Prized piano Freddie Mercury composed Queen’s greatest hits on is champion at pricy auction

By BRIAN MELLEY
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Freddie Mercury’s prized piano he used to compose “Bohemian Rhapsody” and other hits by Queen sold for more than $2 million as some of the late singer’s massive collection of flamboyant stage costumes, fine art and original lyrics were auctioned in a sale that broke records. Items connected to the operatic “Rhapsody,” the band’s most enduring hit, brought a premium at Sotheby’s with hand-written lyrics to the song selling for about $1.7 million. More than 1,400 items are being sold by Mercury’s close friend, Mary Austin, to whom he left his house and all its possessions when he died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1991.