{"id":602757,"date":"2026-09-01T16:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T16:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/602757\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T16:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T16:22:09","slug":"i-thought-it-was-a-terrible-name-but-brian-was-my-friend-id-just-met-freddie-how-queen-almost-became-build-your-own-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/602757\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI thought it was a terrible name. But Brian was my friend. I\u2019d just met Freddie\u201d: How Queen almost became Build Your Own Boat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mary Austin, the woman who was Freddie Mercury\u2019s lover and later his confidante and \u2018best friend \u2019, has decided to go public about her relationship with the rock legend. She\u2019s publishing a book that features Mercury\u2019s old notebooks and lyrics and has given an extensive interview to the Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When he died in 1991, Austin inherited Freddie\u2019s Kensington house and half his estate, including four silver trunks filled with the singer\u2019s lyrics and notebooks. \u201cTo say I was overwhelmed is an understatement,\u201d she says now. \u201cI couldn\u2019t look at the lyrics. I felt as I did when I originally packed them \u2013 that they were his personal belongings and I was being offered an opportunity to delve into them, and I couldn\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The interview reveals some interesting titbits about Mercury and Queen<\/a>. We all know that the band\u2019s name was Freddie\u2019s idea, but it seems Brian May\u2019s suggestion was the truly awful Build Your Own Boat. They asked what I thought,\u201d she says. \u201cI said I preferred Build Your Own Boat. I thought it was a terrible name. But Brian was my friend. I\u2019d just met Freddie.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In the 1970s, most Queen fans didn\u2019t have a clue that Freddie was Farrokh Bulsara, a Parsi Indian who was born in Zanzibar. The singer deliberately covered his background, it seems.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hid that well,\u201d says Austin, who thinks he was trying to pass as a white Englishman. \u201cHe\u2019d stay out of the sun because his skin would darken, and he didn\u2019t want that. With Freddie, you just saw what he wanted you to see.<\/p>\n

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“He\u2019d get stopped in the street by police and they said, ‘Where are you from?’ and when he said Bombay they arrested him, because they thought he was taking the proverbial.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple moved in together and Austin was the one who sourced the piano on which he wrote a number of Queen\u2019s hits. \u201cHe\u2019d suddenly say, \u2018I need a piano. Where can I get a piano?\u2019 \u2026 I\u2019d say, \u2018I don\u2019t know, but I\u2019ll try to find out.\u2019 So, of course, I find the piano.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Having a piano in their flat changed him, she says. \u201cThere was much more purposeful energy. He would sit at the piano, play the odd key, hum a bit and he looked very happy. Transported.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding out he was gay was actually a relief, she says. \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure whether we were travelling in the same direction any more. Some time earlier I saw a dress and thought, that would be a really nice wedding dress. I asked Freddie, is it worth me buying it, and he looked at me and shook his head. So I knew from there on\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury: A Life In Lyrics<\/a> is out now via Harper Collins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mary Austin, the woman who was Freddie Mercury\u2019s lover and later his confidante and \u2018best friend \u2019, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,85,46],"class_list":["post-602757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}