Freddie Mercury

The famous singer initially fell in love with Mary Austin, with whom he lived together at West Kensington, London, for almost 6 years.

In 1976, he embarked on an affair with male employee of 'Elektra Records', which saw the end of his relationship with Mary.

In the mid-1980s, he started a new relationship, this time with an Austrian actress, Barbara Valentin. This did not last long, and he began dating Jim Hutton, a male hairdresser.

Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara, to Parsi parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, on September 5, 1946, in the British territory of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, a part of present day Tanzania. Farrokh, his younger sibling Kashmira, and their parents were practising Zoroastrians.

The young boy was brought up in India, where he was taught the piano at the tender age of seven. He was educated at the 'St. Peter's School' in Panchgani, near Mumbai, beginning 1954. Having always loved music, one of his earliest idols was Indian singer, Lata Mangeshkar.

While in school, Farrokh began referring to himself as Freddie, and in 1958, he formed a music group, 'The Hectics'. The band performed rock and roll songs sung by artistes Little Richard and Cliff Richard.

In 1963, Farrokh went back to his hometown, to live with his parents, but soon, the family had to escape from there, after the commencement of the 'Zanzibar Revolution', meant to depose the Arab Sultan. They settled down in town of Feltham, England, living in a small house.

Freddie began pursuing a course in art from West London's 'Isleworth Polytechnic', which is presently known as 'West Thames College'. He graduated with a diploma in Art and Graphic Designing from the 'Ealing Art College'.

In April, 1970, the talented singer formed a band named 'Queen', along with English drummer, Roger Taylor, and guitarist, Brian May. After its conception, the band, consisting of other musicians, was managed by 'Trident Studios'. He also renamed himself from Farrokh Bulsara to Freddie Mercury.

During 1970-80, the exceptional singer acted as singer and songwriter for several albums produced by his band, 'Queen'. They played rock-and-roll music, and shot to fame because of Freddie, who, despite having a baritone voice, sang brilliantly in the tenor range.

Some of the popular albums produced by 'Queen' are ‘Sheer Heart Attack’, 'A Day at the Races', 'News of the World', 'The Game', and of course their self-titled records.

On October 26, 1981, Queen released 'Greatest Hits', which is a compilation of songs from various albums of the band. Out of the seventeen singles featured on the album, ten were penned by their lead singer, Mercury.

During 1981–1983, the popular singer collaborated with Michael Jackson on soundtracks like 'State of Shock', 'There Must Be More to Life Than This', and 'Victory'.

One of the best known albums released by this famous singer is 'Mr. Bad Guy', a solo album produced in 1985. The album had eleven songs, all of which were written by the singer himself, and it included a variety of music genres, from pop to disco to dance music.