A new Queen book will debut unreleased tracks and alternative lyrics to some of the band’s most recognisable songs, including “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
A Life in Lyrics is being released by Mary Austin, Freddie Mercury’s former fiancée and closest friend, to whom he left his house and possessions – along with his entire creative archive – when he died in 1991, aged 45.
“In early 2023, in the midst of cataloguing the contents of Garden Lodge, this wonderful home Freddie had left to me, I began to leaf through the papers my family and I had collected together from where they had lain, undisturbed and unseen, in the house for over 30 years,” the typically reclusive Austin said in a statement.
“Here were the working drafts for Freddie's lyrics, set down across loose sheets of paper and in simple, plain notebooks that entirely belied the wonders within.”
Austin said that the re-emergence of these handwritten notes offered a window into Mercury’s “brilliant, creative mind”, at the same time stirring up memories from decades passed “of conversations, occasions and emotions. Freddie’s songs continue to bring so much happiness, and solace, to so many.”
She added: “I hope that by sharing his manuscripts now, contextualised with fresh insights and a sprinkling of vignettes of our lives together, I will illuminate the remarkable creative force of my dear friend for the enjoyment of everyone he continues to delight and inspire, even after all these years.”
Mercury and Austin met in 1969; he proposed to her on Christmas Day in 1973. They broke off their engagement three years later but remained lifelong friends, with Mercury going on to have relationships with men and women.
The book will be released by HarperCollins four days before what would have been his 80th birthday, on 1 September 2026, in hardback, ebook and audiobook editions.
It will feature a number of images from Mercury’s archive, some of which have never been seen before.
News of the project comes a month after another book claimed to reveal that Mercury had a secret daughter who was unknown even to his closest friends.
Love, Freddie by Lesley-Ann Jones alleges that the child, now a 48-year-old woman referred to only as “B”, was conceived during an affair Mercury had with the wife of a close friend in 1976.
“B” claims that Mercury gave her 17 journals that covered the final years of his life, and that they had “a very close and loving relationship from the moment I was born and throughout the final 15 years of his life. He adored me and was devoted to me.”
The claims drew scepticism from a number of those closest to Mercury, including Austin, who said in a rare interview last month: “I’ve never known of any child, or any diaries. If Freddie had indeed had a child without me knowing anything about it, that would be astonishing to me.”
Additional reporting by Press Association
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