Editing Freddie Mercury (section)

===Personality===
Although he cultivated a flamboyant stage personality, Mercury was shy and retiring when not performing, particularly around people he did not know well,<ref name="O'Donnell_2005"/><ref name = "Cain_2006"/> and granted very few interviews. He once said of himself: "When I'm performing I'm an [[extrovert]], yet inside I'm a completely different man."<ref name="Myers_1991"/> On this contrast to "his larger-than-life stage persona", BBC music broadcaster [[Bob Harris (radio presenter)|Bob Harris]] adds he was "lovely, bright, sensitive, and quite vulnerable".<ref name="Harris"/> While on stage, Mercury basked in the love from his audience. [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]] frontman [[Kurt Cobain]]'s suicide note mentions how he admired and envied the way Mercury "seemed to love, relish in the love and adoration from the crowd".<ref name="RSBestSingers">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/rolling-stone-readers-pick-the-best-lead-singers-of-all-time-20110412/2-freddie-mercury-0762142 | title = Readers Pick the Best Lead Singers of All Time. 2. Freddie Mercury |date=12 April 2011 |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=9 March 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110415091916/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/photos/rolling-stone-readers-pick-the-best-lead-singers-of-all-time-20110412/2-freddie-mercury-0762142 |archive-date=15 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Kurt Cobain's Suicide Note | publisher = kurtcobainssuicidenote | url = http://kurtcobainssuicidenote.com/kurt_cobains_suicide_note.html | access-date = 16 September 2016 | archive-date = 15 April 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150415073125/http://www.kurtcobainssuicidenote.com/kurt_cobains_suicide_note.html | url-status = live }}</ref>

[[File:Queen (15383194666).jpg|thumb|upright|A flamboyant personality on stage, Mercury, pictured wearing a Harlequin outfit in 1977, adopted glam rock aesthetics in the 1970s.]]
Mercury never discussed his ethnic or religious background with journalists. The closest he came to doing so was in response to a question about his outlandish persona, he said, "that's something inbred, it's a part of me. I will always walk around like a Persian [[Fop|popinjay]]",<ref name="Chapman">{{cite book |last1=Chapman |first1=Ian |title=Global Glam and Popular Music: Style and Spectacle from the 1970s to the 2000s |date=2012 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=Abingdon, England|pages=86, 87}}</ref> an oblique reference to his Indian Parsi background. Feeling a connection to Britain prior to arriving in England, the young Bulsara was heavily influenced by British fashion and music trends while growing up.<ref name="Chapman"/> According to his longtime assistant Peter Freestone, "if Freddie had his way, he would have been born aged 18 in [[Feltham]]."<ref name="Chapman"/> Harris states, "One of the things about Freddie was that he was very civilised and quite 'English'. I'd go over to his flat near [[Shepherd's Bush]] in the afternoon, and he'd get out the fine china and the sugar lumps and we'd have a cup of tea."<ref name="Harris">{{cite news|last=Yates|first=Henry|date=23 February 2018|title=Bob Harris on Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Queen, Robert Plant and more...<!-- ellipsis in the original -->|magazine=[[Metal Hammer|Louder Sound]]|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/bob-harris-on-marc-bolan-david-bowie-queen-robert-plant-and-more|access-date=27 June 2020|archive-date=30 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630010733/https://www.loudersound.com/features/bob-harris-on-marc-bolan-david-bowie-queen-robert-plant-and-more|url-status=live}}</ref> His flamboyant dress sense and the emergence of [[glam rock]] in the UK in the early 1970s saw Mercury wear outfits designed by [[Zandra Rhodes]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Breward |first=Christopher |title=The London Look: Fashion from Street to Catwalk |date=2004 |publisher=Yale University Press |page=137}}</ref>

When asked by ''[[Melody Maker]]'' in 1981 if rock stars should use their power to try to shape the world for the better, Mercury responded, "Leave that to the politicians. Certain people can do that kind of thing, but very few. [[John Lennon]] was one. Because of his status, he could do that kind of preaching and affect people's thoughts. But to do this you have to have a certain amount of intellect and magic together, and the John Lennons are few and far between. People with mere talent, like me, have not got the ability or power."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20181107103954/http://www.queenarchives.com/index.php?title=Freddie_Mercury_-_05-02-1981_-_Melody_Maker "Mercury interview for Melody Maker]. queenarchives.com (5 February 1981). Retrieved 28 February 2019</ref> Mercury dedicated a song to the former member of [[the Beatles]]. The song, "Life Is Real (Song for Lennon)", is included in the 1982 album ''[[Hot Space]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Erlewine |first1=Stephen Thomas |authorlink=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |title=Hot Space review |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/hot-space-mw0000195391 |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=2 March 2019 |archive-date=1 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501044519/https://www.allmusic.com/album/hot-space-mw0000195391 |url-status=live }}</ref> Mercury did occasionally express his concerns about the state of the world in his lyrics. His most notable "message" songs are "Under Pressure", "[[Is This the World We Created...?]]" (a song which Mercury and May performed at Live Aid, and also featured in ''[[Greenpeace – The Album]]''), "[[There Must Be More to Life Than This]]", "[[The Miracle (song)|The Miracle]]" (a song May called "one of Freddie's most beautiful creations") and "[[Innuendo (song)|Innuendo]]".<ref>{{cite web|first=Greg|last=Prato|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/r15963|title=''Innuendo'' review|website=[[AllMusic]].|access-date=30 June 2020|archive-date=1 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101141140/http://www.allmusic.com/album/r15963|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Queen - Days of Our Lives (Episode 2)|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011r4gs|access-date=30 June 2020|publisher=BBC|archive-date=24 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624215128/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011r4gs|url-status=live}}</ref>

