Freddie Mercury

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Freddie Mercury (1977)
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Freddie Mercury (born September 5, 1946 as Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar , Sultanate of Zanzibar , † November 24, 1991 in Kensington, London ) was a British musician and one of the most important rock singers of the 1970s and 1980s. He became known as the co-founder, composer and lead singer of the band Queen . Mercury composed world hits such as Bohemian Rhapsody (1975) or We Are the Champions (1977).

Life

Origin and boarding school in India (1946–1963) and faith

Freddie Mercury's birthplace in Zanzibar

Mercury was born as Farrokh Bulsara on September 5, 1946 on the island of Zanzibar in what was then the British protectorate of Zanzibar. He was the first child of the British embassy employee Bomi Bulsara (1908-2003) and his wife Jer (1922-2016). The family came from India and belonged to the Parsees . From the school year 1954/55 Mercury attended the English-speaking boys' boarding school St. Peter's School in Panchgani in the Indian state of Bombay . There he got the nickname "Freddie", which he kept all his life. The director of the boarding school noticed Mercury's musical talent and suggested that his parents let him learn to play the piano . In addition, Mercury joined the school choir and took part in performances of the school theater. At the age of about twelve he became a member of the band The Hectics, which consisted of five musicians and whose performances took place primarily in the context of school events.

Freddie Mercury's religion was Zoroastrianism . He was thus later the most famous Zoroastrian of the recent past.

Youth and art studies in London (1963–1969)

Mercury returned to Zanzibar without leaving school in the summer of 1963, which became independent from British colonial rule at the end of the year . In January 1964 there was a violent revolution against the Sultan of Zanzibar . In the same month, Bomi and Jer Bulsara fled to London with their 17-year-old son Freddie and his sister Kashmira, who was born in 1952, and moved to the suburb of Feltham . From 1964 to 1966, Mercury attended what was then Isleworth Polytechnic (now West Thames College ) in West London, from which he completed an A-Level Certificate (comparable to the German Abitur). From 1966 to 1969 he was an art student at Ealing College of Art, from which he graduated with a degree in graphic design . During this time he made numerous drawings, including portraits of his idols Jimi Hendrix , Rock Hudson , Paul McCartney and Cliff Richard . He also designed fashionable men's clothing.

Roadie of the band Smile and lead singer of the bands Wreckage and Sour Milk Sea (1969 to 1970)

Through his fellow student Tim Staffell , Mercury - who was still called Freddie Bulsara at the time - got to know the band Smile , which had existed since 1968 . The band consisted of Tim Staffell (vocals and bass), Brian May (guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums). Mercury accompanied the band as a roadie at their live concerts and also brought in their own ideas as to how the band Smile should design their appearance and their stage appearances. During this time, Mercury and Taylor ran a small stall in London's Kensington Market . In the course of 1969, Mercury joined the Liverpool- based band Ibex as lead singer , which appeared under the new name Wreckage from autumn 1969. At the concerts of these bands, the piece Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley could be heard, which was later often played by Queen. At this time he also met Mary Austin, with whom a close friendship developed. In September 1969, the band Wreckage performed at the club The Sink in Liverpool, where Roger Taylor and Brian May also played in the encore. After finishing his engagement with Wreckage Mercury became the singer of the band Sour Milk Sea for a short time, with whom he had some appearances in early 1970.

Founding of Queen and stage name Freddie Mercury (1970)

In the spring of 1970, the band Smile broke up because Tim Staffell left the group. Then in April 1970 Brian May, Roger Taylor and Freddie Mercury formed a band that Mercury named Queen . The bassist John Deacon joined in 1971. Some time after the founding of Queen, Freddie Bulsara adopted the stage name "Mercury". The English word Mercury has different meanings such as Mercury , the planet closest to the Sun in our solar system , the chemical element mercury and the god Mercury in Roman mythology , who held the special position of the messenger of the gods. According to Brian May, there is a reference to Mercury's song My Fairy King from the first album Queen . In this one line of text it says: "Mother Mercury, look what they've done to me, I cannot run I cannot hide." don't hide myself. "). After this song was recorded, Freddie Bulsara was asked if “Mother Mercury” was his own mother and he replied, “Yes, and from now on I'll be Freddie Mercury.” from now on I'll be Freddie Mercury. ")

Relationship with Mary Austin and breakthrough with Queen (1970–1979)

In the early 1970s, Mercury lived with London-born saleswoman Mary Austin for years. The two shared an apartment in West Kensington, London. As the official life partner of Mercury, Austin also experienced Queen's international breakthrough. In 1973 Mercury released a single under the stage name Larry Lurex.

