LOVE, FREDDIE -Freddie Mercury's Secret Life and Love with Lesley-Ann Jones

Join Lesley-Ann Jones as she delves into her new book Love, Freddie at Books on the Rise!

About Love, Freddie:

Few people knew that Freddie Mercury kept a diary. When he died in 1991, he left behind seventeen handwritten notebooks chronicling his life and times, which he had begun to write in 1976 when Queen were at the height of their global fame. His final entry was made just weeks before his death.

Only four of his nearest and dearest ever knew what became of those diaries. To one of them, Freddie secretly entrusted the collection just before he died. A mind-blowing read, they constitute the closest thing to a Freddie Mercury autobiography that the world will ever know.

In 2021, this trusted individual approached the author, offering something unprecedented: complete and unrestricted access to the artist’s most intimate confessions. For three and a half years, Lesley-Ann Jones has immersed herself in Freddie’s personal revelations, crafting a narrative that will overturn everything we thought we knew about him and his legacy.

Love, Freddie shares shocking secrets from Freddie’s childhood, lifts the lid on his deepest fears and most passionate desires, explores the inspiration behind his songwriting, revisits his closest relationships and reveals the love of his life. Here, once and for all, is Freddie Mercury’s true story.

About Lesley Ann-Jones

Lesley-Ann Jones is the internationally best-selling author of Love, Freddie.

Her previous rock biographies include Love Of My Life, The Life and Loves of Freddie Mercury; Hero: David Bowie; Fly Away Paul: How McCartney survived the Beatles, found his Wings and became a solo superstar; The Stone Age: Sixty Years of the Rolling Stones; Songbird: An Intimate Biography of Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac) and many other original music biographies.

She honed her craft on London’s Fleet Street as a national newspaper journalist.

A former staff writer on the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, YOU Magazine, the Sun and the News of the World, she has also contributed as a freelance to many other titles including the Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Sunday Times, the Independent and the Daily Express.

She began her career during the early 1980s as an intern at London’s Capital Radio.

At Chrysalis Records, she worked with Debbie Harry and Blondie, Spandau Ballet, Leo Sayer and other artists.

At the inception of Channel 4 television, she became a co-presenter of music magazine show Ear-Say before sidestepping into journalism full-time.

It was as a reporter that she became directly involved in three of the most explosive celebrity stories of the age: Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman’s affair with schoolgirl Mandy Smith, Hugh Grant’s arrest in Los Angeles following a dalliance with a prostitute, and Gary Glitter’s exposure as a paedophile.

LAJ has contributed to dozens of music-led documentaries around the world, and makes regular appearances on radio and podcasts.

She is the lead contributor in the groundbreaking new feature-length documentary Freddie Mercury: A Secret Daughter? produced by Honey Bee Media for C5 and distributed internationally by Paramount+.

https://www.lesleyannjones.com/

Lesley will be interviewed by Mark Dezzani

About Mark Dezzani:

Mark is an experienced written and broadcast journalist. He has been BBC TV News correspondent in Italy and also contributed to BBC Radio current affairs and topical features on Radio 4 and World Service as well as a researcher for the prestigious BBC 1 Panorama programme. He has also been a stringer for NBC News TV (US) and contributed to ABC Radio (Australia), CBC Radio (Canada) and IRN (Independent Radio News UK) and many other broadcasters world-wide.

As a trade journalist he has been Italian correspondent for Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and Broadcast magazines. He has also contributed to Variety, Century 21 and a myriad other trade magazines and for trade dailies at festivals.

Mark has also contributed articles for The Guardian and The European newspapers.

He is also an experienced radio DJ who started his radio life as a landbased pirate in Sussex and then London where he was a founder member of the community radio lobby group 'Free The Airwaves'. In 1982 he moved to the Italian/French Riviera to work for Radio Nova International, the first English language broadcaster serving the Cote d'Azur. In the late 80s Mark was a founding member of Sunshine Radio Antibes before joining Riviera Radio in Monaco. In 2000 he joined Radio Caroline. "I am thrilled to be on Radio Caroline, a real oasis for quality music radio in the desert of fast rotating small playlists and sloganeering liner cards." Mark has also freelanced on many international radio stations including BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service, IRN (Independent Radio News), ABC Radio Australia and CBC Radio Canada. He has also worked for Radio International/Radio Relax (Ventimiglia, Italy); Radio 2000 (Sanremo, Italy), Elecktra 108 and Star 108 as co-owner (Seborga, Italy) and Radio Sound Milano.

https://markdezzani.com/

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