Queen drummer Roger Taylor revealed that for himself, Brian May, and John Deacon, it took ‘5 years’ to accept that Freddie Mercury had died from AIDS. This makes sense, as after Freddie’s November 1991 death, they didn’t complete and release ‘Made in Heaven’ until 1995. Queen Knew Freddie Mercury Was ‘Sick’ Before The AIDS News.
Taylor admitted that Freddie’s health was noticeably declining when recording the band’s last two albums.
“During The Miracle and Innuendo, Fred was not what he had been. He just wanted to keep working. Which really brought us together. We gathered up around him and sort of protected him.”
Taylor consider the 90’s a ‘lost decade’ due to Freddie’s death. He said in Classic Rock, “His death didn’t really sink in at first. Brian and I took five years to get over it. We were lost. The nineties, for me, was almost a lost decade.”
On MercuryPhoenixTrust.com, Queen have helped raise millions for AIDS related charities. The website states, “The Mercury Phoenix Trust was founded by Brian May, Roger Taylor and their manager Jim Beach in memory of rock band Queen’s iconic lead singer FREDDIE MERCURY who died in 1991 from AIDS.
In the last 21 years the Trust has given away over 17 million dollars in his name and funded over 1000 projects in the global battle against HIV/AIDS.
We need your support to maintain our present donor level and to keep funding the desperately needed HIV/AIDS initiatives globally. Together, help us to use Freddie’s memory, his charisma and drive to eradicate this disease.
We give to a wide range of Education and Awareness projects, principally targeting young people in the developing world. The 18 million orphans who have lost one or both parents to AIDS are in desperate need of help as they struggle to survive and build their lives, often becoming ‘head of the family’ for their smaller siblings.”
