"Honey, the most important thing in life is to live a wonderful life.
As long as you live a wonderful life,
I don't care how long I live. ”
—Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury
At the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, a video of the late Queen lead singer Freddy Mercury was played on a huge screen in the center of the stage.
Singer Jessie J, along with Queen drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May, completed "We will rock you," a chorus of people who sang in unison as if they were about to topple the roof.
Speaking of Freddie Mercury, I have to mention the Live Aid, which was hailed by Channel Four in the UK as "the world's greatest rock music live performance".
On July 13, 1985, Live Aid's massive charity rock concert was held simultaneously in London and Philadelphia to raise funds for the famine in Ethiopia.
The concert lasted nearly 16 hours, with 72,000 people flocking to the scene and more than 100 singers participating in the singing, including Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bob Dylan and other legends, and nearly 1.5 billion viewers in more than 150 countries around the world enjoyed the music feast through satellite TV.
At 6:40 p.m., in the midst of the sunset, Freddie Mercury, wearing a white vest and tight pants, calmly walked onto the stage, sat down at the piano, played the first note, and the scene immediately boiled.
At London's Wembley Stadium that day, everyone was singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" with Freddy; the enthusiasm of the audience overshadowed the waves, exceeding Freddy's expectations sitting at the piano, the audience seemed to be unable to control their bodies, they all turned into puppets, freddy was the thread.
Freddy has successively sung many songs such as "Radio GaGa", "We Will Rock You", "We Are The Champions" and so on, which once triggered a chorus of more than 72,000 people on the scene, and the shock of the scene is probably unmatched so far.
The biographical film "Bohemian Rhapsody" almost completely reproduces the wonderful performance of Queen at the Live Aid concert in the last fifteen minutes of the film, and in a trance, it seems to be yesterday's recurrence.
Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury has been given many accolades:
Britain's first Asian rock star, one of the greatest 100 Britons, one of the greatest singers in the history of pop, the greatest rock singer of all time, one of the greatest voices in all music...
Freddy was born on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, and at the age of 8, his parents sent him to a boarding school in Mumbai, where he did not leave school until the age of 16 to return to Zanzibar.
In 1963, because of the killing and turmoil brought about by the Tanzanian Revolution, 17-year-old Freddy fled to The United Kingdom with his parents and settled down not far from Heathrow Airport.
After graduating from the Yiling Art Academy majoring in design, Freddy sold second-hand clothes and worked as a baggage porter at the airport to make ends meet.
One night in 1970, Freddy came to a music bar in London. He found a resident band in the bar, and mao offered to be the lead singer, but the other party refused to say: Your teeth can't work. Freddy did not say a word, picked up the microphone to sing live, and after singing, he proudly said: "Because I have four front teeth and a large oral area, so the range is wider, and I can sing four octaves." ”
The band was called Smile, and soon after, Freddy joined the band as lead singer. In 1971, Freddy changed the group name "Smile" to "Queen". A fixed combination was identified with Freddie Mercury as the lead singer, Brian May as the guitarist, Roger Taylor as the drummer, and John Deacon as the bassist.
Since then, Queen has been officially born.
In 1973, Queen released their first album Queen, but it did not cause much repercussions until 1974, when Queen appeared on the BBC and became famous.
In 1975, with the birth of A Night at the Opera, the band's creative talent and performance ability began to emerge, and they created classic tracks including "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Love of My Life".
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is nearly 6 minutes long and contains elements such as vocal chorus, folk songs, guitar solos, opera, and rock. At that time, the recording conditions were limited, and in order to achieve the mixing effect, they repeatedly recorded on the master tape, and due to countless overlapping recordings, the final master tape was almost ground to transparency.
After recording, the agent thought they were crazy and questioned: What exactly is the lyrics meant? Freddy said: "Allah is on top, and everyone has the right to interpret the music. ”
After Queen launched "Bohemian Rhapsody", the song quickly became the top of the UK Christmas Song Chart that year, and has been won for 9 consecutive weeks since then.
Until 2012, it was a British favorite song in the ITV poll, and was named "the greatest song ever made in the UK" by guinness world records. As of 2018, the album was the most streamed of 20th-century songs, with 1.6 billion singles played.
Queen became the hottest rising star of the time. Since then, classics such as "Somebody To Love", "We Are The Champions", and "We Will Rock You" have been continuous, almost replicating the same success.
They worked tirelessly to create multiple hit singles and platinum records in just a few years, winning the hearts and minds of countless fans, every performance was extremely popular, and Queen became a veritable Queen. To date, Queen's albums have dominated the UK album sales charts for 1322 weeks, or 27 years, the longest in history.
As the leader of Queen, Freddie Mercury pushed the limits of art and music, bringing the band members to one of the greatest bands in the history of music and rock.
But genius is not perfect. At his peak, he was also lost in the glitz of Vanity Fair, and once lost his passion and ability to create; drug addiction, chaos in his private life, AIDS, homosexuality... Freddy was once plagued by negative press.
Queen, the darling of the times who once swept the major music charts and awards ceremonies, seems to be less popular. In 1983, due to the intensification of contradictions among the members, Queen decided not to hold concerts anymore, began to fade out of people's vision, and gradually lost its former glory.
Queen and Freddy desperately need a chance to get back to the top, and that opportunity is the "Love Aid" concert.
It was at this concert that Queen, once on the verge of collapse, rehabilitated and returned to the pinnacle of the music world with a nearly 20-minute performance that has been praised to this day.
1985 Live Aid Queen, Wembley Stadium, London
The "Save Lives" concert on July 13, 1985 told a story of "music changing the world". For the first time, people realized that the power of music was so great that it influenced the well-known "Tomorrow Will Be Better" star concert in China.
In April 1987, Freddie Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS and his life counted down.
Freddy's last MV, "The Time We Spent Together", looks back on the days the band has walked hand in hand for twenty years, warm and sentimental.
After Freddy's death, guitarist Brian May launched an epic farewell concert, and almost all of the most prestigious rock bands of the 20th century were present to bid farewell to the fallen superstar Freddy.
Shortly after Freddy's death, bassist John Deacon was distraught and decided to retire, leaving Queen with only Brian May and Roger Taylor. Even if there are still new albums released later, Queen is not the original Queen after all, and the era that belonged to Queen has come to an end.
Freddie Mercury died 30 years ago and is still considered one of the best rock singers of all time.
Queen's legend is inseparable from the talented lead singer Freddie Mercury. He conquered the world with his gorgeous music and obedient stage style, especially his "Bohemian Rhapsody", which is the most classic work in the entire history of rock and roll.
In 2016, Queen came to Shanghai for the first time to perform in China. At that time, lead singer Freddie Mercury had been dead for 25 years, and the climax of the concert was the old guitarist Brian May singing the old song "Love of My Life" with Freddy Mercury in the video.
Freddie Mercury in the video is still young and energetic, while the guitarist outside the video, Brian May, bends down to play, long gray hair.
In March 2019, Queen's biographical film "Bohemian Rhapsody" was released in China, and when "Bohemian Rhapsody" sounded at the end, the darkness of the theater seemed to be torn apart and lit up. The power was so powerful, coming from the stage, from London, coming from the depths of time, but sharp as new.
The legend of Queen, like any other legend of pop music, represents hope in the dark, represents starlight in the gutter.
Rock and roll never dies, it's just buried deep in our hearts. And countless future generations will always miss that bloody rock era in their own way.
My time has come
My limit has arrived
Sends shivers down my spine
Shudder passes along the spine
Body's aching all the time
The body is in pain all the time
Goodbye everybody
Goodbye, folks.
- "Bohemian Rhapsody"