5th September: Freddie Mercury

He was born on this date in 1946. Freddie Mercury would have been 71 today. Here are a few facts you may not know about Freddie.

1. Freddie Mercury's birth name was Farrokh Bulsara and he was born in Zanzibar. The family surname is derived from the town of Bulsar (now known as Valsad) in southern Gujarat. His parents were Bomi and Jer Bulsara and he had a younger sister, Kashmira. Freddie was 17 when the family fled to England to escape the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution.
2. He started using the name Freddie while at school, and changed his name legally to Freddie Mercury when Queen got together.
3. He went to art college. This gave him the skills to design the Queen logo himself. The crest incorporates the zodiac signs of each member of the band, a crown and a phoenix. The name Queen for the band was his idea, too, because it sounded regal and majestic.
4. Although it's well known that Freddie was gay, he did have a long term girlfriend in the 1970s. Her name was Mary Austin, and he lived with her until he came out. The couple remained very close - he said she was his best and only friend, and the song Love of My Life was about her. He was godfather to her eldest son, and when he died, he left his house and recording royalties to her. She is also the only person who knows the final resting place of Freddie's ashes. In accordance with his wish that nobody knew his final resting place, she took the urn there and has said she will never reveal Freddie's final secret.
5. His other great love was his Cats. He had ten of them at one time, and wrote songs about them, too. He dedicated the album Mr Bad Guy to his cats, had their portraits painted and would even call home to talk to them when on tour.
6. His first single was a flop. While Queen were recording their debut album, a studio engineer, who'd been trying to recreate record producer Phil Spector's famed "Wall of Sound" style and thought Freddie's voice would be perfect for it. Along with Brian May and Roger Taylor, they recorded a cover of the Ronettes' I Can Hear Music, with Freddie singing lead. They decided the song was good enough to release a single , but Freddie needed a stage name so people wouldn't get this project mixed up with Queen's upcoming first release. He chose Larry Lurex, a self-confessed piss take of Gary Glitter, who dominated the charts at the time. The name was probably the reason the single bombed, because Glitter's fans refused to buy it and DJ's wouldn't play it.
7. Although known for his flamboyant stage presence, he was very shy off stage and rarely gave interviews. He dreaded live performances of Bohemian Rhapsody because he didn't think he was that great a pianist and was afraid he'd mess it up.
8. Inspiration sometimes struck him at odd moments, and his assistants would be required to carry a pen and Paper around with them to write down song ideas. Lyrics for Life Is Real came to him suddenly during a flight from New York, and Crazy Little Thing Called Love was composed in a hotel Bathtub. Freddie called for his Piano to be brought into the bathroom to aid the process.
9. He was a keen stamp collector and his stamp collections have been exhibited at stamp shows all over the world.
10. One night in the 1980s Freddie and his friend Kenny Everett wanted a night out at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, one of the most iconic gay bars in London, known for its rough crowd and bar brawls. They'd spent the afternoon with another friend, who said she wanted to go with them. There was just one problem. This friend happened to be Diana, Princess of Wales. The solution? They dressed her up in an army jacket, sunglasses and a leather cap to hide her hair, so that she looked like a gay male model, and smuggled her in. The clientele that night were so excited by the presence of Freddie Mercury and Kenny Everett that they barely noticed the unknown "model" they'd brought with them. Diana was completely ignored and was even able to buy herself a drink without anyone noticing her. However, the group didn't want to push their luck, and only stayed for twenty minutes.

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