1946 On September 5th, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Freddie Mercury was born (his real name was Farrokh Bulsara). He was a British singer and a composer, and a member of Queen. He studied the piano in a boarding school in Mumbai, India. Here, he entered a band called Hectis, a group within he played the piano.
1960 He moved to London with his family. Mercury registered himself to Isleworth Polytechnic (West Thames College today) in the West of London, where he studied art. In the end, he earned a degree in art and graphic design at Ealing Art College and then he used these abilities to create Queen band logo. At Ealing College he befriended some musicians, including next bandmates, drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May.
1969 He had built Ibex band, which became in time Wreckage. This band did not survive, it disbanded on October. He sang, too, with some other bands before joining forces with Taylor and May.
1971 He met drummer John Deacon. The four organized a band called Queen by Mercury. On June, they gave their first concert.
1973 The band launched its first album called “Queen”.
1974 They launched their first hit, “Killer Queen”. It reached the second place on top in Great Britain and the twelfth position in USA.
1975 Queen had a greater success for the album named “A Night at the Opera”. Freddie wrote for the album the song “Bohemian Rhapsody”, a rock operetta of 7 minutes. The song hit the top of the charts in Great Britain and became a hit in top 10 in USA. Moreover, apart of his talents for being a singer and a composer, Mercury was also a showman. He knew how to make the audience have a good time and how to create a link between them. He implied himself actively in the design of many albums.
Mercury and Queen’s popularity continued to grow until the end of ’70s and the beginning of ’80s.
1978 “We Are the Champions” on the album “News of the World” became a hit, reaching top 10 in USA and Great Britain, like “We Will Rock You, on the same album. Both songs became popular hymns to sporting events.
1980 In a continuous creation and exploration of new sounds, Queen tried its luck to the music trend of those times, too, with a disc called “Another Bites the Dust”. The album “The Game” was launched, too, in which Mercury and the band showed their quality of being artists with a hit, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, composed by Freddie. Starting with the half of ’80s the sales started to decrease.
1981 Queen’s members collaborated with Davie Bowie in order to create the hit “Under Pressure”, number one in Great Britain, the last song that would have reached very up on top, it was the last song on this position. Even like this, Queen continued to gather many people to their concerts, having a remarkable performance until 1985, at a live charity concert. Money was raised for the famine in Africa. Inspired by this event, the band composed a hit, “One Vision”. In addition to his activity for Queen, Mercury launched many solo albums, like “Mr. Bad Guy”. He also collaborated with an opera singer, Montserrat Caralle.
1989 He withdrew from public life.
1991 He did not promote the next tournament with the band for their album “Innuendo”, moment when many gossips related to his health appeared. On November 23rd, Mercury declared: “I want to confirm that I have been tested HIV positive and I have AIDS. I felt it has been fair to keep this information secret until now to protect the privacy of people round me. Yet, now it is the moment for all my friends and my fans all over the world to find out the truth and I hope everybody joins to my doctors and all people in the world to fight against this terrible disease”. Next day, Freddie Mercury died because of AIDS to his residence, in London. He was only 45 years old.
1992 In his memory, on Wembley stadium was a concert called Freddie Mercury Tribute, a concert which had as a goal the awareness of AIDS effects.
2001 Mercury and the other members of the band got a special recognition for their contributions to the American music history, being introduced in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
2002 In a survey made to find out the great Englishman in history, Mercury reached the 58 position.
2007 In a Japanese national survey, he was placed on the 52 position of “top 100 most influential heroes”.
2008 Rolling Stone magazine placed him on the 18 position on the list of top 100 singers of all ages.