Freddie Mercury Life Story: How a boy from Zanzibar conquered the world

✅ Do you know that Freddie wasn't his real name?
✅ Who did he leave his properties to when he died?
✅ And what false information about Queen appears in the movie Bohemian Rhapsody?

FREDDIE MERCURY

In today's episode, we take a look at the life of Freddie Mercury and talk about the movie Bohemian Rhapsody. Not everything they say in the film about Freddie and Queen is true. So let’s set the record straight and correct some inaccurate information.

Freddie - originally named- Farrokh Bulsara - is born on the island of Zanzibar off the easten coast of Africa on September 5, 1946. At that time Zanzibar is a british colony, so Freddie later gets UK citizenship.

His parents were Parsis, meaning members of an Indian (originally Persian) branch of the Zoroastrian religious community.

When Freddie is 9 years old, his family sends him to St.Peters Boarding School in Mumbai. At this young age he has to leave behind his father, his younger sister Kashmir, and above all his dear mother, with whom he has a very strong relationship.

From childhood he is interested in music, so at school he learns to play piano and also starts his very first band - The Hectics. They play covers of famous western rock’n’roll music. Even at this young age it’s becoming obvious that Freddie has big musical gifts. A friend recalls he had "an uncanny ability to listen to the radio and replay what he heard on piano". It’s at this time the young boy gets nicknamed Freddie by his teachers and classmates, which also gets adopted by his parents and sticks with him the rest of his life. Soon Freddie decides to go back home and his band falls apart.

He’s finally back in Zanzibar, but only for a short time. It is 1964, and a bloody revolution breaks out in the country. Frieddie and his family flee to London. There, Freddie starts on his path towards becoming a musical icon. You could almost say that if the bloody revolution in Zanzibar hadn’t happened, his family would probably never have gone to London, and we wouldn’tt even be talking about Freddie Mercury here today.

In the beginning, however, London doesn’t look very promising. Freddie isn’t doing well at school. Except in one subject - ART. So, when choosing where to study next, in 1966, he decides to attend the Ealling College of Art. Freddie's new environment helps him a lot. He lives in London, which at the time is a very lively and exciting place with lots of culture for young people, and he’s studying at a quality art school, which later proves to be a very good choice.

During his studies, Farokh - which is still his official name at this time- meets the singer Tim Staffell. Tim is a musician who performs in the band Smile, who befriends Freddie at school. Later Tim introduces him to other members of Smile - Brian May and Roger Taylor, who Freddie even lives with for a while. But Tim soon leaves the band, and Freddie is their first choice substitute to replace him. They’re all captivated by his interesting vocal quality and wide range. The boy from Zanzibar can finally see what it’s like to sing in front of people and he starts to like it a lot. He has very unique and extravagant behaviour on stage, which his band mates don't like and try to get him to stop. But this is Freddie, and the stage for him is the place where he can be fully relaxed and honest with himself and with the crowd. So he doesn’t change anything.

This is also when his relationship with Mary Austin begins. A girl whose parents are both deaf loves him for his self-confidence and tremendous kindness. Freddie soon proposes and they get engaged.

With Freddie joining the band, big changes are underway. The singer comes up with a new name -- Queen. If he did not fight hard for this name, we could be referring to them with the name Grand Dance. That's what Brian and Roger liked. At the same time, Freddie begins composing in a totally different style of music than the band is used to playing and because of his interest in Mythology, soon creates for himself the artistic surname Mercury. He officially changes his legal name to his nickname, Freddie, and new last name, Mercury, and a star is born.

▶️ For the rest of this amazing life story watch the video!