Freddie Mercury
1946 — 1991
Zanzibar, Tanzania
Classic Rock 'n' Roll vocalist and songwriter.
Freddie Mercury was born on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, on the 5th of September 1946. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, sent him off to a private school in India, from 1955 until 1963.
In 1964, Freddie and his family flew to England. Freddie was very delighted to come to England. In 1966, he started his education at the Ealing College of Art, where he graduated in 1969. He loved art, and because of that, he often went along with his friend, Tim Staffell, who played in a band called Smile. Also in this band where Brian May and Roger Taylor. When Staffell left the band in 1970, Freddie became their new singer. He changed the band's name to Queen, and they took on a new bass player, John Deacon, in February 1971.
Their first album, "Queen," came out in 1973. But their real breakthrough was "Killer Queen," on the album "Sheer Heart Attack," which was released in 1974.
They became immortal with the single "Bohemian Rhapsody," on the 1975 album "A Night At The Opera." After gaining a foothold in the US in 1980, with "Another One Bites The Dust," they had a bad period. Their album "Flash Gordon" went down the drain because the movie flopped. Their next album, "Hot Space," also failed to achieve their prior success. Only the song "Under Pressure," a duet with David Bowie, made a difference. In 1983, they took a year off, but in 1984, they returned with a new album, "The Works." It contained great hits, such as "Radio Ga Ga" and "I Want To Break Free."
In 1985, Freddie made his first big solo-album, "Mr. Bad Guy." He and the band had been in a bit of an argument, and he wanted to do something on his own. Fans loved the album, but didn't score commercially. Queen reunited after their famous performance at Live Aid in 1985. At the end of the year, they started working on a new album, "A Kind Of Magic." They also held their most famous tour ever, the Magic Tour. They did Wembley Stadium twice, and held their very last concert in Knebworth, in front of 125,000 people.
After 1986, it went silent around Queen. In the late '80s, Freddie told the band he had AIDS, and only had a few years to live. After Freddie told the band, he refused to talk about it ever again. He was afraid if word got out, people would buy their records out of pity. He said he wanted to keep making music as long as possible. And he did. His second big solo-album, "The Great Pretender," was released in 1987. Subsequently, he flew to Spain, where he made the magnificent album "Barcelone," together with Montserrat Caballé, whom he first saw perform in 1983.
Because Freddie loved opera, he became a huge fan of Caballé. For him, making this album was like a dream come true. The single "Barcelona" went huge, and was also used as a theme song for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. After Barcelona, he started working with Queen again. They made "The Miracle," which was released in 1989. It was a success, with hits as "Breakthru," "I Want It All" and "The Invisible Man." After "The Miracle," Freddie's health began to deteriorate. Queen wanted to do one more album, called "Innuendo." They worked on it in 1990 and early 1991. Every time Freddie felt well enough, he came over to the studio and sang. After "Innuendo" was released in January 1991, they made two videoclips. The first one was the videoclip of "I'm Going Slightly Mad," shot in March 1991. Because Freddie was very thin, and had little wounds all over his body, they used a lot of make-up. He wore a wig, and the clip was shot in black and white.
Freddie's final videoclip was released in June 1991. The clip, "These Are The Days Of Our Lives," later turned out to be his goodbye song. You could clearly see he was ill, but he still hadn't told the world about his illness. Rumors began to circulate that he some kind of terrible disease. Freddie confirmed the rumor himself, one day before he passed away, which he did on the morning of Sunday the 24th of November 1991. His death was seen as a great loss to the world of music.
Bio by The Internet Movie Dadabase: http://www.imdb.com/