Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury was a British-Indian songwriter and singer, best known as the frontman for the English rock band Queen. He was noted for his powerful vocal abilities and his charisma as a live performer. As a songwriter, he composed many international hits such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Somebody to Love" and "We Are the Champions". The quality of the band's music was greatly enhanced by Mercury's singing abilities, and he also gave the band a distinct style on stage with his flamboyant performances and extravagant personality. Mercury died from complications of AIDS, greatly increasing awareness of the disease.

Early life

Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on the African island of Zanzibar (which at the time was a British colony, now part of Tanzania), to Indian Parsi parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara. As Parsis, his parents practiced the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. The family had emigrated to Zanzibar from India in order for Bomi to continue his job as a middle-ranking cashier at the British Colonial Office. Mercury had one younger sister, Kashmira.

Mercury was educated at St. Peter's boarding school in Panchgani near Bombay (now Mumbai) in India, where he gave his first onstage performances in a five-member school band called The Hectics. Mercury completed his education in India at St. Mary's High School in Mazagon, Mumbai and was 17 when he and his family fled to England as a result of a 1964 revolution in Zanzibar. In England, he pursued a Diploma in Art and Graphic Design at Ealing Art College, following in the footsteps of Pete Townshend. He later used these skills in order to design the famous Queen crest. Mercury remained a British citizen for the rest of his life.

According to a 17 November 1996 Sunday Times article, Freddie Mercury was born "Farok Bulsara". However, while in boarding school, friends began calling him "Freddie", a name that he and his family eventually adopted. When Queen was first formed, he was initially using the name Freddie Bulsara. However, according to bandmate Brian May in the "Freddie Mercury: The Untold Story" video, his decision to change his name to Mercury occurred while he was writing a song called "My Fairy King". May also suggested that Mercury may have changed his name in part to distance himself from his ethnic background. Interestingly, profiles of Mercury before his death (e.g. a September 1980 interview in Circus) erroneously claim his real name to have been "Frederick Bulsara".

Singer and performer

Considered one of the most versatile male vocalists in popular music, Freddie Mercury possessed a very distinctive voice. Although his speaking voice naturally fell in the baritone range, he also maintained tone in the tenor range. His recorded vocal range spanned nearly four octaves (falsetto included), with his lowest recorded note being the F2 and his highest recorded note being the D6. His highest recorded head voice note was the F5. In addition to vocal range, Mercury often delivered technically difficult songs in a forceful and powerful manner. However, due in part to the fact that he suffered from vocal nodules (for which he declined surgery), he would often lower the highest notes during many concerts.

With his vocal versatility, Freddie Mercury was one of the most technically accomplished singers to work in the pop idiom. In a list of the greatest English language singers of the 20th century compiled by BBC Radio, Mercury was ranked #10. He also came in first in MTV's list of the 22 greatest singers of the past 25 years. Freddie Mercury's performance at Live Aid has recently been voted by various artists, journalists and music industry executives as the greatest live performance of all time in rock music. The results of the poll were televised on a Channel 4 television programme in the UK called "The World's Greatest Gigs". Of all the artists present at the Live Aid concert, Queen was widely regarded as having stolen the show, largely as a result of Mercury's incredible talent and charisma.

One of Mercury's trademarks throughout the years involved the use of a microphone and stand minus the bottom section. In his early years of singing he made the decision to pick up his microphone, still attached to the stand. At one particular event, the bottom fell off by accident and, from that point on, he decided to use a bottomless microphone stand.

Songwriting

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Mercury (bottom) with Queen bandmates in 1975.

Mercury was an accomplished songwriter, and many of his compositions became international hits for his band Queen - for instance, ten of the songs on Queen's original Greatest Hits album were written by him, including many of the band's most creative pieces, such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We Are the Champions" and "Somebody to Love".

Although all four members of the band Queen were songwriters, producer Gary Langhan, who worked in the studio with Queen on many of their early albums, notes in the book Freddie Mercury: The Real Life that "Freddie was always intensely supportive of other people's songwriting and would give as much attention to one of the other's as he would to his own. It was so unlike other bands I've worked with where there is an acknowledged songwriter and anyone else who writes one really has to hassle to get it anywhere".

