Freddie Mercury
- Real Name Farookh Bulsara
- Date Of Birth September 5, 1946 - November 24, 1991
- Birthplace Zanzibar, Tanzania
- Instruments Vocals, piano, guitar, keyboards
The life of Frederick Bulsara began on the East African island of
Zanzibar on September 5, 1946. 25 years later in London under the name
of Freddie Mercury he was fronting the now legendary rock group named
Queen.
The son of Bomi and Jer Bulsara, Freddie spent the bulk of his
childhood in India where he attended St. Peter’s boarding school. He
began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. No one could foresee
where a love of music would take him.
The Bulsara family moved to Middlesex in 1964 and from there Freddie
joined up with a blues band called Wreckage while studying graphic
design courses at Ealing College of Art. While singing for Wreckage, a
fellow student introduced Freddie to Roger Taylor and Brian May, founder
members of a band called Smile. Smile metamorphosed into Queen when
Freddie joined Roger and Brian as the lead vocalist. The final member of
the band, which was to stay together for the next 20 years, was bassist
John Deacon, who joined the band on 1
st of March 1971.
The rest is rock history. EMI Records and Elektra Records signed the
band and in 1973 their debut album ‘Queen’ was released and hailed as
one of the most exciting developments ever in rock music.
The immortal operatically styled single ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was
released in 1975 and proceeded to the top of the UK charts for 9 weeks. A
song that was nearly never released due to its length and unusual style
but which Freddie insisted would be played became the instantly
recognisable hit. By this time Freddie’s unique talents were becoming
clear, a voice with a remarkable range and a stage presence that gave
Queen its colourful, unpredictable and flamboyant personality.
Very soon Queen’s popularity extended beyond the shores of the UK as
they charted and triumphed around Europe, Japan and the USA where in
1979 they topped the charts with Freddie’s song ‘Crazy Little thing
Called Love’.
Queen was always indisputably run as a democratic organisation. All
four members are each responsible for having penned number one singles
for the band. This massive writing strength combined with spectacular
lights, the faultless sound, a sprinkling of theatricality and Freddie’s
balletic movements made up Queen on stage and on film.
Through Freddie’s ability to project himself and the band’s music and
image to the four corners of 70,000 seater venues they became known as
the prime developers of stadium rock, a reputation perpetuated by their
pioneering tactics in South America where in 1981 they performed to
231,000 fans in Sao Paulo, a world record at the time. They also became
known as the key innovators of pop videos as their catalogue of 3-minute
clips became more and more adventurous in style, size and content.
Their phenomenal success continued around the globe throughout the
80’s highlighted in 1985 by their show-stealing and unforgettable
performance on stage at Live Aid.
In the mid 80’s, Freddie started concentrating on his solo career,
which was to run in tandem with Queen (“the mothership”) for several
albums commencing with the 1985 release of ‘Mr. Bad Guy’. Freddie’s much
loved sense of self-parody reached a zenith with his cover version of
The Platter’s song ‘The Great Pretender’ in 1987, the video of which
recorded him descending a sweeping staircase among acres of identical
cardboard cutouts of himself.
His first major collaboration outside Queen was with Dave Clark for
the recording of London’s West End musical Time, in 1986. This was
followed in 1987 with the realisation of one of Freddie’s long-term
dreams; to record with the world revered opera diva Montserrat Caballé.
The LP’s title song, ‘Barcelona’ went on to become an anthem for Senora
Caballé’s home city and the theme for the Olympics in 1992.
