by Peter Hince
Freddie gave me so many things over the years. Not just gifts, tokens of affection or mementoes, but priceless memories too – some of which I have just shared with you. He also imparted on me the importance of self -belief and hard work to get what you want from life, and I absorbed so much of his creativity and professional ethic just from being in his presence. He believed that ‘talent will out’ and that whatever you do, ‘Do it with quality and style – darling!’
This was my view every night – looking down the Steinway grand piano at Freddie singing ‘We Are the Champions’. John is in silhouette and, with the swirling smoke and dramatic lighting, it’s an evocative image – one that I saw so many times and just had to capture. This particular photo was taken at the Budokan Arena in Tokyo in February 1981.
July 1982. Brian playing Roger’s Fender Broadcaster guitar on the set of the ‘Back Chat’ video.
John with Kramer bass guitar on the set of the ‘Play the Game’ video in London, May 1980.
Roger on the set of the ‘Somebody to Love’ video shoot at Wessex Studios in London, November 1976.
Montreal Forum in Canada, November 1981 – the concert for the ‘We Will Rock You’ movie.
Above: The view from stage left as the band return to the stage amidst smoke and pyrotechnic explosions for the ‘heavy bit’ of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
Below: And the view from upstage right, showing the band and the audience. The backstage bar and set list can be seen behind the piano speaker cabinets.
November 1982 – Seibu Lions stadium in Tokyo. This is an overhead view of Queen and back-up keyboard player Fred Mandel at Freddie’s piano performing ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’.
Queen taking their bows after the final encore in the Budokan arena in Tokyo in February 1981.
January 1978. The video shoot for ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘Spread Your Wings’, shot in the garden of Roger’s house in Surrey.
The video shoot for ‘Radio Ga Ga’ at Shepperton Film Studios, November 1983.
The tour staff page from the 1976 US Tour itinerary. The piece of paper stapled in gives the aliases Queen used when staying in hotels.
Fred with dancers on the set of the ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ video shoot in September 1979.
August 1978. Fred with lover Mary Austin in the gardens of Eden au Lac hotel in Montreux, Switzerland.
Puebla, Mexico in October 1981. Fred at the piano, which had a synthesiser on the top of it. Both keyboards are reflected in his mirrored sunglasses.
Sound check at Velez Sarsfield stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina in February 1981 (left) and in Puebla, Mexico in October 1981 (right).
John dressed as ‘Grandma’ on the set of the ‘I Want to Break Free’ video shoot in London, March 1984.
London, March 1984 – Roger dressed as a ‘smoking’ schoolgirl on the set of ‘I Want to Break Free’.
Roger at his silver glitter kit on the set of the ‘Play the Game’ video in May 1980.
Roger makes clear his allegiance to the drums department at Musicland Studios in Munich, November 1981.
Cheers! Brian drinks a stein of Munich’s finest beer at the Englischer Garten beer garden.
Brian on the catwalk during a guitar solo at the Montreal Forum in Canada, November 1981.
Sound checking at Puebla, Mexico in October 1981.
This page and opposite: Scenes of work and play at Musicland Studios in Munich.
Brian ‘resting’ with drumsticks – Munich, 1981.
The Live Aid award presented to me by Queen.
With Brian May at his racks of AC30 amplifiers at Oakland Coliseum in California, 1980.
Checking the neck of John’s bass, USA 1977.
Freddie sound-checking with an acoustic guitar at Morumbi Stadium in São Paolo, Brazil, March 1981. Queen played to 251 000 people over two nights – the biggest ever paying audience for a live show.
August 1978. Roger at his kit in the ‘salon’ room of the Casino de Montreux, which was used as the studio room to record the Jazz album.
John with his Musicman Stingray Bass performing ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ during a ‘live’ video shoot in Miami in 1977.
Brian in the studio in Munich, 1981.
Fred at rehearsals for the 1980 European The Game tour.
November 1983. Freddie battles with time on the set of the ‘Radio Ga Ga’ video.
Freddie in the control room of Mountain Studios in Montreux. Above: During the making of Hot Space in 1981 and, below, during the mixing of the Live Killers album in 1979.
The band with German producer, Mack, 1981.
John with the ‘other’ Fred: back-up keyboard player Fred Mandel, 1982.
One of Queen’s three dressing room wardrobe trunks.
Relaxing backstage with John Deacon after the first momentous South American concert at Velez Sarsfield Stadium in Buenos Aires, February 1981.
My ‘Rat’ pass for Queen UK summer concerts in 1976.
With one of my trusty Nikon cameras outside Mountain Studios in Montreux in 1981.
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First published in hardback in 2011
ISBN: 978-1-84358-748-4
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