The single Bohemian Rhapsody , released in October 1975, was number one on the UK charts for nine weeks and became Queen's first number one hit . The record sold over five million times worldwide. The single received two platinum records and several gold records . For the composition of the song Mercury received the Ivor Novello Award in January 1976 . The interpretation of Mercury's longtime personal assistant Peter Freestone can be seen as an explanation for the interpretable text. He argues that Mercury processed his coming out as a gay man in Bohemian Rhapsody . Mercury, who kept his relationships with men and especially his male sexual partners secret, never publicly confessed his homosexuality . At the turn of the year 1975/76 Mercury separated from Mary Austin with a private outing . However, the friendship with her lasted until his death in 1991.

Relationship with Winnie Kirchberger and Munich years (1979–1985)

Freddie Mercury (1984)

From around 1979 to 1985, Mercury chose Munich as their main residence, in order to record albums there and at the same time to be able to live out his private life in the gay scene undisturbed by the media public. In 1983 Mercury met the Austrian actress Barbara Valentin , with whom he temporarily shared an apartment and was out and about in Munich's gay scene in the Glockenbachviertel . In the liner notes of his solo album Mr. Bad Guy , Mercury thanked her "for big tits and misconduct".

At that time, Mercury had rented a luxury apartment on Georg-Brauchle-Ring in Munich and was together with the Munich restaurateur Winfried "Winnie" Kirchberger. In the early 1980s, Kirchberger ran the Sebastianseck on Sebastiansplatz in Munich's old town . Mercury had an intense civil partnership with him and gave him a car and an apartment. Kirchberger died in 1993 of complications from AIDS . Mercury had already started work on his solo album Mr. Bad Guy in Munich in 1983 , which was released in April 1985. He produced it together with the German sound engineer Reinhold Mack , who had already worked as a producer on several Queen albums. It reached 6th place in the UK charts.

Relationship with Jim Hutton and return to London (1985–1989)

In 1985 Mercury moved to his newly furnished Villa Garden Lodge at 1 Logan Place in the London borough of Kensington . Jim Hutton (* 1949) was his life partner from 1985 until Mercury's death in 1991. He was also HIV positive and died of lung cancer in his native Ireland in 2010 .

In February 1987, Mercury uptake appeared that coming from the 1950s Platters -title The Great Pretender as a single. The B-side title Exercises in Free Love was later published as a duet with the Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballé . The record reached the 4th place in the British charts. Roger Taylor contributed his signature voice for the backing vocals. In May 1987 Mercury fulfilled a long-cherished dream and performed with Caballé at the Ku Club in Ibiza . In October, the joint single was released with the hymn Barcelona , which was chosen by the NOK as the theme song for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona . As part of a benefit performance of the musical Time on April 14, 1988 in the Dominion Theater in London, Mercury sang four songs, some together with Cliff Richard , the main actor of the musical. This was the last stage appearance that Mercury's vocals could be heard live.

In October 1988 the album Barcelona was released as a joint project by Mercury and Caballé. All titles were written by Mercury and Mike Moran . The album was in the UK charts for four weeks and reached number 25. On October 8, 1988, Mercury performed at the La Nit concert with Caballé in Barcelona, ​​the music came off the tape.

Last studio albums (1989–1991)

Freddie Mercury as a wax figure at Madame Tussauds , London

In May 1989 the Queen album The Miracle was released . Despite his advanced AIDS disease, Mercury worked in the studio to the end, albeit under increasingly difficult circumstances, and thus made material for two more records available.

In February 1990, Queen were honored with the Brit Award for their outstanding achievements. Mercury's appearance at this event gave rise to further speculation about his state of health. After Brian May had given the acceptance speech, he only said a short “Thank you! Good night! ”Into the microphone.

