Where we remember departed friends:
'Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room...'
Henry Scott Holland
Jim Hutton, Freddie's partner
Jim, a gentle Irishman, passed away in his home country. His constancy provided a domestic haven for him and Freddie for the last few years of Freddie's life. I never spoke to Jim, but here was my reaction to hearing him speak at the first Fan Club Convention I attended in 2005: "Listening to Jim Hutton it was easy to see why Freddie had chosen this quietly-spoken man who must have been as far from the madding crowd as he desired." He spoke a little bit about Freddie's fondness for his garden, and I remember him saying that Freddie had wanted a pure white cat, which he was not able to find for him. Well, up there, anything's possible for the two of them, I reckon.
Alan 'Fluff' Freeman, aged 79
The granddad of all DJs, Alan Freeman was already a highly respected figure when I was a teenager - we grew up hearing him on the radio, for example, introducing the charts, interspersing the music with the catch prases "Greetings, pop pickers!" and "Not 'arf!" I learned a lot about the pop music of the late fifties and early sixties from a double disc collection bearing his name. Another great lover of music who will be sadly missed.
Steve Irwin, aged 44 (killed by a stingray)
My daughter and I loved watching the TV antics of this passionate conservationist. His Australian accent did it all - a crocodile would be snapping its crocs off on the floor and Steve would exclaim "Crikey!" - and he'd talk about some animal being a "bewty". Or he'd be holding a writhing venomous snake in front of the camera, explaining that it was so poinsonous that one bite from it could kill you. Enterntainment with animals that's been part of my daughter's childhood, I feel, just as Johnny Morris's 'Animal Magic' was part of mine.
A one-off personality who will be very much missed. At least his work with wildlife - the legacy he left us - should be continued.
17 Aug 05
Michelle Bruheim, aged 19, as the result of a tragic accident at work: see
Jacky’s news item.I never met Michelle, who went to most of the concerts on the recent European tour.
I read other people's comments to find out more about her.
I was never likely to meet Michelle because she was always at the front of the queue and I’m not one to be at the front – rather around the middle – besides which, I only managed to go to three gigs. But something about her story struck a chord. Just as she had battled depression in her early teens, she was now seeking to dig herself out of that rut, and in our own ways we had both dug very hard for what was ours – the key for both of us was this tour. So the poem that I’d already written for my tour page shortly before I read about her passing just seemed to fit, and I dedicated it to her. The tribute site (see below for link) is full of messages from family and people who knew her, some of them mentioning her piano playing, as well as those fellow Queen fans who met her on the tour and/or elsewhere, like at the Fan Club convention or outside Freddie’s house.
I think back to when I was nineteen – I was a student in China; it’s similar in a way that at the same age she cut herself adrift from the relative security of home and her job, giving everything up to enter unfamiliar territory, to follow the tour. She had no means from getting from A to B or of getting food/shelter but members of the group as well as fans took her to their hearts. Despite the fact that some of the other fans found her annoying in some ways, there is still a great deal of lurking admiration for her.
Most ironic of all is the fact that no harm came to her while she was ‘out on the road’; it was after she returned home and got a new job that a fatal danger took her away. One of the most touching messages on the tribute site is from her grandparents, who admitted that they didn’t understand her devotion to Queen until now – now they saw all the love people were giving.
Here’s the link to the tribute site:
26 Jun 05
Richard Whiteley, aged 61 (of pneumonia after undergoing heart surgery)
Avuncular and unassuming host of the long-running TV Words quiz show ‘Countdown’ – one of Freddie’s favourites! Source:
http://www.brianmay.com/queen/queennews/queennewsjun05.html#67
06 Mar 05
Tommy Vance aged 63 (of a stroke)
Another unmistakable voice of rock broadcasting – husky and good-natured, he will be greatly missed.
28.Jan.05
Jim Capaldi - aged 60 (of stomach cancer)
Former member (drums, keyboards, vocals) of the group Traffic, who had hits in the late sixties. I have fond memories of the song ‘Hole in My Shoe’ and of his solo hit ‘Love Hurts’ late in 1975. He also co-wrote the Traffic hit ‘Paper Sun’ with Steve Winwood.
Brian's Tribute:
07 Nov 04
Vicki Moore - guitarist, composer and author of
Vicki's World, See:
As soon as I read the above announcement, I wrote this poem by way of tribute:
The
trail of my tears runs a straight course
Along
a path directly away from my heart
A
knife-stabbing, deep pain flows from within
How
could I even have begun to understand
The
extent of your young life’s suffering
Unfolding
there, in every line of your ‘World’
Yet
you struck a chord in my memory
With
your words and wonderful poetry
Recollections
of my own teenage life
You
dared to write those questions down -
Close
to the ones I had asked back then;
I’d
never had the guts or found the words
To
explore my soul facing my mum’s passing;
It
wasn’t my own life; I’ve been able to live;
The
chasm between you and me - but it narrowed
Because
that was your great talent, to reach
Out
to others with the travesty of your youth
In
hospitals, facing the end not the beginning
But
wait - it’s love, that’s all I see, expelling
All
the sickness from you and then from us
If
only we had the grace to reach out to you…
And
there’s the music that brought your life
Into
contact with mine; without it a reality
Would
have stayed unseen, unheard, forgotten.
Your
words, their music, still remain together
On
a glorious, open plain beyond sky and sun
In
peace, that’s how you’re living on, forever.
26.Oct 04
John
Peel
- aged 65 (suffered heart attack whilst in Peru)
BBC Radio 1 DJ, the laconic champion of successive generations of contemporary
music, more recently presenter of BBC Radio 4's 'Home Truths' and BBC TV's 'Life
of Grime'. An alternative and unmistakable voice.
Brian's tribute:
Shocked and sad to hear of John Peel's death. As an 'alternative' Disc Jockey he was an important part of Rock's early awakening in the UK.
Through his "Sounds of the 70's" programme he was the first person ever to play Queen music on the radio - live sessions recorded during the making of our first album, especially for his show, with Engineer/Producer Geoff Griffin. He was always the first to take a chance with a new or unknown act, from the early days of Tyrannosaurus Rex and Captain Beefheart, through "progressive" Rock bands like us, through Punk, and onwards. As music changed through the years he seemed to be able to keep an open mind. He will be sadly missed.
Roger's Tribute:
John Peel was the first DJ in the world to play Queen. His was the only show in the 60's to bring us all the music from that era, of lasting interest. His contribution was pivotal and vital to the progression of popular music. What a huge gap he will leave.
(The above were reproduced from the Queen Fan Club magazine, Autumn/Winter 2004).