Freddie Mercury

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience of the life and career of Freddie Mercury.

Central Idea: Freddie Mercury was very talented musician who had a long career, but died at a young age.

Inroduction

• I. A statue stands overlooking the waters of Lake Geneva. A lake located in Montreux, Switzerland.
• II. The statue is of a man born in a far off place.
• a. The man didn’t speak Swiss. He didn’t live in the country, either.
• b. The man was a singer; a singer in a rock and roll band. But he was more than that. He was an artist, a musician, and, despite his best efforts, a major influence on the entire world.
• III. Freddie Mercury was a man who wanted his music to be something to entertain people.
• a. As the frontman of the band Queen, he attempted to put on shows like no others.
• b. He was a very shy man off stage, who refused to give interviews and often shrugged off public appearances.
• c. On stage, he was a completely different person; a person who had complete control over the audience.

Body

• I. Freddie Mercury was born on September 5th, 1946.
• a. His original name was Farrokh Bulsara. He was born in Zanzibar, which at the time was a British protectorate.
• i. His parents were Bomi and Jar Bulsara, and he had a younger sister, Kashmira.
• ii. His family had moved from India to Zanzibar before he was born for his father’s job.
• iii. Farrokh and his family were Parsis, which means that they practiced to Zoroastrian religion.
• b. Mercury began attending school at age six in Zanzibar.
• i. By age seven he had begun taking piano lessons and becoming interested in arts. When he turned eight Mercury was sent to St. Peter’s Boarding School in Bombay India.
• ii. There he studied hard and gained even more interest in music and arts. His parents even paid extra money for him to take piano lessons at school.
• iii. He also began calling himself Freddie while at school. The name stuck with his friends, teachers, and even his family.
• iv. By age twelve Mercury had formed a school band called The Hectics. They would play at school events and dances. The band covered artists like Little Richard and Cliff Richard.
• v. However, they only had the radio to use to learn the songs. Classmates of Mercury’s were already in awe of his uncanny ability to hear something on the radio and translate it to the piano.
• c. He completed his education in 1964 at the age of seventeen.
• i. The very same year Mercury and his family, like many other foreign families, were forced to flee their homes in Zanzibar due to the revolution taking place.
• ii. The family fled to Middlesex, England, and lived with relatives before finding a place of their own. Mercury’s next step was furthering his education.
• iii. Mercury wanted to earn an art degree from the prestigious Ealing Art College. However, in order to be accepted he needed at least one A level art class.
• iv. He moved to West London where he spent a year at Isleworth Polytechnic University to earn his A level. After easily gaining the A level he began attending Ealing Art College.
• v. On breaks Mercury worked a number of jobs, including a job that included him lifting and stacking heavy crates and boxes. Testimony drawn from an article entitled Freddie Mercury: A Biography has co-workers commenting about Mercury’s delicate hands and asking him what he was studying at college.
• vi. He told them that he was a musician and studied art. Before long his co-workers were doing most of his own work. Mercury showed even at an early age how likable he could be.
• d. At school Mercury began making numerous friends.
• i. One such friend was Tim Staffel. As he and Tim became closer, he began bringing Mercury to his band’s rehearsals.
• ii. The band was called Smile and included Roger Taylor on drums and Brian May on guitar. Mercury got along extremely well with all three members and even rehearsed with them a few times. Inspired by Smile, he began to experiment with music.
• iii. He began writing and rehearsing with numerous art students from Ealing. Chris Smith was one of the people who had rehearsed with Mercury in the early days.
• iv. A quote taken from the article Freddie Mercury: Biography has Chris saying, “He had a great, natural sense of melody. I picked up on that right away. For me, it was the most interesting aspect of what he was doing.”
• e. Mercury graduated from Ealing College in 1969 with a degree in graphic art.
• i. Later that year he was introduced to a band out of Liverpool, England, called Ibex. He was so taken with the band that he learned the bands set list and even wrote several new songs for them.
• ii. Ibex quickly added Mercury to their line up as lead singer.
• iii. On August 23rd, Freddie Bulsara made his debut public performance. Mercury was noted as being a very flamboyant performer. Yet, even with Ibex’s small success, he refused to do interviews, a trend that continued throughout his life.
• iv. As the band played more shows, they were becoming more unglued. Band members leaving and a change of the name Ibex to Wreckage all happened before the end of 1969.
• v. The end of the 60’s also marked the end of Wreckage, which split up shortly before the holidays of 1969. Mercury immediately began looking for a new band.
• f. He joined the band Sour Milk Sea after seeing an advertisement in the paper for “Vocalist Wanted.” The band recalls Mercury’s audition as magical and that they knew immediately that he was the man for the job.
• i. Ken Testi of the band recalls, “It was his charisma, his pure natural gift that was in perfect harmony with his voice, his appearance, his delicate taste, and his musicianship in the wide sense of the word. The fact that he realized it himself made him absolutely fascinating!”
• ii. As Sour Milk Sea began to play shows, Mercury began to spend more time with Chris Chesney, the guitar player, than he did with the rest of the band.
• iii. The rest of the band was extremely angry about this, and after only three months together, the band broke up.
• iv. At this same time, the band Smile had lost Tim Staffel, its lead vocalist.
• g. Mercury was so excited at the news that he was at the band rehearsal within hours of the news. The band quickly accepted him as their new lead vocalist.
• i. Brian May on guitar, Roger Taylor on drums, and Mercury on piano and vocal. Freddie then changed his last name from Bulsara to Mercury.
• ii. This was done because he thought that he needed a more powerful stage name. Little is known as to why the name mercury was chosen, but theories abound as to the reason why.
• iii. Theories include that the name mercury reminded him of his mother or that mercury is the ruling planet in Freddie’s star sign.
• iv. Early in 1971 John Deacon joined smile as the bassist. Mercury then renamed the quartet Queen. A transition from an unknown artist to a worldwide sensation was about to begin.
• II. Queen had humble beginnings.
• a. They released a self titled album and gained a small following in England. At this time Mercury met Mary Austin.
• i. Mary was a fellow artist and music lover. The two had met through friends and began dating.
• ii. Queen released another two albums to small success. In 1974, however, the band released Sheer Heart Attack and scored their first hit with “Killer Queen.”
• iii. The song peaked at number two in England and was their first top forty hit in the United States. This was also one of the many hit songs that Mercury wrote himself.
• b. The very next year marked the release of A Night at the Opera. The album included Queen’s most popular song ever, “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
• i. The song was an instant success in England and the United States. Riding the success of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Queen continued to release records and tour throughout the world.
• ii. As the 70’s blended into the 80’s more records were released. Hit songs include Don’t Stop Me Now, Another One Bites the Dust, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, We Will Rock You, and We Are the Champions.
• iii. All of the songs mentioned were penned by Mercury himself, with the latter two songs taking on lives of their own at sporting events.
• c. Queen’s success took Mercury all around the world. He met many different people and explored new interests.
• i. By the end of 1980 Mary Austin and Freddie Mercury had split due to many strains on the relationship; the main being that Mercury had become gay.
• ii. Although he was no longer in a relationship with Austin, Mercury still very much cared for her.
• iii. An article from OK! Magazine says, “After a run of disastrous, tempestuous relationships around the world, he confided how he had felt betrayed by many of his male relationships, but had never lost his admiration for the loyalty of one woman.”
• III. The band’s popularity had begun to die out slightly in the 80’s, but came roaring back with a single performance.
• a. Live Aid was an annual concert extravaganza to raise money for poverty stricken Africa.
• i. 1985’s Live Aid was no less that an extravaganza, and featured artists such as The Who, U2, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, and, of course, Queen.
• ii. Queen was given twenty minutes for their set. The entirety of the concert was broadcast around the world. It reached over 1.9 billion people.
• iii. According to a Rolling Stone Magazine poll, that twenty minute set by Queen was the greatest rock and roll performance in history.
• iv. The people polled were music executives, music producers, and many fellow musicians.
• v. In a Rolling Stone article about the performance Dave Grohl, currently of The Foo Fighters, stated, “There were so many amazing artists there. Bowie and The Who came out and rocked it and so did Jagger. But man, Queen just stole the show.”
• b. After Live Aid, Queen and Mercury’s fates were sealed as one of the greatest rock bands of all time.
• i. A mere three years and three albums later, Queen seemed to be finally slowing down.
• ii. As Queen toured less, rumors arose to Mercury’s deteriorating state of health.
• c. Mercury gave his final live performance on October 8th, 1988.
• i. By now many of his fans had questioned his health, and due to him being gay, had assumed he had HIV.
• ii. Mercury adamantly denied having HIV however, even though he did.
• d. In 1991, after three years of fighting what had become AIDS and producing more music with Queen, Mercury sensed his time coming to an end.
• i. On November 23rd, a statement was released by Mercury. The statement confirmed that he was HIV positive and indeed had AIDS.
• ii. “I felt it correct to keep this information private in order to protect the privacy of those around me,” read the statement.
• iii. On November 24th, less than 24 hours after announcing he had AIDS, Freddie Mercury died of AIDS related pneumonia.
• iv. News stations across the globe read, “Freddie Mercury died peacefully this evening at his home at 1 Logan Place, Kensington, London. His death was the result of pneumonia brought on by AIDS.”