In February 1991 the Queen album Innuendo was released. The title ("allusion, hint") is the program for the songs on the album: I'm Going Slightly Mad (Mercury), These Are the Days of Our Lives (Taylor) and above all The Show Must Go On (May). That Mercury had not lost his sense of humor, despite everything, can be seen both in his song Delilah, a declaration of love to one of his cats, and in the video for I'm Going Slightly Mad . In All God's People was Mike Moran co-author who had written together with Mercury songs for his solo project with Caballé.

In the same month, the three-day filming of the video clip for I'm Going Slightly Mad took place. Mercury could hardly hide his poor health from the technicians. Again and again he had to lie down in his cloakroom on the pretext that his knee was bothering him. Also in These Are the Days of Our Lives, Mercury's last film recording produced on May 30, 1991, one can see his advanced deterioration in health.

Death (1991)

There is no clear information about when Mercury found out about his HIV infection. According to Mary Austin, he knew on the 1986 Queen tour that he would be the last because of his illness. Barbara Valentin stated that she found out about it from him in 1985. According to David Wigg, a close friend of Mercury's, the singer knew about his HIV infection back in 1984. Mercury's last significant other, Jim Hutton, didn't find out about it until 1987.

In the summer of 1991 rumors grew that Mercury was seriously ill and suffering from AIDS, reported by tabloids around the world. His immediate surroundings kept his true state of health and the nature of his illness secret for several years. There is also conflicting information about the time when his band members found out about Mercury's HIV status. According to Jim Hutton, they found out about it in May 1989. Brian May's biography states that Mercury gathered the band members in Montreux in January 1991 to tell them the truth about his health. In Clarens near Montreux, Mercury owned a villa on the shores of Lake Geneva ( Lage ) . The boathouse is shown on the cover of the 1995 album Made in Heaven .

On November 23, 1991, Mercury issued a written statement to inform the public that he had AIDS. After falling into a coma the next morning , he died that evening in his home in Kensington, London, at the age of 45 of complications from pneumonia . The funeral took place on November 27, 1991 in a private circle according to the Zoroastrian rite according to the religion of his family. Mercury's body was cremated in the West London Crematorium. According to an employee of the Kensal Green Cemetery , the urn was taken away by his parents. A planned memorial in the cemetery was not set up at his mother's request. According to other statements, his ashes were scattered around Lake Geneva to avoid a pilgrimage site. To this day it is not clear whether and where there is a resting place for Mercury.

On February 25, 2013, the Daily Mirror reported a recently discovered plaque in the Kensal Green Cemetery with the inscription "In Loving Memory of Farrokh Bulsara Sept. 5, 1946 - Nov. 24, 1991" followed by the French text "Pour être toujours près de toi avec tout mon amour ”(“ To always be close to you with all my love ”) and the initial“ M ”. The letter is a reference to his girlfriend Mary Austin, who left Mercury his Kensington estate, his fortune and the rights to some songs. On March 6, 2013, it was announced that the plaque had disappeared. In November 2016, another plaque was unveiled in his hometown of Feltham.

Aftermath

On December 2, 1991, Queens Bohemian Rhapsody (as a double A-side together with These Are the Days of Our Lives ) was released again as a single. Like 16 years earlier, the song topped the UK charts for weeks. The proceeds from the single sales went to an AIDS foundation. In the USA, Acoustic Aid, a sampler made for the benefit of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and dedicated to Freddie Mercury, was released in 1992 .

Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (1992)

On April 20, 1992, the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness , televised worldwide, took place at Wembley Stadium in London . The Queen's remaining members - Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon - organized the concert in honor of Mercury and with the aim of raising awareness about AIDS. The Queen musicians performed with a variety of guests, including James Hetfield with the band Metallica , Guns n 'Roses , David Bowie , Seal , Tony Iommi , George Michael , Lisa Stansfield , Elton John , Paul Young and Liza Minnelli . This concert marked the founding of the Mercury Phoenix Trust , which the proceeds from it benefited.

Made in Heaven (1995)

Mercury's statue in Montreux . The cover of Made in Heaven shows a similar view . The engraved epitaph "Freddie Mercury: Lover of Life - Singer of Songs" was written by Brian May for the original statue in Montreux, Switzerland.