Mercury cared for at least ten cats throughout his life, including: Tom, Jerry, Oscar, Tiffany, Dorothy, Delilah, Goliath, Miko, Romeo, and Lily. He was against the inbreeding of cats for specific features and all except for Tiffany and Lily, both given as gifts, were adopted from the [[Blue Cross (animal charity)|Blue Cross]]. Mercury "placed as much importance on these beloved animals as on any human life", and showed his adoration by having the artist Ann Ortman paint portraits of each of them. Mercury wrote a song for Delilah, "his favourite cat of all", which appeared on the Queen album ''[[Innuendo (album)|Innuendo]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Freestone |first=Peter |date=2001 |title=Freddie Mercury: An Intimate Memoir by the Man who Knew Him Best |publisher=Omnibus Press |page=234 |isbn=0711986746}}</ref> Mercury dedicated his liner notes in his 1985 solo album ''Mr. Bad Guy'' to Jerry and his other cats. It reads, "This album is dedicated to my cat Jerry—also Tom, Oscar, and Tiffany and all the cat lovers across the universe—screw everybody else!"<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tenreyro |first1=Tatiana |title=Freddie Mercury's Cats In Real Life Were Just As Spoiled As 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Shows |url=https://www.bustle.com/p/freddie-mercurys-cats-in-real-life-were-just-as-spoiled-as-bohemian-rhapsody-shows-12971631 |access-date=7 January 2020 |magazine=[[Bustle (magazine)|Bustle]] |date=1 November 2018 |archive-date=31 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731224350/https://www.bustle.com/p/freddie-mercurys-cats-in-real-life-were-just-as-spoiled-as-bohemian-rhapsody-shows-12971631 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1987, Mercury celebrated his 41st birthday at the [[Pikes Hotel]], [[Ibiza]], Spain, several months after discovering that he had contracted HIV.<ref name="Jackson2011">{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=Laura|title=Freddie Mercury: The biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7uCPAit0AtUC&pg=PT138|date=2011|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=978-0-7481-2907-2|pages=187–190|access-date=13 March 2016|archive-date=20 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230720073549/https://books.google.com/books?id=7uCPAit0AtUC&pg=PT138|url-status=live}}</ref> Mercury sought much comfort at the retreat and was a close friend of the owner, Anthony Pike, who described Mercury as "the most beautiful person I've ever met in my life. So entertaining and generous."<ref name="TI0802">{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1700195.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105214745/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1700195.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 November 2013|author=Husband, Stuart|title=The Beach: Hedonism – Last of the International; Playboys; Pike's is a notorious Ibiza hotel where anything goes|newspaper=[[The Independent]] |via=[[HighBeam Research]]|date=4 August 2002|access-date=9 April 2013}}</ref> According to biographer [[Lesley-Ann Jones]], Mercury "felt very much at home there. He played some tennis, lounged by the pool, and ventured out to the odd gay club or bar at night."<ref name="Jones 2011 212"/> The birthday party, held on 5 September 1987, has been described as "the most incredible example of excess the Mediterranean island had ever seen", and was attended by some 700 people.<ref name="TP96">{{cite news|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-61620222|title=Just months after finding out he had AIDS he threw the biggest and wildest birthday party for 700 people|newspaper=[[The Sunday People|The People]]|date=26 May 1996}}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}</ref> A cake in the shape of [[Antoni Gaudi]]'s ''[[Sagrada Família]]'' was provided for the party. The original cake collapsed and was replaced with a two-metre-long sponge cake decorated with the notes from Mercury's song "Barcelona".<ref name="TI0802"/> The bill, which included 232 broken glasses, was presented to Queen's manager, [[Jim Beach]].<ref name="Jackson_1997"/> Before his death, Mercury had told Beach, "You can do what you want with my music, but don't make me boring."<ref>{{cite news|first=Caroline|last=Sullivan|title=Freddie Mercury: the great enigma|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/sep/27/freddie-mercury-great-enigma|date=27 September 2012|access-date=22 November 2019|work=[[The Guardian]]|archive-date=9 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150609093810/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/sep/27/freddie-mercury-great-enigma|url-status=live}}</ref>