Freddie Mercury was of Parsi descent born in Zanzibar, grew up in Zanzibar & Bombay. Mercury moved with his family to Middlesex, England where he formed Queen in 1970 with Brian May & Roger Taylor. Freddie died in 1991 at 45 due to complications from AIDS. Before his death he confirmed that he had contracted the disease.
Born Farrokh Bulsara on Thursday September 5th 1946, his parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were both Parsee. His father, Bomi, was a civil servant, working as a High Court cashier for the British Government. Freddie's sister, Kashmira, was born in 1952. In 1954, at age 8, Freddie was shipped off to St Peter's English boarding school in Panchgani, fifty miles outside Bombay. There his friends began to call him Freddie, a name the family also accepted.
His surname is derived from Bulsar ( Valsad) in southern Gujarat. As Parsis, Mercury and his family followed the Zoroastrian religion.The Bulsaras moved to Zanzibar so that his father could continue his job as a cashier at the British Colonial Office.
Mercury's speaking voice naturally fell in the baritone range. He delivered most songs in the tenor range. His known vocal range extended from bass low F (F2) to soprano high F (F6).He could belt up to tenor high F (F5).
Even his official passport read ‘Frederick Mercury’, despite the fact that his birth name was Farrokh Bulsara. Calling him anything but Freddie would not be well received, however - he started using the name ‘Freddie’ prior to ever arriving in England, and ‘Mercury’ when Queen first started.
After boarding a flight to New York from Tokyo one day, Mercury discovered the plane was a DC10, a model that had had some problems in the past. “DC death more like!” Mercury remarked, before immediately gathering his things, exiting the plane, and taking the only available seat on the next flight 14 hours later - economy, as opposed to his first class seat on the DC10.
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