Freddie Mercury
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Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury during a concert in New Haven (Connecticut).
November 1978 Basic Information Birth name Farrukh Bulsara
Date of birth September 5, 1946(1946-09-05)
Place of birth Stone City, Zanzibar, Zanzibar
Date of death: November 24, 1991 (1991-11-24) (45 years old)
Place of death Kensington, London, England, United Kingdom
Years of activity 1969-1991
Country United Kingdom United Kingdom
Professions singer, musician, composer, producer, poet, artist
Singing voice tenor
Instruments vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar
Genres rock and roll, hard rock
(as part of IBEX/Wreckage)
pop rock
(as Larry Lurex)
hard rock, art rock, glam rock, pop rock
(as part of Queen)
pop rock (earlier)
pop, disco
(solo creativity)
opera, neoclassical music
(with Montserrat Caballe)
Aliases of Larry Lurex, Freddie Mercury
The Hectics, Sour Milk Sea, IBEX/Wreckage, Smile/Queen bands
Collaboration of Montserrat Caballe
Labels Columbia, Polydor, EMI, Parlophone, Hollywood Records
Autograph
freddiemercury.com Audio, photo, video on Wikimedia Commons
Freddie Mercury, real name Farrukh Bulsara (guj. ફારોખ બલ્સારા);
September 5, 1946, Stone City, Zanzibar November 24, 1991, London, United Kingdom) was a British singer of Parsi origin, songwriter — vocalist of the rock band Queen.
He was the author of such hits of the group as "Seven Seas of Rhye", "Killer Queen", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Somebody to Love", "We Are the Champions", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", etc.
The musician was also engaged in solo work.
Freddie died on November 24, 1991 from bronchial pneumonia, which developed against the background of AIDS[1].
In 2002, Freddie Mercury was ranked 58th in the poll "100 greatest Britons", organized by the BBC [2].
In 2005, Blender magazine conducted a survey, according to which Freddie took the second place among vocalists (the first among men)[3].
In 2008, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him on the 18th place in the list of "100 greatest vocalists of all time according to Rolling Stone magazine"[4].
Allmusic described him as "one of the greatest rock singers and the owner of one of the greatest voices in the history of music"[5].
Content
1 Biography 1.1 Childhood and youth (1946-1964) 1.2 On the Eve of fame (1964-1970) 1.3 Queen (1970-1991) 1.3.1 1970-1982 1.3.2 Solo career and peak of fame with Queen (1983-1988) 1.3.3 Illness and death (1986-1991)
1.4 Posthumous glory
2 Personal life 3 Facts 4 Videography 4.1 VHS editions 4.2 DVD editions
5 Discography 5.1 Singles
6 Notes 7 Bibliography 8 Literature 9 References
Biography
Childhood and youth (1946-1964)
Freddie Mercury was born on September 5, 1946 in the Stone City — the oldest district of the city of Zanzibar on the island of the same name in the family of Parsis Bomi (1908-25.12.2003) and Jer (born 29.09.1922) Bulsara[6].
At birth, the boy was named Farrukh, which means "beautiful", "happy".
His father worked as a cashier at the Supreme Court of England and Wales.
In 1952, Farrukh had a sister Kashmira.
In 1954, Farrukh's parents enrolled him in St. Nicholas ' School.
Petra is located in Panchgani, 500 kilometers from Bombay[7].
At that time, a significant formative influence from a musical point of view was exerted on him by the Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar[8].
In Panchgani, the boy began to live with his grandfather and aunt[9].
The name Farrukh was inconvenient for pronunciation by classmates (mostly English speaking), so friends began to call him Freddie.
All sports at the School of St.
They were typically British.
Freddie did not like cricket and long distance running — he preferred hockey, sprint and boxing.
At the age of ten, he became the school's champion in table tennis, at the age of twelve he received a cup for winning the youth all around, as well as a diploma "for success in all sciences and arts".
