previous            A–Z            next        Farrokh Bulsara Pseudonym:        Freddie Mercury        Farrokh Bulsara (1946–1991) was a British musician, record producer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Queen. Bulsara over the years changed his names into Freddie Mercury. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. He died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging that he had the disease.        Mercury spent the bulk of his childhood in India and began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. In 1954 Mercury was sent to study at St. Peter's School, a British-style boarding school for boys in Panchgani near Bombay, India. It was at St. Peter's where he began to call himself ‘Freddie’.        Following his graduation at the Ealing Art College Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand clothes in the Kensington Market in London. In April 1970, Mercury joined guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor who had previously been in a band called Smile. Despite reservations of the other members and Trident Studios, the band's initial management, Mercury chose the name ‘Queen’ for the new band. He later said about the band's name, ‘I was certainly aware of the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it’. At about the same time, he changed his surname, Bulsara, to Mercury. See also Lady Gaga. Source: ‘Freddie Mercury’, Wikipedia, retrieved 16 May 2014 previous            A–Z            next