short biography freddie mercury

Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury is one of the rock world’s most versatile and engaging performers as the lead singer of Queen. He is best known for his mock operatic masterpiece, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which was also the title of a 2018 biopic on the performer’s life.

Who Was Freddie Mercury?

Freddie Mercury was a singer-songwriter and musician whose music reached the top of U.S. and British charts in the 1970s and 1980s. As the frontman of Queen, Mercury was one of the most talented and innovative singers of the rock era. Born Farrokh Bulsara in Tanzania, Mercury studied piano in boarding school in India, then befriended numerous musicians at London's Ealing College of Art. Mercury died of AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia on November 24, 1991, at age 45.

Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on September 5, 1946, in Zanzibar. Mercury's parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were Parsees, or followers of the Zoroastrian religion whose ancestors came from Persia. After Bomi and Jer married, they moved to Zanzibar, Tanzania, where Bomi worked as a cashier for the British government's High Court. The family lived a fairly affluent life, with a nanny and other domestic workers. Mercury's sister, Kashmira, was born in 1952.

At the age of 8, Mercury's parents sent him to a boarding school in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, where he studied piano and spent his free time with his aunt and grandparents. It was not long before the charismatic young man joined his first band, the Hectics. In 1963, Mercury returned to Zanzibar.

Following a bloody revolution on the islands in 1964, the family fled to London. Mercury attended the Ealing College of Art and befriended a number of musicians.

In 1969, Mercury joined a group called Ibex as their lead singer. He played with a few other bands before joining forces with his future Queen bandmates.

Teeth and Vocal Range

Mercury was born with four extra teeth in the back of his mouth, causing his now-famous bucktooth grin. In fact, his nickname growing up was Bucky.

Mercury never got his teeth fixed because he was afraid it would ruin his impressive four-octave vocal range.

READ MORE: Freddie Mercury Was Part of Brian May and Roger Taylor's Entourage Before Forming Queen

In 1973, Queen released their first album, titled Queen . They quickly followed up with their second album, Queen II , in 1974, which they recorded in over just one month. The album was the first taste of the group's signature harmonies and music styles, including ballads, folk, blues, metal, pop and rock, and included the single "Seven Seas of Rhye."

Queen's music, however, really only caught on with their third record, Sheer Heart Attack, also released in 1974.

With a sound that has been described as a fusion of hard rock and glam rock, Queen had an even bigger hit the following year with their fourth album, A Night at the Opera (1975).

Queen's popularity continued to soar through the late 70s and early 80s with A Day at the Races (1976), News of the World (1978) and The Game (1980). After The Works (1984), the group's ability to sell albums began to wane, although Queen continued to draw huge crowds as a live act around the world.

In addition to his talents as a singer and songwriter, Mercury was a skilled showman. He knew how to entertain audiences and how to connect with them. He liked to wear costumes — often featuring skintight spandex — and strutted around the stage, encouraging fans to join in the fun. Artistic in nature, Mercury was also actively involved in designing the art for many of the group's albums.

Mercury also lived a lavish lifestyle. He loved champagne and liked to collect art, once spending more than $400,000 on a set of hand-painted china. Always one for a party, Mercury threw himself elaborate celebrations; for one particular birthday, he flew a group of friends to the island of Ibiza. The occasion was marked by fireworks and flamenco dancing.

By 1989, Mercury largely retreated from public life. He did not promote or tour for Queen's next album, Innuendo (1991), and rumors about possible health problems began to circulate.

Before his death, Mercury worked in the studio with Queen. These efforts were released in 1995 on Made In Heaven , the group's last album with all the original members. Gone but clearly not forgotten, this collection of Mercury's final performances reached the top of the British charts.

Mercury and Queen were recognized for their contributions to American music history when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Songs by Freddie Mercury and Queen

'killer queen'.

Queen's third album, Sheer Heart Attack, featured their first hit, "Killer Queen," a song about a high-class call girl. The 1974 single hit No. 2 on the U.K. charts, and peaked at No. 12 in the U.S. Unlike most of his other music, Mercury wrote the lyrics before the music.

'Bohemian Rhapsody'

Mercury wrote the song "Bohemian Rhapsody," a seven-minute rock operetta for the 1975 album, A Night at the Opera . Overdubbing his voice, Mercury showed off his four-octave vocal range on this innovative track. The song hit the top of the charts in Britain and became a Top 10 hit in the United States.

'We Are the Champions' and 'We Will Rock You'

The 1978 hit "We Are the Champions," off of the album News of the World , became a Top 10 song in the United States and in Britain. It was featured on a single with "We Will Rock You." Both songs have taken on a life of their own as popular anthems played at sporting events.

'Another One Bites the Dust'

Always exploring new and different sounds, Queen tried their hand at the big music trend of the time with the disco-flavored "Another One Bites the Dust," from their 1980 album The Game .

'Crazy Little Thing Called Love'

Also on of The Game , Mercury and the rest of the band showed their range as performers with the rockabilly-influenced 1980 hit "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," which Mercury penned.

'Under Pressure' with David Bowie

In 1981, Queen collaborated with David Bowie to create "Under Pressure." A No. 1 hit in Britain, the song's distinctive bass line was later reportedly used by Vanilla Ice for his 1990 rap hit "Ice, Ice Baby."

READ MORE: Inside David Bowie and Queen’s 'Tense' Recording Session for "Under Pressure"

'Radio Ga Ga'

Although Queen's popularity began to wane in the mid-1980s, the group had a minor hit in 1984 with "Radio Ga Ga." Pop musician Lady Gaga took inspiration for her stage name from the song.

Solo Career

In addition to his work with Queen, Mercury released several solo albums, including 1985's Mr. Bad Guy . He also collaborated with opera singer Montserrat Caballé for 1988's Barcelona .

Live Aid Performance

One of Queen's most notable performances was in 1985 at the Live Aid charity concert. Simply dressed in a tank top and jeans, Mercury led the crowd through some of the band's greatest hits with great energy and style. He got the thousands of music fans at London's Wembley Stadium to chant along to "We Will Rock You."

For many who watched the event live or on television, Queen gave one of the top performances of the day-long event, which was organized by singer and activist Bob Geldof and songwriter Midge Ure to raise money for victims of famine in Africa. Inspired by the event, the band wrote the hit "One Vision."

Fiancé Mary Austin

Offstage, Mercury was open about his bisexuality , but he kept his relationships private. He was engaged to Mary Austin and had a seven-year relationship with Jim Hutton until his untimely death.

Austin met Mercury in 1969 when she was a 19-year-old music store employee and he was a 24-year-old on the cusp of stardom. They quickly began dating; Mercury wrote the ballad “Love of My Life" for Austin.

In 1973 Mercury proposed; the wedding was called off when he revealed to her that he was bisexual. The pair remained close, and Austin tended to Mercury after his AIDS diagnosis. Mercury entrusted most of his estate and his London mansion, Garden Lodge, to Austin, who later married and had two kids.

“All my lovers asked me why they couldn’t replace Mary, but it’s simply impossible,” Mercury said in a 1985 interview . “The only friend I’ve got is Mary, and I don’t want anybody else. To me, she was my common-law wife. To me, it was a marriage. We believe in each other, that’s enough for me.”

READ MORE: Meet Mary Austin, the Woman Who Stole Freddie Mercury's Heart

Boyfriend Jim Hutton

Mercury met Hutton , an Irish hairdresser, in the 1980s at a gay nightclub in London. Mercury offered to buy Hutton a drink; Hutton didn't recognize the superstar and turned him down.

The pair reconnected a year and a half later at another night club. This time they began dating, and Hutton moved in with Mercury less than a year later. Although Mercury never came out, the couple stayed together until Mercury died of AIDS in 1991.

After Mercury's death, Austin reportedly kicked Hutton out of Garden Lodge. Hutton later wrote a book about his relationship with the singer, Mercury and Me. He died of cancer in 2010 at the age of 60.

READ MORE: The Complicated Nature of Freddie Mercury's Sexuality

Mercury died from AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia at his London mansion on November 24, 1991. He was 45 years old.

The day before his death, on November 23, 1991, Mercury released a statement: "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."

Longtime friend and bandmate Roger Taylor provided some insight to Mercury's decision to keep his battle with AIDS private. "He didn't want to be looked at as an object of pity and curiosity, and he didn't want circling vultures over his head," Taylor said, according to a report in Entertainment Weekly . The rock world mourned the loss of one of its most versatile and engaging performers.

To honor his memory, the Freddie Mercury Tribute: Concert for AIDS Awareness was held in April 1992 at Wembley Stadium. A diverse range of rock acts — from Def Leppard to Elton John — performed to celebrate Mercury and advance the fight against the disease that took his life. That same year, Mercury's mock operatic masterpiece, "Bohemian Rhapsody," appeared in the movie Wayne's World and made a return to the Billboard 100 pop charts, illustrating its timeless appeal.

Bohemian Rhapsody Movie

Released in 2018, the movie Bohemian Rhapsody , starring Mr. Robot 's Rami Malek as Mercury, follows the rise of Queen leading up to their legendary Live Aid performance in 1985.

Following the movie's release, Queen's music saw a resurgence in popularity decades after their last studio album. The group's song "Bohemian Rhapsody" shot from 87th place globally on Spotify the day before the movie's release to 15th one week later, and it hit the Billboard 100 for a third time.

QUICK FACTS

• Birth date: September 5, 1946
• Birth City: Zanzibar
• Birth Country: Tanzania
• Astrological Sign: Virgo
• Ealing College of Art
• Death date: November 24, 1991
• Death City: London, England

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The life of Frederick Bulsara began on the East African island of Zanzibar on September 5, 1946. 25 years later in London under the name of Freddie Mercury he was fronting the now legendary rock group named Queen.

The son of Bomi and Jer Bulsara, Freddie spent the bulk of his childhood in India where he attended St. Peter’s boarding school. He began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. No one could foresee where a love of music would take him.

The Bulsara family moved to Middlesex in 1964 and from there Freddie joined up with a blues band called Wreckage while studying graphic design courses at Ealing College of Art. While singing for Wreckage, a fellow student introduced Freddie to Roger Taylor and Brian May, founder members of a band called Smile. Smile metamorphosed into Queen when Freddie joined Roger and Brian as the lead vocalist. The final member of the band, which was to stay together for the next 20 years, was bassist John Deacon, who joined the band on 1st of March 1971.

The rest is rock history. EMI Records and Elektra Records signed the band and in 1973 their debut album ‘Queen’ was released and hailed as one of the most exciting developments ever in rock music.

The immortal operatically styled single ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was released in 1975 and proceeded to the top of the UK charts for 9 weeks. A song that was nearly never released due to its length and unusual style but which Freddie insisted would be played became the instantly recognisable hit. By this time Freddie’s unique talents were becoming clear, a voice with a remarkable range and a stage presence that gave Queen its colourful, unpredictable and flamboyant personality.

Very soon Queen’s popularity extended beyond the shores of the UK as they charted and triumphed around Europe, Japan and the USA where in 1979 they topped the charts with Freddie’s song ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’.

Queen was always indisputably run as a democratic organisation. All four members are each responsible for having penned number one singles for the band. This massive writing strength combined with spectacular lights, the faultless sound, a sprinkling of theatricality and Freddie’s balletic movements made up Queen on stage and on film.

Through Freddie’s ability to project himself and the band’s music and image to the four corners of 70,000 seater venues they became known as the prime developers of stadium rock, a reputation perpetuated by their pioneering tactics in South America where in 1981 they performed to 231,000 fans in Sao Paulo, a world record at the time. They also became known as the key innovators of pop videos as their catalogue of 3-minute clips became more and more adventurous in style, size and content.

Their phenomenal success continued around the globe throughout the 80’s highlighted in 1985 by their show-stealing and unforgettable performance on stage at Live Aid.

In the mid 80’s, Freddie started concentrating on his solo career, which was to run in tandem with Queen (“the mothership”) for several albums commencing with the 1985 release of ‘Mr. Bad Guy’. Freddie’s much loved sense of self-parody reached a zenith with his cover version of The Platter’s song ‘The Great Pretender’ in 1987, the video of which recorded him descending a sweeping staircase among acres of identical cardboard cutouts of himself.

His first major collaboration outside Queen was with Dave Clark for the recording of London’s West End musical Time, in 1986. This was followed in 1987 with the realisation of one of Freddie’s long-term dreams; to record with the world revered opera diva Montserrat Caballé. The LP’s title song, ‘Barcelona’ went on to become an anthem for Señora Caballé’s home city and the theme for the Olympics in 1992.

While most publicly recognised as the front man to one of the most progressive rock bands of the 70’s, Freddie defied the stereotype. A taste for venturing into new territories – a trait that was to have a marked influence on the direction Queen would take – took Freddie to explore his interests in a wide spectrum of the arts, particularly in the areas of ballet, opera and theatre, even taking a participating role: in October1977 the sell-out audience of a charity gala at the London Coliseum organised by Royal Ballet Principal dance Wayne Eagling received the surprise of an unannounced appearance by a silver-sequinned leotard-clad Freddie performing an intricate routine choreographed for him by Eagling. In 1987 he made a one-night appearance in Dave Clarke’s Time at the Dominion Theatre, although legend has it Freddie occasionally turned up at the theatre to support friend Clarke’s musical, one night selling ice-creams in the stalls! Freddie would have loved the fact that The Dominion now plays host to the band’s phenomenally successful musical We Will Rock You which has now held the Dominion stage nearly seven years longer than Time’s two year run.

Freddie returned to the studios to record ‘Innuendo’ with Queen in 1990.

On November 24th, 1991, Freddie’s struggle against AIDS ended when he passed away just over 24 hours after he had publicly announced he had the disease. Musicians and fans from all over the world paid their highest respects as the passing of rock’s most innovative, flamboyant ambassador signified the end of an era at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium on April 20, 1992 which gave birth to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the AIDS charity set up in Freddie’s memory by the remaining members of Queen and Freddie’s Executor, Jim Beach.

Freddie Mercury, who majored in stardom while giving new meaning to the word showmanship, left a legacy of songs, which will never lose their stature as classics to live on forever. Some of the most poignant of these were immortalised on the Queen album ‘Made In Heaven’ released in November 1995. The sleeve of the album shows a view from Freddie’s Montreux home.