On November 6, 1995, almost five years after Innuendo, the Queen album Made in Heaven was released with the last recordings of Freddie Mercury: A Winter's Tale , You Don't Fool Me and Mother Love , sung a few months before his death. The last verse was sung by Brian May. Mercury had continued to devote himself to music with all his might despite the HIV diagnosis. Most of his last recordings were made in Queen's studio in Montreux on Lake Geneva, where the CD cover for Made in Heaven was made - it shows Mercury's larger than life statue, which today stands in memory of Lake Geneva, at dusk. Since his voice was still working, he wanted the band members to write as many songs as possible for him, which would be released after his death.

Recordings such as It's a Beautiful Day and Too Much Love Will Kill You, a version interpreted by May, were also released for the first time at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert and on May's 1992 solo album Back to the Light . This album also contains newly recorded Queen versions of previously released tracks, including Made in Heaven and I Was Born to Love You (both from Mr. Bad Guy ) and Heaven for Everyone (by Mercury for the 1988 debut album of Roger Taylor's solo Project The Cross sung).

In 1997, Brian May wrote No-One But You (Only the Good Die Young) . In addition to Mercury, this should also remember the late British Princess Diana , who also died young. It was the only new song that the original band line-up of May, Taylor, and Deacon recorded after Mercury's death.

Filming of the life story

In late 2006, Brian May confirmed that work on a film about the band's history had begun. He and Roger Taylor led the project. The film was produced by Robert De Niro's company Tribeca Production, which is also involved in the musical We Will Rock You . On his website May 2006 still favored the actor Johnny Depp for the impersonation of Freddie Mercury. In the meantime, the English comedian and actor Sacha Baron Cohen was supposed to play Mercury, but Mercury left the project in July 2013.

At the beginning of November 2016 it was announced that the actor Rami Malek , known from the television series Mr. Robot , would take on the lead role. The film was released in German cinemas on October 31, 2018 under the title Bohemian Rhapsody . At the 2019 Academy Awards , Malek received the Academy Award for Best Actor .

Meaning for Queen

Freddie Mercury was not only the lead singer and, alongside Brian May, the main composer of the band. He was also instrumental in shaping the band's style and image. Thanks to his stage presence, Queen is one of the most successful live bands of all time. The performance at the Live Aid concert initiated by Bob Geldof was particularly impressive. With Queen he was able to celebrate great successes. Mercury's best-known Queen songs include Bohemian Rhapsody , Crazy Little Thing Called Love , Don't Stop Me Now , We Are the Champions and Somebody to Love .

voice

Mercury's distinctive voice was very unusual for a rock singer in terms of volume and breadth. Although he is by nature a baritone with an average speaking voice capable of about 109 to 128 Hertz was, he could the various registers shading-off of his voice in many ways: He sang both in the chest - and in falsetto register, the degree of glottal adduction was varies depending on the aesthetic context along the dimension "breathed" / "pressed". The voice had an irregular and fast vibrato (approx. 7 Hz) with a relatively wide deflection (approx. 1.5 semitones ). The sometimes "rough" vocal timbre is due to subharmonic oscillation phenomena ( period doubling ) in the larynx . Mercury was in full color at home: from music-hall -Titeln as Killer Queen or Bring Back That Leroy Brown on the rock 'n' roll of the 50s (Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Man on the Prowl) and Hard Rock up to disco and funk of the 80s (Staying Power; Body Language; Another One Bites the Dust).

Stage personality

Mercury fascinated his audience with his dancing, powerful, music-coordinated and music-inspired movements. In this regard, he went further than most lead singers of his generation and was extremely inspiring to younger musicians; Elements of Mercury's stage show were adapted from many later singers. His microphone stand, from which the feet had been removed, played a special role. This device was an integral part of his stage show and was used as a drum stick , air guitar , balancing device and much more. For his type of performance he needed a large stage that extended into the third dimension through stairs and ramps. The dismantled feet happened by chance: During an early appearance by Mercury, the normal microphone stand broke through at the point where the height could be adjusted. In order not to have to stop the show, Mercury just kept going, realizing how many different ways he could use this "new" microphone, so that he could keep using it that way.

