Freddie Mercury was gay, although he had a girlfriend throughout his life. He was flamboyant, except when he was shy. He was prone to wild statements and exaggeration, but he never told the others in Queen he was gay or had Aids until they’d already guessed. It’s difficult to make much of a character assessment based on such apparent contradictions. But that doesn’t stop authors Matt Richards and Mark Langthorne trying.
They might have done better to analyse why the arts world in general, and the music industry in particular, attracts proportionally more gay people than, say, the manufacturing industry. They also spend a lot of time wondering when and how Mercury caught Aids (and the possibilities are limitless) when a more interesting question might be how Mercury’s pal Elton John and John Reid (who managed them both) managed to avoid getting it. Instead they pore over Mercury’s life, unearthing the occasional revelation but nothing to alter the perception that he was a mystery wrapped (mostly deliberately) in an enigma. And an artistic genius.