Freddie studied well, showed an interest in music and painting, constantly made drawings for friends and relatives.
He also sang in the school choir and participated in the productions of plays.
From an early age, he was fond of music.
Singing occupied almost all of his free time, sometimes to the detriment of his studies.
The musical abilities of Freddie drew the attention of the director of the St. Petersburg School of Music.
Peter.
He wrote a letter to the boy's parents, in which he offered to organize piano courses for Freddie for a small fee[10].
The parents agreed, and Freddie began to study with passion.
Upon completion of his studies, he received a fourth degree in theory and practice (English Piano Grade IV).
In 1958, five friends from the school of St. Peter Freddie Bulsara, Derrick Branch, Bruce Murray, Farang Irani and Victor Rana created their first rock band, which they called The Hectics (Rus. Psychos)[11].
The band played at school parties, dances and anniversaries.
In 1962, the sixteen year old Freddie graduated from St. Peter's School.
Peter went to Panchgani and returned to Zanzibar.
In early 1964, the British government handed over power over Zanzibar to the Arab Sultan, and a week after that, Zanzibar was declared an independent state.
Due to the political unrest in the country, the Bulsara family, taking only two suitcases with clothes, flew to the UK.
On the threshold of fame (1964-1970)
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Arriving in England, the Bulsara family first stayed with relatives who lived in Feltham, Middlesex, then they bought their own house.
Freddie, who was eighteen years old at that time, entered the Islesworth Polytechnic School, where he studied mainly painting, as he wanted to go to art college.
The family had money problems, so during the holidays Freddie had to work part time.
Initially, he worked in the supply department of Heathrow Airport in London, then as a loader at the Feltham commercial warehouse[12].
In May 1966, after graduating from Aylesworth with a high score in painting, Freddie was interviewed at Ealing Art College in London, where he began studying at the Department of graphic illustration in the autumn of the same year.
Soon after, Freddie left his parents ' house and settled in a rented apartment in Kensington with his friend Chris Smith.
Kensington in those years was the heart of London's bohemia and art.
Freddie drew a lot, a special place in his drawings was occupied by his idol guitarist Jimi Hendrix.
In Ealing, Freddie met and became friends with Tim Staffel, the vocalist, bass guitarist and leader of the band Smile.
After a while, Tim began to invite Freddie to the band's rehearsals.
Freddie appreciated the potential of Smile, especially the playing of guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor.
Freddie also met other young aspiring musicians, such as Tim and Nigel Foster.
Chris Smith, his flatmate, was also fond of music.
Freddie and Chris played together, trying to mix different styles, but they did not go on stage.
In the summer of 1969, twenty three year old Freddie graduated from Ealing with a diploma in graphic design.
On August 13, Freddie met the Liverpool band Ibex.
The band consisted of guitarist Mike Berzin, bass guitarist John Taylor, nicknamed Tapp, drummer Mick Smith, nicknamed Miffer (from the English miff — "to get angry", "spoil the mood") and another bass guitarist Jeff Higgins, who replaced Tapp when he played the flute.
Their manager, Ken Testi, was with them.
Ten days after the meeting, Freddie already knew the entire repertoire of the band, added some of his songs and went with them to their first concert together, in Bolton, Lancashire.
Their concerts were held as part of the annual blues festival, so the events were covered by the press.
The Ibex concerts were held on August 23 at the Oktogon Theater and on August 25 at the Royal Park.
Ibex performed cover versions of songs by Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin Freddie's favorites.
In September and October 1969, at the suggestion of Freddie, the group was renamed Wreckage ("Wreckage").
After a short time, Miffer left the band, and Richard Thompson, the former drummer of the band 1984, in which Brian May played before Smile, took his place.
After renaming Wreckage, they played several concerts, but soon, largely due to the fact that Mike Berzin returned to Liverpool to study, the band broke up.
Freddie decided to find a new band.
Among the ads in Melody Maker, he found a vacancy for a vocalist in the band Sour Milk Sea ("Sour Milk Sea").