Another example of this theatrical demeanor is the appearance of Mercury with the Union Jack , which developed a famous choreography by James Brown : He strutted for a while to the song We Will Rock You with the big flag that he hung like a coat across the stage, then turned it around at lightning speed and presented the respective national flag on the other side to the delight of the audience. At the end of the concert he walked off the stage with an ermine coat and crown for the final God Save the Queen and finally donned the crown like a hat as a tribute to the audience.

Vocal solos of an improvisational character were also often part of his performance, whereby here too Mercury's stylistic flexibility was remarkable for a rock singer - in these excursions he used elements of bebop ( Jon Hendricks ), soul ( Donny Hathaway ) and Brazilian music ( Hermeto Pascoal ) back. From these his "Singspiele" with the audience developed, where he sang sequences of notes, which were then sung. These sequences became longer, more complicated and faster after each repetition, until the audience could no longer keep up.

Compositions

Freddie Mercury wrote the following Queen songs:

As a composer he shows a pronounced tendency towards eclecticism , which is already typical of Queen's style ; he draws on an unusual variety of composition and arrangement techniques from classical music, jazz and various styles of popular music. In addition to those already mentioned from 1989 to 1995, other songs were only published under the author's name "Queen", see Queen - The authors of the Queen songs .

singing

Freddie Mercury sang all of his own tracks and Deacon's songs on the Queen albums, as well as most of May's compositions and about half of the pieces written by Taylor. At concerts he sang all Queen songs (with the exception of the Taylor song I'm in Love With My Car ).

In live performances, he also often interpreted rock 'n' roll numbers from the 50s and 60s, including Big Spender ( Cy Coleman & Dorothy Fields ), Hello Mary Lou ( Gene Pitney ), (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care ( Leiber / Stoller ), Tutti Frutti ( Little Richard ) and Gimme Some Lovin ' (Winwood & Winwood & Davies). All of these songs were released on the Live at Wembley '86 album.

In 2008, Rolling Stone listed Freddie Mercury as 18th of the 100 best singers of all time .

Solo projects

For Mercury's solo project with Montserrat Caballé Barcelona , he wrote all the tracks with Mike Moran. The lyrics to The Fallen Priest and The Golden Boy are by Tim Rice, the lyrics by Ensueño from Montserrat Caballé. John Deacon played bass in How Can I Go On .

In November 1992, The Freddie Mercury Album was released posthumously . It contains mostly remixes of tracks from his solo album Mr. Bad Guy and the two tracks sung by Mercury from the musical Time ( Time and In My Defense ) as well as some album or single versions of other solo projects.

Other Projects

Contributions to films

According to the Internet Movie Database , 367 film and TV productions (as of 2017) used pieces by Mercury as film music (→ web links ), for example:

  • 1980: Score for Flash Gordon .
  • 1984: Mercury sang Love Kills for the soundtrack of Giorgio Moroder's adaptation of the Fritz Lang film Metropolis , which he had written with Moroder. In return, Queen was able to use film clips from Metropolis in the video for Radio Ga Ga . The track was released as a single on September 5th.
  • 1984: On October 5th, the film Teachers by Arthur Hiller and Aaron Russo with Nick Nolte in the lead role was released in the USA . Artists such as ZZ Top , Ian Hunter , Bob Seger and Joe Cocker contributed to the soundtrack. Mercury's Fooling Around appeared on his 1985 solo album, Mr. Bad Guy .
  • 1986: Mercury wrote and sang the duet Hold On with Jo Dare for the Schimanski film Zabou . The song could only be heard softly in the background during one scene.
  • 1986: The song Princes of the Universe , written by Mercury, is one of the main themes in the film Highlander , which was released in March 1986. With six songs on the album A Kind of Magic , Queen provided a large part of the soundtrack.

musical

For the soundtrack of the musical Time by Dave Clark , Mercury recorded the two tracks Time (written by Dave Clark and John Christie ; released as a single in May 1986) and In My Defense (by Dave Clark, David Soames and Jeff Daniels ). The musical premiered on April 9, 1986 at the Dominion Theater in London's West End. The main roles were played by Laurence Olivier and Cliff Richard, who was succeeded by David Cassidy during the season . Two years after the premiere, Mercury took part as a guest singer in a benefit performance of the musical.

