After reading this old article from the October 2007 issue of Blender Magazine, I have a newfound respect for Freddie Mercury. I had no idea he was such a cat lover! Rest in peace, Freddie.
I know Queen's Freddie Mercury was a huge cat lover. How many did he own during his life? What's the most he had at one time?
Elaine Shardot, Houston
According to a 2003 article in
Cat Fancy magazine, Mercury adopted lots of cats throughout his life, at one point owning as many as 10. He dedicated his first solo album,
Mr. Bad Guy, to four of them, as well as to "all the cat lovers across the universe – screw everybody else." In one of Queen's videos he wore a vest adorned with portraits of several of his cats, painted by Mercury himself. Sometimes while on tour, he'd even call home to chat with his cats, often at exorbitant international rates.
We know a few of the cat's names: Oscar, Tiffany, Goliath, Miko, Romeo, Lily, Tom, Jerry. But his favorite by far was Delilah, a chubby, tri-colored tabby. Mercury dedicated a song on Queen's
Innuendo to the plump puss ("I love you, Delilah/Oh, you make me so very happy/You give me kisses and I go out of my mind/Meow, meow, meow, meow"), and she stayed with him literally until the end, curled up beside Mercury when he died of complications from AIDS in 1991.
