Freddie Mercury was rock’s most dazzling showman, a legendary entertainer who in 1991, at the age of just forty-five, became the first major music star to die of AIDS. Mercury’s soaring four-octave voice was a defining element in Queen’s unique sound, crucial to the success of the band’s fifteen studio albums, from Queen (1973) to Made in Heaven (1995). He was also a supremely talented songwriter and musician who wrote many of the band’s greatest hits, including ‘Killer Queen’, ‘We Are the Champions’ and their biggest triumph, the epic anthem ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. As a solo artist he released two acclaimed albums: Mr. Bad Guy in 1985 and the operatic 'Barcelona' with Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé in 1988. Mercury’s extraordinary charisma was perhaps best seen in his imperious live performances, in which he’d hold vast stadium crowds to rapturous attention. His outrageous theatrics, physicality and over-the-top costumes led one commentator to describe him as ‘a performer out to tease, shock, and ultimately charm his audience with various extravagant versions of himself’. He pushed the limits of camp in everything he did. His extreme behaviour, in a society in which being gay was only starting to be accepted, just added to Freddie Mercury’s allure. With expert understanding, Mark Blake traces Mercury’s life from his childhood in Zanzibar and India to his untimely death, and charts his astonishing achievements including in Queen’s world-conquering performance at Live Aid in 1985. In the year that marks what would have been his seventieth birthday, Freddie Mercury: A Life celebrates a remarkable life, lived to the fullest. Featuring revealing interviews with fellow musicians, producers and collaborators, and a detailed discography and timeline, this is a memorable tribute to a unique recording artist and an irreplaceable performer who rocked the world.

Vingt-cinq ans après sa disparition, le sortilège jeté par Farrokh Bulsara alias Freddie Mercury sur des millions de fans n'a toujours pas été levé. La faute à un vibrato envoûtant, une technique de chant et des capacités vocales surnaturelles, une théâtralité excentrique, des tenues outrancières, un pied de micro scié en guise de baguette magique qui ont frappé à jamais les coeurs et les esprits. Si le grand nombre de tubes à la tête du groupe Queen - tels "Killer Queen" (1974), "We are the Champions" (1977) ainsi que l'épique "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975) - ou dans le cadre de sa carrière solo - le lyrique "Barcelona" (1988) avec la soprano espagnole Montserrat Caballé -, a révélé un auteur-compositeur prodigieusement talentueux, son extraordinaire charisme l'a aussi classé comme "un show man fait pour provoquer, choquer et finalement charmer son public avec diverses versions extravagantes de lui-même". En cette année qui marque ce qui aurait été le soixante-dixième anniversaire de ce prestidigitateur du rock, Mark Blake retrace la vie du complexe Farrokh/Freddie depuis son enfance à Zanzibar et en Inde jusqu'à sa mort prématurée en 1991. Entre postures scéniques et impostures pudiques, extravagance et intimité, il passe en revue ses étonnantes prouesses avec comme point culminant une performance miraculeuse au Live Aid en 1985. L'hommage inédit à un interprète unique et un performer irremplaçable qui ensorcela le monde entier.

A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the classic 1986 fantasy action-adventure film, featuring insights from the cast and crew. The story of an immortal Scottish warrior battling evil down through the centuries, Highlander fused a high-concept idea with the kinetic energy of a pop promo pioneer and Queen’s explosive soundtrack to become a cult classic. When two American producers took a chance on a college student’s script, they set in motion a chain of events involving an imploding British film studio, an experimental music video director still finding his filmmaking feet, a former James Bond with a spiralling salary, and the unexpected arrival of low-budget production company, Cannon Films. Author Jonathan Melville looks back at the creation of Highlander with the help of more than 60 cast and crew, including stars Christopher Lambert and Clancy Brown, as they talk candidly about the gruelling shoot that took them from the back alleys of London, to the far reaches of the Scottish Highlands, and onto the mean streets of 1980s New York City. With insights from Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor on the film’s iconic music, exclusive screenwriter commentary on unmade scripts, never-before-seen photos from private collections, and a glimpse into the promotional campaign that never was, if there can be only one book on Highlander then this is it! “A Kind of Magic: Making the Original Highlander tracks down an astonishing number of the film's cast and crew to give an unparalleled account of its creation . . . if you’re one of the film’s many fans this is the perfect companion.” —The Courier, Book of the Week, 9/10 As well as being the story of the Highlander film itself, it’s a fascinating look at the film-making process . . . Jonathan Melville’s A Kind of Magic: Making the Original Highlander is an absolute joy to read and an absolutely essential purchase for any Highlander fan.” —We Are Cult

Few bands embodied the pure excess of the Seventies like Queen. Theatrical, brilliant, even mercurial – there has never been another band like them, or a frontman like Freddie Mercury. Their performance at the 1985 Live Aid Concert is the stuff of legend and 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are the Champions' have become anthems at sporting events around the world. With one of the most iconic videos ever, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ achieved even greater recognition through inclusion in the movie Wayne's World. Their 1981 Greatest Hits album has sold more than 25 million copies to date. Queen were one of the biggest Eighties stadium rock bands of the Eighties but the death of frontman, songwriter and producer Mercury at the start of the Nineties brought the band to a premature halt. This book tells the full story of the band and its members from pre-Queen to post Freddie.