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Freddie Mercury, Dip. A.D
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Farrokh Bulsara was born on Thursday, 5th of September
1946 on African spice island of Zanzibar, to parents Bomi and Jer Bulsara. His early schooling was spent away from the family
at a boarding school in Bombay. His father Bomi, was a British diplomat, so they were often moving from one place to another.
In 1954, aged 8 years, Freddie started to attend British College School, St. Peter's in Panchgan (near to the city of Bombay).
At this time his schoolmates started to call him by the name of Freddie. The school was typically British and in sports Freddie
was very strong in boxing and in table tennis, winning many trophies and medals. He also loved art and music and showed great
talent in both areas ; playing the piano and performing in school shows and also joining the school choir. Freddie, with the
encouragement of the headmaster of the school, did piano lessons and applied himself to them very well achieving Grade IV
in both practical and theory. In 1958, five friends at St Peter's School formed a rock'n roll outfit called 'The Hectics'
- the members were Freddie Bulsara, Bruce Murray, Derrick Branche, Victory Rana and Farang Irani (Freddie was the piano player
in the band). They played at school parties, at annual events and school dances. |
| His family eventually settled in England in 1964, the
same year he enrolled at Ealing College of Art. In 1969, Freddie graduated from Ealing with a Diploma in Art and Design Freddie
was a huge fan of Jimmy Hendrix and was still very interested in music.
It was a Ealing that Freddie met Tim Staffel, who was
in a band called Smile, with Brian May and Roger Taylor. Freddie attended many performances and rehersals with Tim and became
great friends with Brian and Roger also. By this stage Freddie had started to use the name Mercury after the mythical God.
In 1969 Freddie graduated with a diploma in art and design.
Freddie, as he was known by now, he played in a series
of groups from 'Ibex' to 'Sour Milk Sea' and then 'Wreckage' which he founded himself. His friends, Tim, Brian and Roger were
having good but slow progress with Smile - but it was too slow for Tim and Smile broke up, with Tim joining another band as
things weren't happening fast enough for him. Freddie soon left his band 'Wreckage' and joined Brian and Roger because he
felt the previous band 'Smile' was very good and had all the elements that he wanted in a band. In 1970 Freddie Mercury, Roger
Taylor, Brian May and Mike Grose formed a band called 'Queen'. After a turnstyle type rotation of bass players, John Deacon
joined Queen in 1971 and Queen as we know it was formed. (You can read the main bio to see what happed in Queen after this
point...) |
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Freddie now went and designed the band's logo with
his Diploma being put to work. He used the birth signs of everyone in the band : 2 fairies for him (Virgo), 2 lions for Roger
and John (Leo) and a crab for Brian (Cancer). Queen recorded a debut album which had limited success but Queens early hits
were Freddies songs, 'Seven Seas Of Rhye', 'Killer Queen' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.
In 1980 Freddie changed his image, cutting his hair
and growing a moustache with hard-core fans sending gifts of nail polish and razor blades. Freddie, during a Queen break in
1983, wanted to record a solo album and booked studio time at Musicland in Munich. On September 10, 1984 Freddie's first solo
single, 'Love Kills' was released. Other solo releases included 'I Was Born To Love You' and this preceeded the April 9, 1985
release of Freddie's first solo album Mr. Bad Guy was released by CBS Records. |
| The late 1980s was very good for Queen with the Live
Aid performance on July 13, 1985 and the huge Wembley shows in the summer of 86. Freddie went back to the studio in 87 to
do some more solo work, resulting in a cover of the classic Platters song 'The Great Pretender', and was released on February
23rd. In March '87 Freddie flew to Barcelona to meet opera singer Montserrat Caballé who Freddie had seen in 1983. In April,
Freddie began work on a co-venture, which was an album with Montserrat Caballé. On Saturday, October 8th, 1988 Freddie and
Montserrat appeared at a huge open air festival called 'La Nit' which was held in Barcelona. They performed three tracks from
the forthcoming album - 'How Can I Go On', 'The Golden Boy' & 'Barcelona', accompanied by Mike Moran on piano, who also
recorded on the album. The 'Barcelona' album was finally released on Monday, October 10th. October 8th was actually the final
time Freddie Mercury performed on stage.
Between the release of Barcelona and the 90s, Freddie
was seen less and less and also looking at times frail. This is most seen in the final 2 videos of I'm Going Slightly
Mad and These are the Days of our Lives. The final time he appeared on camera, he whispered the words, 'I still
love you', perhaps a message to the fans, perhaps a good bye. |
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On November 24th, 1991 Freddie Mercury died peacefully
at his London home. He died of AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia. Freddie was cremated according to the beliefs of his parents
and himself. Many celebrities including David Bowie, Elton John and others attended his removal.
On April 20th, 1992 a tribute concert in Freddie Mercurys
memory was held at Wembley Stadium. And in 1995, another tribute to Freddie was the album 'Made In Heaven', which was released
on November 6th, 1995. This album was compiled and mastered by the 3 remaining members of Queen.
Freddies music and memory lives on and he was truly
one of the greatest singers, songwriters and performers ever...
Freddie Mercury (1946 - 1991) : A singer of songs,
a lover of life. |
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