In February 1963 he moved back to Zanzibar where he joined his parents at their flat.Įnglish Heritage blue plaque at 22 Gladstone Avenue, Feltham, LondonĪt the age of 17, Mercury and his family fled from Zanzibar for safety reasons due to the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution, in which thousands of Arabs and Indians were killed. Peter's where he began to call himself "Freddie". 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 from the time recalls that he had "an uncanny ability to listen to the radio and replay what he heard on piano". 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. Peter's School, a British-style boarding school for boys, in Panchgani near Bombay (now Mumbai). In 1954, at the age of eight, Mercury was sent to study at St. Mercury spent most of his childhood in India and began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. Mercury was born with four supernumerary incisors. The Bulsara family had moved to Zanzibar so that his father could continue his job as a cashier at the British Colonial Office. As Parsis, Mercury and his family practised the Zoroastrian religion. His parents, Bomi (1908-2003) and Jer Bulsara (1922-2016), were Parsis from the Gujarat region of the then-province of Bombay Presidency in British India. Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Stone Town in the British protectorate of Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania) on 5 September 1946. He is consistently voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music. In 2002, he was placed number 58 in the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. As a member of Queen, he was 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 1992, Mercury was posthumously awarded the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music, and a tribute concert was held at Wembley Stadium, London.
Mercury died in 1991 at age 45 due to complications from AIDS, having confirmed the day before his death that he had contracted the disease. He formed Queen in 1970 with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor.
Mercury was born of Parsi descent on Zanzibar, and grew up there and in India before moving with his family to Middlesex, England, in his late teens. He led a solo career while performing with Queen, and occasionally served as a producer and guest musician for other artists. Mercury wrote numerous hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", and "We Are the Champions". He was known for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range. Farrokh Bulsara (5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991), known professionally as Freddie Mercury, was a British singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen.