For over twenty years, Freddie Mercury ruled supreme as the frontman and lodestar of one of the most popular, colourful and biggest-selling bands in rock history. From their debut album in 1973 to the release of Innuendo in 1991, Queen---Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon---charted an astonishing forty-one Top 40 singles, including three number ones. Of the nineteen albums they released, eight reached number one. And throughout this hugely successful time, there was Freddie Mercury---extroverted, phenomenally gifted, flamboyant showman---wowing each successive audience and listener with his superb vocal pyrotechnics and extraordinary shows. In this affectionate and revealing updated biography, David Bret presents a completely rounded portrait of the megastar still mourned by millions, twenty years after his death. Based on exclusive interviews with Mercury's close friends, fellow musicians and lovers who have spoken with great warmth of his loves, heartbreaks, triumphs and anxieties, Bret traces the spectacular life of this rock icon, from his obscure youth in a remote part of India to his final, courageous battle against AIDS---the terrible disease that robbed the world of one of its greatest stars.