Freddie Mercury's HIV Diagnosis – Some Insight – 1985 to 1987

Raffy wrote:

it's stated in Ozzy Osbourne autobiography "I am Ozzy" when he talks about the HIV-test that he made in 1986 after a night passed in company of a prostitute: the test said that he was HIV-postitive but after a reexamination of the results the doctor came to the conclusion that he only had a severe deficiency of the immune system due to an excessive use of alcohol and drugs

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That's news to me ... wow.

I don't think we'll ever know the exact details, but it's always interesting to speculate about this.  But I am completely certain Mercury knew he was at least HIV-positive on the Magic tour.  Not only did he never say "see you next time" at the end of a show, but his mood at the first Munich concert (a place where he frequented the gay scene for years) was very sombre.  I think this is pretty revealing in itself..

Have a look - http://www.queenlive.ca/queen/86-06-28.htm

Yes I have seen these picture, listen to the bootleg extracted from that concert and fully agree with your argument: I think Freddie was well aware of his health status during the Magic Tour

http://oi56.tinypic.com/2h5mzw2.jpg

Look at this photo taken in the first show in Munich. Look at the face of Freddie. seems sad to me, with a kind of lost look.

Probably in Munich was the first time he saw his old friends from there with Aids so ill and dying and this show to him the cruel reality of this disease. And this shocking him so much. That would explain his anger during that first gig.

I also believe he was aware of his disease throughout the Magic Tour.

I remember reading somewhere that at first he did not want to do this tour but was persuaded. Probably only agreed because he saw that he still had energy to sing and dancing. Probably in mid of 87 he lost that energy.

Compare the first presentation of  Barcelona in May 1987 with the second in October 1988.
  He lost a lot of energy during this period. He looks older in the second presentation, with slower movements.

Ah yes, that picture is from this set:

http://www.queenfcg.de/en/fotos/1986/queen-in-der-olympiahalle-in-muenchen-am-28061986.htm

Completely agree with your observations.

Very interesting details and observations!

I was watching that Kenny Everett/Freddie Mercury documentary, and it made note of that Russian guy (Nikolai) being infected in 1984 with HIV, and then coincidentally, all the guys in that circle (Freddie, Kenny, Pepe, etc) got HIV. Kenny got diagnosed in 1984. This seems to make sense and fit within all these timelines people are writing about.

And no-one ever really knows the truth from the lies

I watched those Barcelona videos. Freddie doesn't even look ill!

No one ever really knows the truth it or lies  When he was infected with HIV, under any circumstances. Who infected him, nobody knows. Tales about Russian soldier, who came to America to  infect everybody  does not hold water.
Are you wondering when and who infected him with HIV?
Freddie could infect in the hospital, which he visited,specifically it was done or not is unknown.

And is it really so important to who and when Freddie became infected with HIV? Time frame can be between 1985 and 1986.

Aren't you considering a lung cancer as the cause of death, Freddie?

He had laryngitis, and sometimes he tore his voice on concerts. On the concert at  Sun City, he generally lost it.In addition, he was a smoker. in the begining was period passive smoker and then he became active smoker.

gregsynth wrote

 watched those Barcelona videos. Freddie doesn't even look ill!

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I agree he looks fine and on top form, though according to barbara valentine he was wearing heavy makeup to hide the ks marks on his face

For me in the 1988 exhibition he looks very tired, static, "swollen" (I think mostly because of the medications and their controindications), pale (possibly because of the strong makeup applied to hide the lesions) and aged considerably. For the first time he actually demonstrates his age, while previously he had always maintained youthful. Instead in the 1987 exhibition he looks just fine: his physical aspect resembles the Freddie from Live Aid but of course without a mustache :)

Yes I'm with Raffy here, from 1988 onwards his face turns oedemic at first due to medication (eg The Miracle booklet group picture) and then increasingly gaunt (I Want It All video and everything afterwards)

Anyway, trying not to give in to morbid fascination, I think the consensus that Freddie knew his illness during the Magic Tour makes him even more of a trooper. Queen's biggest tour and two and a half albums including one masterpiece (Innuendo of course), that's impressive output for a man who knows his days are counted.

Look at Bowie, he quit music altogether after his heart problem

[QUOTE]GratefulFan wrote: Sir GH wrote: Excellent detective work !

My question is - if Freddie was HIV positive in early 1986, then how did he manage to get health insurance for the Magic tour?

This leads to many related questions that will most likely go unanswered. [/QUOTE]
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[QUOTE]I understood the OP to have implied that he didn't seek insurance, and that's why his behaviour changed and he took fewer risks during his personal time. [/QUOTE]

Ok, let's think about this for a minute.  This is the reason that The Magic Tour was the last Queen tour.  Not because Freddie didn't feel good!

A tour production is not just four guys loading up the truck and playing gigs.  You don't decide just NOT to have insurance, it would be a stipulation in the contract.  The promoter would absorb the cost and pass it along to the artists in their fees.

Freddie HAD to have had Medical Coverage for this tour to even happen.  But we don't know the behind the scenes business side of it.  Is it possible that Freddie's status changed to UNINSURABLE after or during the Magic Tour.  Did Freddie know this was going to happen?   I think so.

There was no Miracle Tour because they couldn't insure the band.  If something happened during the tour, the production company would be liable for all costs and subsequent lawsuits.  Think about it for a minute.  Two shows in, Freddie gets real sick and requires hospitalization for months until he passes.  Then Brian, Roger, and John are out all that income from the tour...  making the promoter liable.  We're talking millions of dollars here.   What promoter, in their right mind, would take that risk?

Promoters and management in the person of Jim's Beach killed Freddie. Freddie was not gay. He was bisexual

I agree with a lot of the insight in the original post, but the time line of Freddie being infected in 1985 does not fit well at all.
If he was infected in 1985, it would be extremely unusual for him to have already progressed to an AIDS diagnosis in 1987. Typical incubation period from HIV infection to AIDS is 7-10 years without modern medicine. For someone to go from infection to AIDS in 2 years, would mean he must have been infected with several virulent strains of the virus, and even then, highly unlikely. Even more improbable to think he went from infection to AIDS in 2 years, yet managed to survive almost another 5 years with virtually no immune system.

 I think it's more likely that he was infected in 1980-1982, with typical progression of the virus, putting him at an AIDS diagnosis sometime around 1987ish.  The KS he was experiencing in 1987 would have meant an official AIDS diagnosis.  For him to live almost 5 more years with virtually no immune system and no modern day treatments, is quite a miracle, since the average person with an official AIDS diagnosis (t-cell count under 200, and/or evidence of opportunistic infections) typically has less than 2 years to live. Opportunistic infections tend to become increasingly difficult to recover from as the disease progresses.

I remember him playing on Saturday Night Live in 1982 and it seemed he had the flu, his voice sounded shot, and he was obviously sick. To me, that makes more sense as a time period for infection, especially since he was in NYC at the time, where HIV had already begun to spread like wildfire. The flu during that time could possibly have been the flu like symptoms someone gets immediately following infection.

It also made sense to me that he figured out he was infected some time around the Magic Tour. Even if he was physically able to tour, the exposure to all of those people and the stresses of traveling and performing with little down time would have wreaked hell on what little was left of his immune system. Obviously this isn't science, just one opinion.