Introduction
Not much is known about Paul Prenter’s life before he led one of the most famous bands of all time, Queen.
Early life
Born in 1946 in London, England, Paul’s father and mother remain unnamed. Some of Paul’s relatives, including his brother, came forward after the movie ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was released to defend Paul’s honor. In the film, the character of Paul is portrayed as a scheming, cunning man, who wants to force his own agenda on Freddie Mercury and the other members of Queen. Prenter’s family insists that Freddie and Paul were just good friends and did not have a romantic relationship, although Paul was openly gay from the age of sixteen and supported his parents throughout his life.
Freddie with Paul Printer in the early 1980s.
Posted by To Freddie Mercury on Sunday, July 28, 2019
They went on to say that the line in the movie where Paul’s character said “My dad would rather see me dead” regarding his sexuality was extremely hurtful and deeply untrue. Paul’s brother, close friends and goddaughter believe the film was “cowardly,” “false” and “hurtful.”
Career
Prenter’s only known job before becoming involved with Freddie Mercury was as a radio DJ in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shortly after meeting Freddie, he resigned to work for Mercury as his personal assistant, before managing Queen after their current manager was fired. His role was to book gigs, organize concerts and be the general liaison for the band. However, to the (apparent) dismay of Queen’s other members, Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor, Paul and Freddie became extremely close.
The other members of the band began to question Prenter’s pure intentions, and when Queen’s album ‘Hot Space’ was released in 1982, relations between the band and their manager quickly became more strained. The album was not successful at all and Prenter was blamed for its failure. They felt that many of Prenter’s management decisions were not in the band’s best interests, such as denying radio promotions from the album.
print was fired a year after the Live Aid concert in 1986, ending Freddie and Paul’s business and personal relationship. Queens leader Brian May has come forward to say that ‘their manager wasn’t all bad’ and that the media played him off as a villain more than he actually was.
Meeting and interacting with Freddie Mercury
Paul’s relationship with Queens frontman Freddie Mercury was kept under wraps for years, until Prenter exposed Freddie’s sexual preference and their relationship in a story he sold to “The Sun” magazine in 1987, while also revealing that the singer was in a relationship had with a man named Jim Hutton.
There are many conflicting stories as to whether Paul and Freddie did indeed have a romantic connection – the only people who seem adamant to deny that this was the case is Paul’s family.
The History of Freddie Mercury and Queen
Freddie — now known in rock music as arguably one of the greatest lead singers of all time, best known for his four-octave vocal range and exaggerated stage presence — started from very humble beginnings.
Farrokh Bulsara was born on the 5e September 1946 in Zanzibar. His parents Bomi and Jer were Parsi, originally from India to which they returned when Freddie was very young, and where Freddie spent most of his childhood. At the age of seven he started piano lessons and at the age of eight he was sent to Sint-Pietersschool, where after a few years he founded a school band that performed rock covers. A school friend has said that Freddie had “an uncanny ability to listen to the radio and recreate what he heard on the piano.” It was around this time that Mercury started referring to himself as ‘Freddie’; in 1964, Freddie and his family moved to Feltham, Middlesex, England.
In April 1970, Freddie joined drummer Roger Taylor’s band Smile and guitarist Brian Mays as lead vocalist.
A year later, John Deacon joined them as a starting player, and despite the uncertainty of the band and their production studio, Freddie changed the band’s name to ‘Queen’. Freddie once said, referring to the band’s new name, ‘Obviously it’s very regal and it sounds great. It’s a strong name, very universal and direct. I was certainly aware of the gay connotation, but that was only one facet of it.’ Soon after, Freddie made the legal change of his surname from Bulsara to Mercury.
Some of Queen’s biggest hits included “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Killer Queen”, “We are the Champions”, “Somebody to Love”, “Radio Gaga”, “Another One Bites the Dust”, “We Will Rock You” , “Fat Bottomed Girls’, ‘Don’t Stop me Now’ and ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’. Freddie was known for his connection with his audience and his flamboyant stage presence, which was evident during the Live Aid concert in 1985.
After the break-up of Queen, Freddie pursued a brief solo career before dying in 1991 at the age of 45 from underlying conditions of AIDS. Freddie announced the day before his death that he had lived with AIDS for the last four years of his life.
Subsequently, Mercury was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003.
Net worth, salary, significant inputs
There are no published sources mentioning Paul’s possible net worth, but after he was fired in 1987, he sold a story to ‘The Sun’ for which he was paid £32,000, revealing intimate details about Freddie’s life and the time he had spent. Control Queen.
Few of the claims said that two of Mercury’s lovers had lost their lives to AIDS, and that he had many more lovers, possibly hundreds.
Paul said being Queen’s manager for ten years was anything but a cinch, taking four times longer than any other manager with the band had lasted. Prenter said, “The first three or four years were very good, but when they started making money, the last six were utter misery.” He also continued, “They are four very demanding, determined, unreasonable and ungrateful individuals. Their main motive is another hit at any time, and nothing should get in the way. It was fun to start with, but it became a real drag. It was like taking care of four kids, four spoiled brats. I was glad to be away from them and if I never saw them again it would be too soon.’ “What would bother me would be if I organized and interviewed Freddie and he didn’t show up.
In one case I had to lie and tell Simon Bates that Freddie was sick. Paul returned to Belfast after selling the story, but after spending all the money he received for selling out Freddie, it was rumored that he crawled back to Mercury to ask him for more money.
Ultimately, complications from smoking related to AIDS cost Paul’s life in Belfast in 1991, the same year that the same illness took Freddie’s life.
Physical Characteristics
Printer was 1.67 m tall and weighed about 60 kg. print had blond hair, blue eyes, body measurements of 38-28-35 and biceps with a circumference of 13.5 inches.
