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Since his death on 24th November 1991 virtually
every aspect of Freddie Mercury’s life has been scrutinised in print and on
screen, in documentaries and big box-office biopics. What is seldom referred to
however, is that his musical journey started in 1969 with a Liverpool-based
blues-rock band called Ibex and that for a few months he lived in a flat in
Dovedale Towers , 60 Penny Lane L18.
Ibex had gone south searching in vain for a record contract,
they did however bump into Freddie Mercury (then of course still Farrokh Bulsara) who was not slow to tell them "You
do realise I'm exactly what you're looking for. You've just got to make me your
singer." They seemed to have been convinced and when they
headed back north Freddie came along with them. Ibex’s roadie was Geoff Higgins
and his parents ran Dovedale Towers and were happy to let him have a room
upstairs where he lived for a few months. (In accounts of his stay Dovedale
Towers is often referred to as a pub – which it is now – but my recollections
of the time was that it was the sort of place which was hired for functions
like wedding receptions and dinner dances.)
On September 9th 1969 Ibex performed at the Sink
Club on Hardman Street and for the first time Freddie Mercury was joined on
stage by his friend Roger Taylor, along with Brian May, the two of them then
being with the band Smile. Within a few months Freddie had joined them as
Smile’s vocalist and the rest, as they say, is history.