Mercury wrote most of his songs on the piano, often choosing keys which were difficult for the guitar (e.g. E flat major). Brian May has remarked that this necessitated him to employ some difficult fretboard fingerings, and that this contributed to the bands' distinctive guitar sound. Although Mercury possessed only rudimentary skills on the guitar, he also wrote many lines and riffs for various songs (e.g. those for "Ogre Battle" and "Bohemian Rhapsody") on guitar. He also wrote "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" on the guitar. He often said jokingly of his guitar skills, "This shitty little guitar only knows three chords."

One of the most distinctive characteristics of Mercury's songwriting was the number of long (typically five and a half minutes or longer) songs that utilized several different styles of music. Examples include "My Fairy King", "Liar", "The Millionaire Waltz", "The March Of The Black Queen", "Innuendo" and, more notably, "Bohemian Rhapsody". Compared to most popular songwriters, Freddie Mercury wrote very musically complex songs. While most pop songs contain three to seven chords, "Bohemian Rhapsody" contains sixty different chords, and "Bicycle Race" contains over twenty chords as well as complex metre changes (the bridge is in 3/4 while verses and choruses are in 4/4).

On the Freddie Mercury box set, opera singer Montserrat Caballé, who collaborated with Mercury on the Barcelona album, commented that, "He was not only a popular singer, he was a musician, that could sit at the piano and compose. He discovered a new way to bring different music styles together. He is the first and only person to have done this."

Bohemian Rhapsody

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Freddie Mercury in the 1975 video for Bohemian Rhapsody.

Main article: Bohemian Rhapsody

Although similarly sophisticated songs can be found on earlier Queen albums such as Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is nonetheless widely considered to be the band's greatest achievement. When Mercury played his early drafts in the studio, producer Roy Thomas Baker remembers being shocked when, after hearing the ballad section of the song, he was told, "Now dear, this is where the opera section comes in". When the band wanted to release the song as a single in 1975, it had been suggested that, at 5 minutes and 54 seconds, it was far too long and would thus never be a hit. But Mercury gave a copy of the single to friend and London DJ, Kenny Everett, informing him that it was for him personally, and that he must never broadcast it on the radio. Ultimately, Everett ended up playing the song on the air, up to fourteen times in the same day. This generated a huge fan response; eventually, every major radio station played the song in full and it became one of the biggest hits of all time in the UK, remaining at the #1 position for nine weeks. Although a great deal of speculation has arisen over the song's lyrics, Mercury always insisted that the song did not have any specific meaning.

Musical influences

As a child, Freddie Mercury's parents listened to a great deal of Indian music, and one of his early influences was the Bollywood playback singer, Lata Mangeshkar. According to a March 1996 edition of Record Collector magazine, after moving to England, Mercury became a huge fan of Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, The Jackson 5 and Led Zeppelin. Mercury's two favourite male rock vocalists were Robert Plant and George Michael. He also admired many singers outside of rock music, such as Aretha Franklin, Liza Minnelli, Luciano Pavarotti and Montserrat Caballé.

Personal life

Although he had a very close girlfriend named Mary Austin, Freddie Mercury was fairly open about his bisexuality. In a March 12, 1974 interview for New Musical Express he told the interviewer: "I am as gay as a daffodil, my dear!" Although his relationship with Mary Austin eventually ended, the two remained very close friends, with Austin often fronting as his girlfriend for the press.

While Mercury had previously been promiscuous, his last boyfriend, Jim Hutton, lived with him for the last six years of his life, cared for him when he was ill and was present with him at his bedside when he succumbed to the disease. According to Hutton, Mercury referred to him as his husband and died while wearing a wedding band that Hutton had given him.

Mercury was well known for his extravagance. On the other hand, he was also known for his kindness and generosity, showering friends and casual lovers with expensive gifts, apparently including cars and jewelry. While he was charming and outgoing at his own parties, he often appeared to be shy at other events.

Death

According to the book Mercury and Me by partner Jim Hutton, Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in the spring of 1987. Despite the fact that he claimed to have tested negative for HIV in a 1987 interview, the British press nonetheless stalked the singer during the final years of his life. Although rumours about his health were rampant, he continued to deny that he had AIDS. From the video for "These Are the Days of Our Lives", which represents Mercury's last appearance on film, it was clear that he was suffering from severe wasting. On November 22, 1991 Mercury called Queen's manager Jim Beach over to his Kensington home to discuss a public statement. On November 23, the following announcement was made to the press:

"Following the enormous conjecture in the press over the last two weeks, I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV positive and have AIDS. I felt it correct to keep this information private to date to protect the privacy of those around me. However, the time has come now for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth and I hope that everyone will join with my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease. My privacy has always been very special to me and I am famous for my lack of interviews. Please understand this policy will continue."