More shots

Freddie Mercury was involved as a singer, piano player or producer on some projects of other musicians:

  • 1975: Piano and backing vocals in Man from Manhattan by Eddie Howell (single Man from Manhattan ; re-released 1995); Brian May played guitar and also sang backing vocals.
  • 1978: Together with Roy Thomas Baker, Mercury produced the album This One's On Me by Peter Straker . He also sang backing vocals.
  • 1983: In the house of Michael Jackson recorded songs by Jackson and Mercury, of which the end of 2014 on the album Forever the song There Must Be More to Life Than This was published. The remaining Queen members May and Taylor have given the approval and should give the songs the final touches. It is not known how much material actually came together in the studio sessions over 30 years ago.
  • 1984: On Roger Taylor's solo album Strange Frontier , Mercury's voice can be heard briefly in the song Killing Time .
  • 1986: Mercury co-wrote and co-produced the song Lady With a Tenor Sax for Billy Squier's album Enough Is Enough . In Love Is the Hero he sings the backing vocals on the album, and also the intro in the single version .
  • 1988: For the album Shove It by Roger Taylor's band The Cross , Mercury contributed the lead vocals for the track Heaven for Everyone (only backing vocals on the single version). His actual involvement in the song was only revealed after his death; the track was posthumously re-produced by Queen with Mercury's voice and released in 1995 on Made in Heaven .

For other recordings in which other Queen members were also involved, see Queen (Band) / Discography # Video Albums .

Video documentation

  • 2000: The Untold Story : Documentary by Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher , the producers of numerous Queen music videos. Acted retelling of how he grew up and went to school in India. Memories told by his mother Jer Bulsara, sister Kashmira Cooke, Queen band members and friends. Music and video recordings, concert rehearsals and much more. The documentary DVD has a playing time of 111 minutes. It is broadcast on television in a shortened version of 59 minutes. It can be found on the box set FREDDIE MERCURY “The Solo Collection”, on disc 12.
  • 2006: Freddie Mercury: Himself : TV documentary by Rudi Dolezal.
  • 2012: Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender, a comprehensive US documentary by Eagle Rock Productions, with previously unpublished archive recordings, including concert recordings, private material, memories and anecdotes by many well-known personalities about Mercury as a musician, friend and house cat owner. Working on a record production with Michael Jackson. Interviews with Montserrat Caballé and the Queen members. A 107 minute long DVD was created under the direction of Rhys Thomas , which was released in German-speaking countries by the film distribution studio Edel Germany GmbH . The documentary, shortened to 84 minutes, was first broadcast on German television on May 4, 2013 by Arte .
  • 2016: The Freddie Mercury Story: Who Wants to Live Forever : TV documentary from game scenes, archive recordings, concert recordings and interviews with friends of the singer about his last years. Mercury is portrayed by actor John Blunt . The film first aired in the UK on Channel 5 in November 2016 .
  • 2018: Bohemian Rhapsody film biography about Freddie Mercury and the formation of the band Queen

miscellaneous

Stone in memory of Freddie Mercury in the entrance area of ​​the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn

The artist Tom Fecht created a memorial stone for Freddie Mercury for the project “Names and Stones” in the entrance area of ​​the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn. The same stone was laid in memory of Mercury for the project "Names and Stones" in the city garden of Dortmund. The stones are in front of the entrance pagoda to the subway station. Such a stone was also laid in Hamburg at the Dreieinigkeitskirche in St. Georg. It is located on a path paved with name stones that was laid out to commemorate the people who died of AIDS.

On September 4, 2016, an asteroid was named after Mercury: (17473) Freddiemercury .

A Boeing 787-9 and a Boeing 737-800 of the Norwegian Air Shuttle were named after Freddie Mercury. In addition, two pictures showing Mercury were painted on the tail fin.