Despite twenty years having passed since Freddie lost his life to HIV complications, he remains in the minds of millions throughout the world as one of the greatest artists we will ever see. In September 2010 (coincidentally, around Freddie's 64th birthday) a poll carried out among rock fans saw him named the Greatest Rock Legend Of All Time, beating Elvis Presley to claim the title, and ahead of David Bowie, Jon Bon Jovi, Jimi Hendrix and Ozzy Osbourne.

September 5, 2010 saw The Mercury Phoenix Trust launch ‘Freddie For A Day’, a major annual initiative designed to celebrate Freddie’s life each year on his birthday and to support the on-going work of the Trust. The project encourages fans to dress as Freddie for a day and in doing so raise funds for MPT through sponsorship. No one could have imagined the extraordinary response which resulted, with fans from 24 countries around the world, from Argentina to Ukraine, seizing on the idea to pay their own special tribute to Freddie.

Some sent pictures strutting their stuff at home, singing into a microphone in their bedroom. Others took the plunge and spent the whole day as Freddie, including one US enthusiast who dressed herself as ‘Slightly Mad’ Freddie and then spent her day at the local mall and then at Columbus Zoo in Ohio with a penguin and a gorilla. Another took a TGV trip from France to Switzerland dressed in a harlequin leotard. The stories of extraordinary and fun days spent come in their hundreds, and as a result, Freddie For A Day is now an annual event.

Taking it one stage further, Freddie’s 65th birthday, September 5, 2011 was celebrated with a major party in London in aid of The Mercury Phoenix Trust, hosted by Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor.

A major Hollywood movie about Freddie and Queen, produced by GK Films, Robert de Niro’s Tribeca Productions and Queen Films is expected to start shooting shortly.

Freddie Mercury would have been 70 this September and as part of the celebrations a Mercury Phoenix Trust produced fan party will be held in his honour near Lake Geneva, Montreux.

Freddie Mercury

• Born September 5 , 1946 · Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania
• Died November 24 , 1991 · Kensington, London, England, UK (bronchopneumonia)
• Birth name Farrokh Bomi Bulsara
• Height 5′ 9¾″ (1.77 m)
• Freddie Mercury was born on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, sent him off to a private school in India, from 1955 til 1963. In 1964, he and his family flew 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, Mercury became their new singer. He changed the band's name into Queen , and they took on a new bass-player in February 1971, called John Deacon . 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 their biggest hit in the USA in 1980 with "Another One Bites The Dust", they had a bad period. Their album "Flash Gordon" went down the drain, because the movie Flash Gordon (1980) flunked. Their next, the disco-oriented "Hot Space", was hated not only by rock critics but also by many hardcore fans. Only the song "Under Pressure", which they sang together with David Bowie , made a difference. In 1983, they took a year off. But, in 1984 they came back with their new album called "The Works". The singles "Radio Ga Ga" and "I Want to Break Free" did very well in the UK but a controversy over the video of the latter in the USA meant it got little exposure and flopped. Plans to tour the USA were cancelled and the band would not recover their popularity there during Mercury's lifetime. In April 1985, Mercury released his first solo album, the less rock-oriented and more dance-oriented "Mr. Bad Guy". The album is often considered now to have been a flop, but it actually wasn't. It peaked at number six in the UK and stayed on the chart for 23 weeks, making it the most successful Queen solo project. The band got back together again after their barnstorming performance at Live Aid (1985) in July 1985. At the end of the year, they started working on their new album, "A Kind Of Magic". They also held their biggest ever world tour, the "Magic Tour". They played 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 1987, he was diagnosed with AIDS but he kept working at a pace. He released a cover of the 1950s song "The Great Pretender", which went into the UK top ten. After that, he flew to Spain, where he made the magnificent album "Barcelona", together with Montserrat Caballé , whom he saw performing in 1983. Because Mercury loved opera, he became a huge fan of her. For him, this album was like a dream becoming reality. 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 the band again. They made "The Miracle", which was released in early 1989. It was another success, with hits such as "Breakthru", "I Want It All", "The Invisible Man" and the title track. At this point, Mercury told the band he had AIDS, meaning that a tour of the album was out of the question. After Mercury told the band, he refused to talk about it anymore. He was afraid that people would buy their records out of pity. He said he wanted to keep making music as long as possible. And he did. After "The Miracle", Mercury's health got worse. They wanted to do one more album, called "Innuendo." They worked on it in 1990 and early 1991. Every time when Mercury would feel well, he came over to the studio and sang. After "Innuendo" was released in January 1991, they made two video clips. The first one was the video clip of "I'm Going Slightly Mad", shot in March 1991. Because Mercury 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. Mercury's final video clip was released in June 1991. The clip, "These Are The Days Of Our Lives", later turned out to be his goodbye song, the last time he appeared on film. You could clearly see he was ill, but he still hadn't told the world about his disease. Rumours went around that he some kind of terrible disease. This rumor was confirmed by Mercury himself, one day before he passed on. His death was seen as a great loss for the world of popular music. - IMDb Mini Biography By: [email protected]
• Children No Children
• Parents Jer Bulsara Bomi Bulsara
• Relatives Kashmira Cooke (Sibling) Kashmira Cooke (Sibling)
• Sings with the top half of microphone stand
• Loved to do a vocal duet with the crowd, especially before "Under Pressure"
• Placing microphone under his belt
• Wide-ranging, multi-octave, powerful pseudo-operatic vocals
• He used a piano as a headboard for his bed and taught himself to play the piano backwards so if a song idea popped into his head when lying in bed, he could reach backwards and play it or record it.
• He had a vocal range of 4 octaves.
• Queen 's performance at Live Aid (1985) was voted the "World's Greatest Concert" in a 2005 poll for Channel 4 in the U.K. The historic gig fought off competition from Jimi Hendrix 's 1969 Woodstock show in second place and Sex Pistols ' raucous show at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1976.
• He wrote the Queen song "Love of my Life" about Mary Austin .
• He penned the hits "Killer Queen", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Somebody To Love", and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". He wrote "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" in the bathtub.
• If I didn't do this well, I just wouldn't have anything to do...I can't cook, and I'd be a terrible housewife.
• I'm just a musical prostitute my dear
• The bigger the better; in everything.
• Years ago, I thought up the name Queen...It's just a name, but it's very regal obviously, and it sounds splendid...It's a strong name, very universal and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts of interpretations. I was certainly aware of the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it.
• [speaking in 1974] I am as gay as a daffodil.

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Farokh "Freddie" Mercury ( September 5, 1946 - November 24, 1991) was one of the most acclaimed rock vocalists of all time with the rock group Queen . He also wrote some of the group's biggest hits. He was one of the highest profile victims of the AIDS epidemic.

Freddie Mercury was born Farokh Bulsara on the island of Zanzibar, now part of Tanzania, when it was a British protectorate. His parents were Parsis from India and, along with his extended family, were adherents of the Zoroastrian religion.

Mercury spent much of his childhood in India and began learning to play the piano at age seven. When he was eight years old, he was sent to a British boarding school near Bombay (now Mumbai). When he was twelve years old, Freddie formed his first band, The Hectics. They covered rock and roll songs by artists like Cliff Richard and Chuck Berry .

Following the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution in which many ethnic Arabs and Indians were killed, Freddie's family fled to England. There he entered art college and began a serious pursuit of his musical interests.

Personal Life

Freddie Mercury kept his personal life out of the public spotlight during his lifetime. Many of the details about his relationships emerged after his death. In the early 1970s, he began arguably the most important and enduring relationship of his life. He met Mary Austin and they lived together as a romantic couple until December 1976 when Mercury told her about his attraction to and relationships with men. He moved out, bought Mary Austin her own home, and they remained very close friends for the rest of his life. Of her, he told People magazine, "To me, she was my common-law wife. To me, it was a marriage. We believe in each other, that's enough for me."

Freddie Mercury never mentioned his sexual orientation when he rarely spoke to the press, but many associates believed it was far from hidden. His performances were very flamboyant on stage, but he was known as an introvert when not performing.

In 1985, Mercury began a long-term relationship with hairdresser Jim Hutton. They lived together for the last six years of Freddie Mercury's life and Hutton tested positive for HIV a year before the star's death. He was at Freddie's bedside when he died. Jim Hutton lived on until 2010.

Career With Queen

In April 1970, Freddie Bulsara officially became Freddie Mercury. He began performing music with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor who were previously in a band named Smile. The next year, bass player John Deacon joined them and Mercury chose the name Queen for the new band against the reservations of his fellow band members and management. He also designed for the group, which incorporated symbols for the zodiac signs of all four group members into a crest.

In 1973 Queen signed a recording contract with EMI Records. They released their self-titled first album in July, and it was heavily influenced by the heavy metal of Led Zeppelin and progressive rock by groups like Yes . The album was well-received by critics, broke into album charts on both sides of the Atlantic, and was eventually certified gold for sales in both the U.S. and U.K.

With their second album Queen II , released in 1974, the group began a string of fourteen consecutive top 10 charting studio albums at home in the U.K. The streak continued through their final studio release, 1995's Made In Heaven .

Commercial success came a little more slowly in the U.S., but the group's fourth album A Night at the Opera hit the top 10 and was certified platinum on the strength of the legendary hit "Bohemian Rhapsody," a mini-opera wrapped in a six-minute rock song. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is often listed as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.

The peak of Queen's pop success in the U.S. took place in 1980 with the #1 charting album The Game, featuring two #1 pop hit singles "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Another One Bites the Dust." It was the final top 10 album in the U.S. for the group, and Queen failed to reach the pop top 10 again with later studio singles. 

In February 1990, Freddie Mercury made his final public appearance with Queen to accept the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. A year later they released the studio album Innuendo . It was followed by Greatest Hits II released less than a month before Mercury's death.

Solo Career

Many fans of Queen in the U.S. are unaware of Freddie Mercury's career as a solo artist. None of his singles were significant hits in the U.S., but he had a string of six top 10 pop hits in the U.K.

The first Freddie Mercury solo single "I Can Hear Music" was released in 1973, but he didn't approach solo work with serious dedication until the release of the album Mr. Bad Guy in 1985. It debuted in the top 10 on the U.K. album chart and received strongly positive critical reviews. The style of the music is influenced heavily by disco in contrast to the majority of Queen's music being rock. He recorded a duet with Michael Jackson that was not included on the album. A remix of the album's song "Living On My Own" became a posthumous #1 pop hit in the U.K.

Between albums, Freddie Mercury released a series of singles including a cover of the Platters' classic "The Great Pretender," a top five pop smash in the U.K. Mercury's second solo album Barcelona was released in 1988. It was recorded with Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballe and combines pop music with opera. The title track was used as an official song for the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain a year after Freddie's death. Montserrat Caballe performed it live at the opening of the Olympics with Mercury joining her on a video screen.

By 1990, despite denials, Mercury's low public profile and gaunt image fueled rumors about his health. He was visibly weakened when Queen accepted their Outstanding Contribution to Music honor at the Brit Awards in February 1990.

Rumors that Freddie Mercury was ill with AIDS spread throughout early 1991, but his colleagues denied the truth in the stories. After Mercury's death, his bandmate Brian May revealed that the group knew of the AIDS diagnosis long before it became public knowledge.

Freddie Mercury's final appearance in front of a camera was the Queen music video "These Are the Days Of Our Lives" filmed in May 1991. In June, he chose to retire to his home in west London. On November 22, 1991, Mercury released a public statement through Queen's management that, in part, said, "I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV positive and have AIDS." Just over 24 hours later on November 24, 1991, Freddie Mercury died at age 45.

Freddie Mercury's singing voice has been celebrated as a unique instrument in the annals of rock music history. Although his natural voice was in the baritone range, he often performed notes in the tenor range. His recorded vocals extended from low bass to high soprano. The Who's lead vocalist Roger Daltrey told an interviewer that Freddie Mercury was, "the best virtuoso rock 'n' roll singer of all time. He could sing anything in any style."

Freddie also left behind a catalog of phenomenal hits in a range of musical styles, including "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," "We Are the Champions," and "Somebody To Love" among many others. 

Extravagantly theatrical live performances endeared Freddie Mercury to live concert fans around the world. He influenced generations of rock performers with his ability to connect directly with an audience. His performances leading Queen at Live Aid in 1985 are considered to be among the top live rock performances of all time.

Freddie Mercury stayed silent about AIDs and his own sexual orientation until just before his death. His intention was to protect those close to him in an era in which AIDS carried a heavy social stigma for its victims and their inner circle of friends and acquaintances, but his silence has also complicated his status as a gay icon. Regardless, Mercury's life and music will be celebrated for years to come, both in the gay community and in rock history at large. 

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Freddie Mercury: A Bohemian Rhapsody 

In the pantheon of rock star decadence, there’s one name that shines brighter than all others combined. Freddie Mercury was a man who did everything by extremes. The lead-singer of Queen, he possessed a personality bigger, brasher, and more flamboyant than even the band’s loudest songs. It was Freddie who threw the greatest party this side of Ancient Rome, in New Orleans in 1978. It was Freddie who turned seduction into a high-tempo art form; rushing offstage between songs to bed another beautiful man, before rushing back on again. Yet this showmanship went beyond mere hedonism. It was also Freddie who, in 1985, played a Live Aid set so bombastic, it’s estimated to have got a staggering 40% of the world’s population rocking along with him.  

But while his lifestyle remains legendary, there was another side to Mercury. One far more complex than his onstage persona would suggest. Born to Indian Parsi parents, Freddie was a perpetual outsider. Arriving in Britain in 1964, he had to operate in a world in which both his ethnicity and sexuality marked him out as alien. This is the story of how that outsider went on to become perhaps the greatest performer of all time.  

Being Faroukh Bulsara  

When Faroukh Bulsara was born on September 5, 1946, he couldn’t have seemed more unlike the legendary rockstar he’d one day become.   The eldest son of two Parsi Indians – a community of Zoroastrians who’d fled Persia to escape persecution – his family had its roots in the Bombay of the British Empire.  

Indeed, the Empire was an outsize influence on the family’s life.  