Conclusion

• I. The passing of Freddie Mercury was a tough pill to swallow for many.
• a. Even today people hold tribute concerts and have whole websites dedicated to him.
• b. A statue of Freddie Mercury stands in Switzerland as a testament to his greatness.
• II. Freddie Mercury was a flamboyant performer and a private person.
• a. He loved having a good time but kept music a serious business.
• b. He’s been called one of the greatest frontmen in history, and Time Asia names him the most inspiring Asian hero of the last sixty years.
• III. The magic that Queen and Mercury had together was something beyond talent.
• a. Mercury’s music has become timeless and everlasting.
• b. In the words of Freddie, “Well, dear, I’m just going to keep rockin’.”

Bibliography

Member, A. Facebook. “Freddie Mercury Statue Is a Must for Queen Fans – Review of Freddie Mercury Memorial, Montreux, Switzerland – TripAdvisor.” Reviews of Hotels, Flights and Vacation Rentals – TripAdvisor. Web. 04 Oct. 2011. <http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g188108-d246809-r5027872-Freddie_Mercury_Memorial-Montreux_Vaud.html>.

“Freddie Mercury – Mary Austin Interview, OK! Mag. 17.3.2000.” You Take My Breath Away – Freddie Mercury. Web. 04 Oct. 2011. <http://www.freddie.ru/e/archives/ok/>.

“Freddie Mercury: Biography.” You Take My Breath Away – Freddie Mercury. Web. 04 Oct. 2011. <http://www.freddie.ru/e/bio/>.

“100 Greatest Singers: Freddie Mercury | Rolling Stone.” Rolling Stone | Music News, Politics, Reviews, Photos, Videos, Interviews and More. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-singers-of-all-time-19691231/freddie-mercury-19691231>.

“Queen Rock You Like Never Before | Music News | Rolling Stone.” Rolling Stone | Music News, Politics, Reviews, Photos, Videos, Interviews and More. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/queen-rock-you-like-never-before-20020322>.