While most publicly recognised as the front man to one of the most
progressive rock bands of the 70’s, Freddie defied the stereotype. A
taste for venturing into new territories – a trait that was to have a
marked influence on the direction Queen would take – took Freddie to
explore his interests in a wide spectrum of the arts, particularly in
the areas of ballet, opera and theatre, even taking a participating
role: in October1977 the sell-out audience of a charity gala at the
London Coliseum organised by Royal Ballet Principal dance Wayne Eagling
received the surprise of an unannounced appearance by a silver-sequinned
leotard-clad Freddie performing an intricate routine choreographed for
him by Eagling. In 1987 he made a one-night appearance in Dave Clarke’s
Time at the Dominion Theatre, although legend has it Freddie
occasionally turned up at the theatre to support friend Clarke’s
musical, one night selling ice-creams in the stalls! Freddie would have
loved the fact that The Dominion now plays host to the band’s
phenomenally successful musical We Will Rock You which has now held the
Dominion stage nearly seven years longer than Time’s two year run.
Freddie returned to the studios to record ‘Innuendo’ with Queen in 1990.
On November 24
th, 1991, Freddie’s struggle against AIDS
ended when he passed away just over 24 hours after he had publicly
announced he had the disease. Musicians and fans from all over the world
paid their highest respects as the passing of rock’s most innovative,
flamboyant ambassador signified the end of an era at the Freddie Mercury
Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium on April 20, 1992 which gave birth
to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the AIDS charity set up in Freddie’s
memory by the remaining members of Queen and Freddie’s Executor, Jim
Beach.
Freddie Mercury, who majored in stardom while giving new meaning to
the word showmanship, left a legacy of songs, which will never lose
their stature as classics to live on forever. Some of the most poignant
of these were immortalised on the Queen album ‘Made In Heaven’ released
in November 1995. The sleeve of the album shows a view from Freddie’s
Montreux home.
Despite twenty years having passed since Freddie lost his life to HIV
complications, he remains in the minds of millions throughout the world
as one of the greatest artists we will ever see. In September 2010 (coincidentally, around Freddie’s 64
th
birthday) a poll carried out among rock fans saw him named the Greatest
Rock Legend Of All Time, beating Elvis Presley to claim the title, and
ahead of David Bowie, Jon Bon Jovi, Jimi Hendrix and Ozzy Osbourne.
A spokesman for OnePoll.com which conducted the poll said: "Freddie
Mercury had it all, the voice, the image, the stage presence,
everything.
"He combined his ear for music with an ability to
deliver to stadium audiences and as such millions were devastated when
HIV killed him in 1991. His legend will live on forever.” (OnePoll.Com.
September 6, 2010)
September 5, 2010 saw The Mercury Phoenix Trust launch ‘Freddie For A
Day’, a major annual initiative designed to celebrate Freddie’s life
each year on his birthday and to support the on-going work of the
Trust. The project encourages fans to dress as Freddie for a day and in
doing so raise funds for MPT through sponsorship. No one could have
imagined the extraordinary response which resulted, with fans from 24
countries around the world, from Argentina to Ukraine, seizing on the
idea to pay their own special tribute to Freddie.
Some sent pictures strutting their stuff at home, singing into a
microphone in their bedroom. Others took the plunge and spent the whole
day as Freddie, including one US enthusiast who dressed herself as
‘Slightly Mad’ Freddie and then spent her day at the local mall and then
at Columbus Zoo in Ohio with a penguin and a gorilla. Another took a
TGV trip from France to Switzerland dressed in a harlequin leotard. The
stories of extraordinary and fun days spent come in their hundreds, and
as a result, Freddie For A Day will now be an annual event.
Taking it one stage further, Freddie’s 65
th birthday, September 5, 2011
will be celebrated with a major party in London in aid of The Mercury
Phoenix Trust, hosted by Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor.
Also later this year, shooting is expected to begin on a major
Hollywood movie about Queen, staring Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie
featuring a script from acclaimed writer Peter Morgan (The Queen,
Frost/Nixon), being produced by GK Films, Robert de Niro’s Tribeca
Productions and Queen Films. The film is expected for release in 2012.
Note: Unseen photos and memorabilia of Freddie and Queen will be on show in the 40th
Anniversary tribute exhibition “Stormtroopers in Stilettos” taking
place at the Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, Hackney, from February 25 –
March 12, 2011.
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