Queen - Writing Lyrics Down (Budapest, 1986)

I wouldn’t usually show my equipment in the background of photos, but Freddie decided he was going to sit down on my camera case here, so I had no option. You can see his little notebook. He was making notes for a folk song he was going to sing at the show that night in Budapest. This was on his terrace, overlooking the Danube [River]. You can see one of the bridges on the end of the terrace, and in the background, inside the room, is Brian May rehearsing and their manager, Jim Beach. It was just a relaxed period in the afternoon. He wrote some of those lyrics on his hand so that when he did the Freddie thing onstage with his arm out, he was actually reading the lyrics of the song. It went down well with the fans. 

They were one of the rare bands who always stayed behind backstage after a show. Most acts would leave with a police escort and be in the hotel within half an hour. Queen would always stay behind to socialize with each other and have dinner at the venue. I didn’t see him as much socially as the others because afterwards, the rest of the band would go their way, and because he was gay, so he would go out to clubs. The band knew that. I think it’s why they used to stay at the venue so they could all hang out before separating. It must have been difficult living a double life, but it didn’t come across because he was always happy and fun. He’s the sort of person who was lonely and needed people around him all the time. He had his coterie who lived virtually at his house in London, and they were always there. He didn’t like being away from home. He was sweet and very soft and shy offstage. Outrageous at times, but shy. There were two people, really: Freddie Mercury, onstage, and Fred, which is what everyone really called him. He referred to me as Doris, which I didn’t know, but Brian told me after he died.

They really lost America when they did the “I Want To Break Free” video, which was based on Coronation Street. We all thought it was funny, but the Americans really didn’t. It went right over their heads. That was the end of the Queen in America. And he said, “I’m not going to go back there and work my way up again.” They’re one of the only bands that were so big around the world that they almost didn’t need America.