Mercury and Me: The Updated Edition

With a new introduction by Jim Hutton’s co-writer Tim Wapshott, here is the paperback of the updated ebook edition. The complete record of rock’s tenderest loving odd couple, it is published with matt black cover (USA, Canada and Japan). This is a slightly larger format paperback (6"x9") for easier reading, with mono photographs. The relationship between Freddie Mercury and Jim Hutton evolved over several months in 1984 and 1985. Even when they first slept together Hutton had no idea who Mercury was, and when the star told him his name it meant nothing to him. Hutton worked as a barber at the Savoy Hotel and retained his job and suburban lodgings long after first meeting the rock legend. Hutton finally moved in with Mercury and later also worked humbly as his gardener. Hutton was never fully assimilated into Mercury's jet-setting lifestyle, nor did he want to be, but from 1985 until Mercury's death in 1991 he was closer to him than anyone. He knew all Mercury's closest chums including the other members of Queen, Elton John, David Bowie and Montserrat Caballé. Ever present at the countless Sunday lunch gatherings and opulent parties, in stark contrast Hutton also nursed Mercury through his terminal illness, often held him through the night in his final weeks, and was with him as he died. No one can tell the story of the last few years of Mercury's private life - the ecstasies and the agonies - more accurately or honestly than Jim Hutton.