PEOPLE know Queen songs, and some of them are aware that vocalist Freddie Mercury had a lot to do with the band’s success. Queen throughout its career spawned worldwide hits like We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions and Bohemian Rhapsody.
Here are 25 random and interesting things about Mercury (born Sept. 5, 1946) as fans around the world remember the rock superstar, 25 years after his death (Nov. 24, 1991).
1) Mercury was born in Tanzania, a country in Eastern Africa.
2) Mercury is of Parsi descent. Parsi stands for a member of a group of followers in India of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster. But Mercury was a British citizen at birth.
3) Mercury’s birth name was Farrokh Bulsara.
4) Mercury spent most of his childhood in India. He learned to play the piano when he was seven.
5) His first band was called The Hectics. He was 12.
6) In his teens, he started referring to himself as “Freddie.”
7) For safety reasons, his family moved from Zanzibar, Tanzania to Middlesex, England.
8) He studied art in college later earning a diploma in Art and Graphic Design.
9) Mercury after graduation maintained a stall selling second-hand clothes in a three-storey indoor market.
10) Mercury worked for at time in an airport in England.
11) In 1970, Mercury joined forces with Brian May and Roger Taylor, and named their new band Queen.
12) He legally changed his name to Freddie Mercury in 1970.
13) An artist himself, Mercury designed the Queen logo.
14) A recent scientific study published April this year, said that Mercury’s special vocal trademark lies in his unusually fast vibrato. “An opera singer’s vibrato has this frequency of about 5.5-6 Hz. Freddie Mercury’s is higher, and it’s also more irregular, and that kind of creates a very typical vocal fingerprint,” said the lead researcher.
15) Mercury is gay. But when he died, he left most of his money, his house, and his recording royalties to his ex-girlfriend Mary Austin. “All my lovers asked me why they couldn’t replace Mary, but it’s simply impossible.
The only friend I’ve got is Mary and I don’t want anybody else. To me, she was my common-law wife. To me, it was a marriage. We believe in each other; that’s enough for me,” Mercury said in an interview.
16) Mercury thought he sucked playing the piano. He wanted to sing and move around the stage instead.
17) Mercury was a huge cat lover. He would call home to “talk” with his cats.
18) Mercury shot a music video with a broken leg.
19) Bohemian Rhapsody was an “accidental” hit. With the song over six minutes long, it was never a conventional radio single. But Mercury’s DJ friend played it anyway on radio without the record label knowing. Soon after, listeners were calling for the song to be officially released.
20) Mercury’s “bottomless mic” trademark was discovered by accident.
21) According to Mercury, a collaboration between him and Michael Jackson never worked out as Jackson always brought his pet llama with him in the studio.
22) Mercury covered a Beach Boys song.
23) While recording the final track of Queen’s final album, Mercury was already very sick and could barely walk.
Brian May, Queen’s guitarist, was concerned about Mercury and asked if he could complete the take. Mercury drank some vodka and went, “I’ll f*cking do it, darling.” He recorded the song The Show Must Go On in one take.
24) Mercury died of Bronchopneumonia (brought on by Aids).
25) Mercury’s final resting place is not known.