Quotes By Freddie Mercury

What you must understand is that my voice comes from the energy of the audience. The better they are, the better I get.

What will I be doing in 20 years time? I'll be dead, darling! Are you crazy?

About ten years ago, I knew three chords on the guitar. Now, in 1982, I know three chords on the guitar.

My parents were very strict. They thought boarding school would do me good. So, when I was about seven, I was put in one in India for a while.

That background helped me a lot, because it taught me to fend for myself from a very early age, and to be responsible. It was an upheaval of an upbringing, which seems to have worked, I guess.

I went to Ealing Art School, in London, the year after Pete Townshend left. Music was a sideline to everything we did, and the school was a breeding ground for musicians.

I got my diploma and then I thought I'd chance it as a freelance artist. I did it for a couple of months but then I thought, My God, I've done enough. The interest just wasn't there.

I thought up the name Queen early on. It couldn't have been King; it doesn't have the same ring or aura as Queen.

I feel that the name Queen actually fitted that time. It lent itself to a lot of things, like the theatre, and it was grand. It was very pompous, with all kinds of connotations. It meant so much. It wasn't just one precise label. I was certainly aware of the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it.

That single sold over a million and a quarter copies in Britain alone, which is outrageous. Imagine all those grandmothers grooving to it!

That was really when the Queen volcano erupted, when it suddenly just went bang!

We got into our roles so easily. My God! I think that's one of our best videos to date. In fact, it still makes me chuckle every time I see it, and I've seen it a lot of times. I'm glad we did it.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm doing it out of pride. It's something to be proud of: that I'm actually in with all the 'Biggies' - all the biggest stars - and that I can do something worthwhile. Yes, I'm proud more than anything.

I open up to her more than anybody else. We have gone through a lot of ups and downs in our time together, but that has made our relationship all the stronger.

We Are The Champions' is the most egotistical and arrogant song I've ever written. I was thinking about football when I wrote it.

I wanted a participation song, something the fans could latch on to. It was aimed at the masses. I wanted to write something that everyone could sing along to, like a football chant. And at the same time, I thought it would be nice to have a winning song that's meant for everybody. It worked a treat.

I was always keen to do a solo album. I just wanted it to be the right time and the right place so that I could actually work properly on the songs that I wanted to do before I got too old.

I had a lot of ideas bursting to get out and there were a lot of musical territories I wanted to explore which I really couldn't do within Queen.

I don't expect to make old bones, and what's more I don't really care.

I certainly don't have any aspirations to live to 70. It would be so boring. I will be dead and gone long before that. I won't be here... as far as I'm concerned, I've lived a full life and if I'm dead tomorrow, I don't give a damn. I've lived. I really have done it all.