Bulsara’s dad was a civil servant working for the British on the African island of Zanzibar.  Thanks to this, the family were able to live a life of comparative luxury. Their home in Zanzibar’s Stone Town came replete with servants and a nanny to look after young Faroukh.  

The Empire also influenced the boy’s education.   

While his parents were committed Zoroastrians, they sent the boy to Zanzibar’s Missionary school, where he was taught by Anglican nuns.   It was at the school that the boy was nicknamed Bucky, on account of his overbite.   

Yet this mild physical defect would turn out to be a secret power.   

Many years later, when his Faroukh personality had been left far behind, Freddie Mercury would refuse to get his teeth fixed; lest doing so destroy his incredible four octave range.   When he turned eight, the boy left Zanzibar, sent to now-independent India to study at an English-style boarding school.  

It was during his years there that two important things happened.  

The first was that Bulsara discovered he was utterly obsessed with music. Under the watchful eye of his grandparents in nearby Bombay, he formed his first band.   

The second was something Bulsara never talked about much, not even when he was famous.  

It was at boarding school, aged 14, that he had his first sexual experience with another boy.   

Come 1963, Bulsara had graduated and relocated to Zanzibar, just as the island won its independence from Britain.   By now, the childhood nickname of Bucky was gone, replaced by the much-less cruel nickname Freddie.   

Back on the island, Freddie Bulsara divided his time between finishing his education and swimming in Stone Town’s clear waters.  It was a fairly aimless existence, one befitting a teenager who didn’t yet know where he wanted to be or what he wanted to do.  

Little could Freddie have known the decision was about to be made for him.  

The Zanzibar Revolution exploded in January of 1964. Pitting the African majority against the ruling Arab elite, it killed upwards of 17,000 people.  

The Bulsaras fled the violence, using British passports offered to the family when both India and Zanzibar exited the empire.  

And that was how Freddie Bulsara at last came to settle in England.  

By 1966, he was doing a design course in London, and feeling confident about a career in fashion.  

It became commonplace to see Freddie strutting along Portobello Road dressed as a pirate, say, or working a clothing stall in Kensington in full-leather.  Even at this early stage, he possessed a white hot streak of self-confidence, telling anyone he met that he was going to be a star.   

Even though the bands he was now playing with were milquetoast nothings at best, that confidence still rubbed off on people.   When Freddie strutted into the cult fashion store Biba in 1969, his attitude floored sales girl Mary Austin. The two began dating and, within months, were living together in a cramped apartment.  

But it would be two other people Bulsara met around this time who’d change his life. One a mopey astrophysicist, the other a lothario studying to be a dentist.   Their names were Brian May and Roger Taylor. Along with Freddie, they would soon form the band that would make them all famous.  

Becoming Freddie Mercury    

Since you’re watching a biography of Freddie Mercury, Rock God , rather than Freddie Mercury, Random Dude Who Did Nothing , you already know how the new band is going to pan out.  But it’s worth pointing out just what an unlikely prospect Queen seemed in the early 70s. How divisive people found them.  

As one music journalist memorably put it:  

“Queen are either the future of rock’n’roll or a bunch of raving pooftahs.”   

The thing was, nobody could really tell.  

Queen had formed in 1970, the same year Faroukh Bulsara legally changed his name to Freddie Mercury.  It was a change that ushered in a new public persona, one more outrageous than ever before.   

As Roger Taylor said:

“It was Freddie who instilled in us the belief that we had to make people gasp every time.”  

And making people gasp was something Queen excelled at.   

Onstage, Freddie was already wearing mascara, codpieces, leotards; already exhibiting his incredible showmanship.   For a lot of audiences, it was too much. Queen were slated in the music press, with Freddie himself singled out for harsh treatment.   

Yet this criticism never seemed to land.  

Instead, Freddie deflected it with winking self-deprecation, like when he declared of Queen: “we have more in common with Liza Minnelli than Led Zeppelin.”  

At the same time, the band was slowly finding its footing.   In 1971, bassist John Deacon joined, completing the classic Queen lineup.  By 1973, the group had released their debut album, imaginatively entitled Queen .  Off the back of this, they got a gig playing support for Mott the Hoople’s UK tour.  

Despite this being a major step-up, Freddie was outraged he hadn’t been given a tour of his own.  

“Being support is one of the most traumatic experiences of my life,” he half-joked in private.  

Still, it was hard to complain.  By winter, Queen were playing their first foreign tours, and well into writing their second album, the even-more-imaginatively-titled Queen II.   Although Trident Records was barely paying him a living wage, Freddie still felt secure enough to propose to Mary Austin. Not long after, the band scored their first top ten hit with Seven Seas of Rhye .   

So things were looking good as Queen headed off on their first American tour in April, 1974, again supporting Mott the Hoople.  

But, sometimes, looks can be deceiving.  

Rather than their big breakthrough, Queen’s America tour became a horrorshow when Brian May contracted hepatitis and the whole thing had to be canceled.   As the group returned to Britain on an emergency flight, it’s easy to imagine how despairing that long trip over the Atlantic could’ve been.   

But if there was anyone who could overcome despair through sheer force of personality alone, it was Freddie Mercury.  

That summer, Queen returned to the recording booth.   

For months, Freddie worked them like a demon, possessed by some volcanic drive. Worked to turn the band’s ailing fortunes around.   

In this, he succeeded.  

Sheer Heart Attack landed like a glitter bomb in November, 1974.   

It was the album that introduced the world to the Queen sound: to that bombastic mix of opera, high-camp, and heavy rock.  

As Mercury declared:   

“We’ve found our identity now. And we have the feeling we can outdo anyone.”  

But while Sheer Heart Attack would save the band commercially, it wouldn’t be the album that cemented their place in music history.  No, that honor would go to a single Mercury was now just a year away from writing. A song that has been interpreted in as many different ways as the Second Amendment.  

Freddie would call that song Bohemian Rhapsody .   

And it would be his final breakthrough into superstardom.  

All the Young Dudes  

The lead-up to Bohemian Rhapsody ’s release was outwardly one of success for Freddie Mercury and Queen.   Sheer Heart Attack had turned them into serious players, transformed their earnings from a Dickensian pittance to Scrooge McDuck-style vaults of cash overnight.  

Yet, behind the scenes, things were significantly less rosy.  

As 1975 wore on, Freddie and Mary Austin’s relationship began to fray.   

Although they still nominally lived together, Freddie was spending more and more time away, only retuning late at night – if he returned at all.   Austin thought he was having an affair with another woman. And she was half-right. Her fiancee really was having an affair.  

Only not with a woman.  

David Minns was Mercury’s first, serious boyfriend.   

Although their relationship didn’t last, it was a transformative event for the singer. Even while the two were sleeping together, Freddie began experimenting with gay hookups.  

It was like a switch had been flipped.  

Mercury had never been monogamous, seducing plenty of women even while he and Mary Austin were engaged.   But, after Minns, the singer’s tastes shifted. As Brian May later recalled:   “It was fairly obvious when the visitors to Freddie’s dressing room started to change from hot chicks to hot men.”  

And there were suddenly a lot of hot young men around Freddie Mercury. Beautiful boys, sourced from all over the world.  

As a result of this transformation, it’s been suggested by a whole lot of people that Bohemian Rhapsody was written as a secret coming out song.   Now, we don’t want to read too much into what may just be a pleasing six minutes of operatic nonsense.   But it’s not hard to see how Mercury’s inner life might’ve been reflected in his masterpiece.  

Things finally came to a head with Mary Austin in 1976.  

With Bohemian Rhapsody and its parent album Night at the Opera by now a smash success, Freddie Mercury sat down with Austin.   In quiet, halting tones, he told her that he thought he was bisexual.   

According to Austin, she responded by saying:  

“No Freddie, I don’t think you are bisexual. I think you are gay.’”   

Today, this looks like both Bi-erasure and… well, plain wrong .   Although he showed a real preference for dudes, Freddie would have significant, sexual relationships with women well into the 1980s.  

But not with Mary Austin anymore.  

Austin moved out shortly after, although she and Freddie would remain close friends. Later, Freddie would tell people that she was essentially his wife.   Still, Austin’s leaving seems to have been the catalyst for Freddie embracing his sexual identity.  

He began appearing in clothing that mimicked gay, bisexual, and BDSM subcultures.  

In 1978’s Don’t Stop Me Now , he cheekily sang about making both a “supersonic woman” and “supersonic man” out of you – perhaps a knowing nod to his own preferences.   Yet, even as Queen turned up the camp to 11; even as Freddie began dressing in public as a Castro Clone, he never publicly discussed his sexuality.  

Asked by a journalist to say once and for all if he was straight, gay, or bi, Freddie simply gave a toothy grin and replied:  

“I sleep with men, women, cats, you name it.”  

But while his public persona would never make a definitive statement one way or another, his private life would tell its own – often lurid – story.  

Glorious Decadence  

The late 1970s were years of eye-watering excess.  As Queen shows got bigger and more choreographed, so did Freddie’s hedonism.  Fun became something created with precision. Drugs were flown specially into cities to be on hand whenever the singer wanted a snort. Gorgeous men were kept in steady supply.  

Freddie’s libertine side even appeared during shows, with it becoming standard practice for him to run backstage between songs, be sexually serviced, and then return to belt out the next number.      

The outrageous high point of all this probably came on Halloween, 1978.  

To celebrate the launch of Jazz , Freddie rented the Fairmont Hotel in New Orleans, and threw an eye-wateringly expensive bash to rival anything in Ancient Rome.    

Transgender dwarves were hired to offer guests cocaine specially flown in from Bolivia.   Erotic dancers suspended from cages vied for attention with naked waitresses, while gigantic, nude women sprawled elegantly across tables, lit cigarettes glowing in multiple orifices.  

Beautiful models of both sexes wrestled in a pool of raw liver. Firebreathers and drag queens competed for space with a man biting the heads off live chickens.  In the expensive marble toilets, prostitutes of both sexes offered their services for free. And, of course, everywhere as far as the eye could see were mountains and mountains of drugs.  

It was Mercury in a nutshell: operatic, bonkers, brilliant, camp, and not a little perverted.     

It was also everything his detractors hated about him.  

Already perceived as all style and no substance, Queen’s overwrought excess turned them into critical whipping boys.   Freddie was delighted. Whenever critics put the question to him, he retorted:  

“All true, darling. We’re the most preposterous band that’s ever lived.”      

And then, one assumes, stuck his nose right back in a handy bag of Uncle Escobar’s Finest.  

Yet while Queen as a whole earned a reputation for excess, it was really Freddie who was the mad, shooting star – burning through the skies at 200 degrees Fahrenheit.     

In 1980, the singer settled in a luxury apartment in New York City.  

Almost every night, he’d hit a trendy club, seduce as many people as he could, and funnel them back to his apartment. When he woke up at 4pm the next day, there might be hordes of gorgeous young men who needed to be chased away before the madness could begin afresh.    

It was a crazy time, even by rock star levels. Yet, it also seemed to be freeing.   

Finally, Mercury was becoming the icon he’d perhaps always dreamed of being. The uninhibited, bisexual music god his young self could’ve hardly dared imagine.     

Sadly, this freedom wouldn’t last.  

In early September of 1982, Freddie Mercury turned up at a New York doctor’s office, complaining of a weird white spot on his tongue.    

Today, we know it was likely an early sign of the HIV infection he’d probably picked up that summer.  But, back then, AIDs was only just starting to seep into the public consciousness. In fact, the name “AIDs” was still a couple of weeks away from being coined.   

But while that meant no sudden outing in the press, no stigma attached to Mercury’s name, it also meant something else.      

No cure.    

For the rest of his life, Freddie Mercury’s body would be slowly eaten away by the disease he hadn’t even known existed. The disease he wouldn’t even be officially diagnosed with until 1987.    

Tragically, his days were already numbered.  

Lows and Highs  

If you were to plot Queen’s fortunes across the 1980s, they would resemble one of those jagged share-price graphs with the arrow shooting wildly up and down.   On the one hand, the band scored its biggest single yet with Under Pressure , sometimes known to delusional white rappers as Ice Ice Baby .   

They also cracked South America, playing what was then Brazil’s biggest-ever rock concert.    

On the other hand, their US sales took a battering as Freddie’s queerness became more overt; before falling through the floor when the band appeared in drag for their video to I Want to Break Free .  

At the same time, tensions backstage were resulting in fistfights between members, including one at an Italian festival that turned into a full-on brawl.    

But perhaps the nadir came in 1984, when Queen played South Africa.  

At the time, Nelson Mandela was still in prison, and the world was boycotting the Apartheid regime.   Into this, Queen stepped to play eight nights at a whites only entertainment complex.  The resulting furore nearly killed their reputation. Queen were handed a massive fine by the musician’s union, and were professionally ostracized.   

Yet, this stupid , self-inflicted low would be followed by the band’s – and Freddie’s – greatest high.    

In 1985, the band received a call from Bob Geldof, asking them to play a twenty minute set for Live Aid – a concert designed to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.  Broadcast to 110 countries, with global viewer numbers reaching 1.9 billion, Live Aid was simply the biggest concert in history. Everyone from the Beach Boys, to Sting, to David Bowie was playing.   

Yet, it would be Queen that stole the entire show.      

Unlike some of the other artists, Freddie knew this was performance on a grandiose scale. Their twenty minutes would be the hits and nothing more.   

And Freddie was going to give it his all.    

Today, Queen’s Live Aid set is legendary.  With a showmanship probably never seen since, Mercury electrified the crowd. His energy, his passion, were practically superhuman.   

It’s estimated that, at one point, as much as 40% of the global population tuned in to rock along with him.      

As career peaks go, this was a veritable Everest.   That same year, Freddie also hit a new high in his personal life.   In March, he met Irish hairdresser Jim Hutton at HEAVEN gay club in London.   Originally, Hutton was just another conquest. But, after a few weeks of fooling around, Hutton told Freddie he would have to choose between keeping him, or keeping up his lothario ways.  

Incredibly, Freddie chose Hutton. The two would be together until the end of Freddie’s life.    

In short, Freddie Mercury in 1985 had everything: the respect of the world; a steady, non-volatile relationship; and more money than he could ever realistically spend.   But this was sadly just a temporary high.      

The very next year, the arrow would come plunging right back down to earth.  

