Freddie Mercury's legacy: $1.6 billion deal with Sony will go to Mary Austin

Freddie Mercury passed away in 1991. During his lifetime, he became a legend, a status that continues today. The music he created attracts new generations of fans worldwide, bringing in enormous profits. Some of these profits will go to Mary Austin, the woman who stole the artist's heart.

The 73-year-old Mary Austin was the woman who won the heart of rock legend Freddie Mercury. Although they never married, he bequeathed part of his estate to her. According to reports by "The Sun," Mary, as the heir to the artist's estate, may now receive CAD 300 million and find herself among the 100 richest women in the United Kingdom. This is all related to an agreement signed with Sony Music Entertainment.

Media reports indicate that the music giant paid CAD 1.6 billion for the rights to the band's greatest hits and image. Sony will now own the band's biggest hits, including "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Don't Stop Me Now," and "I Want To Break Free." Despite the sale of the rights, Brian May and Roger Taylor can still perform as Queen, continuing their tour with Adam Lambert.

The agreement also includes revenues from merchandise sales, funds generated by the 2018 biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody, and any future projects and licensing agreements. Sony's decision to pay such a large amount was driven by the band's enduring popularity.

I don't know that there's a whole lot of rock bands out there that could say that they had the popularity with people under 30 that Queen has right now. There's just some uniqueness to so many of their songs that they just keep coming back, generation after generation — said Guy Blake, a leading music industry lawyer who worked on the catalogue acquisitions, in an interview with the "Daily Mail."

Mary and Freddie first met in 1970 when he was a young, aspiring musician who had moved to London from his native Zanzibar six years earlier.

The couple moved in together and then got engaged in 1973. However, they never married because Freddie confessed to his fiancée that he was gay. In one of the few interviews, Mary recalled that conversation.

He said, "I think I'm bisexual." I told him: "I think you're gay." And nothing else was said. We just hugged — she revealed.

Mary and Freddie remained the closest of friends throughout his life. He said that even though she wasn't his wife in a formal sense, he treated her that way. Their closeness is evidenced by the fact that Mary asked the artist to be the godfather of her child and that he bequeathed half of his estate to her in his will.