The next day, Mercury died at home in the presence of close friends at the age of 45. The official cause of death was bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS. Although he had not attended religious services in years, Mercury's funeral was conducted by a Zoroastrian priest. He was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery and the whereabouts of his ashes are unknown, although some believe them to have been dispersed into Lake Geneva. The remaining members of Queen founded The Mercury Phoenix Trust and organized The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. He left £500 000 to his chef, £500 000 to his personal assistant, £100 000 to his driver and £500 000 to his partner, Jim Hutton. Mary Austin, his life-long friend, inherited the estate and now lives there with her family. According to the book "The Show Must Go On" by Rick Sky, although Mercury was thought to have earned around £42 million, his thirteen-page will revealed only £12 million. It apparently was not clear exactly what had happened to the fortune he had earned.

Legacy

Freddie Mercury Statue in Montreux.

Recent polls

• Several recent polls show Freddie Mercury to remain popular in Britain. For instance, in the 1999 Millennium Poll, in which 600,000 Britons participated, he was voted at the #14 and #15 spots, respectively, as a popular musician and songwriter.
• Freddie Mercury appears at the #58 spot in the 2002 List of "100 Greatest Britons", sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public.
• Two of Mercury's compositions, "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Are the Champions" have each been claimed, in separate polls, as the world's favourite song. Most recently, an Ericsson poll of 600,000 people in 66 different countries found "We Are the Champions" to be the world's most popular tune. This contradicts another major poll by Guinness World, which had previously found "Bohemian Rhapsody" to be the world's most popular song from the past 50 years.
• The online music community at DigitalDreamDoor has consistently placed Freddie Mercury at the number one position on a list of the 100 greatest rock vocalists.

The world's first Indian rock star

Because Freddie Mercury was of full Parsi descent, grew up in India, and did not move to the UK until he was 17, he was arguably the world's first great Indian rock star. However, aside from school concerts in his teens, Mercury and Queen never toured India to perform live.

Valuable Mercury memorabilia

Over the years, rare Freddie Mercury solo albums have greatly increased in value. For instance, a Japanese single of the song "Guide Me Home" from the Barcelona album is now worth as much as £1,000 ($1,800). Another valuable item is a 1973 cover of the 1969 Beach Boys song, I Can Hear Music recorded under the stage name Larry Lurex. Widely bootlegged, the original record is now a valuable collectible, fetching up to £400 ($700).

Popularity in Japan

Because Queen was very popular in Japan, various tributes to Mercury can be found in Japanese anime and popular music:

• Freddie Mercury appears as a recurring character in the Japanese manga and anime series Sakigake!! Cromartie High! Known to the main characters only as "Freddie," and normally introduced by a harmonious guitar riff, this version of Freddie Mercury wears only long brown pants with red suspenders, and often carries his trademark broken microphone stand. In the world of Cromartie, Freddie is either still alive and in hiding, or a clone of the original Freddie. He shows some remarkable attributes, such as extreme patience when other characters repeatedly slap him in the head, and the ability to navigate Tokyo using only his "animal instincts," as one character describes it.

• The action manga Bremen, relating the adventures of a Japanese rock band in Tokyo, features a minor character named "Mick." He appears to be a westerner living in Japan, and is the owner of a club where the main characters have their first real gig. Mick is nearly identical to Freddie Mercury in appearance, and even wears a tank top sporting the same stylised Q as in the Queen logo.

• A gymnastics teacher resembling Mercury appears in Akira Toriyama's manga, Dragon Ball in a story Vol.421. Queen is said to be one of Toriyama's favourite bands. Some also consider the Dragon Ball Z character Mr. Satan to be inspired by Mercury.

• Most recently, in her 2004 album Exodus, Japanese pop star Utada Hikaru mentions Freddie Mercury in the song Animato:

"DVDs of Elvis Presley / BBC sessions of Led Zeppelin / Singing along with F. Mercury / Wishing he was still performing..."

• The Japanese TV series Pride (starring the popular actor Kimura Takuya), predominantly used Queen and Mercury songs. The theme song for the show was Mercury's solo song "I Was Born to Love You" (newer version).

