Freddie Mercury – US$50 million A cultural icon and the most famous face of all the members of Queen past and present, Mercury amassed a considerable fortune, thought to be worth US$50 million by the time of his death, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
After his death on November 24, 1991, Freddie gave his home, 50 percent of his recording royalties and most of his wealth to Mary Austin, with the remainder going to his parents and sister. Mary was Freddie's closest friend throughout his life, and they were often seen out together before his illness.
They own the catalog outside North America through the UK-based Queen Productions Ltd, which raked in a staggering £39 million ($48 million) in royalties in 2021.
Three years after Freddie's death, Jim published a book about his time with the singer titled Mercury and Me. He worked as Freddie's gardener after moving into the singer's Kensington mansion, and preferred to stay away from the rock and roll lifestyle.
Freddie Mercury bought the house for £500,000 in cash from a member of the Hoare family early in 1980. After his death, mourning fans covered the wall with graffiti messages. The house was inherited by Mercury's close friend Mary Austin following his death at the house in 1991.
Freddie Mercury and Mary Austin were so close, that at one stage Freddie asked her to marry him, and he also left her half of his £75 million estate, including the £25 million Georgian mansion in Kensington.
"I want to lead the Victorian life, surrounded by exquisite clutter." But now Austin has decided to sell the collection, "because I need to put my affairs in order," she explains. Austin, 72, adds: "The time has come for me to take the difficult decision to close this very special chapter in my life."
With his farewell look straight at the camera as the song ends, Mercury whispers "I still love you", directed to his fans, which are his last words on camera. Director of the video Rudi Dolezal comments, "AIDS was never a topic. We never discussed it. He didn't want to talk about it.
He was devastated by her decision, he said. However, Mercury did leave him with £500,000 (nearly $1 million, per the 1991 conversion rate), which he used to move back to Ireland. He also wrote a book about their relationship, simply titled Mercury and Me. Hutton died on January 1, 2010, after a long battle with cancer.
Jim Hutton, a "handsome and charismatic Irishman," worked as a hairdresser in London before meeting the music icon and becoming his lover. Jim Hutton met the Queen singer in a gay nightclub named Heaven in March 1985. The duo would go on to spend the remaining seven years of Mercury's life together.
Brian May – US$210 million
Coming in at No 1, the richest Queen member is guitarist (and astrophysicist!) Brian May.
Queen band members Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon – plus the Freddie Mercury estate – each own equal shares in the company Queen Productions Ltd, which owns the group's recording catalog outside the US and Canada.
Queen Still Hasn't Made Any Money Off 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
“We thought it would do well in the end, we felt good about it, but we didn't realize it would do that well,” May said in a recent interview on BBC Radio 2's The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show. “It's incredible around the world. It's like a billion-dollar movie.”
He left one quarter of his future earnings from Queen to his parents and another quarter to his sister. Apart from some minor bequests, everything else went to Mary. But Mary admitted not everyone was happy with this decision: "Some of the fans even told me I was only the keeper of the house.
Freddie Mercury never married, and he didn't have any children. He had a long-term relationship with a woman, Mary Austin, and they lived together for several years until he came out as gay to her in 1976, having started a romantic affair with US record exec David Minns.
His father Bomi attended Freddie's funeral after his sad death from bronchial pneumonia, and the small family moved up to Nottingham away from London to be out of the spotlight.
On June 2, 1979, Hutton died of liver cancer, two days after his 45th birthday, and a month after being diagnosed.
Although their engagement ended when he told her he was gay, the pair remained remarkably close for the rest of his life. And after his death in 1991 he left her 50 per cent of his future earnings. A further 25 per cent went to his parents and 25 per cent to his sister.
The guests included the star's bandmates and their wives, as well as Elton John, Mary Austin and Freddie's partner Jim Hutton.
"Mother Love" is a song by Queen, from the album Made in Heaven, released in 1995 after Freddie Mercury's death in 1991. It was written by Mercury and Brian May. Mercury recorded two out of three verses before becoming too sickly to continue recording, so May recorded the final verse himself later.
Freddie Mercury's Funeral - Dear Friends & Lily Of The Valley Acoustic Guitar By James Rundle - YouTube.
Freddie's father had raised his son with the often stated teaching: “Good thoughts, good words, good deeds.”
Elton opened his front door to find a friend carrying a gift from Freddie wrapped in a pillowcase. It was a painting by Henry Scott Tuke, one of the Candle In The Wind singer's favourite artists, and was accompanied with a heartbreaking note.
The unusual and life-long love between Mary Austin and the singer was played out on screen in the Oscar-winning film Bohemian Rhapsody and Freddie Mercury said he'd love her "Until I draw my last breath. We'll probably grow old together".
Jim Hutton and Freddie Mercury were both private individuals
It wasn't until after Mercury's death and the release of Hutton's memoirs in 1994 that fans were able to get a glimpse into their relationship.