New York, U.S.A. — Eagle Rock Entertainment is proud to announce the September 25 release of the Freddie Mercury DVD and Blu-ray, ‘The Great Pretender.’

Created by the same team behind the widely acclaimed Queen: ‘Days of Our Lives’ BBC documentary, ‘The Great Pretender,’ in similar vein, presents a compelling insight into its subject matter, unearthing previously undiscovered or rarely seen footage and presented for the first time in High Definition.

Produced and directed by Rhys Thomas , life-long Queen fan and expert (to the extent that Rhys famously broke the Mastermind all time record points score with a specialist subject of Queen), Rhys has this time turned his attention to the Freddie archive, going back as early as 1976 in search of vintage gems which reveal more than ever before the inside story of Freddie’s life and career and the solo projects he worked on outside of Queen.

The extensive archive footage is drawn from rare interviews with Freddie, concerts, video shoots and personal material, much of it being seen for the first time, along with newly filmed contributions from fellow Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor , Queen manager Jim Beach , soprano Montserrat Caballe, composers David Arnold and Mike Moran , lyricist Tim Rice , comedian and lifelong fan Matt Lucas and many more.

From it emerges a portrait of a man who was very different to his flamboyant onstage public persona.

Among the treasures to be anticipated, ‘The Great Pretender’ includes for the first time ever Freddie and Rod Stewart singing their demo for “Take Another Piece of My Heart,” an unreleased song from 1984, a snippet of the unreleased Michael Jackson / Freddie Mercury collaboration “There Must Be More To Life Than This,” and Freddie with the Royal Ballet 1979 – never seen in full before.

Rhys, whose extensive scouting for lost material turned up a copy of the band’s first TV appearance among the belongings of late comedian Dick Emery, brings to the light Freddie’s earliest filmed interview from 1976 unearthed in Australia and another unseen interview from 1976 filmed by NBC in the USA.

Rhys also found 10 cans of Freddie’s 39th Black and White birthday party in Mrs. Henderson’s nightclub in Munich in 1985. Originally filmed for the video for “Living On My Own,” and promptly banned by Freddie’s record company because of its cross-dressing theme, there’s much to be enjoyed in watching Freddie and his friends go full out in their efforts to help Freddie celebrate his last birthday before turning 40.

On top of this, The Great Pretender has a feast of outtakes from the video shoots for “I Want To Break Free,” “One Vision,” “Days of Our Lives,” “I Want It All,” “A Kind Of Magic,” “Princes of the Universe,” “Living on My Own,” Born To Love You,” “Great Pretender,” “Made In Heaven,” and “Who Wants to Live Forever.”

As bonus features [that will not make up part of the version to be broadcast by the BBC] the program includes “Freddie Mercury Goes Solo” and an extended interview with Montserrat Caballe.

Coinciding with the release of ‘The Great Pretender’ DVD will come the release of the new “Barcelona: Special Edition” album with Freddie and Montserrat’s original album re-recorded with full 80 piece orchestra [a feature on the making of this album is included on both formats] and a new book, also entitled The Great Pretender with matching artwork, in September. The Savoy Hotel hosts the second “Freddie For A Day” charity event on September 3 in aid of The Mercury Phoenix Trust – Fighting Aids Worldwide and there is a special premiere of The Great Pretender film at BAFTA on September 6.

Freddie Mercury was one of the most charismatic, complex and fascinating characters in British rock music. A generous, caring, thoughtful man with a self-deprecating sense of humor and a genuine passion for music. Freddie Mercury touched the lives of millions through his career both with Queen and as a solo performer and this new program is sure to delight and inform his legions of fans as never before.

Eagle Rock Entertainment is the largest producer and distributor of music programming for DVD, Blu-Ray, TV, Audio and Digital Media in the world. Eagle works directly alongside talent to produce top quality, High Definition and 3D programs, both concerts and documentaries, including The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, Queen, The Doors, Jeff Beck, U2, Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney and Ozzy Osbourne. Eagle is a Grammy Award winning company and has received over 30 multi-platinum, over 50 platinum and over 90 gold discs, worldwide. Eagle Rock Entertainment has offices in London, New York, Toronto, Paris and Hamburg.

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NEW YORK, US – One of underground rock’s most unusual stories of the 1970s, the tale of an obscure debut LP by a Detroit singer-songwriter named Rodriguez becoming a source of hope and inspiration to the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa, is the basis for the thought-provoking new film, Searching For Sugar Man.

The original motion picture soundtrack album will be available starting July 24, 2012 through Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. The vinyl version of the soundtrack will be released by Light In The Attic Records.

Searching For Sugar Man, a Red Box Films & Passion Pictures Production in association with Canfield Pictures & The Documentary Company, distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, premiered in New York on April 24, 2012 at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film opens in New York and Los Angeles on July 27, 2012 and will open in other markets throughout the month of August.

