Freddie Mercury: Last News

Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” on repeat when it’s scanned with a smartphone.“In my friendship group, we’d Rickroll each other. I wanted to top everyone,” Meiying Rentas told SWNS.“Rickrolling” is a prank that involves trolling an unsuspecting person with a link to the music video for the 1987 tune.Rentas said she got her first tattoo when she was 18 and was “instantly hooked” — the molecule for serotonin and E = mc² are some of her early inkings.She has 97 drawings on her body, including Freddie Mercury and an olive branch and spider on the left side of her face.Rentas believes her markings are a “timeline” of her life — a flower tattoo covers a scar on her chest following emergency surgery to remove cysts.“I got a face tattoo after I met a girl at Starbucks with one and thought, ‘Wow, that is beautiful,'” Rentas recalled.

Freddie Mercury, Elvis and Ray Charles are few of the cultural superstars who were once the focus of biopic films, and they certainly will not be the last. Oscar-winning film director Martin Scorsese is once again drumming up chatter surrounding himself and Academy Award winner and film frontman Leonardo DiCaprio.The "Shutter Island" actor is rumored to play Frank Sinatra, one of the most highly regarded American singers of all time, in an upcoming biopic by Scorsese.

Bruno Tonioli has been a familiar face on UK TV screens since 2004, when he turned up as a judge on the very first series of Strictly Come Dancing. The former dancer from Italy was on the original panel alongside Craig Revel Horwood, Arlene Phillips and the late Len Goodman.

Watching the preview clip of Back To Black, the new Amy Winehouse biopic, it is impossible to shake the image of the late singer watching it herself. Winehouse, someone unafraid to dismiss anything she saw as beneath her, would surely not accept this soft-soap depiction of her rise from jazz singer to international icon. Back To Black isn’t really for Amy Winehouse, though.

Carolyn Giardina “Queen Rock Montreal” will make its global streaming premiere May 15 on Disney+ as the first concert film available with Imax Enhanced sound by DTS. When it arrived in theaters in January, the remastered 1981 concert was Imax’s biggest exclusive engagement.

Strictly Come Dancing star Giovanni Pernice appeared to have put speculation about his future behind him on Thursday afternoon, as the popular dancer stepped out in Birmingham ahead of his tour stop at Birmingham Symphony Hall.The 33 year old professional dancer, who has starred on Strictly since 2015 , kept things chic but casual as he opted for a pair of fitted black Dolce & Gabbana jogging bottoms, a white Hugo Boss t-shirt featuring Freddie Mercury, and an effortlessly cool black leather jacket. To complete his stylish look, Giovanni also opted for a pair of Louis Vuitton trainers in black and a pair of Apple AirPods to listen to his favourite tunes while out and about.

Madonna is making a correction to one part of her tour!

Madonna has removed an image of Luther Vandross from the AIDS tribute section of her ongoing ‘Celebration’ tour.The moment came during a recent show as part of her world tour, which includes a section paying tribute to those who have died of AIDS-related illnesses. For the segment, pictures of famous faces such as Herb Ritts, Freddie Mercury and artist Keith Haring are shown, as the singer performs her 1986 song ‘Live To Tell’.However, during her show in Sacramento on Saturday (February 24), a photograph of Luther Vandross was also included in the tribute, despite his cause of death not being related to AIDS.In response, the estate of the late singer – who was famed for tracks including ‘Never Too Much’ and ‘Endless Love’ – have reached out to the pop star and requested to have his image taken down from the tribute.“Luther Vandross passed away in 2005 due to complications from a stroke suffered two years earlier,” a spokesperson from Luther’s estate told Page Six.

Freddie Mercury could be on the way.Hints that a new hologram show featuring the late Queen frontman emerged after Mercury Songs Limited – the organisation which has ownership over the singer’s solo works – reportedly filed to trademark his moniker for virtual reality and 3D.News of the move was shared by The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column, which obtained the filing and reported that it covers “immersive 3D virtual, augmented, and mixed reality experiences” for “virtual environments” (via Music News).With the filing, it seems possible that the musician could return to the stage as a digital avatar, similar to that seen in the hugely successful ABBA Voyage shows in London.It also wouldn’t mark the first time that Mercury has been depicted on stage in recent years, following his death from bronchial pneumonia, a complication of AIDS, back in 1991. Two years ago, an optical illusion of the frontman was shown during Queen’s ‘Rhapsody Tour’, which the band embarked on with Adam Lambert.

“Under Pressure” under protest.The 1981 hit — a colossal collaboration between British music gods Queen and David Bowie that soared to No. 1 in the UK and has remained a class-rock mainstay — didn’t mesh as well with May as it has with fans over the years.“I never liked it, to be honest, the way it was mixed,” May, 76, told “Total Guitar” magazine.Indeed, the Queen guitarist clashed with the late Bowie during the “very difficult” late-night studio session “after we had a meal and a lot of drinks.”An earlier version of the song — which was much more to May’s liking — “sounded like The Who” and was “massively chord-driven.”“I was beaming because I liked The Who.

