It was unexpected otherwise she would have been there. But we agreed we’d make life as comfortable and as private for Freddie as we could’. We were all hoping a cure would be found. ‘We lied through our teeth to protect his privacy’, says May. Once I started to fix me, life started to work again.’įreddie had confided to Brian and other members of his inner circle his HIV diagnosis.

‘I talked about my feelings and it worked fabulously. The clinic, he says, helped him unravel his emotional problems. Gradually, the suicidal feelings went away.’ So I had to go into this place where I was isolated and removed from my life. 'I coasted along and got by somehow, but I couldn’t get myself into gear. 'We lost Freddie and my Dad died at almost the same time. The band finished, so there was a terrible feeling of loss - the band was my family. When that finishes, you’re out on a limb. ‘Being in a touring band puts your friends and family on hold and you’re focused on one thing - the band. ‘I regarded myself as completely sick’, he revealed to me. In desperation, he booked himself into a clinic in Arizona, which he describes as a cross between a university, a health farm and a mental asylum. Seriously depressed by worries about his own future, exhausted after years of touring, and unable to come to terms with the loss of Freddie, he found himself facing a complete mental and physical breakdown. The death of Freddie Mercury brought his close friend Queen guitarist Brian May to the brink of suicide. ‘The doctor had been there half an hour before and said he’s got a few more days, so we didn’t expect he would die so soon,’ says Clark. He was grateful for everything and for his friends.’Ĭlark was alone with Freddie in the bedroom when he suddenly died. His bedroom had an adjoining lounge and looked out on to his beautiful garden. ‘We made everything as comfortable as we could for Freddie. On the evening Freddie died, Clark took over the bedside vigil from Mary Austin, Freddie’s former girlfriend and closest friend.Īlso in the house were his long time and loyal friend Joe Fanelli, his chef, Peter Freestone, his assistant and Jim Hutton, his lover. He was suffering and sadly there was no way out’. And towards the end, when he realised it was no longer fun, he decided to come off medication. ‘But he was getting frail and he decided to come off all the medication apart from painkillers.įreddie loved life.

And the sad thing is if it had been 12 months later, he might have been OK when combination drug therapy first came in. He said the next generation will be the ones to beat this. He had special new medications flown in by Concorde from America. The DC5, whose hits included Glad All Over and Bits And Pieces, helped spearhead the British Invasion of America scoring 15 consecutive Top 20 hits and selling over 100 million records.Ĭlark and Mercury had been friends since meeting in 1976 after a Queen concert in London’s Hyde Park, though they became close working together in 1985 recording the soundtrack album for Clark’s musical Time, including the title song with its poignant line ‘We’ve not spoken about it at all, the fact that time is running out for us all’. A kind of magic: Freddie on stage in 1986

Freddie mercury death cause