Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic

Description

When Freddie Mercury died in 1991, the music world lost one of its most flamboyant characters, as well as a supremely talented writer and vocalist. Best known as the lead singer with Queen, his amazing four-octave voice was a distinctive element in the band's unique sound, which resulted in more than a dozen million-selling albums through the 1970s, '80s and early '90s. As the band's main songwriter, he was responsible for some of their greatest hits including 'Killer Queen,' 'We Are the Champions' and their biggest triumph, the iconic 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. As a solo artist his output was limited to two highly acclaimed albums - 1985's Mr Bad Guy and the operatic Barcelona in 1988 - and several singles including his 1987 UK hit 'The Great Pretender'. After his death from AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia Freddie was posthumously awarded a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music in 1992, and honored by a tribute concert at London's Wembley Stadium. As a member of Queen he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. Published in the year that would have marked his 70th birthday, this book will be the ultimate celebration of one of rock music's greatest stage performers and an inimitable recording artist.

Mark Blake is a music journalist and editor. A former Assistant Editor of Q magazine, his work has also been published in MOJO, the Times, Classic Rock, the Daily Telegraph, the London Evening Standard, and the Sunday Express. He is the author of the bestselling biography Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd and Is This The Real Life: The Untold Story of Queen.