Top 10 Facts You Probably Did Not Know About Freddie Mercury
Here are some interesting facts you may not know about the British singer-songwriter, record producer, and lead vocalist of rock band Queen Freddie Mercury (1946-1991).
On December 1, 1976, Queen had to cancel an appearance on Bill Grundy's Today show because Freddie developed a severe toothache and had to make an emergency visit to the dentist.
An underground punk band, The Sex Pistols, were brought in as replacements. They showed signs of profanity, sarcasm, obscenity, and alleged drunkenness in front of the TV camera. This led to a shock in the United Kingdom and changed Grundy's career.
The Sex Pistols rose to become a famous, controversial punk band that recorded the banned song "God Save the Queen."
Freddie Mercury owned ten cats and treated them like family.
He made sure each cat had its own Christmas stocking filled with treats and toys. Five of them were alive after his death, and he left them to Mary Austin as part of his estate.
I think the song "Delilah" was dedicated to one of his cats. He really loved his cats.
In 1983, Freddie visited Michael Jackson's home and recorded three demos: "There Must Be More to Life Than This," "State of Shock," and "Victory." However, they were never really finished.
A solo recording of "There Must Be More to Life Than This" was included on Freddie's solo album Mr. Bad Guy. Freddie said, "We never seemed to be in the same country long enough to actually finish anything completely."
He was also frustrated by the fact that Jackson insisted on bringing a llama into the recording studio. May they both rest in peace. I wonder what they are doing in Heaven right now...
He was born with four extra teeth and was often bullied in school for it, which made him self-conscious about his appearance.
But he refused to have them fixed, believing that altering them would affect his vocal performance. This is the reason why Mercury had such an amazing voice.
Thanks to having a degree in art and graphic design from Ealing Art College, Freddie helped brand the band by designing the logo himself.
The logo consists of the zodiac signs of the band members: two Leo lions for John Deacon and Roger Taylor, a Cancer crab for Brian May, and two fairies to represent Freddie's Virgo sign. The "Q" and crown represent the band's name, Queen.
Starting as a child, Mercury collected stamps from Zanzibar, the UK, New Zealand, and Monaco.
His childhood stamp collection was one of his few possessions kept by his family after his death. In 1993, it was acquired by the British Postal Museum for exhibitions.
Stamp collecting is often seen as a hobby for boring people, but Freddie Mercury's interest shows how wrong that assumption is.
While his bed was an unusual place for Freddie to write songs, he was taking a bath at a Hilton Hotel in Munich, Germany, when he came up with an idea for an Elvis-inspired tune.
It took him around 5-10 minutes to write. The song went on to become Queen's first number-one hit in the United States. Freddie once said the song isn't "typical of my work, but that's because nothing is typical of my work."
Freddie Mercury was born in Stone Town, Sultanate of Zanzibar, on September 5, 1946.
His family moved there so his dad could continue his career at the British Colonial Office. They later moved back to escape the violence of the revolution against the Sultan of Zanzibar and the Arab government.
Even though Wayne's World came out a few months after his death, Freddie Mercury was aware that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was going to be in the movie.
Mike Myers wanted the song to be played instead of Guns N' Roses, threatening to leave the production if officials didn't agree. After the hit movie was released, the song hit the charts again and made Queen a bigger success than ever in the U.S.
The origins of "Bohemian Rhapsody" trace back to a tune he was known for before joining Queen in 1970.
He often referred to it as "The Cowboy Song" because of the Old West feel and the Johnny Cash-like lyric, "Mama, just killed a man."