Queen Magic: Freddie Mercury Tribute and Brian May Interview - Paperback

by Jim O'Donnell (Author)

QUEEN GETS ROYAL TREATMENT The English rock band Queen gets the royal treatment from the English language in a book called QUEEN MAGIC. The world class group is brought to life through amazingly vivid detail in two pieces of writing from longtime rock music author Jim O'Donnell. The first piece is O'Donnell's landmark review of 1992's Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium, London, watched on TV by an estimated billion people. In the process of telling the story of the show, the piece tells the story of Queen in language fit for a king. Written in a lively style with many comic touches, the review steps far beyond center-stage and into the realm of fresh insight. The second piece is a deeply felt interview with Queen guitarist Brian May that O'Donnell conducted shortly after Freddie Mercury's death in 1991. The interview is a genuine, personal glimpse of the guitarist's feelings about his lead-singer and his band. All in all, QUEEN MAGIC uses the written word to discover and reveal the essence of this legendary band. FROM THE LATE RAY COLEMAN, FORMER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF MELODY MAKER: "Jim O'Donnell's extraordinary piece on the Mercury farewell concert is the best writing I've ever seen on Freddie or, for that matter, on Queen." EXCERPTS FROM QUEEN MAGIC: On a post-concert interview: "After the concert, I had to pick my way through a courtly gathering of rock royalty backstage. It had been a long evening of deep feeling and I wondered what this lead-singer had on the tip of his tongue about the lead-singer who was missing. In a voice thick with emotion, the Who's Roger Daltrey told me: 'When we lost Freddie, we not only lost a great personality, a man with a great sense of humor, a true showman, but we lost probably the best, the really, the best virtuoso rock 'n' roll singer of all time. He could sing anything in any style. He could change his style from line to line and, God, that's an art. And he was brilliant at it.'" On Freddie Mercury's legend: "Mercury, the element, may be Number 80 on the Periodic Table, but Mercury, the musician, is closer to Number 8-probably higher-on the table of all-time great rock 'n' roll singers." On Freddie Mercury's vocal range: "He sang every form in the business-rock, pop, blues, country, soul, disco, opera-without disgracing any of them. Music loves to dance in the voice of a great singer and Mercury had a superlative voice. It was as if he didn't really 'hit' notes: he would more or less sweep them. As rock 'n' roll landmarks go, the Mercury voice had the range of the Matterhorn and the complexity of the Eiffel Tower." On the latter half of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert: "Twilight began to settle on England. The evening sun dappled the stadium with flecks of zodiacal light as the three bandmates kicked the concert into warp-drive. Admirably as they played, the trio seemed jangled to be performing without their missing friend." FROM MICHAEL LYDON, A FOUNDING EDITOR OF ROLLING STONE: "Jim O'Donnell has a reporter's curiosity, a rock 'n' roller's heart, and he writes like a lyrical Irish poet."

Author Biography

Jim O'Donnell is a longtime music writer whose work is in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame library in Cleveland. He received his first professional newspaper byline for a sports story in 1969. Since that time, his features, profiles, columns and essays have focused mostly on rock 'n' roll. His work has been syndicated in newspapers ranging from the San Francisco Chronicle to the Cleveland Plain Dealer to the Boston Herald. O'Donnell has written several books, including The Rock Book (Pinnacle, 1975), Born to Rock (Peacock, 1981), Wonderful Tonight (Hall of Fame, 1993) and The Day John Met Paul (Penguin, 1996; Routledge, 2006). The Day John Met Paul has been published in several languages, ranging from Japanese to Czech to French, and is available in an audio edition read by Rod Davis, a personal friend of John Lennon. O'Donnell has appeared frequently on CNN Radio and has done many television interviews. His biggest TV moment came when he didn't appear on the screen at all, but rather had his name show up in a Jeopardy question. The contestant answered correctly for $400. He holds a Master's Degree from St. Peter's College and studied journalism under New Journalism pioneer Richard Goldstein at New York University. He has also completed graduate courses in Creative Writing and The Teaching of Writing at Harvard University. Whether sitting front-row-center at an Eric Clapton concert in New York City, or standing front-row-center at the gates of Strawberry Field in Liverpool, O'Donnell has traveled the globe as a journalist for many years, searching out stories. He is a member of the Authors Guild, the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and three children.