By 1986, it was clear that Freddie was seriously ill.  His appearance became gaunt, like a starving man. Rumors began to swirl in the British press that he might have AIDs.   The following year, two of his friends died from the virus. Not long after, a former manager-turned-boyfriend outed the singer to a British tabloid.   

Already feeling hurt and betrayed, Freddie at last bit the bullet. Around Easter, 1987, he went for an HIV test.    

You already know what the results were.  

At first, Mercury only told Jim Hutton. Retreated to his Kensington home, only rarely venturing out.   In 1987, there was only one possible outcome to a positive HIV test: death.   

Aged barely 40, Freddie was already living out his final years.      

Who Wants to Live Forever?  

Freddie Mercury’s final years were almost unbearably sad.   From a hedonistic rock god, he became a recluse, only ever venturing out to work in the recording studio.  

Still, at least he wasn’t alone.    

Jim Hutton remained by his side, becoming almost as much his carer as his lover.  Mary Austin, too, was still around. She spent as much time with Freddie as possible in those final years – still the only person the singer felt he could really relate to.  

Yet, even as he was dying, Freddie still retained his acid tongue.     

Asked if he thought Queen’s music would last, he wryly responded:   

“I don’t give a f**k, dear. I won’t be around to worry about it.”    

The final end came in November, 1991.  

On the 23rd of that month, Mercury at last released a statement, confirming to the world that he had AIDs.   Well, maybe it’s unfair to say Freddie released it. According to Jim Hutton, Mercury spent his last days on Earth dosed up to his eyeballs on morphine, drifting in and out of consciousness.   

It had been a deliberate decision to keep his diagnosis a secret until it no longer made a difference.      

Freddie Mercury died the next day of bronchial pneumonia, aged only 45.  Hutton – still playing the role of carer – was changing the star’s clothes as he passed away. As he later said:  

“While I was putting his boxers on I knew he’d gone. I went into my bedroom and stopped a carriage clock Freddie had given to me: the time was 12 minutes to 7.”      

When the news broke, hundreds of fans turned up outside the home to pay their respects. There was talk of a grand funeral – a final party to send Mercury off into the Heavens.  But Freddie Mercury had already died, perhaps months earlier. In those last days, Faroukh Bulsara had been all that remained.   

And he wanted a small, traditional Zoroastrian funeral.    

Freddie’s body was cremated on November 27, 1991.  Along with the bulk of his estate, he left his ashes to Mary Austin, who agreed to scatter them somewhere secret.   

The location she chose remains unknown to this day.      

In the wake of Freddie’s death, Bohemian Rhapsody was rereleased in Britain, where it shot to the top of the charts.   All royalties went to the Terrence Higgins Trust, a UK charity combating HIV and AIDs.   

Yet this wasn’t the end of Mercury’s time in the charts.    

Before he died, the singer had hurriedly recorded vocals for several new songs, which the other members of Queen then set to music and released as a last hurrah.  For a brief period in the 1990s, it almost felt like Freddie – or at least his ghost – was back, and as talented and outrageous as ever.  

Today, nearly 30 years after his passing, the legacy of Freddie Mercury still lives on.   Even those who consider Queen the epitome of style over substance acknowledge he was a one of a kind performer, with a unbelievable vocal range.  

He also remains legendary for his personal life. Since 1999, Bi Visibility Day has been celebrated every September – a month chosen purely for being the one Freddie Mercury was born in.    

Yet, for all his influence in other areas, it will always be his music that Freddie is best remembered for.  

Here was a man of almost unbelievable talent; a man with a voice that could sell quiet tragedy as easily as it could sell operatic bombast.  In the end, it was a talent that allowed him to live up to his own mission statement: to become a star, a global icon.   

There will likely never be another Freddie Mercury. But the music he left us with is already enough to ensure his name lives on for centuries.    

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (paywall or free with British library card – more of a general Queen bio than a Freddie bio): https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-49895?rskey=obQ0De&result=2    

BBC: Who was the real Freddie Mercury? https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20191010-who-was-the-real-freddie-mercury    

Uncut, the full story of Queen: https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/queen-it-was-all-like-a-fantasy-to-see-how-far-we-could-go-18631/    

Freddie’s bisexuality and HIV diagnosis: https://www.hivplusmag.com/entertainment/2017/9/05/freddie-mercurys-life-story-hiv-bisexuality-and-queer-identity    

Bi-erasure: https://www.out.com/music/2018/9/05/remembering-freddie-mercurys-bisexuality-his-birthday    

Mary Austin: https://www.biography.com/news/freddie-mercury-mary-austin    

Jim Hutton: https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/entertainment/freddie-mercury-irish-partner-jim-hutton    

Freddie’s roots in India and Zanzibar: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-freddie-mercury-race-religion-name-change-20181102-story.html    

Freddie and Zanzibar: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45900712    

Slightly odd, very old fansite that nonetheless has a load of great details on his early years: http://www.freddie.ru/e/bio    

Making Sheer Heart Attack: https://www.loudersound.com/features/queen-we-went-to-extremes-we-put-ourselves-under-pressure    

Making Under Pressure with David Bowie: https://www.biography.com/news/david-bowie-queen-under-pressure-recording-session    

Brian May hepatitis: https://brianmay.com/queen/queendiary/part3.html    

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Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury

A REVEALING, INTIMATE LOOK AT THE MAN WHO WOULD BE QUEEN As lead vocalist for the iconic rock band Queen, Freddie Mercury’s unmatched skills as a songwriter and his flamboyant showmanship made him a superstar and Queen a household name. But despite his worldwide fame, few people ever really glimpsed the man behind the glittering façade. Now, more than twenty years after his death, those closest to Mercury are finally opening up about this pivotal figure in rock ’n’ roll. Based on more than a hundred interviews with key figures in his life, Mercury offers the definitive account of one man’s legendary life in the spotlight and behind the scenes. Rock journalist Lesley-Ann Jones gained unprecedented access to Mercury’s tribe, and she details Queen’s slow but steady rise to fame and Mercury’s descent into dangerous, pleasure-seeking excesses— this was, after all, a man who once declared, “Darling, I’m doing everything with everyone.” In her journey to understand Mercury, Jones traveled to London, Zanzibar, and India—talking with everyone from Mercury’s closest friends to the sound engineer at Band Aid (who was responsible for making Queen even louder than the other bands) to second cousins halfway around the world. In the process, an intimate and complicated portrait emerges. Meticulously researched, sympathetic yet not sensational, Mercury offers an unvarnished look at the extreme highs and lows of life in the fast lane. At the heart of this story is a man . . . and the music he loved.

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The Best Freddie Mercury Biographies: Three Must-Reads About The King of Queen

By Joshua Kanter

Joshua Kanter

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.

After Bohemian Rhapsody , 2018’s blockbuster Freddie Mercury biopic, there was a surge of renewed interest in Queen and its charismatic frontman. Younger fans began discovering the group  – digging out their parents’ dusty LPs, launching the title track to over a billion streams on Spotify, and even making viral YouTube reaction videos of their first time hearing Mercury’s magnum opus.

Older fans were reinvigorated too, revisiting the albums of their youth, reminiscing about seeing the band live (those who were lucky enough to), and seeking to learn more about Mercury with all the newly available information regarding the theatrical but notoriously private singer.

Both groups will discover something new in these Freddie Mercury biographies, which offer three completely different perspectives of Mercury’s incredible life. 

The first book is from his partner, Jim Hutton, who gives a wistful retelling of his time with Mercury right up until the end. The two had a complicated relationship – intimate and close in private, yet Mercury always kept a distance from Hutton while in the eye of the public and the relentless British tabloids, at a time when being openly gay was not yet widely accepted (homosexuality had only been decriminalized in the UK less than a decade earlier). Though their relationship was rocky at times, Hutton loved and cared for Mercury, was by his side when he died, and offers a fly-on-the-wall observation of his life and a heartbreaking account of his final days. 

Another, a collection of quotes and interviews from Mercury himself, paints a picture with verbal pieces. Freddie’s quotes, quips and insights fuel the timeline along, creating a look at his life through his own thoughts and observations.

Finally, Somebody to Love delves deep into the history of HIV/ AIDS , eventually incorporating Mercury into the disease’s trajectory, and telling the story of his final years battling the virus that eventually took his life in 1991.

All three are must-reads for any fans of Freddie looking to learn all they can about the singer’s life offstage and behind closed doors. 

1. Mercury and Me

For those more interested in a glimpse beyond the glitz, Jim Hutton’s book provides a unique perspective of Freddie Mercury in his final years.

Hutton, Mercury’s partner and close friend from 1985 to 1991, was also his caretaker and confidant (and gardener as well, for a time), and offers an accurate and intimate account of the singer’s life and death. The book is almost an epilogue of sorts to the Bohemian Rhapsody film, which ends before the majority of these years take place.  

Hutton, who died in 2010, gives insight into the Freddie that he knew –  the tumultuous ups and downs and everything in between. He wasn’t in the spotlight, and maybe even preferred it that way, but he was alongside Mercury for the ride, and gives what often times feels like a fly-on-the-wall narrative of the singer’s life that was hidden from the public eye. 

The book does touch upon the musical side of things briefly, mentioning what Mercury was working on in his last years, his devoted work ethic right up until the end, and which songs and artists were most inspirational to him. But mainly the focus here is the relationship between the two.  

PROS:  Hutton’s book offers a one-of-a-kind window into Mercury’s life that won’t be found anywhere else. Hardcore Mercury fans that want to learn as much as possible about the legend’s life will enjoy this. The paperback also includes color photos as well. 

CONS:   Readers looking specifically for Mercury’s life story, or behind-the-scenes rockstar tales about him and Queen, may want to sit this one out. The main focus is the deep, rocky and complicated relationship Hutton and Mercury shared until the end. While some users appreciate Hutton’s storytelling of the memories shared with Mercury, others find the writing style to be dull and uninteresting. There’s also controversy among readers about the book itself, and if these intensely personal and private moments of Mercury’s life really needed to be shared publicly. 

Buy Mercury and Me

2. A Life In His Own Words by Freddie Mercury

The title may be a bit misleading here – yes, it’s his own words, but this is more a collection of quotes and interviews than a true autobiography. Still, Mercury didn’t give many in-depth interviews in his life, and this book acts as a nice collection of his humor, wit, and insight into his creative process. 

While most quotes are about music and the business, there are poignant ones that break the mold regarding friendship, societal problems, personal thoughts, and heartbreaking reflections on his own mortality. 

Though it’s not in the format of a traditional autobiography, A Life in his Own Words gives the reader the most intimate one-on-one feel with Mercury, almost as if he’s speaking directly to you.   

PROS: True Queen fans will love this one. Even if they’ve already watched the interviews quoted here, having them in one collection gives a look at Mercury’s legacy from the inside out. The forward is also written by Freddie’s mother, Jer Bulsara, giving it an even more special and bittersweet tone. 

CONS:   The book doesn’t really provide a narrative or a timeline, which can be confusing to new fans. There’s also not much context into where Mercury was in his life with each quote, or the situations he’s referring to when he said these things, which makes his words less impactful to the average reader and casual Queen fan.

Buy A Life In His Own Words by Freddie…

3. Somebody to Love: The Life, Death and Legacy of Freddie Mercury

Somebody to Love , a well-researched collaboration by Mark Langthorne and Matt Richards, two entertainment industry veterans, is wholly unafraid to show Mercury from all sides. A rock legend living a lifestyle of excess, the choices he made along with their consequences, and being one of the first victims of AIDS in the early days of the epidemic. 

The narrative provides a parallel and intersecting storyline about the history of HIV/AIDS, dating all the way back to the early 1900s in Africa, and chronicling the devastation the LGBTQ community went through in the Seventies and Eighties. There’s a heavy focus on Mercury’s promiscuity here, and his sexuality in general. At times it’s relevant, such as the difficulty of coming out in an era before being gay was widely accepted, but can also get lost in the extremely uncensored details and detract from the main storylines.

The book could be a standalone epidemiological study about the history of HIV/AIDS even without Mercury. But eventually, it weaves him into the timeline, giving a detailed account of his personal life, and his battle with the disease that tragically took him at age 45 in 1991. The result is a powerfully emotional read.

PROS: Fans of Mercury who are already well-versed in the legend’s life will learn something new here, providing a new lens into his life and death.  

CONS: Mercury’s personal life and the history of the HIV/AIDS virus are the main subject matter here, and fans looking for stories about Queen may be disappointed here. While the book does give some attention to the band’s music, it’s mostly their mega-hits, without much insight into the lesser-known fan favorites. 

Buy Somebody to Love: The Life, Death and… $2.99

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Freddie Mercury: The Definitive Biography Paperback – Import, June 7, 2012

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Print length 384 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Hachette UK
• Publication date June 7, 2012
• Dimensions 5.12 x 1.18 x 7.72 inches
• ISBN-10 1444733699
• ISBN-13 978-1444733693
• See all details

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Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hachette UK; UK ed. edition (June 7, 2012)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1444733699
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1444733693
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.12 x 1.18 x 7.72 inches
• Best Sellers Rank: #977,889 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books )

About the author

Lesley-ann jones.

LESLEY-ANN JONES is a British biographer, novelist, broadcaster and keynote speaker.

She honed her craft as a newspaper journalist, on Fleet Street.

Her latest book, 'WHO KILLED JOHN LENNON? THE LIVES, LOVES AND DEATHS OF THE GREATEST ROCK STAR', published by John Blake/Bonnier in hardback, audiobook and Kindle, is out now.

First serialisation rights sold to the Mail on Sunday, published across three pages on 6th September 2020. Second serial went to The Times, featured as a cover story of the T2 Arts section on 11th September 2020. Foreign rights have been acquired by many territories throughout the world, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, China, Japan and Brazil. Publicity to date includes interviews for the Daily Telegraph, US Publishers Weekly, Austria's ORF TV, Radio Caroline, Talk RADIO, Talk Radio Europe, Ireland's Newstalk Radio and Today FM, and BBC Radio 2's Steve Wright in the Afternoon show. Future engagements, to coincide with what would have been Lennon's 80th birthday, 9th October, and the 40th anniversary of his murder on 8th December, include the Graham Norton Show and Sky News.

