FREDDIE MERCURY - The Great Pretender: Ein Leben in Bildern

by Sean O'Hagan

Freddie Mercury was an iconic singer who was hugely popular throughout his brilliant music career, as the lead singer of Queen and as a solo artist. The world mourned his untimely death in 1991, but he was incredibly prolific and left behind a rich legacy of recordings, not all of which have been released to date.

The twentieth anniversary of Freddie’s death will see the reissue of Barcelona, the groundbreaking album he recorded with Montserrat Caballé, and everyone is talking about the movie that stars Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury. In addition, Queen remains one of the most popular bands in history.

This lavishly illustrated book celebrates one of the key players in the influential British music scene. Freddie’s colorful life is lovingly and painstakingly recounted in photographs and insightful text. Famed as an electric showman with no equal, these images capture the man in the moment, through many stages of his incredible life.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Photography, Biography, Autobiography, LGBT

Hardcover

First published September 1, 2012

Reviews

[Patricia Bejarano Martín · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una joya.
En este libro hay una breve biografía de Freddie Mercury y el grupo de Queen y al terminar eso, es un libro lleno de fotografías de Freddie. Todas ellas explicadas y con su contexto.
No sé, me ha parecido maravilloso. Es un libro difícil de conseguir (sobre todo en español) pero sí se os pone la oportunidad por delante, no lo dudéis.

[noe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este es el libro perfecto para todo fan de Queen y Freddie Mercury. Me ha gustado mucho poder conocer más a cerca de esta leyenda del rock a través de fotografías que se tomaron a lo largo de su vida y de su carrera. Me encantó.

This is the perfect book for Queen and Freddie Mercury fans. I've liked it a lot. You got to know better the story of this rock legend throughout pictures of his private life, live performances and studio shots. It´s a beautiful work.

[Bre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe more like a 2.5, there is no real structure or order to this book and I feel like the author was not a queen or Freddie fan. The photos were really the only interesting part of this book, I wouldn’t really recommend to a big fan but perhaps a casual fan

[The Artisan Geek · Rating 5 out of 5]

12/12/19
So happy to have this book!! I love the pictures! :D

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[Parvati Mohan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me quickly get out of the way the things I didn't like about this book. The author has let his personal bias colour Freddie's story to a considerable extent. For example, he talks of Freddie as a popstar, as though Queen weren't stellar contributors to the classic rock scene of the 1970s. And at another place, he says that Freddie was not as 'influential' or 'enigmatic' as several other pop icons. Let me just say this as someone who was born a few months before Freddie died—Freddie Mercury is a cultural phenomenon of an unprecedented scale, one that we will never know again, and millions who were born into a world that he was long gone from will attest to this.

Also, there were many basic language errors. These could have been avoided so easily by paying a good editor/proofreader a little of the huge amount they must have spent on the production design of the book.

That said, I must give props to the selection and layout of the many wonderful photographs in this collection. The production quality is top-notch with beautiful art paper and a sturdy hardback cover. Definitely a valuable keepsake for those of us who love Freddie and cherish everything the man stood for.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful photos for any diehard fan!

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent this showed Freddie as his true self. This is a tribute to Freddie himself showing everyone who he really was. He couldn't have done it better.

[Luis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Paul Sutter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although Freddie Mercury was a larger than life star when alive, his popularity is just as strong several years into his death. In the award winning film BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, Mercury was idolized on the silver screen thanks to the Award winning performance of Mercury by Rami Malek. Malek writes the foreword to this book.
This is the perfect tribute to Mercury. There are dozens of photos of him, many of which have never been seen before. People cannot get enough of the man, who channeled his heart and soul into his music.
Born in 1946, he always loved music. It culminated in becoming a member of Queen in 1970. With fellow members, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon, they transcended musical genres, creating the unforgettable Queen sound. One rock anthem after another accelerated their popularity. Such classics as We Are The Champions, We Will Rock You, Another One Bites The Dust, Somebody To Love, and of course Bohemian Rhapsody, made their music timeless.
The photos capture the intensity of Mercury. His death only silenced his voice, but the music will never die. Since his passing he remains larger than life. Mercury once said, “Hope for the best and head for the top. That’s the only way to approach this business.”
This was true to his life, reaching the pinnacle of music

[Danielle Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a little girl I remember my mother recording the entire Live Aid concert on our vcr and I would catch bits of pieces of it as I wandered in and out of the house. I happened to see Queen's performance and I was mesmerized. To this day I am blown away by how he dominated the Live Aid stage (in just 20 minutes!!) with all the other huge acts that performed.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/vid...

