Considered one of the greatest lead-singer/frontmen in the history of rock and roll,

Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bomi Bulsara in September, 1946 on the island of Zanzibar. He was sent to India at the age of 8 to attend St. Peter's boarding school and attended until he and his family were forced to leave Zanzibar because of the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution. The family relocated to a small house in Feltham, London. He later enrolled at Isleworth Polytechnic in West London (now West Thames College) where he studied art and went on to earn a Diploma in Art and Graphic Design at Ealing Art College (it was FM who designed the original Queen crest).

After trying out various jobs and playing in a band that soon broke up, Mercury joined with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor in April of 1970. Originally called “Smile”, the singer re-christened the band Queen and, around this time, legally changed his own name to Freddie Mercury. Greatly influenced by the amazing stage presenses of “real rock stars” such as Jimi Hendrix and Robert Plant/Led Zeppelin, it was Mercury’s goal to use his talents in large-scale performances in front of huge audiences, and history has proven his predictions to be right-on.

Over the course of his career with Queen, Mercury performed an estimated 700 concerts in countries around the world. Calling the band “the Cecil B. DeMille of Rock & Roll”, the band set attendance records wherever they went. They were the first band to play stadiums in South America (Brazil, 1981) and behind the Iron Curtain (Budapest, 1986). Their performance at 1985’s Live Aid event is considered by many critics as the best live performance by a band ever (!!), while their final live concert performance in the 1986 Knebworth Festival drew nearly 300,000 fans.  

His live performances also asked for a lot of participation from the crowd, so it took a performer with incredible charisma to be able to engage crowds of 50,000+ to participate in sing-alongs and clap-alongs (watching video of “Radio Ga-Ga” with huge crowds waving and clapping in unison is truly breath-taking). In a 1/9/92 interview in Rolling Stone magazine, David Bowie (who had performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert and recorded the song "Under Pressure" with Queen) said of Mercury, "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. He could always turn a cliché to his advantage."

Freddie Mercury died from pneumonia related to AIDs in November of 1991 and, six months later, on April 20, 1992, the surviving members of Queen organized a star-studded tribute/fundraising concert for Mercury at Wembley Stadium.  The show featured performances by such Queen/Mercury admirers as David Bowie, Roger Daltrey, Elton John, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, George Michael, Liza Minnelli, Robert Plant, and Seal, among others. In 1992, Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” was featured in the smash movie Wayne’s World and the band’s back catalog enjoyed healthy sales. Since Mercury had completed a number of tracks to new songs before his death, the surviving band members worked to release the Made in Heaven album in 1995. 

Czech artist/sculptress Irena Sedlecka erected a 10-foot tall statue on the shores of Lake Geneva in Montreux, Switzerland as a tribute to Mercury. It was unveiled on 11/25/96 and, each year, fans from all over the world gather on the first weekend in September as part of the "Freddie Mercury Montreux Memorial Day" celebrations there.

http://www.swiss-riviera.com/freddie-memorial/

For more on Freddie Mercury’s Mercury Phoenix Trust, please visit their website at

http://www.mercuryphoenixtrust.com/