Delilah

Delilah was a tortoiseshell-and-white cat and the undisputed favourite among the many cats Freddie Mercury kept at his London home, Garden Lodge. Mercury was devoted to his cats — over the years the household included Tom, Jerry, Oscar, Tiffany, Goliath, Lily, Miko, Romeo, Dorothy and others — and he treated them as family, phoning home from tours to have them held up to the receiver so he could talk to them. Delilah joined the household around 1986 and became the one he most loved to pick up and stroke. His affection ran so deep that Queen's 1991 album Innuendo contains a song written for her, simply titled "Delilah", in which Mercury sings tenderly (and playfully) about his cat, even mimicking a meow with a talk box. It remains one of the most openly sentimental songs in the Queen catalogue — and a rare pop moment where a real, named pet is the subject. Mercury had earlier dedicated his 1985 solo album "Mr Bad Guy" to his cats as well. Through Delilah and her companions, one of rock's most flamboyant showmen revealed a quietly gentle, home-loving side, and gave the world an enduring reminder that even legends go soft for a cat.