With the new biopic of Freddie Mercury out and buzzing with its positive and negative reviews, many can agree that the movie got one thing right: Showing Freddie Mercury and his cats. He was connected to cats on a level that many of us can relate to! Dedicating songs to cats, wearing cat clothing, and even calling up his felines when out on the road. He was one of us!

The Beginning

Freddie Mercury’s love for cats began in 1979 when his partner Mary Austin adopted two cats, Tom and Jerry. Once an official cat owner, Freddie fell in love with his feline friends, doting on them like children.

While touring with Queen through the 80s, Freddie even made a point to call Mary or whoever was watching his cats at the moment and ask to talk to the cats. He would tell them about his day and would be pleased after hearing a few mews from the other end.

Peter Freestone, Freddie’s personal assistant, reported in his biography about Mercury saying “He’d get to a hotel, we’d dial through, and he really would talk to his cats. Mary would hold Tom and Jerry in turn up to the receiver to listen to Freddie talking. This continued throughout the years with succeeding feline occupants of his houses.”

After seeing Freddie’s deep love for cats, she gifted him another cat, Tiffany. But Mercury knew that three cats was not enough for him and decided to continue to grow his cat family.

The Love Deepens

Mercury eventually came to own ten cats – Tom, Jerry, Tiffany, Dorothy, Delilah, Goliath, Lily, Miko, Oscar, and Romeo. Delilah grew to be Mercury’s absolute favorite. Jim Hutton, Mercury’s boyfriend before he died, described Delilah as being “the little princess, the one he’d pick up and stroke the most often….She’d sleep at the foot of the bed, before slipping out for a nighttime prowl.”

His cats were his family. Freestone even confirms that each cat would have their own stocking at Christmas filled with cat toys and treats.

Hutton said in his memoir about Freddie, “Freddie treated the cats like his own children. He would constantly fuss over them, and if any of them came to any harm when Freddie was away, heaven help us. During the day the cats had the run of the house and grounds, and at night one of us would round them up and bring them inside.”

His Music & the Cats

In 1985, Freddie took his love for cats to the next level by dedicating his solo album, Mr. Bad Guy, “to my cat Jerry—also Tom, Oscar, and Tiffany, and all the cat lovers across the universe—screw everybody else!” Jacky Smith, the longtime director of the Official Queen Fan Club, even had fans sending in treats and toys for Freddie’s beloved cats.

Mercury wrote the song ‘Delilah’ as an ode to his favorite cat, appearing on Queen’s last album. The lyrics of the song going, “You make me so very happy / When you cuddle up and go to sleep beside me / And then you make me slightly mad / When you pee all over my Chippendale suite.” Some loved the dedication but some band members didn’t like the song. Roger Taylor later admitted, “I hate ‘Delilah.’ That’s just not me.” But Delilah isn’t the only dedication to cats on the album Innuendo. Mercury even posed with a cat on his shoulder for the album cover.

Freddie Mercury was truly dedicated to his cats, giving them all of his love. In one of his final interviews, he revealed that he left everything in his will to Mary Austin and the cats. Leaving millions to his true supporters – Tom, Jerry, Tiffany, Dorothy, Delilah, Goliath, Lily, Miko, Oscar, and Romeo.

He is forever in our cat loving hearts.