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Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury (September 5, 1946 - November 24, 1991) was a singer and the lead vocalist of the British Rock band Queen. He was born Farrokh Bulsara in Stone Town, Zanzibar to Bomi and Jer Bulsara. He had a sister, Kashmira Bulsara-Cooke. His parents were Parsis from the state of Gujarat in western India. The name Bulsara was taken from the small Gujarati town in which Bomi Bulsara, Freddie's father, was brought up. Freddie's father was an accountant for the British Colonial Office in Zanzibar.

Freddie was educated at St. Peter's boarding school near Bombay, India, where he had his first musical training (Grade V piano). His first onstage performance was also at St. Peters, with his five-member school band, the Hectics. It was at St. Peter's where he picked up the name 'Freddie'; soon even his parents addressed him by that name.

After spending his formative years in India, Freddie and his family fled to England because of a revolution in Zanzibar. He was 18 when he arrived in England. There, he pursued a Diploma in Art and Graphic Design at Ealing Art College, following in the footsteps of Pete Townshend. This knowledge was to come in useful when he designed Queen's famous crest.

With a wide vocal range and a somewhat operatic technique, he was one of the most versatile and technically accomplished singers to work in the pop idiom, as well as the composer of many of Queen's hits, including Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody to Love and We Are the Champions.

Freddie's songwriting was unique, demonstrating influence from a variety of sources, but a strong individual sense of melody, harmony, and complex orchestration. In several of his most well-crafted and popular tunes he provided all of the vocal tracks, resulting in a smooth controlled sound that was at the time unprecedented.

Queen started using studio overdubs in a serious way with their second album, "Queen II," which features Freddie's music on the entire second side of the LP (or, in CD parlance, tracks 6-11). Many listeners identify Bohemian Rhapsody as the pinnacle of his musical achievement, but it is possible to find the seeds of this mini-opera in his earlier works.

He released two solo albums: Mr. Bad Guy (1985) and Barcelona (1988), this one with Catalan soprano Montserrat Caballé. The latter album was a surprise to critics, being the first collaboration of its kind, but was nonetheless widely acclaimed, even if it was commercially unsuccessful. One of his hits as a solo artist was a cover of the song The Great Pretender (1987), but after his death gained his first solo number 1 Living On My Own, remixed by 'No More Brothers', which was his biggest UK hit.

He was bisexual; however, he did not officially come out until his announcement that he had AIDS, one day before he died. He was a fan of Liza Minnelli and Michael Jackson, the latter of whom he collaborated with on some tracks, which were never published including "State Of Shock" which was performed by Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger for the official release.

He was well known for his extravagance and hedonism, but also for his kindness and generosity. He adored cats and kept several, even writing a song about his favourite (Delilah, on the Innuendo album, 1991). He was a heavy smoker, which contributed to a roughening of his voice in the Eighties.

He died of AIDS on November 24, 1991, in London, and was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery; the wherabouts of his ashes are unknown. The remaining members of Queen founded The Mercury Phoenix Trust and organized The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.

Mercury appears in the 2002 List of "100 Greatest Britons" (sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public).

He was a Zoroastrian. His famous overbite was caused by the presence of four extra teeth which pushed his incisors out. He commented early in his career that he wished to have work done on his teeth, but regretted that he didn't have time to do it. He also expressed fears that such an operation might damage his voice.

His vocal range was three and a half octaves.

Mercury left £100,000 to his chef, and left his £18-million house to his friend Mary Austin.

Although Mercury may have passed in the real world, he appears as a recurring character in the Japanese anime series Mr. Bad Guy (1985)

• Barcelona (1988) (with Montserrat Caballé)
• The Freddie Mercury Album (1992)