Fit for Life: What I Learned From Freddie Mercury

Saturday, March 16, 2019

Matt Espeut, GoLocalWorcester Health +Lifestyle Contributor

Freddie Mercury PHOTO: weheartit/wikipedia

I watched Bohemian Rhapsody on Netflix over the weekend and I must say that it was one of the better movies I have seen in a while.

I like watching biographies because it tells me a lot about people that I didn’t know. (Except the Dick Chaney movie. We knew all about his true colors for 8 years)

I always knew Freddie Mercury was extremely talented, and I enjoyed listening to his diverse style of music, but I liked the inside look at his life, and now have a little more respect for him as a person. (If the movie was an accurate depiction of his life.)

Some respectable traits that I saw in the movie were:

He turned an obstacle into an opportunity and did his research.

In the beginning of the movie, he went to a club to see a band, which turned out to be the members of Queen, and when the band finished their set, the original lead singer made a point that the band was going nowhere and quit after the gig.

When Freddie approached the other band members in the parking lot to praise them on their music and performance, he knew who they were and what they did off stage. He surprised them with the amount of knowledge he had about them.

After saying what a great show it was, a member said “Glad you enjoyed it, because it was the last show, the lead singer just quit.” He immediately said, “Well great, now I can join and be the lead singer.” BOOM. Opportunity knocked!!

He shrugged off insults, and made people eat their words.

In the same scene, after asking to join the band, the other band members laughed, and said that he had too many teeth and would not be a good fit. He started to walk away with his head down, then turned around and bellowed out a few chords. The other band members were stunned. He followed up by saying that the big teeth allowed more space in his mouth, thus giving him more range. The point is, he turned an insult into a joke, and stunned the offender. He was immediately accepted after that.

He was real and stayed true to who he was.

When he performed he was an oddity. He had weird mannerisms, and sashayed across the stage like no other. He brought his all and put on a show every time he played. No B performances, and he won over every crowd.

During the time period, it would have been more accepted if he just acted like a “normal singer” but he always acted like himself, and the fans loved it.

When he discovered that he was gay, he did try to keep it on the down low out of respect for his old school father, but he knew who he was, and didn’t think it was relevant to publicly broadcast his personal life or sexual preference until later in his career.

He always thought big, didn’t listen to the nay sayers, and wasn’t afraid to walk away.

Creating an album with an opera overtone was frowned upon by his first producer. The guy said it was bullshit, and he wasn’t going to produce it. He told him to do something else, so Freddie and the band walked. On the way out, he said “You will go down in history as the guy that lost Queen”

When the band got a few songs under their belt, he wanted to take them to another level. He told his producers and agents that he wanted more. They were trying to book the band to play clubs, yet he insisted on playing stadiums. I think we all know how that turned out. He eventually went on and became the crowd favorite at the Live Aid Concert.

He stayed true to the people he cared about.

He still loved his first girlfriend although he chose a different path in life. He stayed close with his family even when his lifestyle wasn’t accepted. He even blew his mother a kiss during one of his performances.

He originally stayed true to his band, then was manipulated to go solo, but came back and admitted he was wrong, and most importantly, he loved his fans and wanted to make music that moved people.

He found problems we have, related to them, and wrote music to make us feel better.

So those are my takeaways from a very entertaining movie.

There are lessons everywhere in life if we keep our eyes open and look for them.

Take it from Freddie Mercury.

Never settle, think big, overcome obstacles, ignore the haters, love the people closest to you, always bring your best performance, and be true to yourself.

Committed to your success,

Matt Espeut, GoLocal's Health & Lifestyle Contributor has been a personal trainer and health & fitnesss consultant for over 25 years. He is the owner of Fitness Profiles, a one on one, and small group personal training company, as well as Providence Fit Body Boot Camp, located at 1284 North Main St., on the Providence/Pawtucket line. You can reach Matt at (401) 453-3200; on Facebook at "Matt Espeut", and on Twitter at @MattEspeut. "We’re all in this life together – let’s make it a healthy one.

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