Freddie Mercury—The Great Pretender

Freddie Mercury was an iconic singer who was hugely popular throughout his brilliant music career, as the lead singer of Queen and as a solo artist. The world mourned his untimely death in 1991, but he was incredibly prolific and left behind a rich legacy of recordings, not all of which have been released to date.

The twentieth anniversary of Freddie’s death will see the reissue of Barcelona, the groundbreaking album he recorded with Montserrat Caballe, and everyone is talking about the movie that stars Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury. In addition, Queen remains one of the most popular bands in history.

This lavishly illustrated book celebrates one of the key players in the influential British music scene. Freddie’s colorful life is lovingly and painstakingly recounted in photographs and insightful text. Famed as an electric showman with no equal, these images capture the man in the moment, through many stages of his incredible life.

Richard Gray is the photographer and designer behind some of the best recognized Queen imagery of the past 26 years. He entered the music world in the early '80s, and has worked with Kate Bush, David Bowie, Duran Duran, and Live Aid. He met Queen in 1986, and photographed them on stage at their final concert with Freddie. His book projects include 40 Years of Queen and Queen: The Complete Illustrated Lyrics. He lives in London, England.