30 August

I love this photo. Mercury had the most magnetic eyes, somehow unique people always seem to show you a universe when you look into their eyes. The other thing that stands out here though is that Mercury's stage persona was so enormous and electrifying that you could easily forget what a small, slight man he was. I once stood face to face with him and the eyes were the first thing I noticed, but followed quickly by amazement at how little he was. Brian May is 6'1", which is tall but not enormous, and you can see in this pic how much smaller than even the shorter members of the band Mercury was. He had enormous presence, which gave the illusion of a much bigger man.