Lesley-Ann's debut memoir, 'TUMBLING DICE', is published in paperback original and ebook formats.

First serialisation rights for TUMBLING DICE were acquired by the Mail on Sunday, published across four pages on 7th April 2019. Second serial went to The Times, featured as a double-page spread on 10th April.

The author’s interview with US ABC Radio network is syndicated to 2,000 stations across the United States. She has discussed the book on most BBC local stations, including BBC York, Northampton, Guernsey, Cornwall, Solent, Hereford & Worcester, Derby and Oxford. Live radio exposure continues over the coming weeks, with BBC Radio London’s Robert Elms Show, Wandsworth Radio, Express FM’s The Soft Rock Show, K107FM Scotland, Wycombe Sound, Camglen Radio (Scotland), the Sticks Radio Show & podcast, BBC Radio Kent, Radio Caroline, Talk Radio’s The Paul Ross Show and Talk Radio Europe’s Bill Padley Show.

Lesley-Ann Jones’s agents are currently negotiating with two independent production majors on a screen adaptation of TUMBLING DICE.

www.lesleyannjones.com

Recent books include 'BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: The Definitive Biography of Freddie Mercury' (Hodder & Stoughton), a Sunday Times Bestseller. Published as 'MERCURY' in the USA, it exists in many translations, including Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Japanese and Lithuanian.

'HERO: David Bowie' (Hodder & Stoughton).

'RIDE A WHITE SWAN: The Lives & Death of Marc Bolan' (Hodder & Stoughton).

'IMAGINE', a novel (Mulcahy Books).

She is a mother of three, and lives in London.

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: FREDDIE MERCURY

'MERCURY' goes beyond the glittering facade to get an unvarnished look at Queen's rise to fame, the loves of Mercury's life and his fraught relationship with his conservative past, creating a complete portrait of this magnetic musician. METRO SOURCE, NEW YORK

Truly definitive, truly Freddie, an energetic, entertaining and essential account.

SIR TIM RICE

This book grabs you with its opening, then builds. Insight and anecdote in perfect harmony.

SIMON NAPIER-BELL

The sort of tribute Mercury himself would have wanted … full of perceptive and moving insights.

One of the best biographies I have read recently is Lesley-Ann Jones's biography of Freddie Mercury, published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of his death. No-one has captured better the magical, enchanting dualism of Freddie Mercury - the mystery of the battle between dark and light that is at the heart of the Zoroastrian religion of his birth as well as of his own life. To read this book is to rejoice that such a man ever lived and sang, while at the same time to be overwhelmed once more at the grief of his death and what took him from us. The author has the rare gift of being scrupulously honest about the subject, while maintaining throughout a kindliness that reflects truly the ruthless charm at the heart of all he did.

RUTH GLEDHILL, SUNDAY TIMES

HERO: DAVID BOWIE

Published by Hodder & Stoughton September 2016. Voted one of the Top Ten Music Books of 2016 by the London Evening Standard, and also one of their Top Eight Biographies/Memoirs.

Lesley-Ann Jones knew Bowie from childhood. They became friends, and he inspired her to become a music journalist. Her biography is a very personal portrait that explores the real man behind the spaceman, the countless facets of his self- reinvention, the golden years and the wilderness periods, his torments and triumphs, his music, artistry and personal life.

Through several interviews with Bowie she evocatively portrays his fascinating life, often with a tenderness you wouldn’t expect.

DAILY EXPRESS

This is a fascinating insight into one of greatest artists of our lifetime.

EVENING STANDARD

If you knew nothing about Bowie, this is the biography to read. If you thought you knew everything about Bowie, this is even more the biography to read.

An intriguing book. This is a personal friendship in writing. The knowledge divulged here is an endearing and powerful tale of a man who conquered the entire entertainment industry with his creative force.

HENRY DEAS, VARIETY

RIDE A WHITE SWAN: THE LIVES & DEATH OF MARC BOLAN:

I remember the time I spent with Marc and June in the late ’60s with massive affection.

It was a wonderful, exciting and creative time. Lesley-Ann Jones captures perfectly the spirit of the time, and tells beautifully the wider story of Marc's extraordinary life.

BOB HARRIS OBE

Important missing pieces of the complicated short life that was Marc Bolan's. It is a sensational read... What I especially love is that this new book comes from a woman's point of view. She tells Marc's story in a very nurturing and loving way. I highly recommend it to all Marc Bolan fans.

TONY VISCONTI - RECORD PRODUCER: DAVID BOWIE, MARC BOLAN, MORRISSEY

Brimming with insight from family members, friends, managers, musicians, and white-knuckled rock and rollercoaster riders who shared the dips and dives of Bolanmania, this book is a cracker of a read.

KEITH ALTHAM - ROCK WRITER & PRESS AGENT: THE WHO, THE ROLLING STONES, BEACH BOYS, SMALL FACES, VAN MORRISON & MARC BOLAN.

Lesley-Ann Jones brings my old friend almost back to life in this brilliantly observed and detailed account of a fascinating man who lived an all-too-short life. The first book to show us the real Marc.

STEVE HARLEY - COCKNEY REBEL

A brilliantly documented and beautifully-written account of one of our greatest music legends.

PHIL SWERN - PRODUCER, BBC RADIO 2

Real, surreal and uniquely chilling!

BRIAN MAY, QUEEN

Rock stars: check. Murder: check. Sex: check. What’s not to like? Lesley-Ann brings the rock’n’roll lifestyle alive in this page-turner.

NODDY HOLDER MBE, ROCK STAR, ACTOR, PRODUCER, PRESENTER

Lesley-Ann Jones has written a first-time classic. She extricates the glam out of every piece of grunge in this rock’n’roll myth-fest. Imagine broke my heart, and rebuilt it again, until it became like a favourite song: repeating over and over in a dreamlike paradise.

LEO SAYER, SINGER SONGWRITER

What a read! This book is funny, frightening, and terrifyingly accurate. It feels like I know everyone in it.

ED BICKNELL, FORMER MANAGER, DIRE STRAITS, MARK KNOPFLER, BRYAN FERRY, GERRY RAFFERTY, & HEAD OF WILLIAM MORRIS ENDEAVOUR EUROPE

An irresistible rock’n’roll cocktail of fact and fiction, expertly mixed. Take one sip and prepare yourself for a ‘lock-in’ …

KIM WILDE, POP STAR AND ‘80S ICON

Do you remember where you were the day John Lennon died? Lesley-Ann Jones was right bloody next to him. An amazing story told in an amazing way. Unputdownable.

SIMON NAPIER-BELL, MANAGER OF THE YARDBIRDS, MARC BOLAN, JAPAN, WHAM!, GEORGE MICHAEL & SINÉAD O’CONNOR

A superb mixture of truth and nothing-like-the-truth. Imagine is the best possible combination you can have in any read.

RICK WAKEMAN, MUSICIAN AND GRUMPY OLD MAN

Rock hard, rock soft, and everything in between. It's all here between the 'sheets' … Enjoy!!!

SUZI QUATRO, rock legend

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Freddie Mercury facts for kids

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara ; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen . Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of rock music, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and four- octave vocal range . Mercury defied the conventions of a rock frontman with his theatrical style, influencing the artistic direction of Queen.

Born in 1946 in Zanzibar to Parsi-Indian parents, Mercury attended English-style boarding schools in India from the age of eight and returned to Zanzibar after secondary school. In 1964, his family fled the Zanzibar Revolution, moving to Middlesex , England. Having studied and written music for years, he formed Queen in 1970 with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Mercury wrote numerous hits for Queen, including "Killer Queen", " Bohemian Rhapsody ", "Somebody to Love", " We Are the Champions ", "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". His charismatic stage performances often saw him interact with the audience, as displayed at the 1985 Live Aid concert. He also led a solo career and was a producer and guest musician for other artists.

Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987. He continued to record with Queen, and posthumously featured on their final album, Made in Heaven (1995). He announced his diagnosis the day before his death, from complications from the disease, in 1991 at the age of 45. In 1992, a concert in tribute to him was held at Wembley Stadium , in benefit of AIDS awareness. His career with Queen was dramatised in the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody .

As a member of Queen, Mercury was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. In 1990, he and the other Queen members were awarded the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music, and one year after his death, Mercury was awarded it individually. In 2005, Queen were awarded an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors. In 2002, Mercury was voted number 58 in the BBC 's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons .

Songwriting

Live performer, instrumentalist, solo career, relationships, friendship with kenny everett, personality, continued popularity, posthumous queen album, importance in aids history, appearances in lists of influential individuals, portrayal on stage, portrayal in film and television.

Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Stone Town in the British protectorate of Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania ) on 5 September 1946. His parents, Bomi (1908–2003) and Jer Bulsara (1922–2016), were from the Parsi community of western India. The Bulsaras had origins in the city of Bulsar (now Valsad) in Gujarat . He had a younger sister, Kashmira (b. 1952).

The family had moved to Zanzibar so that Bomi could continue his job as a cashier at the British Colonial Office . As Parsis, the Bulsaras practised Zoroastrianism . Mercury was born with four extra incisors, to which he attributed his enhanced vocal range. As Zanzibar was a British protectorate until 1963, Mercury was born a British subject, and on 2 June 1969 was registered a citizen of the United Kingdom and colonies after the family had emigrated to England.

Mercury spent most of his childhood in India where he began taking piano lessons at the age of seven while living with relatives. In 1954, at the age of eight, Mercury was sent to study at St. Peter's School, a British-style boarding school for boys, in Panchgani near Bombay . At the age of 12, he formed a school band, the Hectics, and covered rock and roll artists such as Cliff Richard and Little Richard . One of Mercury's former bandmates from the Hectics has said "the only music he listened to, and played, was Western pop music". A friend 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". In February 1963, he moved back to Zanzibar where he joined his parents at their flat.

In the spring of 1964, Mercury and his family fled to England from Zanzibar to escape the violence of the revolution against the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government, in which thousands of ethnic Arabs and Indians were killed. They moved to 19 Hamilton Close, Feltham , Middlesex , a town 13 miles (21 km) west of central London. The Bulsaras briefly relocated to 122 Hamilton Road, before settling into a small house at 22 Gladstone Avenue in late October. After first studying art at Isleworth Polytechnic in West London, Mercury studied graphic art and design at Ealing Art College , graduating with a diploma in 1969. He later used these skills to design heraldic arms for his band Queen.

Following graduation, Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand Edwardian clothes and scarves in Kensington Market in London with Roger Taylor. Taylor recalls, "Back then, I didn't really know him as a singer—he was just my mate. My crazy mate! If there was fun to be had, Freddie and I were usually involved." He also held a job as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport . Other friends from the time remember him as a quiet and shy young man with a great interest in music. In 1969, he joined Liverpool -based band Ibex, later renamed Wreckage, which played "very Hendrix -style, heavy blues". He briefly lived in a flat above the Dovedale Towers, a pub on Penny Lane in Liverpool's Mossley Hill district. When this band failed to take off, he joined an Oxford -based band, Sour Milk Sea, but by early 1970 this group had broken up as well.

In April 1970, Mercury teamed up with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, to become lead singer of their band Smile . They were joined by bassist John Deacon in 1971. Despite the reservations of the other members and Trident Studios, the band's initial management, Mercury chose the name "Queen" for the new band. He later said, "It's very regal obviously, and it sounds splendid. It's a strong name, very universal and immediate. I was certainly aware of the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it." At about the same time, he legally changed his surname, Bulsara, to Mercury. It was inspired by the line "Mother Mercury, look what they've done to me" from his song "My Fairy King".

Shortly before the release of Queen's self-titled first album, Mercury designed the band's logo, known as the "Queen crest". The logo combines the zodiac signs of the four band members: two lions for Deacon and Taylor (sign Leo ), a crab for May ( Cancer ), and two fairies for Mercury ( Virgo ). The lions embrace a stylised letter Q, the crab rests atop the letter with flames rising directly above it, and the fairies are each sheltering below a lion. A crown is shown inside the Q, and the whole logo is over-shadowed by an enormous phoenix . The Queen crest bears a passing resemblance to the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom , particularly with the lion supporters.

Although Mercury's speaking voice naturally fell in the baritone range, he delivered most songs in the tenor range. His known vocal range extended from bass low F (F 2 ) to soprano high F (F 6 ). He could belt up to tenor high F (F 5 ). Biographer David Bret described his voice as "escalating within a few bars from a deep, throaty rock-growl to tender, vibrant tenor, then on to a high-pitched, perfect coloratura , pure and crystalline in the upper reaches". Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé , with whom Mercury recorded an album, expressed her opinion that "the difference between Freddie and almost all the other rock stars was that he was selling the voice".

The Who lead singer Roger Daltrey described Mercury as "the best virtuoso rock 'n' roll singer of all time. He could sing anything in any style. He could change his style from line to line and, God, that's an art. And he was brilliant at it." Discussing what type of person he wanted to play the lead role in his musical Jesus Christ Superstar , Andrew Lloyd Webber said: "He has to be of enormous charisma, but he also has to be a genuine, genuine rock tenor. That's what it is. Really think Freddie Mercury, I mean that's the kind of range we're talking about."

A research team undertook a study in 2016 to understand the appeal behind Mercury's voice. Led by Professor Christian Herbst, the team identified his notably faster vibrato and use of subharmonics as unique characteristics of Mercury's voice, particularly in comparison to opera singers. The research team studied vocal samples from 23 commercially available Queen recordings, his solo work, and a series of interviews of the late artist. They also used an endoscopic video camera to study a rock singer brought in to imitate Mercury's singing voice.

Mercury wrote 10 of the 17 songs on Queen's Greatest Hits album: " Bohemian Rhapsody ", " Seven Seas of Rhye ", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy", " We Are the Champions ", "Bicycle Race", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", and "Play the Game". In 2003 Mercury was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame with the rest of Queen, and in 2005 all four band members were awarded an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.

The most notable aspect of his songwriting involved the wide range of genres that he used, which included, among other styles, rockabilly , progressive rock , heavy metal , gospel , and disco . As he explained in a 1986 interview, "I hate doing the same thing again and again and again. I like to see what's happening now in music, film and theatre and incorporate all of those things." Compared to many popular songwriters, Mercury also tended to write musically complex material. For example, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is non-cyclical in structure and comprises dozens of chords . He also wrote six songs from Queen II which deal with multiple key changes and complex material. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", on the other hand, contains only a few chords. Although Mercury often wrote very intricate harmonies, he claimed that he could barely read music. He composed most of his songs on the piano and used a wide variety of key signatures.