Freddie came to the audition and was accepted on the same day, as the other participants liked his voice and the way he moved.
The band consisted of vocalist guitarist Chris Chesney, bassist Paul Milne, rhythm guitarist Jeremy "Rubber" Gallop and drummer Rob Tyrell.
After several rehearsals, the band played a couple of concerts in Oxford, Chris ' hometown.
Freddie and Chris became friends, and soon Chris moved into the apartment where Freddie and the musicians from Smile lived.
The other members of Sour Milk Sea did not like their friendship, they argued this antipathy with concern for the future of the group.
As a result, two months later, Jeremy took almost all the equipment (since it belonged to him), and the existence of Sour Milk Sea ended there.
Queen (1970—1991)
1970—1982
In April 1970, Tim Staffel decided to leave Smile, and Freddie took the place of the vocalist in their group.
On his initiative, the band was renamed Queen.
Until February 1971, the band did not have a permanent bassist — in less than a year, Queen was replaced by three people.
Finally, at one of the music parties, they met John Deacon, whose abilities best suited the group professionally.
After that, Queen formed in the final composition.
After the group's composition became permanent, Freddie decided to draw its coat of arms.
According to one version, the coat of arms of Great Britain was taken as a basis, with the Latin letter Q, around which the zodiac signs of Queen members are "interwoven": two Lions — John Deacon and Roger Taylor, a crab climbing out of the fire — the sign of Cancer — Brian May.
Two fairies with wings are good helpers for the heroes from the British epic (also Freddie's zodiac sign is Virgo).
In 1972, during the recording of Queen's debut album in the Trident studio, Freddie decided to change his surname Bulsara to the creative pseudonym "Mercury" (English Mercury — "Mercury" and "Mercury").
He used this name in his song "My Fairy King" (Rus.
My fairy tale king), in which there are lines: "Mother Mercury, look what they've done to me, I canot run I canot hide" (Rus.
Mother Mercury (variant: mercury), look what they've done to me, I canot run, I canot hide)[13].
In parallel with the work on the first album — Queen Freddie took part in the project of Trident Studios under the pseudonym Larry Lurex, performing cover versions of the songs "I Can Hear Music" and "Going Back" (at the initiative of Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor were involved in this project).
Freddie became the author of the first Queen song to hit the UK charts — "Seven Seas of Rhye" (1973).
He also composed the first hit of the group — "Killer Queen" (1974), as well as the most successful Queen song — "Bohemian Rhapsody".
The song was predicted to fail because of its too long duration by the standards of that time for a single and for playing on commercial radio stations (5:55) and mixing several styles and genres of music.
But Queen released the song as a single, shot a video clip for it, which became a revolution in music videos, some even call it "the first video clip"[14], although clips for songs were filmed before[15].
The song stayed at the top of the UK chart for nine weeks.
In 1975, Queen toured Japan.
The musicians were extremely surprised by the warm reception of the Japanese fans of the band.
Brian May recalled:
We have had some success in England and the USA, but we have never seen such fanaticism and adoration before.
Suddenly, in Japan, we began to feel like real stars, such as The Beatles and Bay City Rollers, people greeted us with shouts of delight, which was news to us.[16]
Freddie fell in love with Japan and became a fanatical collector of Japanese art[17].
On October 7, 1979, Freddie's old dream came true — he performed with the Royal Ballet.
For his performance, he chose the songs " Bohemian Rhapsody "and"Crazy Little Thing Called Love".
In 1980, Freddie changed his image — he cut his hair short and grew a mustache.
Solo career and peak of fame with Queen (1983-1988)
At the end of 1982, the Queen group announced that there would be no tours next year, the group was going on vacation.
Freddie Mercury has been considering the idea of releasing a solo album for a long time and now there is an opportunity for this.
In early 1983, he began recording at Musicland Studios in Munich.
During this time, he met the composer Giorgio Moroder, who participated in the project of restoring Fritz Lang's silent science fiction film "Metropolis", filmed in 1926.
