Fans party for Freddie Mercury’s 80th birthday
MONTREUX, Switzerland — Thousands of Queen fans sang, cheered and partied at the Freddie Mercury statue here on Saturday to celebrate what would have been the legendary British singer’s 80th birthday.
Wearing outlandish outfits reflecting Mercury’s stage costumes, fans gathered in honor of the Queen frontman in the Swiss town where he sought peace in his final years and recorded his last vocals.
Queen owned Mountain Studios, built into the Montreux Casino, and recorded six albums there.
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“It is a special birthday, so you’ve got to make the effort to come and celebrate all things Freddie,” said Sonia, who travelled from Canberra.
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Fans hailed from Australia to Japan to even the housing estate in Feltham, near London’s Heathrow Airport, where Mercury’s Parsi family moved to after fleeing the Zanzibar revolution in 1964.
His bronze statue in a triumphant pose, erected in 1996 overlooking Lake Geneva, was decked with balloons, flowers and tributes left by well-wishers.
Appreciation of Queen’s legacy and Mercury’s unique talent has only grown since his death in 1991 from bronchial pneumonia brought on by AIDS.
‘The spirit lives on’
The Freddie Days birthday event has been running since 2003 and has grown over time.
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The free, five-day event’s volunteer organizer Lucien Muller told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that 14,000 to 16,000 people were expected to attend.
“There’s people who come every year. I won’t say a community; I would say a family. We are all here to celebrate, to party, to have fun,” he said.
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The Oscar-winning 2018 biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” brought Mercury to a new generation of fans.
But there were also veteran fans like Julie Criddle, from Wiltshire in southwest England, who was at the video shoot for “We Are The Champions” in 1977 and has been coming to the Freddie Days for 11 years.
“There’s so many people here that aren’t old enough to have seen Queen live, which is fantastic because it’s keeping Freddie’s name alive,” she said.
Peter Straker, Mercury’s friend and fellow singer, told AFP: “He’s dead, but the spirit lives on, and the joy and celebration of a human life—it’s fantastic.”
The day culminated with Mercury’s sister Kashmira Bulsara cutting the 80th birthday cake.
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Fans sang “Happy Birthday” and the party continued into the night. /cb
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