Programme for 'The Freddie Mercury Tribute: Concert for AIDS awareness', 20 April 1992 at Wembley Stadium sponsored by Virgin Atlantic and EMI Records

On 24 November 1991, Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen died from bronchial pneumonia due to AIDS-related complications. The day before he released a statement that he had tested positive for HIV and had AIDS. It followed huge media attention and speculation on his health. Six moths later his bandmates, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon with their manager, Jim Beach, came together to organise a tribute concert to raise awareness about AIDS. All profits set up the Mercury Phoenix Trust. Musical acts came together to perform Queen’s songs and music inspired by them. 72,000 tickets sold out in here hours and a billion people are thought to have watched on television.

At the time of Freddie Mercury’s death there were limited treatment options to stop HIV causing AIDS – where a number of potentially life-threatening infections develop after a person’s immune system has been severely damaged by HIV. While there is still no cure for HIV, early diagnosis and medications can enable people to live long and healthy lives. If a person has no detectable viral load, they cannot pass HIV onto others.