"I won't be a Rock Star. I will be a legend.” In that, Freddie Mercury was right, as evidenced by the thousands of visitors to the 'Freddie Mercury: A World Of His Own' exhibition in Sotheby's London visited. And the sums paid down during this auction of iconic pieces of history.
Text & photography: Annika Hoogeveen
The exhibition of Freddie Mercury's household effects -from his Yamaha Baby Grand Piano on which he was Bohemian Rhapsody has written to cat figurines-has attracted some 131,000 people in a month and raised over 46 million, where 8.8 was expected.
Mary Austin - for whom he Love of My Life has written- wanted the auction to give fans the opportunity to own something of their idol. However, given the prices offered, it seems only feasible for those with a very well-stocked wallet and/or platinum credit card.
I Want It All
An enigma: flamboyant on stage and extremely secretive about/in his private life. Showman and introverted. I visited his London home, Logan Place, years ago. The walls and streets were littered with texts and drawings. Admiration and adoration. The daubed green door (sold for £412,750) now stands in someone else's house or garden. Thirty-eight rooms Freddie had to fill and he succeeded well. I am not entirely surprised by his choice in artefacts and furniture: ornate, extroverted and challenging. As he said, "I like to be surrounded by magnificent things. I want to live a Victorian life surrounded by beautiful junk."
He loved Japanese art and culture. Various beautiful prints, figurines and kimonos were on display. I was amazed at his huge art collection. Shouldn't I be, as he had graduated from art school and had an eye for beautiful things. Many mythological pen drawings by Louis Icart, in which women play the leading roles, such as Leda and the Swan. I myself was charmed by his Salvador Dalí drawings, including The Divine Comedy range. During the exhibition, I got into a conversation with another visitor about Freddie, his personality and taste in art, and she commented that it must have cost a bit to live like this. She was right about that; Picasso, Chagall, Miró, among others, lined the walls. The last painting (and auction masterpiece) he bought from his sickbed, a month before he died, was Type of Beauty: Portrait of Mrs Kathleen Newton by James (Jacques Joseph) Tissot. Again, a tragic ending; Tissot's lover and muse died of tuberculosis at a young age.
I Want To Break Free
The colourful Hawaii blouse from the Somebody To Love clip, the Killer Queen fur coat. The gilet with a print of his cats on it. He wore this in his last clip ever, These Are The Days Of Our Lives, in which, visibly ill, he looks into the camera and tells his fans, "I still love you." Not forgetting the crown and king's cloak (proceeds £635,000) he wore at Queens last tour in 1986 during the British national anthem God Save the Queen paraded across the stage! A look at Freddie Mercury's wardrobe is akin to a walk through Queens music history. The elegant feminine glam-rock style of the 1970s to a tougher 'butch' image - based on the gay scene - of the 1980s with matching moustache and short haircut.
Glitz and glamour on stage. But he also liked flamboyant clothes in his spare time. Comfort was important, he had to be able to move and live in it. Freddie wore both men's and women's clothes, in which he was ahead of his time. Besides, Freddie was not about the names in the fashion world. How the clothes looked and felt was more important than the designer or label. Nor was he trend-sensitive.
That he had good taste I already knew, but I found proof in a pair of pink All Stars beneath his The Great Pretender outfit; I have a similar pair in the closet. Several enviable tour shirts lined the walls, but one of my favourite was a cool green bomber jacket from Queens South America/Japan tour in 1981.
Don't Stop Me Now
Entertainer pur sang, but also a gifted musician and singer with a voice of four octaves. In addition to countless gold records, including those of Greatest Hits 1,2,3 most sought after, there were numerous music awards, including one from the defunct Dutch magazine Hit newspaper. Its Martin d-35 guitar, with which, in all likelihood, he Crazy Little Thing Called Love has written and recorded. Written lyrics by, among others Bohemian Rhapsody (£1.397.000), We Are The Champions (£317,500) and Don't Stop Me Now were on display.
What I also found special were the items relating to one of Queens most legendary concerts ever and the concert of Live Aid. My eye fell on Queen-Freddie Mercury's SNEP Sales Award for Innuendo. Innuendo is a special, somewhat fraught album; it is their last production (release February 1991) with some iconic songs and it is his farewell album. With the appropriate song The Show Must Go On.
Surely the highlight of the exhibition and auction for many was the piano on which Bohemian Rhapsody was created. In a dramatic bidding war, it was knocked off for £1,742,000.
The auction of Freddie Mercury's household effects is over. It was, like the singer himself, historic and legendary. "The reason we're successful, darling? My overall charisma, of course!"- Freddie Mercury
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