Freddie Mercury is best known as one of the rock world's most versatile and engaging performers and for his masterpiece "Bohemian Rhapsody."
Farrokh Bulsara was born on September 5th 1946, in Zanzibar, Tanzania. He later changed his name into Freddie Mercury as an art name.
He had piano lessons in a boarding school in India and, when he moved to England, he made friends with numerous musicians at London's Ealing College of Art.
He formed the group "Queen" in 1971 with other three musicians and they played in front of an audience for the first time in June of the same year. The band released their first album two years later in 1973, but it took two more recordings for Queen's music to really catch on. Their third record, Sheer Heart Attack (1974), featured their first hit, "Killer Queen". The single hit No. 2 on the U.K. charts, and peaked at No. 12 in the U.S.
Their album "A Night at the Opera", which included "Bohemian Rhapsody", at the beginning was not very successful.
In addition to his talents as a singer and songwriter, Mercury was also a legendary showman. He knew how to entertain audiences and how to connect with them. He liked wearing costumes and strutting around the stage, encouraging fans to join the fun.
Offstage, Mercury was open about his sexuality, but he kept his relationships private. He also lived a lavish lifestyle. He loved champagne and liked to collect art, once spending more than $400,000 on a set of hand-painted china.
By 1989, Mercury largely retreated from public life. He did not promote or tour for Queen's last album, Innuendo (1991), and rumours about possible health problems began to circulate. On November 23, 1991, Mercury released a statement: "I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV-positive and have AIDS. I felt it correct to keep this information private to date to protect the privacy of those around me. However, the time has come now for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth and I hope that everyone will join with my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease." The next day he died at the age of 45 from AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia in his mansion in London.