Munich honors the occasional Munich resident by naming Freddie-Mercury-Straße in the creative quarter on Dachauer Straße near Lothstraße , as the city council decided in September 2020.

literature

  • Jacky Gunn, Jim Jenkins: Queen. As It Began. Sidgwick & Jackson, London 1992, ISBN 0-283-06052-2 . (German edition: Queen. Goldmann, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-442-42083-0 ).
  • Rick Sky: The Show Must Go On. The Life of Freddie Mercury. Fontana, London 1992, ISBN 0-00-637843-9 (German edition: Freddie Mercury. The life of the legendary pop star. Heyne, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-453-06304-X ).
  • Jim Hutton, Tim Wapshott: Freddie Mercury and me. Goldmann, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-442-43120-4 . (Original title: Mercury and Me. )
  • Lesley-Ann Jones: Freddie Mercury. The Definitive Biography. Hodder & Stoughton, London 1997, ISBN 0-340-67209-9 .
  • Peter Freestone, David Evans: Freddie Mercury. An Intimate Memoir by the Man Who Knew Him Best. Omnibus Press, London 2001, ISBN 0-7119-8674-6 (German edition: Freddie Mercury. An intimate glimpse of the man who knew him best. Bosworth Music, Berlin 2010 , ISBN 978-3-86543-313-8 )
  • Mick Rock: Blood & Glitter. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89602-642-9 . (extensive illustrated book by the photographer Mick Rock with numerous photographs of Freddie Mercury and Queen, especially from the Queen II era)
  • Freddie Mercury: A Life in Your Own Words. Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2007, ISBN 978-3-85445-280-5 (Original edition: Freddie Mercury: A Life, In His Own Words ).
  • Selim Rauer: Freddie Mercury. Editions Fayard, Paris 2008, ISBN 2-213-63569-2 .
  • Sean O'Hagan: Freddie Mercury - The Great Pretender (A Life in Pictures). Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2012, ISBN 978-3-85445-401-4 (Original edition: Freddie Mercury Life In Pictures ).
  • Lesley-Ann Jones: Freddie Mercury: The Biography. Piper, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-492-05760-8 .
  • Christian T. Herbst et al .: Freddie Mercury - acoustic analysis of speaking fundamental frequency, vibrato, and subharmonics . In: Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology . 2016, doi : 10.3109 / 14015439.2016.1156737 .

