Mercury and Me
by Jim Hutton (with Tim Wapshott)
Bloomsbury
The success of the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018 has meant there has been a renewed interest in the life of Freddie Mercury. Originally published in 1995, this memoir by Jim Hutton who died in 2010, has been republished with just Freddie on the cover instead of Freddie with the man who shared the last years before his death in 1991 that was on the original.
I seems that Freddie Mercury had both a ‘wife’ and a ‘husband’. His ‘wife’ was Mary Austin with whom he had had a long-term relationship before deciding that he preferred to be with men … and to whom he left the bulk of his estate. They remained close and Mary often went as his girlfriend at post-concert parties because Freddie believed that it had to be that way for the press.
A gentleman hairdresser at the Savoy Hotel, Jim had been leading a quiet life when he met one of the biggest rock stars in the world in 1984. He maintains that he didn’t know who he was and that he wasn’t impressed by that side of Freddie’s life and, even after moving in to live with Freddie, ‘husband’ Jim seems to exist on the edges of the jet-setting lifestyle.
Working at a gardener at Freddie’s Garden Lodge, Jim obviously kept a diary as the chronological events contain lists of famous people encountered or entertained, lists of things the Freddie accumulated on shopping sprees and lists of presents given to people at Christmas. I think I was wanting to read something deeper from someone who had been so close to the famous singer in the final years of his life.
The brief memoir enables the reader to relive some memorable Queen concerts, be a fly-on-the-wall behind the scenes and share some personal dramas between Freddie and Jim – from Jim’s point of view of course. I did like the stories about the cats that the two men accumulated and adored and Jim’s memories of Freddie’s decline as he succumbed to the ravages of HIV / AIDS are particularly poignant.
Lezly Herbert
