Freddie Mercury exhibition opens at Sotheby’s
It’s been over 30 years since Freddie Mercury’s untimely death when he left a vast chunk of his estate to his ex-fiancée Mary Austin.
The Queen singer gifted her his Garden Lodge Kensington home and all its contents including his clothes, furniture, artwork and more.
And now his 72-year-old former flame has decided to auction off the vast majority of his possessions, in part to charity, next month at Sotheby’s.
Express.co.uk attended a preview at the auction house in London where a special free exhibition of Freddie’s personal items are on display across two floors until September 5.
Towards the end of our private press tour, one of the auctioneers saved the star’s most cherished possession for last – an item that’s estimated at £2-3 million.
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The Sotheby’s rep said: “We’ve shown you hundreds of objects which Freddie loved, cherished and cared for. But there is no other object here that meant as much to him as this piano, the Yamaha Baby Grand.
“This was his primary instrument for composition, it was his great outlet for his creativity. This is where he composed his melodies, this is where he tried out his lyrics. This is where he would play his songs, when he was writing them, to his very closest collaborators to ask for their opinion.” Of course, one of these will have been Monserrat Caballé who famously sang Barcelona with Freddie.
The auctioneer continued: “It was a really, really important part of his musical journey and also in his personal life from when he bought it in 1975, right through to the time when he died. So he bought this piano just when Queen were on the cusp of going from a successful band to being huge superstars.
“In early 1975, the upright he’d composed on was just a little too thin for his music now and he needed something with a richer, deeper sound. He also needed something that would fit into his living room as he was living in a modestly sized West London flat at the time. So he went out time and again scouring pianos stores of London until he eventually came to Mary: ‘I’ve found it! It’s the Yamaha! That’s the one! And don’t worry dear it’s very small, it’s just a baby grand.’ So when she came home from work one day, she was a little bit surprised to see quite how much of the living room was suddenly taken up by this beautiful instrument.”
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The Sotheby’s rep added: “Pretty much, it seems, the first thing he wrote on it was Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s almost as if he was inspired by the sound this instrument could generate and it stayed with him for the rest of his life. It moved with him from flat to flat. Sometimes actually it would stay with Mary and he would come to Mary’s flat.
“And then eventually when Garden Lodge was ready, he and Mary spent the day trying it out in different parts of the room until they found a corner that was nice and central but well-shaded and Freddie was like, ‘F*** it! That’ll do! This is the place!’ And that’s where it remained until earlier this year. It was very much at the heart of life at Garden Lodge. “He was very careful about it. Always kept it in pristine condition. The one place he would never smoke, never drink… at the piano.”
Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own exhibition is free and open to the public with no booking required from today until September 5 at Sotheby’s London. For more information click here.
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