Freddie Mercury was a British singer who was considered one of the greatest lead vocalists in rock music history. Born on September 5, 1946, Mercury who is also a songwriter for his rock band, Queen was highly revered and still holds the admiration of thousands of people even in death.
He died on November 24, 1991, at the age of 45 and was buried according to the Zoroastrian religion which his family practiced. Among his achievements is being posthumously inducted, as a member of Queen, into the UK Music Hall of Fame (2004), the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2003), and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2001).
Freddie Mercury’s Parents
The world knew him as Freddie Mercury, but he was first given the name, Farrokh Bulsara by his parents Bomi (1908 – 2003) and Jer Bulsara (1922 -2016), who gave birth to him while residing in Tanzania, East Africa. His parents were Paris and their ancestry can be traced to the city of Valsad in Gujarat, which is located in the Bombay province of British India.
The couple had earlier lived in India before moving to Zanzibar, Tanzania where Bomi worked as a cashier for the British Colonial Office. When Freddie Mercury was seventeen, the family fled Zanzibar as a result of the 1964 uprising against the Sultan which killed many Arabs and Indians in the area. As a result, they relocated to England and lived in a small house at 22 Gladstone Avenue Feltham, Middlesex England. It was reported that the unapologetic flamboyant star, as Freddie Mercury is described, never shared the intimate part of his life with his family. His mother Jer described him as selflessly devoted and caring up to the moment of his death.
Freddie Mercury and his sister Kashmira Bulsara Cooke were the only children born of their parents.
Things to Know About the Freddie Mercury
Here are some important facts you should know about the British musician.
1. He took the name ‘Freddie’ while he was a student of St Peters, a boarding school for boys, close to Mumbai. He changed his last name to Mercury in 1970 after he formed the Queen.
2. He played in other bands before he formed Queen at age 24.
Mercury formed a school band, the Hectics band when he was just 12 years old, then upon his graduation, he joined another band Ibex, which was later renamed Wreckage. When the band became unsuccessful, he moved to an Oxford-based band Sour milk sea, which didn’t make it as well. Furthermore, he joined the Smile band as their lead vocalist. Other band members included guitarist Bryan May and Drummer Roger Taylor and they modified the name and became known as Queen.
3. He is shy, off stage
While Mercury is known for his vibrant, electrifying performance on stage, those close to him admit that he is rather shy when he is not performing and rarely grants interviews.
4. Freddie Mercury is a lover of cats and has a number of them. Some of his songs are instance, the song ‘Delilah’ is dedicated to his cat Delilah. Likewise, his first solo album ‘Mr Bad guy’ released in 1985 was dedicated to his cats Tom, Jerry, Tiffany and Oscar and all cat lovers in the world.
5. He used to be a baggage handler at Heathrow airport before he became Queen’s lead singer. The baggage handlers at Heathrow airport honoured him in 2018 by doing a rendition of ‘ I want to free’.
6. He left most of his wealth to a woman although he had many male lovers. Mercury’s long-time female friend Mary Austin, received most of his wealth after he died including his house and royalties to his music. He has described her as the love of his life and his ‘common-law wife’ while he was alive.
7. Mercury had four extra teeth behind his front teeth which he didn’t want removed because it might affect his vocal range.
8. He designed the Queen’s logo himself. He used his knowledge in Art and graphics design from Ealing Art School to create the famous Queen’s logo using the zodiac sign of all band members.
9. His bottomless mic was actually accidental. Mercury was performing one day and mistakenly pulled his mic standoff. However, he didn’t want to replace it because of the flexibility he enjoys with it.
10. Mercury’s singing voice is in the tenor range but his speaking voice falls in the baritone range. His voice can climb up to four octaves when he is recording.
11. He had a piano at the head post of his bed. Who knows when inspiration will strike Mercury? That’s why he reportedly had a piano in handy so he could easily reach out if something comes up in his sleep. Likewise, he is purported to have composed ‘Crazy little thing called love’ in his bath and had to call for a piano to be brought to him.
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12. Mercury’s last appearance on stage was when he received the Brit award for outstanding contribution with his fellow Queen band members in 1990.
13. Freddie Mercury was a keen stamp collector. He took it up as a hobby quite early in life and his collections have been in exhibitions around the world. The stamps were exempted when his personal belongings were burnt following his death in line with the Zoroastrian religion.
14. Freddie Mercury never discussed his sexual orientation or sickness with his parents. In a way, he wanted to protect them from the prejudice of the time and the media.
15. Mercury has a statue erected in his honour in the city of Montreux Switzerland. It overlooks Lake Geneva and was unveiled on November 25, 1996.
16. He made an official statement a day before he died in which he confirmed his AIDS status after months of speculation by the media. He died of AIDS-related complications.
17. His last single with the Queen is ‘The Show Must Go On’ which was released six weeks before his death. He was so ill at the time of recording that he needed a shot of vodka to be able to sing the daunting vocals.
18. Actor Rami Malek won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for the portrayal of Freddie Mercury in the 2018 biopic, The Bohemian Rhapsody.
19. The house mercury lived before his death was literally turned into a shrine by fans because of the amount of graffiti they left in the building.
20. A new variety of rose was named after him. Freddie Mercury is a pinkish-yellow apricot tea rose that was introduced in 1994.
21. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll hall of fame, together with other Queen band members.