Mercury was noted for his live performances, which were often delivered to stadium audiences around the world. He displayed a highly theatrical style that often evoked a great deal of participation from the crowd. A writer for The Spectator described him as "a performer out to tease, shock and ultimately charm his audience with various extravagant versions of himself." David Bowie , who performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert and recorded the song "Under Pressure" with Queen, praised Mercury's performance style, saying: "Of all the more theatrical rock performers, Freddie took it further than the rest ... he took it over the edge. And of course, I always admired a man who wears tights. I only saw him in concert once and as they say, he was definitely a man who could hold an audience in the palm of his hand." Queen guitarist Brian May wrote that Mercury could make "the last person at the back of the furthest stand in a stadium feel that he was connected". Mercury's main prop on stage was a broken microphone stand; after accidentally snapping it off the heavy base during an early performance, he realised it could be used in endless ways.

One of Mercury's most notable performances with Queen took place at Live Aid in 1985. Queen's performance at the event has since been voted by a group of music executives as the greatest live performance in the history of rock music. The results were aired on a television program called "The World's Greatest Gigs". Mercury's powerful, sustained note during the a cappella section came to be known as "The Note Heard Round the World". In reviewing Live Aid in 2005, one critic wrote, "Those who compile lists of Great Rock Frontmen and award the top spots to Mick Jagger , Robert Plant , etc. all are guilty of a terrible oversight. Freddie, as evidenced by his Dionysian Live Aid performance, was easily the most godlike of them all." Photographer Denis O'Regan, who captured a definitive pose of Mercury on stage—arched back, knee bent and facing toward the sky—during his final tour with Queen in 1986, commented "Freddie was a once-in-a-lifetime showman". Queen roadie Peter Hince states, "It wasn't just about his voice but the way he commanded the stage. For him it was all about interacting with the audience and knowing how to get them on his side. And he gave everything in every show."

Throughout his career, Mercury performed an estimated 700 concerts in countries around the world with Queen. A notable aspect of Queen concerts was the large scale involved. He once explained, "We're the Cecil B. DeMille of rock and roll, always wanting to do things bigger and better." The band was the first ever to play in South American stadiums, breaking worldwide records for concert attendance in the Morumbi Stadium in São Paulo in 1981. In 1986, Queen also played behind the Iron Curtain when they performed to a crowd of 80,000 in Budapest , in what was one of the biggest rock concerts ever held in Eastern Europe. Mercury's final live performance with Queen took place on 9 August 1986 at Knebworth Park in England and drew an attendance estimated as high as 200,000. A week prior to Knebworth, May recalled Mercury saying "I'm not going to be doing this forever. This is probably the last time." With the British national anthem " God Save the Queen " playing at the end of the concert, Mercury's final act on stage saw him draped in a robe, holding a golden crown aloft, bidding farewell to the crowd.

As a young boy in India, Mercury received formal piano training up to the age of nine. Later on, while living in London, he learned guitar. Much of the music he liked was guitar-oriented: his favourite artists at the time were the Who , the Beatles , Jimi Hendrix , David Bowie , and Led Zeppelin . He was often self-deprecating about his skills on both instruments. However, Brian May states Mercury "had a wonderful touch on the piano. He could play what came from inside him like nobody else – incredible rhythm, incredible passion and feeling." Keyboardist Rick Wakeman praised Mercury's playing style, saying he "discovered [the piano] for himself" and successfully composed a number of Queen songs on the instrument. From the early 1980s Mercury began extensively using guest keyboardists. Most notably, he enlisted Fred Mandel (a Canadian musician who also worked for Pink Floyd , Elton John , and Supertramp ) for his first solo project. From 1982 Mercury collaborated with Morgan Fisher (who performed with Queen in concert during the Hot Space leg), and from 1985 onward Mercury collaborated with Mike Moran (in the studio) and Spike Edney (in concert).

Mercury played the piano in many of Queen's most popular songs, including "Killer Queen", " Bohemian Rhapsody ", "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy", " We Are the Champions ", "Somebody to Love", and "Don't Stop Me Now". He used concert grand pianos (such as a Bechstein) and, occasionally, other keyboard instruments such as the harpsichord . From 1980 onward, he also made frequent use of synthesisers in the studio. Brian May claims that Mercury used the piano less over time because he wanted to walk around on stage and entertain the audience. Although he wrote many lines for the guitar, Mercury possessed only rudimentary skills on the instrument. Songs like "Ogre Battle" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" were composed on the guitar; the latter featured Mercury playing rhythm guitar on stage and in the studio.

As well as his work with Queen, Mercury put out two solo albums and several singles. Although his solo work was not as commercially successful as most Queen albums, the two off-Queen albums and several of the singles debuted in the top 10 of the UK Music Charts. His first solo effort goes back to 1972 under the pseudonym Larry Lurex , when Trident Studios' house engineer Robin Geoffrey Cable was working in a musical project, at the time when Queen were recording their debut album; Cable enlisted Mercury to perform lead vocals on the songs "I Can Hear Music" and "Goin' Back", both were released together as a single in 1973. Eleven years later, Mercury contributed to the soundtrack for the restoration of the 1927 Fritz Lang film Metropolis . The song "Love Kills" was written for the film by Giorgio Moroder in collaboration with Mercury, and produced by Moroder and Mack; in 1984 it debuted at the number 10 position in the UK Singles Chart .

Mercury's two full albums outside the band were Mr. Bad Guy (1985) and Barcelona (1988). His first album, Mr. Bad Guy , debuted in the top ten of the UK Album Charts. In 1993, a remix of "Living on My Own", a single from the album, posthumously reached number one on the UK Singles Charts. The song also garnered Mercury a posthumous Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. AllMusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia describes Mr. Bad Guy as "outstanding from start to finish" and expressed his view that Mercury "did a commendable job of stretching into uncharted territory". In particular, the album is heavily synthesiser-driven; that is not characteristic of previous Queen albums.

His second album, Barcelona , recorded with Spanish soprano vocalist Montserrat Caballé , combines elements of popular music and opera. Many critics were uncertain what to make of the album; one referred to it as "the most bizarre CD of the year". The album was a commercial success, and the album's title track debuted at No. 8 in the UK and was also a hit in Spain. The title track received massive airplay as the official anthem of the 1992 Summer Olympics (held in Barcelona one year after Mercury's death). Caballé sang it live at the opening of the Olympics with Mercury's part played on a screen, and again before the start of the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich in Barcelona.

In addition to the two solo albums, Mercury released several singles, including his own version of the hit "The Great Pretender" by the Platters, which debuted at No. 5 in the UK in 1987. In September 2006 a compilation album featuring Mercury's solo work was released in the UK in honour of what would have been his 60th birthday. The album debuted in the UK top 10. In 2012, Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender , a documentary film directed by Rhys Thomas on Mercury's attempts to forge a solo career, premiered on BBC One .

In 1981–1983 Mercury recorded several tracks with Michael Jackson , including a demo of "State of Shock", "Victory", and "There Must Be More to Life Than This". None of these collaborations were officially released at the time, although bootleg recordings exist. Jackson went on to record the single "State of Shock" with Mick Jagger for the Jacksons ' album Victory . Mercury included the solo version of "There Must Be More To Life Than This" on his Mr. Bad Guy album. "There Must Be More to Life Than This" was eventually reworked by Queen and released on their compilation album Queen Forever in 2014. In addition to working with Michael Jackson, Mercury and Roger Taylor sang on the title track for Billy Squier's 1982 studio release, Emotions in Motion and later contributed to two tracks on Squier's 1986 release, Enough Is Enough , providing vocals on "Love is the Hero" and musical arrangements on "Lady With a Tenor Sax". In 2020, Mercury's music video for "Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow" was nominated for Best Animation at the Berlin Music Video Awards. Woodlock studio is behind the animation.

Personal life

In the early 1970s, Mercury had a long-term relationship with Mary Austin, whom he met through guitarist Brian May. Austin, born in Fulham , London, met Mercury in 1969 when she was 19 and he was 24 years old, a year before Queen had formed. He lived with Austin for several years in West Kensington , London. In December 1976, they separated. Mercury moved out of the flat they shared, and bought Austin a place of her own nearby his new address of 12 Stafford Terrace, Kensington.

Mercury and Austin remained friends through the years; Mercury often referred to her as his only true friend. In a 1985 interview, he said of Austin: "All my lovers asked me why they couldn't replace Mary, but it's simply impossible. The only friend I've got is Mary, and I don't want anybody else. To me, she was my common-law wife. To me, it was a marriage. We believe in each other, that's enough for me." Mercury's final home, Garden Lodge, a 28-room Georgian mansion in Kensington set in a quarter-acre manicured garden surrounded by a high brick wall, was picked out by Austin. Austin married the painting artist Piers Cameron; they have two children. Mercury was the godfather of her older son, Richard. In his will, Mercury left his London home to Austin having told her, "You would have been my wife, and it would have been yours anyway."

During the early-to-mid-1980s, he was reportedly involved with Barbara Valentin, an Austrian actress, who is featured in the video for "It's a Hard Life". In another article, he said Valentin was "just a friend"; Mercury was dating German restaurateur Winfried "Winnie" Kirchberger during this time. Mercury lived at Kirchberger's apartment and thanked him "for board and lodging" in the liner notes of his 1985 album Mr. Bad Guy . He wore a silver wedding band given to him by Kirchberger. A close friend described him as Mercury's "great love" in Germany.

By 1985, he began another long-term relationship with Irish-born hairdresser Jim Hutton (1949–2010), whom he referred to as his husband. Mercury described their relationship as one built on solace and understanding, and said that he "honestly couldn't ask for better". Hutton, who tested HIV-positive in 1990, lived with Mercury for the last seven years of his life, nursed him during his illness, and was present at his bedside when he died. Mercury wore a gold wedding band, given to him by Hutton in 1986, until the end of his life. He was cremated with it on. Hutton later relocated from London to the bungalow he and Mercury had built for themselves in Ireland.

Radio disc jockey Kenny Everett met Mercury in 1974, when he invited the singer onto his Capital London breakfast show. As two of Britain's most flamboyant, outrageous and popular entertainers, they shared much in common and became close friends. In 1975, Mercury visited Everett, bringing with him an advance copy of the single " Bohemian Rhapsody ". Despite doubting that any station would play the six-minute track, Everett placed the song on the turntable, and, after hearing it, exclaimed: "Forget it, it's going to be number one for centuries". Although Capital Radio had not officially accepted the song, Everett talked incessantly about a record he possessed but could not play. He then frequently proceeded to play the track with the excuse: "Oops, my finger must've slipped." On one occasion, Everett aired the song fourteen times over a single weekend. Capital's switchboard was overwhelmed with callers inquiring when the song would be released.

During the 1970s, Everett became advisor and mentor to Mercury and Mercury served as Everett's confidant. By 1985, they had fallen out, and their friendship was further strained when Everett was outed in the autobiography of his ex-wife Lee Everett Alkin. In 1989, with their health failing, Mercury and Everett were reconciled.

Although he cultivated a flamboyant stage personality, Mercury was shy and retiring when not performing, particularly around people he did not know well, and granted very few interviews. He once said of himself: "When I'm performing I'm an extrovert , yet inside I'm a completely different man." On this contrast to "his larger-than-life stage persona", BBC music broadcaster Bob Harris adds he was "lovely, bright, sensitive, and quite vulnerable." While on stage, Mercury basked in the love from his audience.

Mercury never discussed his ethnic or religious background with journalists. The closest he came to doing so was in response to a question about his outlandish persona, he said, "that's something inbred, it's a part of me. I will always walk around like a Persian popinjay", an oblique reference to his Indian Parsi background. Feeling a connection to Britain prior to arriving in England, the young Bulsara was heavily influenced by British fashion and music trends while growing up. According to his longtime assistant Peter Freestone, "if Freddie had his way, he would have been born aged 18 in Feltham ." Harris states, "One of the things about Freddie was that he was very civilised and quite 'English'. I'd go over to his flat near Shepherd's Bush in the afternoon, and he'd get out the fine china and the sugar lumps and we'd have a cup of tea." His flamboyant dress sense and the emergence of glam rock in the UK in the early 1970s saw Mercury wear outfits designed by Zandra Rhodes.

When asked by Melody Maker in 1981 if rock stars should use their power to try to shape the world for the better, Mercury responded, "Leave that to the politicians. Certain people can do that kind of thing, but very few. John Lennon was one. Because of his status, he could do that kind of preaching and affect people's thoughts. But to do this you have to have a certain amount of intellect and magic together, and the John Lennons are few and far between. People with mere talent, like me, have not got the ability or power." Mercury dedicated a song to the former member of The Beatles . The song, "Life Is Real (Song for Lennon)", is included in the 1982 album Hot Space . Mercury did occasionally express his concerns about the state of the world in his lyrics. His most notable "message" songs are "Under Pressure", "Is This the World We Created...?" (a song which Mercury and May performed at Live Aid, and also featured in Greenpeace – The Album ), "There Must Be More to Life Than This", "The Miracle" (a song May called "one of Freddie's most beautiful creations") and "Innuendo".

Mercury cared for at least ten cats throughout his life, including: Tom, Jerry, Oscar, Tiffany, Dorothy, Delilah, Goliath, Miko, Romeo, and Lily. He was against the inbreeding of cats for specific features and all except for Tiffany and Lily, both given as gifts, were adopted from the Blue Cross . Mercury "placed as much importance on these beloved animals as on any human life", and showed his adoration by having the artist Ann Ortman paint portraits of each of them. Mercury wrote a song for Delilah, "his favourite cat of all", which appeared on the Queen album Innuendo . Mercury dedicated his liner notes in his 1985 solo album Mr. Bad Guy to Jerry and his other cats. It reads, "This album is dedicated to my cat Jerry—also Tom, Oscar, and Tiffany and all the cat lovers across the universe—screw everybody else!"

