Freddie Mercury's real name is Farukh Bulsara (emphasis on the penultimate syllable).
He was born on September 5, 1946 on the small island of Zanzibar.
His parents, Bomi and Jer, were Parsi (Persians).
Bomi's father worked as an accountant for the British government.
In 1952, Freddie Kashmir's sister was born.
And in 1954, when Freddie was only 8 years old, he was sent to India and assigned to St. Peter's School in Panchgani - 500 miles from Bombay.
There, his friends began to call him Freddie - this name has taken root in the family.
St. Peter's School Petra was typically English, and all the sports that were practiced in it were typically English.
Freddie hated cricket and long distance running, but he loved hockey, sprint and boxing, and at the age of 10 he became the school champion in table tennis.
But his talents were not limited to sports.
At the age of 12, he won the cup in a kind of junior all around.
He was very fond of painting and constantly made drawings for friends and relatives.
And of course, from an early age, Freddie was crazy about music.
He listened to records on an old home record player, putting them in a pile and scrolling continuously.
Listening to music, Freddie liked to sing along.
The music was mostly Indian, although sometimes there was a Western one he sang everything and strongly preferred such an occupation to school lessons.
The musical abilities of Freddie drew the attention of the director of the St. Petersburg School of Music.
Peter.
He wrote a letter to his parents, where he offered to give him the opportunity to seriously study music for a small additional fee.
They agreed, and Freddie began to learn to play the piano.
He also began singing in the school choir and regularly took part in school theater productions.
He liked piano lessons - he could definitely apply his talent here.
As a result, Freddie received a 4th degree in theory and practice.
In 1958, five friends from the school of St. Peter Freddie Bulsara, Derrick Branch, Bruce Murray, Farang Irani and Victory Rana created their first rock band, which was called The Hectics ("Restless"), where he was not yet a vocalist, but a pianist.
They played at school parties, anniversaries and dances - nothing more is known about this group.
In 1962, Freddie graduated from St. Peter's High School.
Peter and returned to Zanzibar, where he spent his free time with friends in the bazaars, parks and beaches.
Zanzibar was a British colony, most of the population of which were Africans and Arabs.
When riots broke out in the country in 1964, many Britons and Indians were forced to leave, although no one drove them out of there.
Bulsar's family was also among those who left Zanzibar - they went to England.
At first they lived with relatives in Feltham (Middlesex County), then they had the opportunity to buy their own small house in the same area.
17 year old Freddie chose an art college for himself, but for this he had to get an appropriate score in painting, and in September 1964 he entered the nearest Aylesworth Polytechnic School.
During the holidays, he tried to earn a little extra work sometimes in the supply department of Heathrow Airport, then at the Feltham trading company, where he had to lift and stack heavy baskets and crates.
The workers, looking at his hands, which were completely unsuitable for this kind of work, asked what he was doing here.
He replied that he was a musician and that he just needed something to do, and his charm was so great that his comrades quickly took over the lion's share of his work.
The aesthetic side of school life impressed him clearly more than the academic one, but he easily earned the necessary score in painting and in the spring of 1966 he became a graduate of the Aylesworth School.
Thanks to this score, as well as his natural gift, he was readily accepted into the Ealing Art College, and in September 1966 began taking a course in graphic illustration.
He was an ardent fan of Jimi Hendrix, constantly drew his hero - then the drawing was placed in a frame and used to decorate the walls of the apartment that his friend Chris Smith rented in Kensington and where Freddie had moved by that time from his parents ' house in Feltham.
Kensington was then simply flooded with people of art - they visited the famous Biba boutique and Kensington Market in droves.
Freddie became friends with a student from his college, Tim Staffell.
As their friendship grew stronger, Tim began to invite Freddie to rehearsals of his band "Smile" (Smile - Smile), where he played bass guitar and sang.
In addition to Tim, the band included guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor.
The sound of the band made an indelible impression on Freddie, especially Brian's playing.
Inspired by "Smile", he embarked on musical experiments for the first time after leaving India.
At first, his partners were Tim and Nigel Foster - another art college student, then Chris Smith.
When Chris first heard Freddie's voice, he was fascinated.
And his manner of playing the piano - outwardly spectacular, with Mozart's lightness combined with a strong touch was distinguished by a unique originality, and this also did not leave Chris indifferent.
They tried to write songs together.
As Chris recalls, it is unlikely that they finished anything at all, but he notes that these classes with Freddie taught him a lot.
"I immediately noticed that Freddie had an innate sense of melody," Chris recalls, " and this attracted me most of all."
