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In Space and on YouTube, Freddie Mercury Lives On

Now that the rock legend is an asteroid, we don't wanna stop listening to him at all

By Heidi Raschke

I don't know about you, but I've had Queen's 1979 tune Don't Stop Me Now playing in my head ever since I heard the news that Freddie Mercury has an asteroid named after him.

Freddie Mercury
Credit: Huffington Post

Now Mercury is "burning through the sky" for real.

The Announcement

“It’s like a cinder in space, as many of these asteroids are,” said former Queen guitarist Brian May in a YouTube video announcing the rechristening of Asteroid 17473.

It was a fitting 70th birthday gift to the late singer/songwriter/superstar (Mercury's birthday: Sept. 5) from May, who has had a long second career as an astrophysicist.

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The Song

Mercury died in 1991, and the far-out song with the space-age lyrics about “traveling at the speed of light” and “defying the laws of gravity” peaked at No. 86 on the Billboard charts.  The band had many more bigger hits, including two No. 1 songs (Another One Bites the Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love), but this is the song I don't want to stop listening to today.

Heidi Raschke is a longtime journalist and editor who previously was the Executive Editor of Mpls-St. Paul Magazine and Living and Learning Editor at Next Avenue. Currently, she runs her own content strategy and development consultancy. Read More
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