As always, when Adam Lambert took to the stage last night, he acknowledged the extraordinary legacy and memory of Freddie. As well as his remarkable voice, superb songwriting and electrifying stage presence, the legendary frontman was known for his flamboyance and grand gestures. He lavishly flew his nearest and dearest to parties all over the world, but he also paid for Christmas dinners to be delivered to AIDS patients in hospital. To Freddie, no matter how small or large the gift he gave or received, it was always the thought that mattered more than anything.
The star carried a little black book with him everywhere and kept constantly noting down all his friends’ birthdays so that he never forgot a gift. Even when he was dying in the autumn of 1991, Freddie was on the phone pre-ordering Christmas presents for everyone that year. He knew he wouldn’t live to see it, but he loved just thinking about everyone’s joy and surprise when they arrived.
The Queen icon also loved to spontaneously treat his nearest and dearest. Little has ever been disclosed about gifts between the band members of Queen, but Brian revealed one incredibly special and thoughtful moment with Freddie.
Brian said: “And what he’d done was spend the whole morning putting together all the guitar solos that he could find in the work that we’d done, and he’d strung them all together. It was quite amazing… Freddie was very proud of the stuff that I’d done and that we’d done together.”
People often forget that, as well as playing air guitar while strutting his stuff on stage, Freddie was also a capable guitarist himself, which made his appreciation of Brian’s talents even more special.
Unfortunately, Brian also had to confess that the story doesn’t quite have a happy ending.
Brian said: “And one of my big regrets is I can’t find that cassette. I never throw anything away. I’m a bit of a hoarder. So it ought to be somewhere.”
Knowing Freddie’s irrepressible sense of humour, he would probably find that rather hilarious.
Although the Queen singer did take giving and receiving presents rather seriously and was often rather frustrated when people failed to understand the one thing that would make him most happy.
Despite his enormous wealth and fame, when it came to receiving gifts, Freddie’s needs were very simple and specific.
Freddie said: “A little gift, a gesture, a nuance…means far more than someone buying you Big Ben. It is totally farcical to assume that people who have money don’t need little gestures like that, like everyone else. There might be people who pooh-pooh that kind of stuff but they must be very boring types.
“Some people think you have all this wealth, so ‘What can I possibly get you as a present? You have everything, so I can’t buy you anything.’ I think that’s a cop-out.
“There’s tons of things I need. I hate all those excuses. They think they can’t give you something that doesn’t cost much because it’s going to be beneath you, but that’s absolute cr*p.”
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