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It was on this day in 1991 that Freddie Mercury passed away. I’m a fan, so I thought I’d pay a little tribute to him in our Q10 today. I was born a little too late, but I would have loved to see Queen in concert. They sound like they were amazing. If any of you have first-hand concert experience, let me live vicariously through you – share it in the comments!
1. He designed the Queen emblem (AKA the Queen Crest) himself, thanks to a degree in art and graphic design from Ealing Art College. The crest is made of the zodiac signs of the whole band – two Leo lions for John Deacon and Roger Taylor, a Cancer crab for Brian May and two fairies to represent Freddie’s Virgo sign. The “Q” and the crown represent the band name, of course, and a phoenix protects the whole thing.
2. His birth name was Farrokh Bulsara; he started going by Freddie when he was at St. Peter’s, a boarding school for boys near Mumbai. He legally changed his name to Freddie Mercury around 1970, when Queen was formed.
3. He and family (parents and one sister, Kashmira) were Parsis and practiced Zoroastrian religion. Even though he hadn’t practiced in years, his funeral was performed by a Zoroastrian priest.
4. Freddie was born in Zanzibar – his family moved there so his dad could continue his career at the British Colonial Office.
5. Freddie had a recorded range of three (almost four) octaves. Mariah Carey claims five, for some perspective. When he spoke he was more of a baritone, but majority of his singing fell in the tenor range.
6. He had a long-term girlfriend in the early 70s named Mary Austin. Even after they broke up, they remained incredibly close. He gave an interview in 1985 and said that she was his only friend and he didn’t want any other friends. He wrote “Love of My Life” about her and was the godfather of her first son. When he died, he left her most of his money, his house, and his recording royalties.
7. Although he was obviously very flamboyant on stage, most people who knew him intimately said he was very shy in his personal life – one of the reasons he very rarely granted interviews.
8. Freddie and his manager issued a statement confirming that he had AIDS the very day before he died. It had been widely speculated for a couple of years due to his gaunt appearance and Queen’s sudden lack of touring. Some people were very upset by this delayed statement, saying that an earlier announcement could have raised a vast amount of money for the cause.
9. He loved cats and had as many as 10 at one point. He even had an album and a song dedicated to his cats (Mr. Bad Guy). He wrote a song about his favorite cat, Delilah. Here’s a bit of it:
Delilah, Delilah, oh my, oh my, oh my – you’re irresistible
You make me smile when I’m just about to cry
You bring me hope, you make me laugh – you like it
You get away with murder, so innocent
But when you throw a moody you’re all claws and you bite -
That’s alright !
Delilah, Delilah, oh my, oh my, oh my – you’re unpredictable
You make me so very happy
When you cuddle up and go to sleep beside me
And then you make me slightly mad
When you pee all over my Chippendale Suite
10. The “bottomless mic” was among Freddie’s many trademarks. Here’s how that happened: early in Queen’s career, he was apparently mid-show when his mic stand snapped in half. Instead of having it replaced, Freddie just used it as-is. He must have liked it, because he used the mic “stick” from then on.
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Comments (36)
Comment
Freddie was one of the best front men in the history of Rock & Roll. I like to think that if there’s a Rock & Roll heaven, he’s singing lead for the house band, with The Who’s rhythm section and Hendrix on guitar.
By the way, if you’re ever getting ready to go out for the night, “Don’t Stop Me Now” is the single best song to get you in the mood for an awesome evening!
posted by Jill Hopkins on 11-24-2008 at 3:39 pm
Great piece stacy!
I love the song about his cat.
We miss you Freddie, Wherever you are!!
posted by Jill on 11-24-2008 at 3:52 pm
QUEEN RULES!
…ahem.
posted by bedhead on 11-24-2008 at 4:04 pm
I can’t believe it is 17 years since we lost Freddie! What a talent. Queen rocked!
posted by JaneM on 11-24-2008 at 4:34 pm
Agreed bedhead!
The Who’s Rhythm section would be Keith Moon Jill.
Long Live Rock!
posted by Don on 11-24-2008 at 5:45 pm
I saw Queen in Seattle. I’m thinking it must have been around the release of “Jazz,” because Fat Bottomed Girls and Bicycle Races, etc were the big featured songs. I was back in the Northwest about 4 or 5 years later, so it could have been when “The Game” was out.
Anyhooo… Yeah, it was THE BEST rock concert I’ve ever been to, bar none.The energy of the band was phenomenal. They totally drew the audience into it and made them part of the show. The lights and sound were perfect.
Of course, there was that factor of going being a last minute decision, which always adds to the excitement. And it was a road-trip up from Ft. Lewis, and we all ate a bunch of amphetamines.
Still, Freddie and the rest were just consummate showmen.
posted by Rick Raab-Faber on 11-24-2008 at 5:50 pm
I had a chance to see them in concert many years ago during the tour promoting “News of The World”.
.
