The 11th Brit Awards took place on February 18, 1990. The night’s highlight was when the legendary band Queen was honoured with a prestigious award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. Unfortunately, many of us were unaware that it was Freddie Mercury’s final official public appearance as the frontman for Queen.
The vast majority of those present were unaware of Mercury’s dire situation. Privately, the other members were aware of the situation, but it was not made public at the time. Freddie appeared on stage wearing heavy makeup to conceal the symptoms of his AIDS at the time.
Brian May even admitted that they didn’t know how ill Freddie was for many years. He said:
“We didn’t really know what was wrong for a long time. We never discussed it, and it was almost like an unwritten rule that we didn’t, because Freddie didn’t want to. He simply stated that he was unable to conduct tours, and that was the end of the conversation. I suppose over the last year and a half, it became clear what the problem was, or at least fairly obvious. We didn’t know for sure.
Freddie Mercury was only present and stood quietly as he accepted the ‘Outstanding Contribution to British Music’ award. Brain May spoke on Queen’s behalf that night. In his final public appearance, Freddie leaned into the microphone and said, “Thank you…goodnight.”
His diagnosis remained a secret until November 22, 1991. He died just one day after issuing an official statement. A friend of Freddie’s explained why he kept his diagnosis a secret for so long. David Wigg said this in the BBC documentary Freddie Mercury: A Life in Ten Pictures.
“I noticed he had lost weight and he had a mark on his cheek that was apparently one of those marks (Kaposi’s sarcoma) you can get when you get HIV.” Then Freddie said,
“I’ve almost become a nun. I thought sex was very important to me and I lived for sex, and now I’ve completely gone the opposite way. It scared me to death. I stopped having sex. David, this is very difficult. I will tell you as a friend, but you must promise not to include it in our article.”
David inquired, “So, you’re telling me you had a test?” And Freddie said, “Yes”. And I’m HIV. The secret had to be kept because he was still hoping for a cure or that the medications he was taking for his illness would help him get through it.”
While his situation was not public, there were rumours about Freddie’s health as early as 1986. Even magazines and tabloids like The Sun reported that he tested positive for HIV/AIDS. However, he kept this a secret until November 22, 1991, when he died after only one day.