• Piipuri Lulu of One Piece is noted to look like Freddie Mercury.^[1]

• An episode of the anime Cowboy Bebop is named after the Queen song, Bohemian Rhapsody.

Trivia

• Freddie Mercury's famous overbite was apparently 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, but regretted that he did not have time to do it. He also expressed fears that such an operation might damage his voice. While smiling in interviews, Freddie would often cover his mouth with his hand in an attempt to hide the overbite.
• Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson were apparently quite good friends for some period of time. With Jackson, he collaborated on some tracks which were never officially released, including There Must Be More To Life Than This and State Of Shock. The latter song, released on the 1984 Victory album, was ultimately performed by Mick Jagger and The Jacksons. Interestingly, Victory was the designated title of the unreleased Jackson/Mercury project.
• Freddie Mercury was the one rock star mentioned in singer Kurt Cobain's suicide note :

"I havent[sic] felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music along with reading and writing for too many years now. I feel guilty beyond words about these things. For example, when we're backstage and the lights go out and the manic roar of the crowds begins, it doesn't affect me the way in which it did for Freddy[sic] Mercury who seemed to love, relish in the love and adoration from the crowd, which is something I totally admire and envy."

• Although he has long been criticized by gay activists, singer Axl Rose was apparently a devoted Freddie Mercury fan. He has been quoted as saying, "If I didn't have Freddie Mercury's lyrics to hold on to as a kid, I don't know where I would be. It taught me about all forms of music. It would open my mind. I never really had a bigger teacher in my whole life."
• In 2004, Mercury was ranked #18 in a Forbes magazine list of the highest earning dead celebrities.
• A species of East African isopod, Cirolana mercuryi N. Bruce, was named after Freddie in 2004.
• A Royal Mail stamp called The Millennium Stamp commemorated the life of Freddie Mercury.
• Ormus Cama, the Indian Parsi rock and roll star and hero of Salman Rushdie's novel The Ground Beneath Her Feet, was loosely based on Mercury.
• Mercury's height was 5'9" (1.75 m).
• Freddie's father, Bomi Bulsara, died in 2003 at the age of 95.

Albums

Solo

• Mr. Bad Guy (1985)
• Barcelona (1988, with Montserrat Caballé)

Posthumous releases:

• The Freddie Mercury Album / The Great Pretender [US version] (1992)
• The Solo Collection (10 CDs and 2 DVDs) (2000)

Queen

• Queen discography

Biographies

• Boyce, Simon. They Died Too Young: Freddie Mercury. Parragon. ISBN 0-75251-105-X (hardback)
• Clarke, Ross. Freddie Mercury: A Kind Of Magic. ISBN 1-874130-01-9
• Evans, David and Minns, David. Freddie Mercury: This is the Real Life. Brittania, 1992. ISBN 0-9519937-1-2 (paperback), ISBN 0-9519937-0-4 (hardback)
• Evans, David and Minns, David. Freddie Mercury - The Real Life: The Truth Behind The Legend. ISBN 1-9019-5300-9
• Freestone, Peter. Freddie Mercury: An Intimate Memoir By the Man Who Knew Him Best. Omnibus Press, 2001. (paperback)
• Freestone, Peter and Evans, David. Mister Mercury. ISBN 0-9533341-0-4
• Hutton, Jim and Waspshott, Tim. Mercury and Me. Bloomsbury, 1994. ISBN 0747519226
• Jackson, Laura. Mercury: The King of Queen. London: Smith Gryphon, 1996. ISBN 1-85685-132-X
• Jones, Lesley-Ann. Freddie Mercury. The Definitive Biography. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1997. ISBN 0340672099
• Marten, Neville and Hudson, Jeffrey. Rock Lives: The Ultimate Story: Freddie Mercury & Queen. Castle Communications, 1995. ISBN 1-8607-40-405
• Sky, Rick. The Show Must Go On. Fontana, 1992. ISBN 0-00637843-9

External links

• Official Queen Site
• The Voice: Freddie Mercury Extensive details of Freddie's voice, including vocal range.
• Queenzone website
• The Official International Queen Fan Club
• Freddie Mercury photographs by Denis O'Regan
• Freddie Mercury at IMDb
• Template:Last.fm
• Queen & Freddie Mercury's Cd Single Discography
• Biography
• Freddie Mercury and Queen stamp and phonecard collection.