Even then, Freddie was experimenting, combining several melodies together in different keys, trying to achieve the greatest effect.
Take this into account when you listen to Bohemian Rhapsody.
Freddie graduated from Ealing in June 1969 with a degree in graphics and design - and a couple of advertising orders for a local newspaper.
He moved into an apartment with Roger Taylor, and that same summer they opened their kiosk in Kensington Market.
First, they sold the works of Freddie and his college friends, and then all sorts of clothes - new and used, what they could get.
In the same summer, he was introduced to the Liverpool trio "Ibex" - the guys came to try their luck in London.
They were guitarist Mike Bersin, bassist John "Tupp" Taylor, and drummer Mick "Miffer" Smith.
With them were their main and tour manager Ken Testi (Ken Testi) and another member Geoff Higgins (Geoff Higgins), who sometimes had to play the role of bassist when "Tapp" - an ardent fan of Jethro Tull expressed a desire to play the flute.
Freddie's meeting with Ibex took place on August 13, 1969, and after 10 days he studied their entire repertoire, added several songs and was ready to go with them to Bolton (Lancashire) to give his first concert.
Performances in Bolton were held as part of the annual blues festivals, covered by the local press.
The concerts of" Ibex " took place on August 23 at the Oktogon Theater and on August 25 at the Queen's Park.
We got a picture of Freddie from the second concert, printed in the Bolton Evening News.
Even one audio recording of "Ibex" has been preserved, but it was made at another concert - at the Liverpool club "Sink" (The Sink).
According to Jeff Higgins, who made this record, its quality leaves much to be desired, but it can be used to judge the musical sympathies of Freddie and his comrades at that time - these are "Cream", Jimi Hendrix, Freddie's favorites Led Zeppelin - "Ibex" successfully performed their cover versions.
Somewhere in late September and October 1969, "Ibex" was renamed "Wreckage" (Wreckage - "wreckage") with the light hand of Freddie.
At first, this did not cause much enthusiasm among the band members.
Mike Berzin recalls that Freddie called him with such an offer and said that the other two agreed.
Later it turned out that the same procedure was done with them.
Around the same time, "Miffer" Smith left the band, and Richard Thompson, the former drummer of "1984", in which Brian May played, took his place.
With the new name, they gave a few more concerts, but soon the band broke up - in particular, due to the fact that Mike had to return to Liverpool and continue his studies, as he promised his parents.
Freddie started looking for a new band and found an ad in Melody Maker: the band" Sour Milk Sea "("sea of sour milk") needed a vocalist.
A story has been preserved about the pomposity with which Freddie appeared before them.
Although several other very worthy candidates came that day, as soon as Freddie started singing, it became clear that they were taking him.
Freddie's voice was distinguished by its extraordinary beauty and wide range.
But it's not just about the voice.
His very behavior, the ability to present himself made an indelible impression.
Those who have seen Queen's performances at least in the recording will understand what it is about.
As Ken Testi recalls, everything that Freddie did later at Queen, he did at the very first performance at Ibex - this is not something that has been developed over the years, it is a rare natural gift that is in unique harmony with his voice, with external data, and with his fine artistic taste and musicality in the broadest sense.
And the fact that he himself was aware of this made him absolutely irresistible!
So he got the job.
The other members of the band were Chris Chesney (vocals and guitar), bassist Paul Milne, Jeremy "Rubber" Gallop (rhythm guitar) and Rob Tyrell (drums).
They had a few rehearsals, and then a couple of performances in Chris ' hometown of Oxford.
Freddie and Chris, who was about 17 years old at the time, became very friendly, and Chris moved to an apartment on Ferry Road, where Freddie lived with the members of "Smile".
The other members of Sour Milk Sea were not very impressed that Freddie and Chris spent so much time together - they were much more concerned about the future of the band.
And two months later, Jeremy, who owned almost all the equipment, took it away, and this meant the breakup of the group.
In April 1970, Tim Staffell decided to leave "Smile", and Freddie took the place of the vocalist.
He changed the name of the band to Queen, and his last name to Mercury.
The further biography of Freddie Mercury largely coincides with the biography of the band Queen.
In 1970, Freddie met Mary Austin.
They lived together for seven years, but remained friends for life.
In 1971, John Deacon joined the band - now Queen were in full composition.
Freddie came up with a coat of arms for the group based on the Zodiac signs of its members: two fairies for him (Virgo), two lions for Roger and John (Lion) and a crab for Brian (Cancer).
It was Freddie who became the author of the first Queen song that hit the British charts - (Seven Seas Of Rhye).
