Iconic, legendary, inspirational, dynamite and flamboyant — these are common descriptions used to describe Freddie Mercury. But underneath the greatness, there is another side of Freddie Mercury that we are not familiar with. Farrokh Bulsara — shy, introvert, Indian Parsi — a bucktoothed boy studying in a Bombay boarding school.
Mercury’s original name is Farrokh Bulsara and he was born in Zanzibar, Tanzania to Indian Parsi parents on September 5, 1946. Mercury spent a huge part of his childhood in India and at age seven began taking piano lessons. Mercury faced his first internal conflict about his identity and alienation when he was sent to a boarding to school at Bombay, India. He was made fun of as Buckie because of his front teeth and also made fun of because of his light skin color. At the age of 17, Mercury moved to England and there he was being ridiculed for his Indian English.
Mercury blended perfectly with the British community and joined with many groups before joining with bassist John Deacon in 1971 to form Queen. Mercury’s talent and his flamboyancy was embraced by the world and Mercury was invincible.
Despite his skyrocketing fame, on November 23, 1991 Mercury released a statement that he has been tested HIV positive and had Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).The day after he released this statement he died from AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia.
Mercury’s death was a tragedy to many but his flamboyancy still continues to influence and amaze people. But there still lies the big question “Why did Mercury never mention about his cultural background.” Freddie Mercury
This is a really interesting article. It gave a really good look into his background, I didn’t know any of that about him! The video is awesome too. Good work.
Love Freddie Mercury. Super interesting stuff in this article I never would have known otherwise!