Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • Love of My Life

  • The Life and Loves of Freddie Mercury
  • By: Lesley-Ann Jones
  • Narrated by: Julie Teal
  • Length: 9 hrs
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (8 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Love of My Life

By: Lesley-Ann Jones
Narrated by: Julie Teal
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

The truth behind Freddie Mercury's complex romantic relationships.

Who - or what - was the real love of Freddie Mercury's life?

Millions of Queen and screen fans who watched the Oscar-winning film Bohemian Rhapsody believe that Mary Austin, the woman he could never quite let go of, was the love of Freddie Mercury's life. But the truth is infinitely more complicated.

Best-selling biographer and music writer Lesley-Ann Jones explores the charismatic frontman's romantic encounters, from his boarding school years in Panchgani, India, to his tragic, final bed-ridden days in his magnificent London mansion. She reveals why none of his love interests ever perfected the art of being Freddie's life partner.

In Love of My Life, the author follows him through his obsessions with former shop girl Mary, German actress Barbara Valentin and Irish-born barber boyfriend Jim Hutton. She explores his adoration of globally feted Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé. She delves into his intimate friendship with Elton John and probes his imperishable bonds with his fellow band members. She deconstructs his complicated relationship with the 'food of love' - his music - and examines closely his voracious appetite for - what some would call his fatal addiction to - sex. Which of these was the real love of Freddie Mercury's life? Was any of them?

Drawing on personal interviews and first-hand encounters, this moving audiobook brings to the fore a host of Freddie's lesser-known loves, weaving them in and out of the passions that consumed him. The result is a mesmerising portrait of a legendary rock star. Love of My Life, published during the year of the 30th anniversary of his death and that would have seen his 75th birthday, is Lesley-Ann's personal and compassionate tribute to an artist she has revered for as long as she has written about music and musicians.

©2021 Lesley-Ann Jones (P)2021 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: LGBTQ+
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

I Am Ozzy cover art
How to Survive Family Holidays cover art
God Only Knows cover art
A Shirt Box Full of Songs cover art
We Can Be Heroes cover art
Eternal Troubadour cover art
Nothing's Bad Luck cover art
Divided Soul cover art
David Bowie Made Me Gay cover art
Looking to Get Lost cover art
Spice Girls cover art
Backstage Passes cover art
You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone cover art
Exit Stage Left cover art
Harry Styles cover art
We Could Be cover art

What listeners say about Love of My Life

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Clang!

That’s the sound of another name being dropped by the author of all the famous people she knows personally. For a book that’s about the lives and loves of Freddie I think I learned more about Ms. Jones’ personal life than Freddie’s.

Between the retread of stories from her first Mercury biography and the meandering passages on Jimi Hendrix or the history of Jim Hutton’s hometown (for example) it was light on insight and not always convincing in its conclusions. Quite a bit of padding.

I did like the sections that challenged the accuracy of the film and it was good to see Barbara Valentin get more exposure. But ultimately I’m none the wiser about Freddie.

Regarding the performance, the accents were ok mostly but some of the pronunciations were strange, specifically pronouncing Voodoo Chile as voodoo chilly or Montserrat Cabbale spring to mind!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting book, poor narration

I was so looking forward to this book, but had to return it as found the narrator's unnecessary Irish and American 'accents' annoying and distracting whenever quotes from Jim Hutton or Jimi Hendrix came up. I do wish the narrator of the introduction had performed the whole book. Will buy the print edition this time as a fan of both Freddie and the author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

A lot of filler.

The book is mostly filler, consisting of several hours of the author’s irrelevant opinions and conclusions. The only interesting bits are those gathered from the people who knew Freddie: Barbara Valentin, Jim Hutton and Peter Freestone. Also, it’s insane how wrong the author pronounces some major names: Montserrat “Kuhbahlah”… 🙄

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!