Queen frontman Freddie Mercury handed over unpublished notebooks which will form 2026 book
Freddie Mercury’s former fiancé and dearest friend Mary Austin is bringing out a book about the music icon on what would have been his 80th birthday.
When Freddie passed away in 1991, he left to his former fiancé and dearest friend Mary Austin not only his house and possessions but also a creative archive spanning almost two decades. From his earliest works before Queen was formed, right through to the end of his solo career, his notebooks and doodlings contain previously unpublished material including alternate lyrics and abandoned verses for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and multiple drafts of ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, as well as entire songs that were never recorded.
The new book will feature these accompanied by stories, memories, and anecdotes from his lifelong companion, and illustrated with photographs from Freddie’s personal collection, many of which have never been published before.
The book called A Life in Lyrics is being described as “the definitive creative record” of one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
Mary Austin said: “In early 2023, in the midst of cataloguing the contents of Garden Lodge, this wonderful home Freddie had left to me, I began to leaf through the papers my family and I had collected together from where they had lain, undisturbed and unseen, in the house for over thirty years.
“Here were the working drafts for Freddie’s lyrics, set down across loose sheets of paper and in simple, plain notebooks that entirely belied the wonders within. This reemergence of Freddie’s handwritten notes, offering a window into his brilliant, creative mind, stirred up many memories from decades passed, of conversations, occasions and emotions. Freddie’s songs continue to bring so much happiness, and solace, to so many.
“I hope that by sharing his manuscripts now, contextualised with fresh insights and a sprinkling of vignettes of our lives together, I will illuminate the remarkable creative force of my dear friend for the enjoyment of everyone he continues to delight and inspire, even after all these years.”
The new book will follow on from a biography published this year. The Queen legend, who died in 1991 at the age of 45 after being diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, fathered a daughter in the 1970s according to evidence gathered by his most prolific biographer.
According to the new investigation by Lesley-Ann Jones, Freddie kept private journals and notebooks in which he recorded his life story and innermost thoughts, and documented his relationship with his daughter over a period of 14 years.
Lesley-Ann learned about the personal documents when “B” tracked her down and contacted her. The two women developed a friendship over several years, which culminated in “B” granting Lesley-Ann permission to share the contents of the journals, as well as her own memories of Freddie, for a new book entitled Love, Freddie.
In it, Jones presents what could be a fresh understanding of Freddie’s private life and personal struggles. According to “B”, this will be the first and only time that Freddie’s true life story will have been told by his own flesh and blood.
* A Life in Lyrics by Freddie Mercury with Mary Austin will be published on September 1, 2026 by HarperNonFiction.
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Source: Mirror
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