|
|
| Birth Name(s) : Freddie Mercury |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
|
Partner:
|
| Profession:
N/A |
| << Add Freddie Mercury To Your Favorites |
Freddie Mercury Special Offers
|
Full Freddie Mercury Biography
Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, best known as the lead singer of the rock band Queen (inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001). He is noted for his vocal abilities and for his live performances. As a songwriter, he composed many international hits, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "We Are the Champions" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". In addition to his work with Queen, he also produced several hits as a solo artist. Mercury, who was of Indian Parsi descent and who grew up in India, has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian pop star." He died of complications from AIDS in 1991.
Although Queen was not always popular with rock music critics, estimates of the band's worldwide record sales to date have been placed as high as 300 million. The band has also spent more collective weeks on the UK Album Charts than any other musical act, including The Beatles. In 2006, Time Asia named Mercury as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years. On the other hand, he has been criticized for having kept his ethnicity, as well as his HIV status, a secret from the public.
Mercury was sent back to India at the age of 8 to attend St. Peter's School, a boarding school for boys at Panchgani near Bombay (now Mumbai). At St. Peter's, he was a bright student who excelled at sports. At school, he formed a popular school band, called The Hectics, for which he played the piano. A friend from the time recalls that he "had an uncanny ability to listen to the radio and replay what he heard on piano." It was also at St. Peter's where he began to call himself "Freddie". Mercury remained in India for most of his childhood, living with his grandmother and aunt. He completed his education in India at St. Mary's (ISC) High School in Mazagon before returning to Zanzibar.
Following graduation, Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand clothes in the Kensington Market in London. He also held a young man who showed a great deal of interest in music.In 1969 he formed the band Ibex, which was later renamed to Wreckage. When this band failed to take off, he joined a second band called Sour Milk Sea. However, by early 1970, this group broke up as well.
In addition to the two solo albums, Mercury released several additional singles, including his own version of the hit The Great Pretender by The Platters, which debuted at the #5 spot in the UK in 1987. In September of 2006, a compilation album featuring Mercury’s solo work was released in the UK in honour of what would have been his sixtieth birthday. The album debuted in the top 10 of the UK Album Charts.
It has been suggested that commercial considerations may have been a major reason behind Mercury's elusiveness. Bandmate Roger Taylor suggested that he downplayed his heritage because he worried that it was not "something that people would equate with rock 'n' roll". In his book Brimful of Asia: Negotiating Ethnicity on the UK Music Scene, author Rehan Hyder explores the obstacles that Asian musicians may have in attaining commercial success in popular music. Hyder writes of Mercury: "His public persona made little or no reference to his ethnic origins. This public denial of his background (along with a similar refutal of his homosexuality)-reflects a man who certainly valued his privacy but can be viewed as part of a calculated and necessary career plan."
Mercury has also been criticized for the fact that he hid his HIV status from the public for many years, waiting for the day before he died to admit that he had AIDS. It has been suggested that he could have raised a great deal of money and awareness by speaking truthfully and honestly about his situation and his fight against the disease.
Freddie Mercury's death represented an important event in the history of AIDS. In the spring of 1992, the remaining members of Queen founded The Mercury Phoenix Trust and organized The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness. The Mercury Phoenix Trust has since raised millions of pounds for various AIDS charities. The tribute concert, which took place at Wembley Stadium for an audience of 72,000, featured a wide variety of guests including Robert Plant, Extreme, Elton John, Metallica, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Tony Iommi, Guns N' Roses, Elizabeth Taylor, George Michael, Def Leppard and Liza Minnelli. The concert was broadcast live to 76 countries and had an estimated viewing audience of 1 billion.
Grand pianos:
- Baldwin SD10 Concert Grand
- Bechstein D Concert Grand
- Bechstein S Baby Grand
- Bösendorfer Imperial Concert Grand
- Kawai RX7 Concert Grand
- Steinway D Concert Grand
- Steinway S Baby Grand
- White Baby Grand (unknown brand)
- Yamaha C1 Baby Grand
- Yamaha C7 Concert Grand
- Yamaha CFIIIS Concert Grand
On Freddie's birth certificate, his parents defined themselves with "Nationality: British Indian" and "Race: Parsi." The Parsis are an ethnic group of the Indian subcontinent that follow Zoroastrianism.b) ^ |
|
Freddie Mercury Sponsors
|
| Add Freddie Mercury Biography (SuperUSERS) + |
| Add Freddie Mercury Review/Comment
|
HQ Freddie Mercury Pictures (2) | Random Freddie Mercury Picture
|
| << Back to the Freddie Mercury Homepage |
|
