Phoebe cannot be refuted as far as accuracy. Now there are some things he forgets. He’s also now in his 70’s and he does from time to time forget stuff. This book is well written and reliable and as truthful as you are going to find. Peter has a million pictures with Freddie and Lesley-Ann Jones has zero. Who do you think knew him better? I want to reiterate. Freddie never went anywhere without Peter from 1979 until he died. Joe Fanelli would come along and help later, but Peter was around Freddie the normal dude, in Garden Lodge, Munich, Stafford Terrace, every gay club, on tour, wherever Freddie was Peter was right beside him for over a decade. The comparison of a shadow is very accurate because just like your shadow is always there, Peter was.

Anything he talks about, or any quote he gives in a magazine article you can basically take it as fact. He’s human and not perfect, but there is no one that knows Freddie better than him, except maybe Mary Austin, but even then, she didn’t go EVERYWHERE with Freddie, Peter did. He is the living expert on Freddie. His book you should read.

This next book I’m going to recommend comes as with the man himself, a ton of controversy. I will go over why after.

The cover to Mercury and Me by Jim Hutton with help from Tim Whapshott

This book shouldn’t be controversial, but it seems where Freddie goes some kind of trolling or controversy follows. Jim Hutton, like it or not haters, was Freddie’s live in boyfriend, civil partner, or husband, whatever you want to call it for the last 7 years of his life. To me this is a beautiful love story. To others it’s horrible tell-all. The reasons are fucking stupid. He talks about Freddie being submissive. I’ve seen fan fiction that is way worse. Not to mention that is the PG way of saying it. He goes into a bit of detail on the last minutes of Freddie’s life and gets flack for it. AIDS was a horrible disease and a really undignified way to die. Many think Jim was wrong to write this book. Well, I don’t. I think it’s his life too. It was his story as much as Freddie’s and I think he wrote it to help him grieve. It was published in 1993 and wasn’t a huge hit at the time and Jim would promote it sparingly. Much like his love he was shy. Say what you want about it, but if you want to get to know the man behind the legend, this is a great way to do it. I will say that Jim is pretty hard on Mary Austin at the end. He was bitter and I get it, so don’t let that ruin it for you.

Peter Hince was Freddie’s roadie for basically Queen’s entire career. He was the one who handed Freddie his microphone onstage and made sure his beer and water were always ready.

Peter Hince was nicknamed “Ratty,” during the time he worked for the band. He didn’t just work for the band though, he worked for Freddie and John. They were his responsibility. No one has had to stare at Freddie longer than him. This book is reliable and also, boring as fuck. What Ratty says is most likely true and he is good at not embellishing. This book is boring only because we are constantly looking for stories of Freddie, but instead we get stories of the behind the scenes day to day grind that was being a roadie. Some things are interesting and reading about the perks that came with touring with a world famous band is interesting, but hearing every detail about how the sets of Queen’s concerts were built can get a little boring. The first chapter is the best one and there are some awesome anecdotes sprinkled here and there. This book is reliable and gives you a glimpse at what a production and “job” being a live touring band was.

Peter Freestone wrote a book on life after Freddie and how even though he had died, Freddie became and remains his life. Peter swears that Freddie knew that was going to happen before he died, but isn’t completely sure. Freddie has become his life, he gives tours of significant places Freddie was, he is constantly interviewed about Freddie and answers questions about him and is the ultimate head myth buster. Though people seem to forget this from time to time as they use Lesley-Ann Jones and that horrible Somebody to Love as references. Peter isn’t quoted as much as he should be. Freddie has become his life even now and he is not complaining and is grateful to him for all that Freddie gave him. That is a great book too, but stories about Freddie are sparse because the book is written after he died, but to hear about his legacy and how it affected those closest to him is super fascinating.

DO NOT BUY ANY BOOK BY LESLEY-ANN JONES.
She has been known to make things up about other artists she has written about and she makes stuff up in this. She acts like she knows Freddie when there was about less than a handful of times when she even met Freddie. Take her book as entertainment not truth. Much like the movie she just seems to make stuff up sometimes and doesn’t portray Freddie correctly at all.

DO NOT TRUST SOMEBODY TO LOVE.

This book is great about AIDS research but makes stuff up when it comes to Freddie. They attribute lovers to him that he was never with, they invent doctor’s appointments they had no way of knowing about, and take a story repeated by several witnesses and completely change it and blame it on the early signs of HIV which is complete crap. They use Freddie’s illness to frame the book and sprinkle some already disputed and disproved facts about AIDS and how it spread into it. They sometimes use Lesley-Ann Jones as a source of some stories and other reputed sources as well. Occasionally, they will manage to get a small fact or anecdote right, but those are rare. They seem to be the experts on Freddie’s time in New York City, but have a completely different account of things than people who were with Freddie there. This book and Lesley-Ann Jones’ books have been ignored and reputed by all the members of Queen and Phoebe, so please read this that way, do not see it as super reliable because other than maybe how AIDS spread to the USA the other facts are super suspect.

Mark Blake, and Laura Jackson have written books about Freddie and it should tell you something that every single book is different. They all have different stories. It seems to me if they were based on facts then they would seem to be repetitive yet they aren’t. So take all of it with a grain of salt. Freddie Mercury’s name is gold and to write a book about him whether researched or not is a good way to make money. Unless the people were in Freddie’s circle of friends and knew him well don’t trust it. Seems he was as mysterious to these wanna-be biographers as everyone else.

I do not pretend to be an expert. I use my best judgement and take the word of people who knew Freddie. Lesley didn’t, the two guys who wrote Somebody to Love didn’t, Mark Blake didn’t know him and Laura Jackson didn’t either. These people write books that are inaccurate and have a huge slant depending on the author and their own opinions. There is no autobiography and Freddie was a private and mysterious guy. So the only people who can convey the real Freddie are those that knew him best. Read cautiously.

Sorry Freddie that so much is made up about you. That you are basically blamed for spreading AIDS in New York by the authors of that Somebody to Love book essentially. They didn’t do their homework. Not to mention they basically blame you for spreading HIV to hundreds of lovers from 1982-1987, including Jim Hutton. If this were true it would make you the world’s biggest asshole. Which we all know isn’t the case so they can suck it! That book is just insulting. Don’t buy it and give those fiction writers the money.

Read carefully and trust only those who Freddie considered friends. Otherwise, see it as mostly fiction, not biography.

Love ya Freddie. I hate these assholes who people keep believing due to good publicists and lazy journalists. I got your back buddy. I may not have known you, but I know who to believe.

All my love,

Me