If you’re a big fan of Freddie Mercury, you probably already know that the rock star, aka “the Ultimate Cat Guy” loved his furry friends too much. He even wrote a song for his cat, Delilah!
His love for cats began in 1970 when his girlfriend, Mary Austin, moved in with him and brought along a pair of cats named Tom and Jerry. According to multiple biographers and his personal assistant, Peter Freestone, while Freddie was out on tour with Queen, he would always call Austin to care for his four-legged pets.
In his memoir, Mister Mercury, the assistant Freestone wrote about how much the rock star cared about his beloved cats. “He’d get to a hotel, we’d dial through, and he really would talk to his cats. Mary would hold Tom and Jerry and turn up to the receiver to listen to Freddie talking. This continued throughout the years with succeeding feline occupants of his houses.”
Freddie even dedicated his solo 1985 album, Mr. Bad Guy, to the cat Jerry and the other cats. “This album is dedicated to my cat Jerry—also Tom, Oscar, Tiffany and all the cat lovers across the universe—screw everybody else!”
Mercury loved them all, but his absolute favorite was Delilah, a big, tri-colored tabby that was adopted in 1987. The Queen singer loved her so much that he dedicated a song to her on Innuendo, the band’s last album, before Mercury’s passing.
Some reports say that Mercury owned a total of 10 cats: Tiffany, Dorothy, Delilah, Goliath, Lily, Miko, Oscar, and Romeo. His cats were his family, and he treated them like his own children. That is why he made sure each cat had his or her gifts for Christmas.
h/t: Bored Panda