although most people know about him and queen's music, y'all dont know how iconic he actually was, so before stan twitter falls for rami's freddie for like a week (rami u deserve better), let's appreciate the original hbic

ok so,

farrokh bulsara (later changed to freddie mercury ofc) was born in 1946, in zanzibar, he was born with parsi decent and grew up in both zanzibar and india before later moving to england with his family

he was a singer, songwriter and record producer, and obviously the lead vocalist of queen

he had an estimated four - octave vocal range and is considered one of the greatest vocalists of all time, especially due to his unique tone and his ability to change his style from line to line ((your faves could nEVER))



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also wow



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he is also regarded as one of the greatest front men of all time, david bowie said "freddie took it further than the rest...he was definitely a man who could hold an audience in the palm of his hand" freddie was also praised by many other legends



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freddie frequently used a broken microphone as his main prop onstage, after he accidentally snapped it off the stand during an early performance and realised it was more useful that way - a convenient queen,, we stan!

freddie loved cats, he even dedicated a solo album, ' mr bad guy ' to his cats, and left a note in the album booklet saying, "this album is dedicated to my cat jerry - also tom, oscar and tiffany and all the cat lovers across the universe - screw everybody else!"

he also wrote a song about his cat delilah and issa bop!



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He adopted his cats from rescue shelters (adopt don’t shop) and gave them gourmet meals, christmas stockings and talked to them over the phone

he called sid vicious (from the sex pistols) “simon ferocious” and pushed him, when sid came in to the studio and made comments about freddie’s flamboyant attitude and sexuality – so he rlly was THAT bitch

he used a piano as a headboard for his bed and taught himself to play backwards, so if he thought of a song idea in bed he could just reach back to play and/or record it (but he didnt consider himself to be a good pianist and hated playing live ugh)

he had a degree in art and graphic design – and designed queen’s emblem based on the zodiac signs of the members (ugh what a virgo move)

he used to ride on the shoulders of darth vader and superman during his concerts

although many people overanalyse the meaning of the hit bohemian rhapsody, when asked about it freddie said “it bears no real meaning, it’s all rhyming nonsense” lmaoo indie twitter is quaking

he and michael jackson actually collaborated and had recording time together but freddie stopped bc he got uncomfortable when michael would keep bringing his llama into the studio (I actually can’t with this one I -)

here's a lil snippet of a rare recording of them together (there's a few on youtube) they would've been iconic but a llama ruined it sjshgjs



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he wrote the bop crazy little thing called love in the bath, and had a piano brought to him to compose it

he dressed princess diana in male drag and snuck her into gay clubs

the music video for queen’s song ‘I want to break free’ actually got banned from mtv bc all four members were in drag

at one of his concerts, an audience member called out “you fucking p**f” and freddie responded by turning the spotlight on him and said “say that again darling.”

He was a keen stamp collector! 7 year old me can relate! ((wow and now he's on his own stamps catch me crying))

freddie never confirmed his actual sexuality so I aint gonna say what he specifically identified as but that man was certainly not a straighty (I feel like a lot of people assume queen is another classic 80s straight rock band but y'all they are far more)

In 1985 he began a long – term relationship with jim hutton and they were honestly the cutest couple of all time

his outfits were always on point and iconic ((but that could be a WHOLE other thread))

although he was lively onstage he was a very quiet and private person in real life and rarely gave interviews, but when he did, they were iconic bc he was highkey a diva (credit to officialqueenromania for the compilation)



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his 39th birthday party was legendary, he asked all the guests to dress in drag (even his straight white male friends) they all did, but when they got there freddie wasn’t in drag, now that’s a power move marty

it was a massive party and was even filmed for his solo hit ‘living on my own’



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queen’s live aid performance has gone down as one of the best of all time, the band thrive and freddie’s persona is what takes it to that extra level ((if you haven't watched it pls do))



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A22oy8dFjqc&t=888s …

freddie was devastatingly diagnosed with HIV and eventually AIDS, however did not reveal it to the public until the day before he died

although he hadn’t revealed his illness, speculation about his health were everywhere and photographers, mostly from the sun newspaper, would wait outside his house to get a picture of him in his condition as he was dying, which is disgusting.

(I didn't really want to post those articles, but i think it's important to realise this issue as it's still happening, in that the media and now social media, really has the ability to ruin people's lives)

despite being ill, freddie continued to record music up until his last few months, he told the band “write me more. write me stuff. I want to just sing this and do it and when I am gone you can finish it off” according to band mate brian may

brian was concerned freddie wouldn’t be able to record the song ‘the show must go on’ as freddie couldn’t even walk, but freddie drank some vodka, said “I’ll fucking do it darling” and sang the vocals in one take



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he recorded the music video for ‘these are the days of our lives’ whilst very ill, but still delivers a great, but emotional performance and put all the effort he could into it – if you don’t cry when watching the making of the video get out of my mentions



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one of his last wishes was that bohemian rhapsody be reissued to raise money for AIDS charities, and when it was it topped the charts for a second time and was number 1 for 5 weeks

the freddie mercury tribute concert was announced after his death to raise money for the mercury phoenix trust



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i26406_EldM …

the mercury phoenix trust was also set up in freddie’s name to help provide financial assistance to AIDS charities all around the world

he died a legend and will forever be remembered as the icon he was <3

thank you for reading this long ass thread, I hope y’all know freddie a lil more now if you didnt already, he will forever be such an inspiration to me and so many others, if you wanna message me about anything or freddie pls feel free !!

also watch bohemian rhapsody out november!! and if anyone wants it imma make a freddie mercury most iconic looks thread one day bc why not

((just a reminder that some of these are from memory so if anything is wrong I’m sorry, also a couple stories there are different opinions on what happened, like the llama one, but I chose the best options))

*he actually composed crazy little thing called love with a guitar in the bath i told y’all my memory is fried

lot of complaints about not including mary - look if anything she deserves her own thread bc she is THAT iconic

ignore the princess diana tweet that was a rumour sorry for scamming you all I’m forgetful

dont take everything you read on this thread as absolute fact, I tried to make it as correct as possible, but I make mistakes, & there r many stories as to what happened so please be cautious as I don’t want to be spreading false info I never thought it would get this many reads

You can follow @maddenthot.

____

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