What would he have gone on to do with his fabulous voice, and prodigious talent? Tim Rice, who co-wrote some of the lyrics of Barcelona , adds that given the way he was going, Mercury might have even evolved into a great writer of opera. So what would that have meant for the future of Queen?
Oh, no, no, no. Till the very end, Mercury pushed his voice to the limit. Share your perspective on this article with a post on ScrollStack, and send it to your followers. Depending on the incarnation, he was the exotic Zandra Rhodes-wearing androgynous vamp; he was the heavily moustachioed strutting icon of the early s, hitting his zenith at Live Aid in ; and he was the ballet and opera obsessive, a passion that endured for his whole life and informed much of his music.
Moreover, he was, of course, the inimitable frontman of Queen with a four-octave range vocal talent that many argue has never been equalled in rock. The child of Bomi and Jer Bulsara, he was born Farrokh Bulsara in in Zanzibar, and educated at an English-style boarding schools in India, where he took up the piano and was noted amongst his friends for his love of western pop and an uncanny ability to listen to music and instantly reproduce it.
At 18, however, the family fled the Zanzibar Revolution, swapping life on an island in the Indian Ocean for the somewhat less exotic climes of Middlesex. At this time, he also ran a clothing stall at the legendary Kensington Market, as well as trying his luck in a number of bands. Only one stuck: fatefully, that band would go on to become Queen. They worked with David Bowie, and as a solo artist, Freddie sang with the opera star Montserrat Caballe on the studio album, Barcelona.
And yet despite all this and his on-stage flamboyance, Freddie Mercury was famously shy in person. For that reason, he generally eschewed the press and interviews are relatively rare for an international pop star. Here, we pick those that offer glimpses into an enduringly enigmatic figure. Appetite ignited? Freddie lived a life of rock 'n' roll excess, and made no qualms about it. But after he was diagnosed with AIDS in he understandably put the breaks on. In the years after, his appearance changed drastically as he looked pale and thin only going on to make a handful of public appearances.
His friend Anita Dobson recalls Freddie beginning to "slowly let go" six months before his eventual death at the age of Despite being gaunt, thin, and lacking energy, Freddie still made incredible music with his Queen bandmates up until his untimely death.
Though Queen hadn't performed since their legendary sold-out show at Knebworth in , they were still busy in the studio, releasing their final album Innuendo in Roger Taylor talks about his beloved bandmates' choice to privately fight AIDS until his death in the new documentary:.
It was probably perfect timing. Bloody good move I thought.
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