Freddie Mercury's Fairy Feller t-shirt, circa 1974

Freddie Mercury’s Fairy Feller t-shirt

A black cotton t-shirt, the front with a printed design in white of the Queen crest, the back with printed white lettering ‘FAIRY FELLER’, with ivory ‘silk’ label printed in black ‘Walt Disney T Shirts by Bamcrest’ stitched to inside seam at back of the neck – it is thought very few T-shirts such as this were made; they were apparently only given to the band and crew members

Freddie’s song The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke was inspired by a highly intricate painting of the same name of 1855-1864 by Victorian artist Richard Dadd, housed in the Tate gallery, London, which held a particular resonance for him. When working on the song for the band’s second album, Queen II, Freddie, with his passion for detail, insisted that the band and the record producer Roy Thomas Baker accompany him to the Tate Gallery to study Richard Dadd’s work from which he derived his song. Mary Austin in a recent rare interview with Peter Aspden for the Financial Times [13 May 2023] spoke about how well Mercury could articulate his appreciation of art. “What a great teacher he was!...He took me to the Tate Gallery, he wanted to introduce me to the work of Richard Dadd [the Victorian painter of supernatural themes, who created many of his pictures when he was a patient in homes for the mentally ill]. He told me the complete story behind him, and explained every detail of this very intricate painting, with such expert knowledge” . The painting was The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke.

LITERATURE

-‘Hammer to fall’ Peter Aspden interview with Mary Austin, FT Weekend, Life & Arts, 13 May 2023, pp.1-2

-‘Queen The Ultimate Illustrated History of The Crown Kings of Rock’ , Phil Sutcliffe with Peter Hince, Mick Rock, Reinhold Mack and Billy Squier; Voyageur Press, 2009 .pp.35-36

-‘Queen The Complete Illustrated Lyrics’, Backbeat Books, 2012, p.73

SPECIAL NOTICE

This lot is being sold for private use only. No right to reproduce or otherwise commercially exploit the copyright or other intellectual property in the lots is included with the sale of lot. Queen Productions Limited and Queen Music Limited and other rights holders reserve all their rights.