Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar, an island off the east coast of Africa on September 5, 1946, having been baptized as Farokh Bulsara. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, are from the region of Gujarat in India, descendants of Persians who immigrated there for over a thousand years fleeing from religious persecution.
At eight, Farok was sent to St. Peter’s Boarding School, an English school near Bombay, India, where he began to be called Freddie by colleagues. There he formed his first band – The Hectics.
Contact with the Smile made Freddie think he would be part of a rock group. He played in a few bands trying to find space in London’s music scene: Ibex, Wreckage, and Sour Milk Sea, but when Tim decided to leave Smile Staffell to form a new group, Freddie did not think twice to join Brian and Roger.
Although most of his career can be confused with the Queen, Freddie Mercury also released several solo works: LPs Mr. Bad Guy (1985) and, with diva Montserrat Caballe, Barcelona (1988), and the musical Time David Clark.
Guitarist Brian May says that even when Freddie was very ill, “his voice miraculously became better and better.”
When he died on November 24, 1991 due to lung complications from AIDS, the singer left his mansion in Kensington and much of his fortune to Mary Austin. Musicians and fans from all over the world pay tribute for the death of the ambassador of rock.
Curiosities:
Freddie has always believed that his voice was a unique tenor register, to experience with the Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballé, star of his worship and, later, friend. In 1988, Montserrat invited him for the record of the official anthem of the Olympic Games in Barcelona, which would start in 1992 (he would not see the ceremony: he died a few months before). While rehearsing, the singer Freddie interrupted to tell her that his voice was not the kind of more acute, as he thought. “You have baritone voice, maybe even low,” he said. “Let me try to make you sing in that direction.” Chanting crowds in open spaces had forced to “pull up” the voice. His voice profile, according to his biographer, “was complex and still evolving. Just as the personality and life, interrupted at age 45. At that time, Freddie allowed to be led by La Caballé, like if it were his childhood in Zanzibar.
Mariana Catroga, 11.º B