Moroder was brought in as a composer to create the design of the film with music in a modern style.
He invited Mercury to take part in this project.
The result of the joint work of Mercury and Moroder was the song "Love Kills", released on September 10, 1984.
At the end of May 1983, Freddie Mercury visited Verdi's opera "Masquerade Ball".
Here he first saw and heard the outstanding Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe.
The extraordinary beauty and strength of her voice made a huge impression on him.
The first single of the future Mercury's solo album Mr. Bad Guy was the song "I Was Born to Love You", released on April 9, 1985.
The album was released three weeks later, by CBS Records.
Subsequently, two songs from this album, "Made in Heaven" and "I Was Born to Love You", were included in the album" Made in Heaven", released by Queen in 1995.
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 75 thousand spectators and many famous artists such as Elton John, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Sting, U2 and many others were present (in parallel with the show at Wembley, there was a concert in Philadelphia).
The concert was broadcast by television around the world.
With their performance, Queen secured a place in history, and observers, journalists, fans and critics stated that the band became the highlight of the program[source not specified 1420 days].
Brian May (Queen guitarist):
I remember how the adrenaline level jumped sharply when I went on stage and heard the roar of the crowd.
But we set to work vigorously.
Looking back, I think that all of us were a little worried then.
When we finished, it seemed to me that the performance turned out to be somewhat incoherent.
But it carried a lot of positive energy.
Of course, Freddie was our secret weapon.
He easily addressed everyone in the stadium.
I think it was his day!".[source not specified 773 days]
A year later, on July 12, 1986, Queen again played a concert at Wembley as part of the Magic Tour in support of the album A Kind of Magic.
This concert was attended by more than 120,000 people, and it was later published as Queen at Wembley.
The final show of the tour in Knebworth on August 9 was the last performance of Queen with Mercury.
On February 23, 1987, Freddie Mercury released the single "The Great Pretender" (a cover version of the song by The Platters, recorded at the Townhouse Studio).
He also recorded two songs for the 1986 musical Time — the eponymous "Time" and "In My Defense".
In March 1987, Freddie Mercury met Montserrat Caballe in Barcelona and gave her a cassette with several of his new songs.
These songs made a strong impression on Caballe, and she even performed one of them, to the surprise of Freddie Mercury, at a concert in London, at Covent Garden.
In early April 1987, Mercury and Caballe began working on a joint album.
At the end of May, a music festival was held in the famous "Ku Club" on the island of Ibiza, where Mercury and Caballe were guests of honor.
They performed the song "Barcelona" at the festival, which Freddie Mercury dedicated to Caballe's hometown.
On October 8, 1988, the second joint performance of Mercury and Caballe took place at the La Nit festival in Barcelona — they performed three songs: "Golden Boy", "How Can I Go On" and "Barcelona".
The co author of these songs, Mike Moran, performed the piano parts for these songs.
This performance was the last appearance of Freddie Mercury in front of the public.
By this time, the musician was already seriously ill with AIDS.
The album Barcelona was released on October 10, 1988.
The title song of the album, "Barcelona" became one of the two anthems of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona (the second was the song "Amigos Para Siempre" by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black performed by Sarah Brightman and Jose Carreras).
See also the full list of Mercury singles.
Illness and Death (1986-1991)
In 1986, rumors began to appear that Freddie Mercury had AIDS.
Initially, information was leaked to the press that he had passed an HIV test.
Since 1989, serious changes in Mercury's appearance began to manifest themselves — he lost a lot of weight.
However, until the last days of his life, the musician denied all rumors about his health.
Only close people knew about his terrible diagnosis.
In 1989, the band Queen gave the first joint radio interview in several years, where she announced that she wanted to depart from the usual "album tour" scheme, and therefore would not go on tour this time.
The real reason was that the physical condition of the band's vocalist did not allow for concerts.
