The Queen of 70s: Freddie Mercury
The “Queen” of the 70s, Freddie Mercury—stage name of Farrokh Bulsara—was born in Stone Town, Tanzania, on September 4, 1946.
A brilliant student with natural artistic and athletic talent, Freddie also possessed an extraordinary ear for music; it was for this reason that his teachers encouraged him to study music. He had incredible taste, superior intelligence, and an exceptional vocal range extending to four octaves with the aid of falsetto.
Biographer David Bret said that his voice could shift from a guttural rock roar to a pure, crystalline high note. Montserrat Caballé was impressed by his technique when they recorded “Barcelona” together. She herself stated that his voice extended from F in the first octave to F in the fifth octave.
According to an anecdote, when he founded his first band “The Hectics,” Freddie punched Bruce for calling him “walrus” because of his protruding teeth—a defect Freddie never corrected for fear that his vocal timbre would change.
His artistic influence is also evident in the creation of the “Queen” logo, which incorporates the zodiac signs of the band members with a Phoenix rising above them all. Freddie had a profound love for art; one of his favorite artists was the Belarusian Marc Chagall, whose works he purchased during the Magic Tour in Budapest. Freddie took advantage of every tour to indulge his passions. It is said that in Japan he purchased enormous and extremely expensive “Koi” carp to place in the pond at his home in Kensington. He also had a genuine passion for his cats, to whom he dedicated two tracks on the album “Mr. Bad Guy.”
There are also two tracks available online that were recorded but never officially released, the result of a collaboration between Freddie and Michael Jackson. After 30 albums and 707 concerts, on November 24, 1991, at 6:48 PM, the heart of this extraordinary artist stopped beating, struck down by pneumonia—a consequence of AIDS that had ravaged his body. Not before leaving us with a pearl of absolute beauty: the album “Innuendo.”
