Rockfield Studios: Growing up with Freddie Mercury next door

BBC News

2 days ago

A woman who grew up at a recording studio used by some of the UK's biggest bands says it was "just normal" for Freddie Mercury to be in the next room.Tiffany Murray from Blakeney, Gloucestershire, moved to Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire aged six after her mum, a Cordon Bleu chef, got a job there after being praised by the band Black Sabbath.Ms Murray's memoir, "My Family and Other Rock Stars", details how her mother, Joan, cooked for the likes of Queen and David Bowie."I was an only child so she would be cooking in the kitchen until the early hours and cleaning up and I was left to my own devices, so I did wander into the studios and annoy musicians at an early age," Ms Murray said.
Ms Murray previously lived in a house in Herefordshire, where her mum advertised rehearsal space to bands.The likes of Black Sabbath and Queen recorded there before moving onto Rockfield, where they would reminisce about Joan's food, leading to her being hired as the in-house cook.Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", Coldplay's "Yellow", and Oasis' "Wonderwall" are among the songs recorded at Rockfield over the years."Mum and I lived with the bands on the Quadrangle," Ms Murray told BBC Radio Gloucestershire."We lived in the chalet, so you could have Freddie [Mercury] next door."
She said there were other children who lived at the studios, so "it was just normal" in the local area, but, later in life, some jaws still drop when she divulges the tastes and palettes of some of Britain's most legendary artists."Mum said Freddie had quite a sophisticated palette, but not too rich," she said."The main she loved doing was Fanny Craddock's crêpes suzette. "She'd go into the dining room and set it all on fire in front of Queen and they'd all clap."
While many would have bowed down to some of the stars that spent time at Rockfield, Joan ruled the roost as "queen of the kitchen", Ms Murray said."She was the matron and they were the boys of the school," Ms Murray said."Trying to control Motörhead was very interesting. I think she gave up on that one - particularly when my future stepfather, Fritz, was producing them and invited all these Hell's Angels down to record motorbike exhausts for a certain track."
Although Ms Murray's experiences inspired her memoir, which is peppered with her mother's Rockfield recipes, she also believes her mother was the muse for one particular hit song written by Freddie Mercury, with clues in the lyrics."Killer Queen, I think, is written about my mother," she said."There are all the other theories but... 'Talked just like a baroness', 'the pretty cabinet' - she always drank Moët & Chandon. I think it is [about] my mother."She's still the woman she was then, even though she's 82 now."