Winner of first ever Freddie Mercury Scholarship announced The winner of a prestigious new music scholarship named in honour of Freddie Mercury has been announced. Arjelevez Maxwell will […]

The winner of a prestigious new music scholarship named in honour of Freddie Mercury has been announced.

Arjelevez Maxwell will study a three-year Music Industry Practice degree course “debt free” from a base at Metropolis Studios in Chiswick, where Queen recorded many of their hits, courtesy of the grant.

The Academy of Contemporary Music said it had chosen Maxwell for her “outstanding talent for songwriting, her passion and potential”. Maxwell said she was “over the moon” to have received the award.

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Queen band members Roger Taylor and Brian May said earlier this year they had established the scholarship, worth up to £27,000, to create a legacy and mark what would have been the 70th birthday of the band’s frontman, who died in 1991.

‘Freddie would be pleased’

May described it as a “lasting tribute to Freddie and the path he blazed”

Metropolis Studios’ chief executive Ian Brenchley said: “We are very excited to welcome Arjelevez on to our ACM degree programme here at Metropolis.

“Freddie wrote and recorded so much material at our studio and we really feel his legacy lives on whenever we hear his Fazioli grand piano played in Studio A.

“As a creative at the forefront of the industry and a pioneer of his time, I know Freddie too would be extremely pleased to offer this fantastic opportunity to such a talented young woman.”