Naman Ramachandran The BBC has commissioned feature documentary “ABBA: Against The Odds” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the iconic Swedish group winning the Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place this year in Sweden. The documentary will be produced by multi-award winning documentary makers Rogan Productions (“Freddie Mercury: The Final Act”) and directed by James Rogan. It will tell the story of ABBA’s greatest period of musical achievement framed between the albums “Arrival” (1976) and “Super Trooper” (1980).

Queen guitarist Brian May has revealed that he has “never liked” the mix of ‘Under Pressure’, the band’s 1981 smash hit collaboration with David Bowie. Speaking in an interview with Total Guitar (via Guitar World), May revealed that the original version of ‘Under Pressure’ “sounded massively chord-driven,” but that much of its “heavy guitar was lost” following Bowie’s input on the final mix.Recalling the song’s creation, May said ‘Under Pressure’ was the result of spontaneous late nights in the studio, with the initial cut featuring a “pretty heavy backing track.” At first, May said he was “beaming” over the heavier guitar sound because it reminded him of The Who.May raised that comparison to Bowie, who said “‘it’s not going to sound like The Who by the time I’ve finished with it.’” May continued: “[Bowie] didn’t want it to be that way.”The guitarist said that the changes were made because “we all had different ideas of how [‘Under Pressure’] should be mixed,” specifically naming Bowie and Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.“Basically it was Freddie and David fighting it out in the studio with the mix,” May recalled, “and what happened in the mix was that most of that heavy guitar was lost.”May went on to reveal that he originally played the main riff of ‘Under Pressure’ on an electric guitar, but that it was replaced by the “acoustic bits which were done first as a sort of demo.” As for the final mix that was eventually released, May admitted that he “never liked it, to be honest.”“I do recognise that it works.

So, here we are in mid-January, and though we’re staring down the barrel of a tough year ahead, it’s not all wintry doom and gloom on an international box office (and combined global) level. 

Queen have shared a new clip of the performance of ‘We Are The Champions’ from their live movie Queen Rock Montreal. Check it out exclusively on NME above.After a London premiere earlier this week, a digitally-remastered cut of the recording of the rock icons’ legendary 1981 shows at the 18,000-seat Montreal Forum will be released in 450 IMAX Cinemas tomorrow (Thursday January 18).The live movie includes 12-channel surround sound, crystal-clear images, and IMAX’s customiSed theatre geometry, as the band deliver a set packed with classics including ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Somebody To Love’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ and many more.“I don’t think we quite realised it at the time, but this film has preserved one of the highest peaks in Queen’s touring life, on stage in the old glory days,” said guitarist Brian May.

A self-taught balloon artist has gone viral with her astounding "balloon people" creations. Beverley McGrath makes life-sized balloon sculptures in the image of anyone you'd like.

Naman Ramachandran Fremantle has acquired the international distribution rights for Sky original documentary “Zuckerberg: King of the Metaverse” from Rogan Productions. The feature documentary unveils Mark Zuckerberg’s journey from Harvard student to founder and CEO behind one of the biggest social media platforms in the modern world – Facebook, which is now Meta.

Noddy Holder has reflected on his friendship with Freddie Mercury, revealing that the Queen frontman would share his aspirations with him.The moment took place during a rare TV appearance from the Slade singer, when he appeared as a guest on the Channel 4 morning show Sunday Brunch over the weekend (December 17).In the programme, the glam icon shared anecdotes about his extensive time in the music industry, particularly the elaborate outfits he would wear on stage during the ‘70s. It was here that he reflected on his relationship with Freddie Mercury – back before the singer found fame with Queen.In the conversation, he recalled the origins of his iconic mirror hat and dispelled the myth that he bought it from the iconic rock singer.“I made the top hat with mirrors.

UPDATE, 11:58 AM: The two-year old lawsuit between Bohemian Rhapsody writer Anthony McCarten and the producers of the Oscar-winning film is over. 

Queen’s Freddie Mercury thought ‘Somebody To Love’ was “better” than ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, according to a roadie who once worked with the band.Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio after ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was named ‘greatest song of all time’ by over 6500 listeners, former roadie and author of Queen Uncovered Peter Hince remembers the band coming up with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and Mercury’s thoughts on the track.Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio he explained: “The band were recording [album] ‘Night At The Opera’ and we were going around all these different studios in London and doing bits in each place so I was hearing bits and pieces of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, but I didn’t hear the whole thing for quite some time. I remember hearing the opera bit and thinking it’s going to be an introduction tape for the live show – I had no idea it was a song!”He continued: “The video is arguably what helped it become so huge in Britain…and the other thing is that, sadly, Freddie isn’t around anymore and it’s one of his legacies that piece of music so is still something people find very emotional.“Also, nothing really had been done like it before and probably nothing since – with all the technology now it is easier to get certain studio effects whereas with Queen it was all about spending enormous amounts of time and being incredibly innovative.

Sir Bob Geldof is returning to his best-known project to develop a stage musical based on his 1985 Live Aid concert.

EXCLUSIVE: Rock icon Bob Geldof is collaborating on a stage musical about the global phenomenon that was Live Aid. The show, called Just For One Day, devised and directed by Luke Sheppard (& Juliet), will have its world premiere at the Old Vic Theatre in London early next year.