WHILE Freddie Mercury was at the top of his career, Peter Freestone was his right-hand man.
For the last 12 years of Mercury’s life, Freestone was there as both personal assistant and best friend; from the highs of the 1985 Live Aid to his AIDS diagnosis and eventual death in 1991.
“The easiest way to describe [our relationship] is if there was a straight line dividing friend and employee, it would consistently move,” Freestone said.
“At times he needed a PA; the perfect example was the press conference for the Barcelona album [Mercury’s solo album which he released with Spanish singer Montserrat Caballé shortly after his diagnosis].
“He needed someone who knew him; he would look at me and I would just know what he needed whether it was a cigarette or whatever.
“But in the car on the way home, he needed a friend to talk to.
“He was my best friend for many years.”
On stage, Mercury was a flamboyant powerhouse but Freestone said he was the complete opposite off-stage.
While the world saw him as a larger than life star, he was a quiet and shy guy who liked a good laugh and spent his time in the studio to write some of the tracks which defined a generation.
“For Freddie writing [the music] was easy; coming up with new ideas was easy,” Freestone said.
“It was creating the lyrics which was hard.
“He never thought he was a poet.
“He could write the music in half an hour but the lyrics could take him up to three weeks.
“But when Freddie was writing, he was thinking it was something of the present.
“Why has it lasted the time?
“Because it was good music and if music is good, it stays; look at Mozart and Beethoven.”
Freestone’s inside knowledge has been used by tribute show Queen – It’s a Kinda Magic for 10 years to recreate the Queen and Mercury experience.
With Giles Taylor as Mercury, the show aims to recreate even the tiniest details of the original.
“My input was the detail,” Freestone said.
“It’s the twist of the head or how Brian lifted his knee; the things which made Queen, Queen.
“Queen was always a show band; they had amazing music but on stage, that’s what sticks in people’s minds; Freddie in particular.
“What I want, is for people who saw Queen when Freddie was still alive, to come away from this and say that’s exactly what Freddie did; it was just like that.
“And also for young people to see what us old people are talking about when it comes to Queen.”
But what would Freddie think about having a tribute band?
“There wasn’t any tribute bands around when Freddie was alive so he would be astounded there are even tribute bands,” Freestone said.
“I think he would look at it and think: ‘Did I used to do that? Did I hold my head like that?’
“Secretly he would be happy and very proud that he was involved in creating such a thing.”
Queen – It’s a Kinda Magic will be at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre on September 24.
For more information go to manpac.com.au or call 9550 3900.
