Today 24 years have passed since Freddie Mercury’s death on November 24th, 1991. For me he has never been gone, but unfortunately I was born too late to see him live on stage. I consciously discovered Freddie’s music about two years after his death when Queen was generally considered as uncool among kids. Nobody else at school liked my passion. My classmates rather had a crush on Nirvana, techno and euro dance. In my opinion Freddie had the best voice in the whole universe and it didn’t take a long time till I joined the International Queen Fan Club in London.

Being a school-hater, I learned more from Queen than from my uncreative teachers. Suddenly my English flourished tremendously and the other kids started to wonder who had taught me all those words. No-one tracked down my secret. Of course I had picked up my vocabulary from Queen lyrics and the monthly fan club magazine. Learning English became one of my beloved hobbies in those days, making music my destination in life.

Fascinated by fellow cat lover Freddie, I tried very hard to write a tribute song about him. My very first attempt was called “Immortal Genius”. Every day my mother told me how awful it sounded and my best friend from school days agreed with her. Thus, I dropped the idea for many years. Luckily I rediscovered it three years ago when I wrote “The Show Goes On“, the last track on the Alien Pop EP. The song is actually my personal reply to “The Show Must Go On” from Queen. As far as I remember, I was busy with the composition around November 24th, 2012, Freddie’s 21st anniversary of death.

Every year at the end of November my old friend Magnus (Herr von Keil) hosts a party at the cosy gay bar Betty F. in Berlin. Wearing hilarious costumes and playing Queen  records which are only interrupted by our live performances is our way to commemorate one of the most wonderful voices in the history of rock music. Last Saturday I dressed up as Freddie from the “I Want To Break Free” video. As you can see on the photo, I looked like a guy and other guys seemed to take me for a man … When I sang Queen’s “Thank God It’s Christmas” and my own Christmas carol “Buy, Buy For Christmas“, I could not hide my biology any longer. Anyway, it’s always a lot of fun to sing for Freddie and dance to Queen music with my friends who share my fate of being born too late. We will definitely keep our queeny tradition which also means drinking lots of Caipirinha. Freddie might have chosen champagne, though!