Not mother or father, not the little sister, and—perhaps—only the first girlfriend. In the late 1970s, a young Queen fan in the GDR carried different images in their wallet, treating them like icons: a slender man in a striped suit, his body coiled with intense energy. Partially visible behind him were a bassist, utterly focused, and a guitarist, lost in his instrument.
The singer was Freddie Mercury; his bandmates, John Deacon and Brian May. The three idols in the wallet came from a photograph of a poster from the West; such small pictures were traded on Saturdays at illicit black markets outside football stadiums.
Today, the photos are creased and brittle. On the back, they are held together only by handlebar tape.
Freddie Mercury would have turned 80 today. The "Queen with a beard" has been dead for 35 years. But he remains unforgettable. He said: "I don't want to become a star, but a legend".
It's done. He succeeded.
https://www.koenau.de/2026/09/freddie-mercury-der-konigin-mit-bart.html