Great concert.
posted by malcolm on 11-24-2008 at 5:51 pm
Alas, I am also too young to have seen them in concert, but my mom saw them back in the day and said it was the best concert she’d ever been to.
posted by Amy D on 11-24-2008 at 6:09 pm
Years ago I went to a display of the AIDS Quilt on the Mall in Washington, DC. There are several panels for Freddie. While I was standing by one, members of an a capella group were there singing “You’re My Best Friend” and there wasn’t a dry eye to be seen. It remains one of those special moments I’ll never forget.
I wish I could have seen Queen in concert, I’ve always loved Freddie’s voice.
posted by Decca on 11-24-2008 at 6:24 pm
I liked Queen but a close friend loved/s them. My 15 Year old loves Tie your mother down, Fat bottomed girls and has many others on her IPOD. Zoroastrian funeral rites would make a good story also. Was always intrigued by the fact their first album had a “Christian” song. Freddie composed “Jesus” a rather interesting song with lyrics the priest/pastor couldn’t argue with.
posted by Kev in GA on 11-24-2008 at 6:58 pm
All I have to go off of visually is youtube…and thank heavens for that! My mom was always a queen fan and got to attend one of their concerts sometime in the 80s, but I can’t remember when. Great music to grow up with.
posted by RJ on 11-24-2008 at 6:58 pm
I saw Queen in 1977 at Cobo Hall Detroit. That was when Freddie wore the leotards. what a showman! The whole band rocked and they sounded great live. Freddie was the stage general. a nod of the head and the band members knew what to do next. It was great. Best concert of my life.
posted by Kevin on 11-24-2008 at 7:50 pm
I missed my best friend’s wedding to attend a Queen fan club convention about 20 years ago… it still would bother me if it weren’t for the fact that I met my wife-to-be there (and probably would never had met her had I not made the trip).
It just goes to show you that everything does happen for a reason.
posted by Woody on 11-24-2008 at 9:01 pm
@ DonActually The Who’s rhythm section would be Keith Moon and John Entwistle. The rhythm section isn’t just the drums.
posted by Mark on 11-25-2008 at 1:46 am
EXACTLY what I was going to say, Mark.
reCaptcha: many probed. ???
posted by BassMan on 11-25-2008 at 1:47 pm
While I was doing plays in high school a friend of mine would put Queen’s Greatest Hits on and we’d all rock out while putting our makeup on. I’ve since lost this friend and whenever I play one of their songs it brings back very fond memories of that time period.
Also, who doesn’t bang their head at Bohemian Rhapsody after seeing Wayne Campbell do it? Love it!
posted by Tricia on 11-25-2008 at 2:32 pm
I stand corrected.
..and I humbly Rock On!
posted by Don on 11-25-2008 at 9:27 pm
Never saw Queen in concert, I was a little too young, but Freddie and Queen rank high amongst my music heroes. A loss for the world, for sure. I can’t believe it’s been 17 years.
posted by carey on 11-26-2008 at 2:21 pm
I am also to young to have enjoyed Queen at the height of their Majesty, however I have seen Brian May once and Queen + Paul Rodgers twice. And every time they Rocked my socks off!
Truely one of the best Bands of all time, if not THE best band of all time.
PS. Roger Taylor is an awesome drummer and singer. Two drummers, Taylor and Moon, Entwhistle and Deacon, Hendrix and May with Freddie fronting. The ultimate superband!
posted by shrek on 11-26-2008 at 3:49 pm
BEST
BAND
EVER!!!
posted by Wintershade on 11-27-2008 at 1:13 pm
Stacy Conradt… wow a real true fan.. well done.. Well Freddie is one of the best vocalist of a rock band in this century… My favorite is the Bohemian Rhapsody.. give me goosebumps everytime.
posted by Rendola on 11-28-2008 at 12:37 am
I saw them during the News of the World tour in about 1978. I was a junior in high school, and my parents took me because none of my friends liked Queen.
The concert was awesome. The music was great, but what sticks in my mind was the number of costume changes that Freddie had, including the black and white harlequin jumpsuit that I’ve seen him wearing in photographs.
posted by Debbie on 11-28-2008 at 1:30 am
Great Band!
posted by Music on 11-28-2008 at 2:42 am
(sigh) Makes me so sad to think how many more amazing songs we could have heard and have missed because of his early death.
posted by Northchick on 11-28-2008 at 6:06 pm
I love Freddie Mercury and Queen – fantastic post. Freddie is one of the greatest singers of all time – with such heart and passion and charisma.
Cheers,
Bambi
OutImpact.com – Making a positive impact in the gay community. Make yours.
posted by Bambi on 11-28-2008 at 11:45 pm
I’ve seen Queen in concert five times. Five. Incredible concerts. I paid $17 for my first concert ticket, which was Thin Lizzy opening for Queen.
My favourite was the “News of the World” tour. In Canada, the album was released on Saturday, and the concert was the following Tuesday. I raced over to the record store and snatched the album out of the hands of the fellow placing it on the rack…LOL.
Anyway, on Tuesday, the lights in Maple Leaf Gardens went out, and the lighting rig, in the shape of an enormous crown, slowly rose above the stage, with dry ice fog pouring out of it. All you could hear was the boom-boom THWACK, boom-boom THWACK of “We Will Rock You”. The crowd went nuts, and remember, hardly anyone knew the song.