Mercury, knowing that there was little time left, tried to record as many songs as possible.
In the last years of his life, in addition to his solo album Barcelona, the musician managed to record songs for three more albums of the group.
During his lifetime, two albums were released — The Miracle, which was released in 1989 and Innuendo, released in 1991.
Also, several video clips were shot for the songs of these albums.
For the last lifetime album, the clips were shot in black and white to disguise the physical condition of the vocalist of the group.
After the death of Freddie Mercury, the remaining members of the group, using recordings of his voice, were able to release the last Queen album Made in Heaven in 1995.
File:Light Mercury.jpg The final frame from the last clip of Freddie Mercury These are the Days of Our Lives
On November 23, 1991, Freddie made an official statement that he was ill with HIV infection:
"Given the rumors that have been circulating in the press for the last two weeks, I want to confirm that my blood test showed the presence of HIV.
I have AIDS.
I considered it necessary to keep this information secret in order to keep the peace of my family and friends.
However, it's time to tell the truth to my friends and fans around the world.
I hope that everyone will join the fight against this terrible disease"[18]
He also ordered the transfer of all rights to the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" to the Terence Higgins Foundation, created to combat HIV and AIDS.
The next day, November 24, at about seven o'clock in the evening, Freddie Mercury died at his home in London from bronchopneumonia, which developed against the background of HIV infection and AIDS.
After it became known about his death, thousands of people came to the fence of his Garden Lodge house to put bouquets of flowers, postcards, letters and photos on the paths.
The funeral of Freddie Mercury was held closed — only relatives and friends were present.
Despite the fact that the musician, as an adult, no longer followed the Zoroastrian beliefs[19], his parents, who profess Zoroastrianism, held a funeral ceremony in accordance with their beliefs, with the exception of cremation of the body, which according to the customs of Zoroastrianism is not welcome.
Peter Freestone, Freddie Mercury's personal assistant, described the ceremony as follows:
Freddie's coffin was moved to the chapel to the sound of Aretha Franklin's song "You've Got a Friend".
The Zoroastrian rite that followed was a continuation of the ceremony that began at half past eight in the morning.
Two Parsa priests, dressed in white robes, conducted her to the memorial chapel of the John Nods and Sons funeral home in Ladbroke Grove.
< ...
> At the end of the service, Freddie's body left the world, accompanied by the voice of Montserrat Caballe, who performed the aria "D'amor Sull' Ali Rosee "from Verdi's opera "The Troubadour".
Freddie never aspired to be like everyone else — such an adieu was just in his spirit, and Freddie would have approved of it[19].
Freddie Mercury's body was cremated.
Only his family and Mary Austin knew where the musician's ashes rested — this was his wish[20].
In early 2013, The Daily Mirror reported that the resting place of the artist's ashes was discovered by fans — this is the Kensal Green Cemetery in West London[21].
In his will, Freddie Mercury left most of his fortune, including the mansion and the income from the sales of his records, to Mary Austin, as well as to his parents and sister.
In addition, 500 thousand pounds were bequeathed to his chef Joe Fanelli, personal assistant Peter Freestone, Jim Hutton, and his personal chauffeur Terry Giddings — 100 thousand [20].
Jim Hutton returned to Ireland in 1995, where he died on January 1, 2010 from lung cancer.
Posthumous fame
Freddie Mercury was and still is one of the most popular performers around the world.
His incredible stage images and eccentric behavior on stage are known even to people who are far from music.
On April 20, 1992, the remaining members of the Queen band, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, along with many world pop and rock stars, gave a concert in memory of Freddie at Wembley Stadium, the proceeds of which, amounting to 19,400,000 pounds, were sent to AIDS funds.
On November 6, 1995, the album Made in Heaven was released with recordings made at the spring sessions at the Dreamland Studio in Montreux in 1991.
On November 25, 1996, 5 years after the death of Freddie Mercury, a monument was unveiled to him in Montreux (Switzerland), where the musician worked and rested for many years.