In 1987, Mercury celebrated his 41st birthday at the Pikes Hotel, Ibiza , Spain, several months after discovering that he had contracted HIV . Mercury sought much comfort at the retreat and was a close friend of the owner, Anthony Pike, who described Mercury as "the most beautiful person I've ever met in my life. So entertaining and generous." According to biographer Lesley-Ann Jones, Mercury "felt very much at home there. He played some tennis, lounged by the pool, and ventured out to the odd gay club or bar at night." The birthday party, held on 5 September 1987, has been described as "the most incredible example of excess the Mediterranean island had ever seen", and was attended by some 700 people. A cake in the shape of Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Família was provided for the party. The original cake collapsed and was replaced with a two-metre-long sponge cake decorated with the notes from Mercury's song "Barcelona". The bill, which included 232 broken glasses, was presented to Queen's manager, Jim Beach. Before his death, Mercury had told Beach, "You can do what you want with my music, but don't make me boring."

Illness and death

Mercury exhibited HIV/AIDS symptoms as early as 1982. Authors Matt Richards and Mark Langthorne have stated in their biographical book about Mercury, Somebody to Love: The Life, Death, and Legacy of Freddie Mercury , that Mercury secretly visited a doctor in New York City to get a white lesion on his tongue checked (which might have been hairy leukoplakia, one of the first signs of an infection) a few weeks before Queen's final American appearance with Mercury on Saturday Night Live on 25 September 1982. They also stated that he had associated with someone who was recently infected with HIV on the same day of their final US appearance, when he began to exhibit more symptoms.

In October 1986, the British press reported that Mercury had his blood tested for HIV/AIDS at a Harley Street clinic. According to his partner, Jim Hutton, Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in late April 1987. Around that time, Mercury claimed in an interview to have tested negative for HIV.

The British press pursued the rumours over the next few years, fuelled by Mercury's increasingly gaunt appearance, Queen's absence from touring, and reports from his former lovers to tabloid journals. By 1990, rumours about Mercury's health were rife. At the 1990 Brit Awards held at the Dominion Theatre, London, on 18 February, Mercury made his final appearance on stage, when he joined the rest of Queen to collect the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.

Mercury and his inner circle of colleagues and friends continually denied the stories. It has been suggested that Mercury could have helped AIDS awareness by speaking earlier about his illness. Mercury kept his condition private to protect those closest to him; May later confirmed that Mercury had informed the band of his illness much earlier. Filmed in May 1991, the music video for "These Are the Days of Our Lives" features a very thin Mercury in his final scenes in front of the camera. Director of the video Rudi Dolezal comments, "AIDS was never a topic. We never discussed it. He didn't want to talk about it. Most of the people didn't even 100 percent know if he had it, apart from the band and a few people in the inner circle. He always said, 'I don't want to put any burden on other people by telling them my tragedy. ' " The rest of the band were ready to record when Mercury felt able to come into the studio, for an hour or two at a time. May said of Mercury: "He just kept saying. 'Write me more. Write me stuff. I want to just sing this and do it and when I am gone you can finish it off.' He had no fear, really." Justin Shirley-Smith, the assistant engineer for those last sessions, said: "This is hard to explain to people, but it wasn't sad, it was very happy. He [Freddie] was one of the funniest people I ever encountered. I was laughing most of the time, with him. Freddie was saying [of his illness] 'I'm not going to think about it, I'm going to do this. ' "

After the conclusion of his work with Queen in June 1991, Mercury retired to his home in Kensington , West London. His former partner, Mary Austin, was a particular comfort in his final years, and in the last few weeks made regular visits to look after him. Near the end of his life, Mercury began to lose his sight, and declined so that he was unable to leave his bed. Mercury chose to hasten his death by refusing medication and took only painkillers.

On the evening of 24 November 1991, about 24 hours after issuing the statement, Mercury died at the age of 45 at his home in Kensington. The cause of death was bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS. His close friend Dave Clark of the Dave Clark Five was at the bedside vigil when Mercury died. Austin phoned Mercury's parents and sister to break the news, which reached newspaper and television crews in the early hours of 25 November.

Mercury's funeral service was conducted on 27 November 1991 by a Zoroastrian priest at West London Crematorium, where he is commemorated by a plinth under his birth name. In attendance at Mercury's service were his family and 35 of his close friends, including Elton John and the members of Queen. His coffin was carried into the chapel to the sounds of "Take My Hand, Precious Lord"/" You've Got a Friend " by Aretha Franklin . In accordance with Mercury's wishes, Mary Austin took possession of his cremated remains and buried them in an undisclosed location. The whereabouts of his ashes are believed to be known only to Austin, who has said that she will never reveal them.

Mercury spent and donated to charity much of his wealth during his lifetime, with his estate valued around £8 million at the time of his death. He bequeathed his home, Garden Lodge, and the adjoining Mews, as well as a 50% of all privately owned shares, to Mary Austin. His sister, Kashmira Cooke, received 25%, as did his parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, which Cooke acquired upon their deaths. He willed £500,000 to Joe Fannelli; £500,000 to Jim Hutton; £500,000 to Peter Freestone; and £100,000 to Terry Giddings. Mercury, who never drove a car because he had no licence, was often chauffeured around London in his Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow from 1979 until his death. The car was passed to his sister Kashmira who made it available for display at public events, including the West End premiere of the musical We Will Rock You in 2002, before it was auctioned off at the NEC in Birmingham in 2013 for £74,600.

Following his death, the outer walls of Garden Lodge in Logan Place became a shrine to Mercury, with mourners paying tribute by covering the walls in graffiti messages. Three years later Time Out magazine reported that "the wall outside the house has become London's biggest rock 'n' roll shrine". Fans continued to visit to pay their respects with letters appearing on the walls until 2017, when Austin had the wall cleared. Hutton was involved in a 2000 biography of Mercury, Freddie Mercury, the Untold Story , and also gave an interview for The Times in September 2006 for what would have been Mercury's 60th birthday.

Regarded as one of the greatest lead singers in the history of rock music, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and four- octave vocal range . Mercury defied the conventions of a rock frontman, with his highly theatrical style influencing the artistic direction of Queen.

The extent to which Mercury's death may have enhanced Queen's popularity is not clear. In the United States, where Queen's popularity had lagged in the 1980s, sales of Queen albums went up dramatically in 1992, the year following his death. In 1992, one American critic noted, "What cynics call the 'dead star' factor had come into play—Queen is in the middle of a major resurgence." The movie Wayne's World , which featured "Bohemian Rhapsody", also came out in 1992. According to the Recording Industry Association of America , Queen had sold 34.5 million albums in the United States by 2004, about half of which had been sold since Mercury's death in 1991.

Estimates of Queen's total worldwide record sales to date have been set as high as 300 million. In the United Kingdom, Queen have now spent more collective weeks on the UK Album Charts than any other musical act (including the Beatles ), and Queen's Greatest Hits is the best-selling album of all time in the United Kingdom. Two of Mercury's songs, " We Are the Champions " and " Bohemian Rhapsody ", have also each been voted as the greatest song of all time in major polls by Sony Ericsson and Guinness World Records . Both songs have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame; "Bohemian Rhapsody" in 2004 and "We Are the Champions" in 2009. In October 2007 the video for "Bohemian Rhapsody" was voted the greatest of all time by readers of Q magazine.

Since his death, Queen were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and all four band members were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. Their Rock Hall of Fame citation reads, "in the golden era of glam rock and gorgeously hyper-produced theatrical extravaganzas that defined one branch of '70s rock, no group came close in either concept or execution to Queen." The band were among the inaugural inductees into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. Mercury was individually posthumously awarded the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music in 1992. They received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors in 2005, and in 2018 they were presented the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

In November 1995, Mercury appeared posthumously on Queen's final studio album Made in Heaven . The album featured Mercury's previously unreleased final recordings from 1991, as well as outtakes from previous years and reworked versions of solo works by the other members. The album cover features the Freddie Mercury statue that overlooks Lake Geneva superimposed with Mercury's Duck House lake cabin that he had rented. This is where he had written and recorded his last songs at Mountain Studios. The sleeve of the album contains the words, "Dedicated to the immortal spirit of Freddie Mercury."

Featuring tracks such as "Too Much Love Will Kill You" and "Heaven for Everyone", the album also contains the song "Mother Love", the last vocal recording Mercury made before his death, which he completed using a drum machine, over which May, Taylor, and Deacon later added the instrumental track. After completing the penultimate verse, Mercury had told the band he "wasn't feeling that great" and stated, "I will finish it when I come back next time". He never made it back into the studio, so May later recorded the final verse of the song.

A statue in Montreux, Switzerland, by sculptor Irena Sedlecká, was erected as a tribute to Mercury. It stands almost 10 feet (3.0 metres) high overlooking Lake Geneva and was unveiled on 25 November 1996 by Mercury's father and Montserrat Caballé, with bandmates Brian May and Roger Taylor also in attendance. Beginning in 2003 fans from around the world have gathered in Switzerland annually to pay tribute to the singer as part of the "Freddie Mercury Montreux Memorial Day" on the first weekend of September.

In 1997 the three remaining members of Queen released "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)", a song dedicated to Mercury and all those that die too soon. In 1999 a Royal Mail stamp with an image of Mercury on stage was issued in his honour as part of the UK postal service's Millennium Stamp series. In 2009 a star commemorating Mercury was unveiled in Feltham , west London where his family moved upon arriving in England in 1964. The star in memory of Mercury's achievements was unveiled on Feltham High Street by his mother Jer Bulsara and Queen bandmate May.

A statue of Mercury stood over the entrance to the Dominion Theatre in London's West End from May 2002 to May 2014 for Queen and Ben Elton's musical We Will Rock You . A tribute to Queen was on display at the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas throughout 2009 on its video canopy. In December 2009 a large model of Mercury wearing tartan was put on display in Edinburgh as publicity for the run of We Will Rock You . Sculptures of Mercury often feature him wearing a military jacket with his fist in the air. In 2018, GQ magazine called Mercury's yellow military jacket from his 1986 concerts his best known look, while CNN called it "an iconic moment in fashion."

For Mercury's 65th birthday in 2011, Google dedicated its Google Doodle to him. It included an animation set to his song, "Don't Stop Me Now". Referring to "the late, great Freddie Mercury" in their 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech, Guns N' Roses quoted Mercury's lyrics from "We Are the Champions"; "I've taken my bows, my curtain calls, you've brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it, and I thank you all."

Tribute was paid to Queen and Mercury at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The band's performance of "We Will Rock You" with Jessie J was opened with a video of Mercury's "call and response" routine from 1986's Wembley Stadium performance, with the 2012 crowd at the Olympic Stadium responding appropriately. The frog genus Mercurana , discovered in 2013 in Kerala , India, was named as a tribute because Mercury's "vibrant music inspires the authors". The site of the discovery is very near to where Mercury spent most of his childhood. In 2013, a newly discovered species of damselfly from Brazil was named Heteragrion freddiemercuryi , honouring the "superb and gifted musician and songwriter whose wonderful voice and talent still entertain millions" — one of four similar damselflies named after the Queen bandmates, in tribute to Queen's 40th anniversary.

On 1 September 2016, an English Heritage blue plaque was unveiled at Mercury's home in 22 Gladstone Avenue in Feltham, west London by his sister, Kashmira Cooke, and Brian May. Attending the ceremony, Karen Bradley, the UK Secretary of State for Culture, called Mercury "one of Britain's most influential musicians", and added he "is a global icon whose music touched the lives of millions of people around the world". On 24 February 2020 a street in Feltham was renamed Freddie Mercury Close during a ceremony attended by his sister Kashmira. On 5 September 2016, the 70th anniversary of Mercury's birth, asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury was named after him. Issuing the certificate of designation to the "charismatic singer", Joel Parker of the Southwest Research Institute added: "Freddie Mercury sang, 'I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky' — and now that is even more true than ever before." In an April 2019 interview, British rock concert promoter Harvey Goldsmith referred to Mercury as "one of our most treasured talents".

In August 2019, Mercury was one of the honorees inducted in the Rainbow Honor Walk, a walk of fame in San Francisco's Castro neighbourhood noting LGBTQ people who have "made significant contributions in their fields". Freddie Mercury Alley is a 107-yard-long (98 m) alley next to the British embassy in the Ujazdów district in Warsaw , Poland, which is dedicated to Mercury, and was unveiled on 22 November 2019. Until the Freddie Mercury Close in Feltham was dedicated, Warsaw was the only city in Europe with a street dedicated to the singer. In January 2020, Queen became the first band to join Queen Elizabeth II on a British coin. Issued by the Royal Mint , the commemorative £5 coin features the instruments of all four band members, including Mercury's Bechstein grand piano and his mic and stand. In April 2022, a life-size statue of Mercury was unveiled in South Korea's resort island of Jeju .

Mercury has featured in international advertising to represent the UK. In 2001, a parody of Mercury, along with prints of other British music icons consisting of The Beatles , Elton John, Spice Girls , and The Rolling Stones , appeared in the Eurostar national advertising campaign in France for the Paris to London route. In September 2017 the airline Norwegian painted the tail fin of two of its aircraft with a portrait of Mercury to mark what would have been his 71st birthday. Mercury is one of the company's six "British tail fin heroes", alongside England's 1966 FIFA World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore , children's author Roald Dahl , novelist Jane Austen , pioneering pilot Amy Johnson , and aviation entrepreneur Sir Freddie Laker.

As the first major rock star to die of AIDS-related complications, Mercury's death represented an important event in the history of the disease. In April 1992, the remaining members of Queen founded The Mercury Phoenix Trust and organised The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness , to celebrate the life and legacy of Mercury and raise money for AIDS research, which took place on 20 April 1992. The Mercury Phoenix Trust has since raised millions of pounds for various AIDS charities. The tribute concert, which took place at London's Wembley Stadium for an audience of 72,000, featured a wide variety of guests including Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin ), Roger Daltrey (of the Who ), Extreme, Elton John , Metallica , David Bowie , Annie Lennox , Tony Iommi (of Black Sabbath ), Guns N' Roses , Elizabeth Taylor , George Michael , Def Leppard , Seal and Liza Minnelli , with U2 also appearing via satellite. Elizabeth Taylor spoke of Mercury as "an extraordinary rock star who rushed across our cultural landscape like a comet shooting across the sky". The concert was broadcast live to 76 countries and had an estimated viewing audience of 1 billion people. The Freddie For A Day fundraiser on behalf of the Mercury Phoenix Trust takes place every year in London, with supporters of the charity including Monty Python comedian Eric Idle , and Mel B of the Spice Girls.

