The late musician Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the ground-breaking and iconic band Queen, would be celebrating his 72nd birthday on Wednesday 5 September this year. Freddie Mercury died in 1991 at age 45 due to complications from AIDS.
Fans around the world honour Freddie Mercury every year on September 5th with a global charity celebration called “Freddie for a Day.” Many celebrate his life by donning a white vest, his famous yellow jacket and sporting a trademark moustache to dress up like the late singer.
The event, celebrated across the globe, raises money for the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the AIDS charity set up in his name in 1992.
In honouring one of the greatests performers that the world has ever seen, here are some interesting facts about the legendary singer:
- Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania).
- He adopted the name Freddie while at St. Peter’s, the English boarding school he attended in India, before he and his family moved to England.
- As a child, between the ages of nine and 12, Freddie enjoyed collecting stamps. His personal album contains stamps from Britain, Monaco, Eastern Europe, Aden (now part of Yemen) and Zanzibar. The collection was bought by The Postal Museum (in the UK) in 1993 and proceeds of the sale went to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the charity that was set up in Freddie’s memory.
- Freddie was posthumously remembered on one of a special series of stamps that Britain’s Royal Mail produced to mark the millennium.
- Freddie once had a part time job working as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport.
- Freddie co-owned and ran a stall in Kensington Market in London with Roger Taylor, which opened in the summer of 1969. They sold Freddie’s own artwork as well as second hand clothes. The two of them kept up the running of the stall, even after Queen released their first album in 1973.
- Freddie had four extra teeth on his upper jaw, which were pushing on the front ones. He never considered ‘fixing’ them because he believed that they contributed to the special sound of his voice -- the legendary four-octave range.
- Freddie never needed an excuse for a party. For one celebration, he had a cake made in the shape of the Swiss apartment block where he’d bought a flat – complete with towers and turrets.
- In 2016, a research team undertook a study to understand the unique appeal of Freddie’s voice. The Austrian, Czech and Swedish researchers studied archival recordings. They noted the singer’s faster vibrato and use of subharmonics, particularly in comparison to opera singers.
- Despite not believing in astrology, Freddie designed Queen’s crest using the astrological signs of the four members: two Leos, one Cancer and one Virgo.
RT if you agree - Greatest Rock Band Ever ► pic.twitter.com/QTHQgOmmSi
— Queen (@QueenRockBand) November 18, 2015
- Freddie loved cats and owned several - some exotic long haired cats were gifts from friends and others were rescued from a shelter. One of his cats, Delilah, was the inspiration for Queen song of the same name.
- Freddie was a big fan of the Spanish operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé. The musicians teamed up to record an album together in 1987 called ‘Barcelona’ and a hit of the same name. Though Freddie didn’t live to see it, ‘Barcelona’ was featured at the Olympic Games in 1992, going on to become the best known song of any Olympics.
- Queen wasn’t going to release ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ as a single until Michael Jackson convinced them. It became the most successful American single of their career.
- Despite the popular song lyrics from ‘Bicycle Race’, Freddie didn’t like riding bicycles.
- Freddie’s final home, Garden Lodge, 1 Logan Place, is a 28 room Georgian mansion in Kensington, London, set in a quarter-acre manicured garden surrounded by a high brick wall. It was picked out by Mary Austin who had been his girlfriend, then became his best friend.
- In his will, Freddie left his London home and the contents to Mary Austin, his lifelong companion, and she continues to live there.
- An asteroid was named after Freddie to commemorate what would have been his 70th birthday in September 2016. The International Astronomical Union designated asteroid 17473 as Freddiemercury. The asteroid was discovered in 1991, the same year Freddie died. It orbits the sun on a path between Mars and Jupiter. Announcing the news, Brian May said ‘Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury’ is “just a dot of light, but it’s a very special dot of light.”
A movie about the singer will be released in November this year.
Bohemian Rhapsody
is the story of how Freddie Mercury and his fellow band members Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon formed Queen - one of the most iconic rock groups of all time. The film follows Queen as they produce hit after hit, topping the charts while constantly evolving their sound. Through disparate songs like Killer Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are the Champions, We Will Rock You and countless others, the band reaches unparalleled success and Freddie becomes one of the most beloved entertainers on the planet.
Pulling himself up from personal strife one more time to overcome the odds, the band puts on one of the greatest performances in the history of rock music. Queen cements a legacy that continues to inspire outsiders, dreamers and music lovers to this day.
@TheCapeArgus