For over 20 years years, Freddie Mercury performed with Queen until his tragic death in 1991 at the age of just 45. Fans have wondered if a 74-year-old Freddie would still be singing and touring today. However, last year Express.co.uk spoke with his PA Peter Freestone, who felt the star wouldn’t have kept performing live into his old age.
Freestone said: “I think he didn’t want to become old. He was a rock star and he filled that stage. I don’t think he would have kept going.
“He would have been like, ‘Darling, I’ll write the music but you go out and perform it with someone else.’
“Freddie would have felt he was letting fans down because he couldn’t give them his show. He always said, ‘Queen will never be four guys who come on stage, sing their songs and go.’”
But when Express.co.uk spoke with Queen guitarist Brian May earlier this month, he didn’t agree with Freddie’s PA.
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May said: “I actually don’t think it’s true. I think like all of us Freddie would have moments of, ‘Oh god, it’s time I quit!’
“But then you can’t. That’s the way we are. You live your life, devoted to music as we have.
“You can hear Freddie’s wry philosophy on things like Was It All Worth It, that track we did.”
The 73-year-old explained how the Queen singer lived one day at a time and had no problems with changing his mind about things.
May added: “I think Freddie was very aware that Queen was forever.
“A powerful force and his best vehicle. That’s my feeling.”
The 73-year-old made similar comments about how even today the Queen family is a “very tight-knit” one.
While he and Roger Taylor are the only two active members of the band today, they still work closely with retired bassist John Deacon and the Freddie Mercury estate, which is primarily owned by the singer’s ex-girlfriend Mary Austin.
May said: “We’re still very much bound up the four of us and that can’t really change.
“I suppose it could change but we’ve all, including Freddie, made a commitment that wanted it to remain a family no matter what happens; y’know after we’ve gone. Which is nice. It’s really…it gives us all a feeling of integrity and wholeness.
“And, I suppose, some degree of comfort really because it would be such a shame after building up this wonderful catalogue that it all got split up and fragmented and cheapened in some ways.
The Queen guitarist summed up by saying how they want the band’s career to exist as “a work for eternity”.
