On November 24th, 1991, Freddie Mercury tragically died of bronchopneumonia related to AIDS, which he had been battling in secret for years. He was 45 years old. Today is the 30th anniversary of his death.

 

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Mercury hadn’t announced his struggle with AIDS until the day before he died. Roger Taylor, drummer of Queen, said in a recent documentary “It was announced before he died but he did not want to be the object of pity or scrutiny and within 24 hours it was gone. It was probably perfect timing. Bloody good move I thought.” He continued explaining that the band members however, were aware, and Freddie had said “I don’t want to take any action apart from carrying on the way we are. I want to carry on making music for as long as f**king can. We will not dwell on it and we will go on.” The band simply said okay, and they agreed that if they were questioned about his condition they would deny it to protect him.

That year, after his passing, the remaining band members held The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness which sold 72,000 tickets, in a matter of hours. Over a billion people, in 76 countries watched the show live. Just some of the iconic artists that paid tribute at that show included George Michael, David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Elton John, Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, U2, Annie Lennox, Liza Minnelli, Liz Taylor, and more.

You can watch a couple of the performances below.

Freddie Mercury was known as one of the greatest vocalists in rock history, he had a four-octave vocal range complete with incredible stage presence.

He was extremely energetic, even though he didn’t really sleep much. “I can go without sleep for long periods, that’s my nature. I can get by on just two or three hours a night. I don’t know what it is, but it’s true. I wish I could tell you. I relax in ways most people can’t understand, by just sleeping on a plane when I’m flying for 20 minutes. That’s enough for me. I recharge my batteries in that short a time and I’m up again. I have to be doing something every day.”

He is very missed.