Initially, the Queen musicians planned to erect a monument in London, and for four years they searched there for a place for it, but they were refused.
The only place proposed for the monument in London by the government was the backyard of the art college where Freddie studied.
Friends considered it an insult to the memory of the great musician.
On June 18, 2003, another monument with a height of about 8 meters was unveiled in London near the Dominion Theatre, where We Will Rock You shows are regularly staged[22].
The name Freddie Mercury has become a kind of brand in music, synonymous with 80's rock.
Many modern singers take the image, performing style and image of Freddie as a model, but no one has yet managed to achieve the same success that Freddie Mercury and Queen were able to achieve in 20 years of working together.
Sculptor Irena Sedletska.
Freddie Monument in Montreux
The song "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was written by Freddie, was recognized as the "Best Song of the Millennium" by The Official Charts Company[23].
The second such famous song of Freddie was and remains "We Are T he Champions", which was in the rotation of almost all US radio stations, not to mention the fact that this composition became the unofficial anthem of the winners of major sports competitions.
Personal life
At the end of 1969, Freddie Mercury, thanks to Brian May, met Mary Austin in West Kensington, with whom he lived for about seven years[24].
But then they broke up.
One day everything changed when Freddie admitted that he had to tell her something very important; something that would change their relationship forever.
Mary explains: "I was a little naive, and it took me a while to realize the truth.
In the end, he was glad that he told me that he was bisexual."
Mary decided it was time to leave, but he convinced her not to go far away.[24]
They remained close friends, Mercury made her his personal secretary[24] and often admitted that Mary was his only true friend.
In an interview in 1985, Mercury said: "All my lovers ask me why they canot replace Mary for me.
But this is simply impossible.
She is my only friend, and I donot need anyone else.
She was actually my wife.
We believe in each other, and that's enough for me"[25][26].
The singer dedicated several songs to Mary, of which the most significant is the song "Love of My Life".
Mercury was the godfather of Mary's eldest son, Richard, and left her his mansion after his death[24].
Freddie Mercury had a short relationship with the famous Austrian actress Barbara Valentin, whom he met in 1983.
Mercury spoke about their relationship: "Barbara and I formed an alliance that was stronger than with any of my hobbies over the past six years.
I could really tell her everything and be myself with her, which happens to me very rarely"[26].
The musician also mentioned her among others in the dedication of his solo album " Mr. Bad Guy": "Thank you for the big tits and bad behavior"[27].
The image of Freddie Mercury from the very beginning of his popularity caused a lot of questions about his sexual orientation, but Mercury always avoided talking about his personal life, joked or answered vaguely.
In a 1984 interview with the Canadian magazine Melody Maker, he stated:
Journalist: Freddie, I understand that you were upset by the story in The Sun about your "confession" that you are homosexual?
Freddie: My words were completely misquoted.
But from the very beginning, the press always wrote absolutely everything they wanted about Queen, and they always got away with it.
The woman who wrote this article wanted to hear some shocking sensation from me, but she didnot get anything.
I said, " What do you want to hear?
That I sell cocaine? " - but for God's sake, if I wanted to make a loud confession about my sex life, would I turn to The Sun, to other newspapers to do it?
I'll never fucking do that.
I'm too sensible.
Journalist: But now is a good time to be gay.
This is beneficial for business.
Freddie: Really?
But there's no reason for me to be gay now, because I've been in this business for twelve years.
It's good to be gay or someone else scandalous when you're a beginner.
But even if I tried to say that, people would start yawning: "Oh my God, here's Freddie Mercury saying that he's gay, because it's fashionable to be gay now."
— http://www.queenarchives.com/index.php?title=Group_-_XX XX 1984_-_Melody Maker
[28]
In an interview, when asked whether the song "I Want to Break Free" is dedicated to sex minorities (in the video, the group appeared in the form of female characters of a popular soap opera in the UK), Freddie replied:
The funny thing is that everyone thinks that it was m