He also owns the first big hit (Killer Queen) and also the most famous song of the group (Bohemian Rhapsody), which stayed at the top of the British chart for 9 weeks.
At concerts, Freddie was always in the foreground.
In 1975, Queen toured Japan, where they were accompanied everywhere by a screaming crowd of enthusiastic fans.
For the first time, they were given such an unusual and unexpected reception.
Freddie just fell in love with this country and began collecting Japanese paintings and antiques.
On October 7, 1979, Freddie's old dream came true - he performed with the Royal Ballet.
He chose Bohemian Rhapsody and Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
The melody was performed by the orchestra, and Freddie sang live.
The performance began with Bohemian Rhapsody and was a huge success with ballet lovers, who gave him a standing ovation after both numbers.
In 1980, Freddie changed his image - he had a short haircut and grew a mustache.
After that, many fans started sending him "gifts" - nail polish and razor blades.
At the end of 1982, Queen unanimously decided that they needed to take a break and take a break from each other.
They announced that there would be no tour in 1983.
Freddie had been considering the possibility of releasing a solo album for a long time - now he had time for this.
At the beginning of 1983, he began recording at the Munich studio Musicland.
During this period, he was introduced to the composer Giorgio Moroder.
Moroder took part in the revival of Fritz Lang's silent science fiction film "Metropolis", filmed back in 1926, which it was decided to sound with modern music.
He asked Freddie to take part in co writing a song for the film, and Freddie agreed.
He has never co written with anyone other than Queen and has not performed cover versions with the exception of Larry Lurex.
The result of this collaboration was the song Love Kills.
Somewhere at the end of May 1983, Freddie watched a production of Verdi's opera "Masquerade Ball".
It was then that he first saw the Spanish opera diva Montserrat Caballe.
The strength and beauty of her voice made an indelible impression on him.
On September 10, 1984, Freddie's first solo single was released - the song Love Kills, written together with Giorgio Moroder, for the film Metropolis.
And the first single from his future solo album was I Was Born To Love You, released on April 9, 1985.
Three weeks later, the album itself appeared, called Mr. Bad Guy.
It was released on CBS Records.
July 13, 1985 was a special day for Queen and Freddie.
On this day, the Live Aid concert took place - a grandiose show at Wembley Stadium, where 72 thousand spectators were present.
The concert was broadcast by television all over the world, i.e. it was watched by more than a billion people!
With their performance, Queen secured a place in history, and all observers, journalists, fans and critics were unanimous that the band became the highlight of the program.
At the beginning of 1987, Queen had a certain lull, which Freddie took advantage of to record another solo number in the Townhouse Studio.
It was a cover version of an old song by the Platters The Great Pretender.
The single was released on February 23.
In March 1987, Freddie flew to Barcelona to meet with Montserrat Caballe.
He gave her a cassette on which two of his songs were recorded (according to other sources - 4).
The Spanish opera diva appreciated them and even performed one of them - to Freddie's great surprise at a concert in London's Covent Garden.
And in early April, these two artists of such different genres began working on a joint album.
At the end of May, a grand festival was held in the famous Ku Club on the island of Ibiza.
Freddie was the guest of honor at it and together with Montserrat Caballe performed at the closing of the festival.
They performed the song Barcelona, which Freddie dedicated to his hometown of Montserrat.
On October 8, 1988, Freddie and Montserrat performed at another grand festival - La Nit, this time in Barcelona itself.
They performed 3 songs: How Can I Go On, The Golden Boy and Barcelona, and the piano part was performed by Mike Moran, the co author of the songs.
The long awaited album Barcelona was finally released on October 10.
The performance on October 8 was the last appearance of Freddie in front of the public.
By that time, he was already seriously ill with AIDS, but he did not want people to know about it.
He announced his illness only the day before his death.
Despite everything, he continued to write songs and make recordings and even starred in video clips.
Already quite ill, he shot a wonderful video for the song I'm Going Slightly Mad.
I think this is a real masterpiece.
On November 24, 1991, Freddie died at his home in London from bronchial pneumonia, which developed against the background of AIDS.
On April 20, 1992, a grand concert in his memory was held at Wembley Stadium, which was attended by many rock stars.
But the best monument for Freddie was the release of the album Made In Heaven, completed by the three remaining members of the group.
The album was released on November 6, 1995.
It contains the latest songs recorded by Freddie.
Thank you, Freddie.
We will always remember you.
We love you.
Jacky Gunn & Jim Jenkins.
As It Began.
Record Collector #199
[Freddie Mercury home page]
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