Later in the show, a platform was suspended in the air, and they performed some minimalist versions of 3 or four tunes.
The highlight of the show was “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Naturally, the overdubbed vocals are impossible to replicate live, so the band leaves the stage as the tape plays, but returns at the “So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye” line. In this case, there was a catwalk extending into the first 5 rows or so. There was a trapdoor in the catwalk, and at the line, Freddie leaps out of the hole as a blast of pyro goes off behind him. Mindblowing.
I saw them four other times, but that show was the best….and the second best live show I’ve ever seen. The first was Pink Floyd’s PULSE concert.
posted by PJMurphy on 11-29-2008 at 8:24 pm
Not only was Freddie one of the top three (oh hell, probably number one) vocalists of my generation but the entire band had a majestic sound, a keen sense of melody and composition and more class than anyone before or since. You can’t go wrong with almost the entire Queen catalogue. Never before, and sadly, never again will there be a band of it’s stature.
I should give props to Brian May as well. That (so utterly) unique guitar sound is the shit.
posted by Dale Ferguson on 12-3-2008 at 9:16 pm
It’s really great to read all the glowing accolades to Freddie Mercury and Queen. They were absolutely the best band of all time, and Freddie was the greatest frontman, bar none.
My IPod is now filled with Freddie/Queen music which I listen to 24/7. I’m totally addicted to his voice and can’t get enough of it. The man had a versatility in his voice that will never ever be equaled by anyone, and it was a great loss to the music world, and the world in general, when he died. Maybe one day some of the unfinished recordings will be finished and released as a new Queen CD.
Rock on, Freddie. See you in heaven one day.
posted by ML Crawford on 12-4-2008 at 1:02 pm
I saw them after “Night at the Opera” was released, maybe 1976? He still had long hair. His suit was so tight that if there was a coin in his pocket, you could have read the date.
As someone mentioned, technology at the time limited what could be done live. But at the moment Bohemian Rhapsody went into the operatic section (which starts with that plink plink plink plink piano section), they cut into Killer Queen (which begins with a similar piano part). It was brilliant!
They did have a great sound system for the time, though. He could sing something (which came through both speaker banks), then it would echo from the left, then from the right. He was then able to sing three part harmony with himself! (”The earth will shake, in two will break…”)
They did so much with so little. They had a mirror ball (”Just one little mirror ball?”, I thought as we entered.) But when the time came to cut the lights and hit the mirror ball, I got dizzy. Very dizzy. Things were spinning so badly that I thought I was going to be sick, but when I looked down to puke the spinning stopped. I looked up, and it started again. BADLY! And I realized that while the tiny reflections of light were spinning around the hall, they were simultaneously panning the sound through the speaker banks in the same direction. The combination of the lights and sound swirling in the same direction tricked your brain into believing that the whole building was literally spinning around you.
I saw KISS a week later at the same venue (and remember, this was KISS at their peak, and they were FAMOUS for their showmanship). Queen blew them away. This may have been a clue: The music Queen played over the PA before the lights went out was the Beatles’ White Album; The music KISS played was “Night at the Opera”.
posted by Jim McIntyre on 12-4-2008 at 1:56 pm
loved their music!
posted by aidan on 12-7-2008 at 8:42 pm
Oh! what have we all missed, just think what great music Freddie would have wrote, had he still been here.
posted by Alex on 12-16-2008 at 1:11 pm
Oh! What have we all missed,what brilliant music would Freddie have written,had he still been here.
posted by Alex on 12-16-2008 at 1:16 pm
Thanks for the tutorial, it was very helpful.
posted by Music Fan on 2-25-2009 at 4:41 pm
I am 16 years old and obviously way too young to have attended a Queen concert. In fact Freddie died the year before I was born. But he lives on through people like my parents who introduce their children to the magic that is Queen. I still find myself shedding a tear or two when listening to songs like “The Show Must Go On” and “Somebody to Love”. Freddie’s voice was unparallelled in skill. There’s not another like his. His death marked the loss of, in my opinion, the greatest entertainer in history.
R.I.P. Freddie Mercury.
posted by youngin' on 5-2-2009 at 10:22 pm
when i was a tenager many moons ago i was besooted with freddie mercury and just loved queen. by chance i was googling freddie and came across so many things on the net which eveoked a flodd of memories. i saw them in australia in 1976 and in london in 1979 which gives you a hint of my age.
freddie mercury was such a beautiful and charismatic singer performer. and comes across as such alovely man. i wish i could express it all in words. all i can say is thankyou.
posted by bp on 5-26-2009 at 10:14 am
What else can I say? Every single one of your comment gave me goose bumps!
Losing Freddie was a huge hit to the music industry. A man of such phenomenal talents, amazing voice and along with Brian, John & Roger made a unique Rock Band who will last forever…
“who waits forever anyway…”
WE LOVE YOU FREDDIE!!!!!
posted by Jonathan on 6-22-2009 at 4:03 am