It’s fair to say that the legendary Freddie Mercury was best-known for his vivacious personality, his flamboyant performances and his supreme talent, as well as his incredible voice leading Queen’s timeless classics. Join us as we celebrate an incredible life, career and legacy, as we take a look at some facts about the former lead singer of Queen.
A founding member of Queen since it began back in 1970, Freddie wowed audiences around the world with his awe-inspiring vocal acrobatics until his tragic death in 1991 at the age of 45. His memory and legacy have lived on in fans as well as his fellow Queen bandmates Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon.
Now, as many fans have been able to see his possessions on display at Sotheby’s in London, ahead of their auction, take a look at these 20 facts you might not have known about Freddie Mercury!
1) Freddie Mercury designed the famous Queen Crest logo
It was all thanks to a degree in art and graphic design from Ealing Art College, which Freddie was studying when he met the other members of Queen!
2) He had a long-term relationship with Mary Austin in the early 70s
She became his closest friend. When he died at the age of 45 in 1991, he left her most of his money, his house, and his recording royalties.
Mary Austin and Freddie together in 1977
3) His trademark ‘bottomless mic’ happened by accident
Whilst performing a show early in Queen’s career, his mic stand snapped mid-performance. Instead of replacing it, he carried on performing and continued to use it, even though it didn’t have a bottom! This moment was recreated in the biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, which told the story of how Queen got together.
Freddie Mercury
4) Freddie’s last appearance in front of an audience was at The BRIT Awards
Queen won the BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution in 1990, with all four members of the band coming to the stage to accept the award. This was Freddie Mercury’s last appearance in front of an audience.
5) Freddie was a keen philatelist (stamp collector)
In June 2022, it was announced that one of Freddie’s childhood stamp albums would be on display for the first time. The album would be available to see at London’s Postal Museum as part of the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the UK Pride movement.
6) He and his family were Parsi and practiced the Zoroastrian religion
His funeral service was performed by a Zoroastrian priest.
7) Freddie Mercury wrote ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ in the bath
He was in the bath at a hotel and was inspired – even having the piano brought to his tub to allow him to compose!
8) Freddie is in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame
Along with the other members of Queen, Freddie was inducted in 2001.
9) He is on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Singers of All Time
He was listed at Number 18 in 2009.
10) He was voted Best Rock Singer of all time
Classic Rock bestowed this great honour on Freddie in 2009.
11) Statues of Freddie Mercury
A statue of Freddie Mercury was created and placed in Montreux, Switzerland. It was unveiled on 25th November 1996, and stands at over three metres high overlooking Lake Geneva.
Queen drummer Roger Taylor admitted he has a statue of Freddie in his back garden. The music legend told the Daily Star of the huge 20-foot commemoration to his late band mate, “I have the statue of Freddie in the garden, which I love, it’s great, it’s very big.
“I also thought it would be very funny to have the statue there and I think Freddie would have found it hilarious. He would have found it really funny.”
In 2022, it was revealed that a determined fan managed to get a statue of the music icon installed in his home town in Jeju Island, South Korea. Baek Soon-yeob emailed Queen every month for eight years to make his dream of the 1.77m statue a reality.
Freddie Mercury statue in South Korea
12) Freddie’s voice had a recording range of almost four octaves
The majority of his vocals fell into the tenor range.
13) He was very shy in real life
Despite his flamboyant persona on stage, he was very introverted and hardly ever gave interviews.
Freddie Mercury
14) ‘Mr. Bad Guy’ was Freddie’s first solo album
Released in 1985, it contained 11 songs, all written by him. It was dedicated “to my cat Jerry – also Tom, Oscar and Tiffany, and all the cat lovers across the universe – screw everybody else”. It debuted in the Top 10 in the UK album charts and remained in the charts for 23 weeks. Its highest position was Number 6 and it reached Gold status.
15) ‘Barcelona’ was Freddie’s second and final solo album
It was recorded with operatic soprano Montserrat Caballe. A special, newly recorded edition of the album, with live symphonic orchestration and percussion, was released on 3rd September 2012.
16) One of Freddie Mercury’s first major collaborations was with Dave Clark
They worked on the recording of the London West End musical Time together in 1986.
17) His favourite artists were Aretha Franklin and Jimi Hendrix
Wise choices!
18) Freddie Mercury received a posthumous BRIT Award
He won the Outstanding Contribution Award in 1992.
19) Before he became famous, Freddie Mercury worked as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport
In 2018, baggage handlers at the airport paid tribute to the Queen lead singer by learning a routine to ‘I Want To Break Free’.
20) Brian May ‘feels close’ to Freddie when he performs ‘Love of My Life’
Speaking to Express.co.uk, Brian said: “The one I always want to play is Freddie’s ‘Love of My Life’. The way we’ve arranged it recently… It’s very strange, it’s very emotional doing it, I have to say. I’m sitting there on a stool and in the old days it would have been Freddie right beside me, while I play acoustics.”
At a couple of shows, Brian surprised audiences by performing ‘Love Of My Life’ with the late singer, as a video of Freddie appeared on screen to sing the final verse with Brian. Speaking about it, Brian said: “It’s just a beautiful moment, I love it so much. By that time the audience have lit up all their phones and we have a moment. The crowning glory is Freddie coming on and tying the whole thing up with a great sense of humour as he always did have, which I think is the icing on the cake. And then he’s gone and that’s it.”
