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Remembering Freddie Mercury’s 27th Death Anniversary

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How fans are using Freddie Mercury’s 27th death anniversary to raise awareness about AIDS

freddie mercury

Twenty-seven years ago, the world lost Freddie Mercury, the greatest frontman that ever lived. Mercury was the iconic lead singer of Queen, one of the most popular and beloved rock bands in history.

Queen revolutionized the music world with their mix of glam-rock, opera, and hard rock. With Mercury’s flamboyant personality and vibrato-rich and operatic vocals, Queen sold more than 150-300 million records, making them one of the world’s best-selling music artists. Their classic hit songs such Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody to Love, We Will Rock You, Another One Bites the Dust, among others, have stood the test of time.

Mercury died of complications due to AIDS on November 24, 1991, at the age of 45, only a day after he publicly admitted he had the disease. He was rock’s first major AIDS casualty. Since then, his death helped raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic that was sweeping the world.

Today, fans on Twitter are using his 27th death anniversary to remember the legend that is Freddie Mercury and to raise awareness about AIDS and encourage support for HIV/AIDS initiatives.

British theatre director Andrew Keates acknowledged that the inspiration Mercury provided to “activists, pioneering scientists and doctors, and everyone else who has fought the HIV virus” has helped him save his life and gave him his future.


Elle Buss, who goes by the username @thoughtcrime, enticed Twitter users to honor Freddie by donating to mercuryphoenixtrust.com:


Mercury’s bandmates Brian May, Roger Taylor, and their manager Jim Beach formed Mercury Phoenix Trust in his honor. Since then, the organization has raised more than $15 million dollars for AIDS research in Mercury’s memory, helping change the disease into something that wasn’t hush-hush but commonly discussed.

Terrence Higgins Trust, a prominent U.K. AIDS charity, looked back at the re-release of “Bohemian Rhapsody” in December 1991 that raised £1million to support their activities on AIDS education, legal help and counseling.


They also tweeted that “HIV has changed hugely since Freddie’s death, but stigma remains a key barrier to progress and campaigns to challenge that remain vital.” After all, as the back cover of the re-released “Bohemian Rhapsody” record stated, “AIDS CONCERNS US ALL.”


User @getdownmakelove tweeted that “in honor of Freddie’s death anniversary today I donated some money to UNAIDS (United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS).”


Adding aslideshoww of Mercury’s images through the years, user @paul_atk79 asserted that “with an estimated 36.9Mpeople living with HIV/AIDS and 1.8M more becoming newly infected with HIV in 2017 alone, the battle is far from over.”


User @getnerd said, “27 years ago today we lost one of the world’s ultimate – if not THE ultimate – singer, songwriter, performer, producer and musician. The legend that is #FreddieMercury?”


Mercury may be gone, but his legacy will leave on forever. As the television channel @SkyArts said, “It’s been 27 years since you’ve been gone but your legacy will never die! The greatest entertainer of them all! Remembering Freddie Mercury”