Web links

Commons : Freddie Mercury  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Freddie Mercury  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Freddie´s Birthcertificate ( Memento from March 31, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ 25th anniversary of Freddie Mercury's death Der Fallen Priester Deutschlandfunk November 24, 2016
  3. ↑ Freddie Mercury and the heirs of Zarathustra , Kleine Zeitung by Susanne Rakowitz, November 24, 2016
  4. ↑ Freddie Mercury's Zoroastrian Faith Inspired him to Follow his Dreams , by Taryn Smee, September 13, 2018
  5. ↑ 'Bohemian Rhapsody' glosses over Freddie Mercury's roots and religion - just like he did , by Ashley Lee, LA Times November 2, 2018
  6. ^ Zoroastrianism Living well with Zarathustra , by Christian Röther, Deutschlandfunk , September 17, 2020
  7. ^ Lesley-Ann Jones: Freddie Mercury. Piper ebooks, 2016, ISBN 978-3-492-97428-8 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  8. ↑ Freddie Mercury: The Biography. In: www.piper.de. Retrieved November 6, 2016 .
  9. ↑ queenmuseum.com: Larry Lurex
  10. ↑ http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/privat-eher-sehr-schuechtern.807.de.html?dram:article_id=121130
  11. ↑ According to Mercury's biographer Lesley-Ann Jones, the singer and actress lived together in the apartment in the Glockenbachviertel from 1979 to 1985 and also had a sexual relationship; see mai : "She was the love of his life" - Queen-Film denies Barbara Valentin . Article from October 31, 2018 on stern.de (accessed September 5, 2021)
  12. ↑ https://www.welt.de/regionales/bayern/article159721460/Freddie-Mercury-in-Muenchen- Zwischen-Travestie-und- Schweinshaxe.html
  13. ↑ The love of the Sebastianseck. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved June 8, 2018 .
  14. ↑ rockandrollgps.com: Freddie Mercury - Former Home and Place of Death
  15. ↑ carolinephillips.net: Did I infect Freddie? Who knows?
  16. ↑ Five facts about Freddie Mercury's former partner Jim Hutton. January 5, 2019, accessed August 26, 2019 .
  17. ↑ How Freddie Mercury's Longtime Partner Transformed The Singer's Life. Retrieved August 26, 2019 .
  18. ↑ http://discuss.queenonline.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5697
  19. ↑ http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1442204/barbara-valentin-interview-11-29-91-translation-german-tv.aspx
  20. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1358188/Freddie-Mercurys-friend-David-Wigg-reveals-flamboyant-stars-vulnerable-loneliness-haunted-him.html
  21. ↑ Jim Hutton, Tim Wapshott: Mercury and Me . Bloomsbury Publishing, London 1995, ISBN 0-7475-2134-4 , pp. 91 .
  22. ↑ Jim Hutton, Tim Wapshott: Mercury and Me . Bloomsbury Publishing, London 1995, ISBN 0-7475-2134-4 , pp. 138 .
  23. ↑ Handelszeitung dated June 6, 2018: Freddie Mercury's villa in Montreux for rent . Retrieved June 11, 2018
  24. ↑ Tom Bryant: “In Loving Memory of Farrokh Bulsara”: Is THIS the last resting place of Queen singer? mirror.co.uk, February 25, 2013, accessed February 27, 2013 . , German: "Always close to you with all my love."
  25. ↑ Grave riddle: Freddie Mercury plaque disappeared
  26. ↑ derstandard.at/1256745437890/England-Denkmal-fuer-Freddie-Mercury
  27. ↑ YouTube : Freddie's last years - Queen - Days Of Our Lives Documentary (Excerpt). Uploaded June 4, 2011. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  28. ↑ Reinhold Hönle: When angels sing ... An interview with David Richards. In: Rolling Stone (German edition). No. 12, 1995 ( Memento from July 15, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  29. ^ Brian May: Johnny Depp to play Freddie? ( Memento from July 22, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  30. ↑ Andreas Borcholte: Comedian Baron Cohen plays Freddie Mercury. spiegel.de, September 17, 2010, accessed on November 12, 2011 .
  31. ↑ Mr Robot star Rami Malek to play Freddie Mercury in Queen biopic. The Guardian, November 4, 2016, accessed December 12, 2016 .
  32. ↑ Herbst, CT (2012). Freddie Mercury - Acoustic Voice Analysis. LOGOS Interdisciplinary, 20 (3), 174–183 - Archive link ( Memento from March 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  33. ↑ [Herbst, CT (2012). Freddie Mercury - Acoustic Voice Analysis. LOGOS Interdisciplinary, 20 (3), 174–183 - http://homepage.univie.ac.at/christian.herbst//Herbst_2012_LOGOS.pdf ]
  34. ↑ 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Rolling Stone , December 2, 2010, accessed August 9, 2017 .
  35. ↑ Legends. Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury in a duet. ( Memento from November 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Audio Teleschau, November 19, 2011, accessed on November 24, 2011.
  36. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272620/
  37. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2442748/
  38. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2471626/
  39. ↑ http://www.weltbild.at/3/17582969-1/dvd/freddie-mercury-the-great-pretender.html?wea=6882019
  40. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwfZVEHDq24
  41. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0859414/
  42. ↑ http://www.amazon.de/Freddie-Mercury-The-Great-Pretender/dp/B008S4FW6W
  43. ↑ FREDDIE MERCURY The Great Pretender ( Memento from May 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  44. ↑ minorplanetcenter.net: 2016 SEPT. 4th
  45. ↑ aerobuzz.de: Norwegian honors Freddie Mercury
  46. ↑ Philipp Crone: Freddie Mercury gets a street in Munich. Retrieved September 19, 2020 .
Queen
Studio albums

Queen • Queen II • Sheer Heart Attack • A Night at the Opera • A Day at the Races • News of the World • Jazz • The Game • Flash Gordon • Hot Space • The Works • A Kind of Magic • The Miracle • Innuendo • Made in Heaven

Live albums

Live Killers • Live Magic • Live at Wembley '86 • Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl • Return of the Champions • Queen Rock Montreal • Live in Ukraine

Soundtracks

Flash Gordon • Bohemian Rhapsody

Compilation albums

Greatest Hits • At the Beeb • Greatest Hits II • Queen Rocks • Greatest Hits III • Absolute Greatest

personal data
SURNAME Mercury, Freddie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bulsara, Farrokh (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British rock singer
BIRTH DATE September 5, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Zanzibar , Sultanate of Zanzibar
DATE OF DEATH November 24, 1991
PLACE OF DEATH Kensington , London , England , United Kingdom