This book does a good job of showing Freddie the showman as well as the very sweet and private man.


"God knows I want to break free"

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

From Rami Malek’s brief and loving foreword, through Rhys Thomas’ reflective introduction, continuing through Sean O’Hagan’s compelling biography, and ending in Richard Gray’s compilation of photographs, this book is filled with awe and adoration. The writing is beautiful, filled with such gems as “dolled up like a deranged Lord Byron” and “walked a tightrope between complete discretion and outright exhibitionism” yet always remaining respectful and playful. The entirety of the book is in awe, almost disbelieving of what Freddie Mercury, and in turn, Queen, accomplished, in a way that is very genuine and truly invites the reader in. The collection and presentation of the photographs, a mixture of those even the casual fan has seen a hundred times and ones most will have never seen before, brings each and every photograph to life and allows the viewer to connect. Overall, this is one of my favorite books and one I would recommend to any fan, hardcore or casual.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful catalog of photographs of an incredible man who had an extraordinary career. The beginning vignettes were engaging, but nothing profounding. Overall, the book was fun and eye-catching (much like its subject).

The following are a few comments. Considering how large the book was, the photo captions were unnecessarily small. Also, the edition that I read had a few typos. The biggest offender was a photograph that was taken in 1975 but was captioned as 1957. Although a very small error, the mistake grossly distorts the history behind that picture. However, it was stated that future editions would make corrections and I hope that the publisher takes these into consideration.

[Fátima · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Este libro me parece una joya! Para todos aquellos fans de Queen y de Freddie Mercury, este libro sin dudas es fundamental, ya que habla acerca de la vida de Freddie, del grupo Queen, de diversos grupos, de sus canciones. Y sobre todo, una colección increíble de imágenes de toda la vida de Freddie, que hacen que este libro sea muy especial.
Además, es el primer libro oficial que me leo y que me termino en inglés, me siento orgullosa de mi misma.

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

What you would expect from photographic compilations--I think that the intro from Rami Malek, having played Freddie Mercury in the recent film Bohemian Rhapsody, was a touching tribute. The added context to the pictures, giving biographical information as well as interesting context to Mercury's life are amazing. The photographs are glossy and beautiful.

[Lauren Methven · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a super fan of Queen and Freddie, it was a total delight to see his life through the medium of photography. Loved it! My personal favourites include him and Montserrat Caballé (opera is my other love), on stage in his regal gear and his candids.

[Kimmie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must own for any fan...stunning photos and bio on his life.

[Accalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

How beautiful is this man <3

[Mikey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great pictures but the some erroneous information within the text.

[Margaret Gerberding · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is full of pictures and stories about Freddie Mercury and his life from childhood to death. Lots of interesting information for fans of Queen!

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book with some cool pictures, but nothing that we haven't really heard or seen before

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not really “readable” aside from a short forward and a few pages— the rest are photos. But beautiful nonetheless. Photos the general public perhaps hasn’t seen of Freddie and Queen over the years.

[Jennifer Sundt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great foray into the world of Freddie Mercury, a singer I've heard over and over on the radio but whose life I never really explored. How fascinating to learn that Mercury was originally named Farokh Bulsara and was born in Zanzibar! Even better were this book's pictures of Mecury's endless larger-than-life costumes. I think I'll need to come across a true blue biography of him later on to really get to the heart of the things in his life.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that you strictly get for the pictures, not the biographical information at the beginning, which held no surprises. My biggest complaint about this book is that the captions explaining the pictures are so small that it is difficult to read them - or maybe I'm just too old - but I wish they had been in a clearer, larger font.

[Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is there to say? Freddie Mercury was one of the most talented artists of the 20th century and his loss is felt each day. The photos that make up the bulk of this book offer a wonderful pictorial history of his growth and transformations, from childhood to his final video shoot. I love him. I miss him. And I'm eternally grateful he walked among us, even for a brief time.

[Saleris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book. Being a Queen fan since the age of 17, I've already seen all the pictures in the book, but the quality, size and introduction alone make the book worth buying. (I did get it for less than half price, which was a bonus).

[Em ✰:･ﾟ · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author doesn't seem to be a Queen or Freddie fan and he admits it himself.
So I have no idea why he wrote this book.

And I noticed little mistakes as well so that's not ideal for a book like that... But the pictures were great.

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great pictures, story itself very thin.

[Tonarius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I had seen most of the photo's before, it's a good quality and must have for the real Queen/Freddie fan.

[Katie Aldana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this for Christmas and it's great!

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely and interesting book about a man who died way before he should have. Full of pictures from his private as well as public life.