The documentary, Freddie Mercury: The Final Act , aired on BBC Two in 2021 and The CW in the US in April 2022. It covered Mercury's last days, how his bandmates and friends put together the Tribute Concert at Wembley, and interviewed medical professionals, people who tested HIV positive, and others who knew someone who died of AIDS. At the 50th International Emmy Awards in 2022 it won the International Emmy Award for Best Arts Programming.

Several popularity polls conducted over the past decade indicate that Mercury's reputation may have been enhanced since his death. For instance, in a 2002 vote to determine who the UK public considers the greatest British people in history, Mercury was ranked 58 in the list of the 100 Greatest Britons , broadcast by the BBC. He was further listed at the 52nd spot in a 2007 Japanese national survey of the 100 most influential heroes. Although he had been criticised by gay activists for hiding his HIV status, author Paul Russell included Mercury in his book The Gay 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Gay Men and Lesbians, Past and Present . In 2008, Rolling Stone ranked Mercury 18 on its list of the Top 100 Singers Of All Time. Mercury was voted the greatest male singer in MTV 's 22 Greatest Voices in Music. In 2011 a Rolling Stone readers' pick placed Mercury in second place of the magazine's Best Lead Singers of All Time. In 2015, Billboard magazine placed him second on their list of the 25 Best Rock Frontmen (and Women) of All Time. In 2016, LA Weekly ranked him first on the list of 20 greatest singers of all time, in any genre.

On 24 November 1997, a monodrama about Freddie Mercury's life, titled Mercury: The Afterlife and Times of a Rock God , opened in New York City. It presented Mercury in the hereafter: examining his life, seeking redemption and searching for his true self. The play was written and directed by Charles Messina and the part of Mercury was played by Khalid Gonçalves (né Paul Gonçalves) and then later, Amir Darvish. Billy Squier opened one of the shows with an acoustic performance of a song he had written about Mercury titled "I Have Watched You Fly".

In 2016 a musical titled Royal Vauxhall premiered at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in Vauxhall, London. Written by Desmond O'Connor, the musical told the alleged tales of the nights that Mercury, Kenny Everett and Princess Diana spent out at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London in the 1980s. Following several successful runs in London, the musical was taken to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2016 starring Tom Giles as Mercury.

The 2018 biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody was, at its release, the highest-grossing musical biographical film of all time. Mercury was portrayed by Rami Malek , who received the Academy Award , BAFTA Award , Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor, for his performance. While the film received mixed reviews and contained historical inaccuracies, it won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama.

Mercury appeared as a supporting character in the BBC television drama Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story , first broadcast in October 2012. He was portrayed by actor James Floyd. He was played by actor John Blunt in The Freddie Mercury Story: Who Wants to Live Forever , first broadcast in the UK on Channel 5 in November 2016.

In 2018, David Avery portrayed Mercury in the Urban Myths comedy series in an episode focusing on the antics backstage at Live Aid, and Kayvan Novak portrayed Mercury in an episode titled "The Sex Pistols vs. Bill Grundy". He was also portrayed by Eric McCormack (as the character Will Truman ) on Will & Grace in the October 2018 episode titled "Tex and the City".

Discography

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Stars Who Couldn't Stand Freddie Mercury

As the huge outpouring of love for his 2018 biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody" proved, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury remains one of music's most beloved icons. Before Mercury's tragic death in 1991 at the age of 45 due to complications of AIDS, he had established himself as one of the finest rock vocalists of his generation as well as one of its most flamboyant performers. His legacy includes numerous No. 1 hit singles and albums including "We Are The Champions" and "Another One Bites The Dust," but is perhaps best encapsulated in Mercury's famous performance at Live Aid in 1985, when in the sold-out Wembley Stadium in London — and in front of a TV audience of more than 1.5 billion – he held the crowd in the palm of his hand to deliver perhaps rock music's most classic performance.

But while Mercury is now considered one of rock's greatest showmen and Queen one of the defining British rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s, they didn't always enjoy the exalted status they do today. Several of their fellow musicians have been outspoken in their dislike for the band and Mercury in particular, as have several respected music critics. Here are some of the most notable.

Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious

It is perhaps no surprise that Sid Vicious, the bassist for the notorious British punk band The Sex Pistols, wouldn't be the biggest fan of Freddie Mercury or Queen. Whereas the stadium rock Queen perfected hinged on theatrics and grand gestures, punk focussed on rawness and authenticity, and in many ways was a reaction to how arguably bloated rock music had become by the mid-1970s. However, it appears that Vicious held a deep-seated personal dislike for Mercury.

In November 1977, Vicious gave an interview with BBC Radio One in which he discussed an encounter he had with the Queen singer. "I saw Freddie Mercury in the flesh," Vicious said. "Pictures can't convey how revolting that bloke is. He's absolutely hideous, he's like an old Turk. He's got a great big blue shadow that comes right up to under his eyes. And this disgusting voice. And he warbles away about, 'Oh, the ballet is rather good this season.' He's absolutely awful. I've never met anyone like him" (via YouTube ).

However, there was reportedly more to the meeting between the two men than Vicious publicly admitted. In 1977, both bands were recording separately at Wessex Sound Studios when Vicious entered Queen's recording area. Vicious sarcastically questioned Mercury about his love of ballet, a passion he was open about in interviews. Mercury then dubbed Vicious "Simon Ferocious," prompting a confrontation between the pair. It climaxed with Mercury grabbing Vicious by the lapels and throwing him out of the room.

The Cure's Robert Smith

Another British musician who has made no secret of his dislike of Freddie Mercury is Robert Smith, lead singer and songwriter of the veteran British goth rock and post-punk band The Cure . Smith is famously truculent in interviews and is happy to attack elements of culture that he just doesn't vibe with.

In 2004, Smith's band was going through an upturn in interest thanks to a new generation of indie bands emerging from the U.K. who cited The Cure's 1980s and 1990s work as their inspiration. In response, the veterans took several of them on the road and released a new self-titled album. At the same time The Cure was inspiring a new generation, a new wave of hard rock bands plying their trade with Queen-inspired theatrics, such as The Darkness, were U.K. chart darlings, much to Smith's dismay.

When asked by Rolling Stone what he thought of The Darkness, Smith responded: "Well, I never liked Queen. I can honestly say I hated Queen and everything that they did. To have that rehashed and reheated for a second time around is pretty weird. So, no, I don't like the Darkness at all. I think they're a comedy band," implying a similar opinion of Mercury's work.

Music Writer Dave Marsh

Regardless of individual musical taste, it is today taken as fact that Freddie Mercury belongs at the top table of rock frontmen, a performer whose immense charisma and stage presence electrified their most memorable performances. But not everyone was impressed by Mercury's stage abilities — in fact, even at his pomp, some of America's most respected music critics were ambivalent to his performances. The legendary journalist Lester Bangs, for example, described Queen's 1977 performances at Madison Square Garden as "'Fantasia' for dodos and 14-year-olds" in The Village Voice , while John Swenson, writing for the same magazine, described Queen as "the most pretentious metal band extant."

But worse came from Bangs' protege, Dave Marsh, who in 1979 penned a column for Rolling Stone in which he made his hatred for Mercury and Queen plain. Reviewing the band's latest studio album, "Jazz," Marsh derided it as a "dull pastiche" that highlighted Mercury's "throat-scratching vocals," and complained that through the penning of songs like "We Will Rock You" Queen "may be the first truly fascist rock band," adding, "The whole thing makes me wonder why anyone would indulge these creeps and their polluting ideas."

Kansas frontman Steve Walsh

The progressive arena rock band Kansas was formed in 1970, the same year as Queen first came together in London. Though Kansas would go on to enjoy huge commercial success later in the 1970s and for years after, their emergence was slow, only breaking into the mainstream in 1976 with the release of their third album. Before that, they established themselves as a live act with frequent support slots, and featured on the same bill as Queen — whose breakthrough came a couple of years earlier — numerous times. 

In a 2003 interview with Get Ready To Rock , Kansas vocalist Steve Walsh opened up about his memories of those early days, and what it was like mixing with some of the biggest acts of the day while still laboring in relative obscurity. He described the experience as "Real good. Queen and Mott The Hoople were fantastic. Real nice people." However, he reserved some scorn for Freddie Mercury, whom he called "an a******. He was a prima donna. Diva if you will. That's about having an ego bigger than you are talented, bigger than you deserve."

British Capital Radio DJ Kenny Everett

The British Capital Radio DJ Kenny Everett played an instrumental role in making Queen one of the biggest rock acts of all time thanks to his full-throated backing of arguably their greatest song, 1975's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Though now considered a progressive rock classic which remains a popular radio song, upon its release both Queen's record label was anxious that the track's runtime of almost six minutes would make it unplayable for many commercial radio stations and delayed its release while they considered other options. However, the band themselves leaked "Bohemian Rhapsody" to Everett, who teased portions of his song to listeners before famously playing the song 14 times over two days, building excitement for its eventual release.

Everett and Freddie Mercury were also close friends for many years and spent a great deal of time together enjoying London's burgeoning gay scene and nightlife. However, in 1986 Mercury was the victim of a series of exposés in the British tabloid newspapers that cast light on his gay lifestyle, which was a secret to many of his fans at the time, as well as his cocaine use. Shortly after, he and Everett, who was also a cocaine user, had an argument over the drug, and the pair fell out.

According to Mercury's former lover Jim Hutton "They never made up ... if we'd see him out and about around the gay clubs, they never spoke. All those newspaper stories about Kenny being at Freddie's bedside were fabricated," per  "Freddie Mercury: The Definitive Biography."

‘Back to Black’ whitewashes a mercurial supernova of a star

The Amy Winehouse story gets a drab cautionary retelling.

Why do we even watch biopics?

They made sense back in the early days of Hollywood, when telling the story of a Louis Pasteur or a Vincent van Gogh was a visual window onto a life and a history you couldn’t experience otherwise. But a film biography of an entertainer whose image and life are already baked into the culture seems a perverse undertaking. And yet we go — to see Sissy Spacek play Loretta Lynn, Rami Malek play Freddie Mercury, Renée Zellweger as Judy Garland, Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash. Oscar winners and nominees all.

Do we go for the transformation of one star into another? For the hits? For a glimpse beneath the glitz of persona for the grit of the actual person?

This is a roundabout way of asking why “Back to Black,” a.k.a. the Amy Winehouse Story, falls so flat and feels so canned.

The movie stars a relative unknown, Marisa Abela, as Winehouse, so a built-in star curiosity isn’t there, but the same was true of Austin Butler, and no one had a problem with “Elvis.” (Well, they did, but for other reasons.) Abela gives a passionate performance, and that’s actually her singing voice on the soundtrack, willed into a startling simulacrum of Winehouse’s louche, decadent drawl.

And yet, Abela’s not Amy Winehouse, and somehow that matters.

Is it that the singer was absolutely unique? (I know you’re not supposed to use modifiers with a word like “unique,” but Winehouse was unique — absolutely.) Is it that her short, calamitous life and seemingly unpreventable death are simply too sad for the banalities of a two-hour movie? The story Winehouse tells is one about the black hole at the center of our celebrity culture, where those who have the gift of talent but not the talent for coping get devoured by attention, addiction, the gawkers at the window as they fall. No one wants to see that movie. We’d have to face ourselves.

“Back to Black” covers Winehouse’s life from her early days of singing in London clubs to her signing with Island Records, her first record (2003’s “Frank”), the breakthrough to American and international fame with the 2007 hit “Rehab,” and rapid dissolution under an onslaught of paparazzi, insecurity, alcohol, heroin and the mendacity of the British tabloids. Mostly, it’s a love story of the hardy “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” genre, where the heroine keeps a lamp burning in the window for a guy that any moviegoer can see is a rat bastard.

The rat bastard here is named Blake Fielder-Civil, and he’s played with probably a lot more charm than he deserves by Jack O’Connell, who with Josh O’Connor and Ireland’s Paul Mescal is part of a new generation of absurdly gifted hunks from the British Isles. The scene where Blake first meets Amy in a pub may be the best moment in the movie, the two circling each other in a smoldering flirt that they both know is heading toward the bedroom until his girlfriend shows up. He knows who she is but keeps it to himself; she knows he knows and is turned on by his cool — it’s a lovely oasis before the ensuing 90 minutes of screaming arguments.

The movie depicts Winehouse as a clinging, insanely jealous girlfriend, but it’s somehow excused because of her passion or art or working-class milieu — it’s never really clear. Fielder-Civil is excused for introducing Amy to crack cocaine and heroin because he, uh, wears a snappy trilby hat? Beats me. “Back to Black” hints at a connection between the singer’s volatility and her adoration of torch songs and retro lounge music — unfashionable genres until she single-handedly made them fashionable again — but director Sam Taylor-Johnson keeps the life and the art, the person and the persona, in separate lanes, even when Winehouse is sadly crooning “What Is It About Men?” after a row with Blake. Where’s the Amy Winehouse of the records, imperiously surveying the certainty of her own destruction?

You can find her in “ Amy ,” Asif Kapadia’s exemplary 2015 documentary made from home movies of Winehouse’s early days and from increasingly disturbing performance and paparazzi footage before her 2011 death at 27 from alcohol poisoning. That film gives a much darker portrait of Winehouse’s father, Mitch, who’s played in “Back to Black” as a meddling but good-hearted yob by Eddie Marsan.

The new movie, in fact, has been made with the approval of the Winehouse family; coincidentally or not, “Back to Black” has the feeling of a whitewash. The triumph and tragedy of this life remain in the grooves of the music, a body of work that stands as all the biopic anyone who ever shivered to an Amy Winehouse song needs.

R. At area theaters. Contains drug use, language throughout, sexual content and nudity. 122 minutes.

Ty Burr is the author of the movie recommendation newsletter Ty Burr’s Watch List at tyburrswatchlist.com .