Directed by Malik Bendjelloul, Searching For Sugar Man tells a story that begins with the 1970 release of Rodriguez’s debut album, Cold Fact. In its Reissues Of The Year tally for 2008, Rolling Stone magazine called the album “A remarkable artifact of Michigan hippie soul by singer-songwriter Sixto Diaz Rodriguez.” The soundtrack album on Legacy will compile tracks from Cold Fact and its follow-up LP of 1971, Coming From Reality, reissued to critical acclaim in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

Celebrated Motor City producers Dennis Coffey and Mike Theodore discovered Rodriguez in the late 1960s in a local bar and were struck by his Dylanesque songwriting. A charismatic and mysterious artist behind his shades, Rodriguez had built a strong local following, a true folk hero in the purest sense.

Cold Fact was a fusion of gritty funk with “street-tough lyricism and psychedelic folk arrangements,” in the words of Doug Freeman of the Austin Chronicle. The album’s politically-charged “topical lyrics and druggy avant-garde arrangements” “folk-soul weirdness” and “lysergic gutter poetry” were unique even in the ’70s.

Nevertheless, the album did not succeed commercially, and despite the release of a second LP, Rodriguez drifted into obscurity. Rumors of his fate were widely and wildly exaggerated, ranging from reports of escalating depression to a sensationally gruesome suicide onstage, involving self-immolation.

Meanwhile, the LP had made its way around the world to South Africa, where it was banned by a repressive government. Copies were bootlegged and circulated, and Rodriguez inadvertently became the soundtrack of an emerging liberal African youth, whose resistance movement adopted Cold Fact as its rallying cry. Over the next two decades, Rodriguez became a household name in the country, where the number of copies of Cold Fact would have earned it platinum sales status.

Both sides of the story, Rodriguez’s life in Detroit and the subsequent impact of his music in the smoldering Apartheid era, pre-Nelson Mandela, proved fascinating to Stockholm-based documentary filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul. His subjects have included Kraftwerk, Bjork, Sting, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Madonna, Mariah Carey, U2, Kylie Minogue, Prince, and others.

His short documentary films for Swedish Television’s international cultural weekly show Kobra became the basis for such films as Men Who Stare At Goats (George Clooney) and The Terminal (Tom Hanks). The evolution of the financing, production, and filming of Searching For Sugar Man is as fascinating and complex as the life of Rodriguez himself.

“I describe myself as ‘musico-politico’,” Rodriguez said recently. “I was born and bred in Detroit, four blocks from the city center. Back then, I was influenced by the urban sounds that were going on around me all the time. Music is art and art is a cultural force. As far as my work from Detroit comparing to the South African Apartheid, the similarities echo. The placards of the 1970s in the United States read things like: We Want Jobs and Stop the War – I was looking at the music from a working class.

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Kimberly Stewart turned 32 with a new baby in her arms. The actress and model celebrated her 32 birthday by giving birth to a baby girl named Delilah in Los Angeles. People states the father is the actor Benicio del Toro. According to reports, the baby weighed in at a 8 Ibs 9 oz and 22 inches long.

Rod Stewart, Kimberly Stewart’s father, is extremely happy with his grandchild, and told the press his joy is indescribable. He also called the arrival one of the happiest days of his entire life. Two of  Rod Stewart’s ex-wives were in attendance at the hospital. Kimberly’s mother, Alanna Collins was supporting their daughter as well. The rocker’s third wife, Rachel Hunter paid a visit too.

Penny Lancaster, his current wife, was also at Kimberly’s side at the hospital. The rest of the family Stewart, brother Sean and half-siblings Sara, Ruby, Renée, Liam and Alastair also visited their new familymember. Stewart told USA Today: “We had everyone at the hospital to help Kimberly. I won’t say we always agree, but we get along.”

Rod Stewart revealed the arrival of his granddaughter in an unusual interview with USA Today. He sang out the name Deliah after a broadcasting saying, “I’m a grandfather now. I’ve been going around blabbing that for hours now.” Sources confirmed to People that Benicio is the father of the baby girl.

They also stated he has been very supporting and even though they are not a couple, both stars were looking forward to her arrival. There have been many rumors about the two stars after reports, seeing them meeting at the Chateau Marmont hotel earlier this year. In April, the actor’s representative confirmed to Us Weekly that the star of Wolfman and Sin City was the father of the baby.

Sources say del Toro is planning to play an active role in the child’s upbringing. Us Weekly sources affirmed the actor is excited and overjoyed about the birth of his daughter. The 44 year-old Hollywood star was seen working again after the birth in Los Angeles for his upcoming movie, Savages.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfamamerica/

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