Mercury, Freddie (1946-1991)

British singer and songwriter, lead singer of the glam-rock group Queen. His flamboyance and operatic singing style was the basis of the group's popularity. After his death in 1991 of an AIDS-related illness, he became an icon of British high camp and a mainstream cultural figure.

Mercury's career as a solo artist was negligible, and his first solo album Mr Bad Guy (1985) did not do well. However, he had chart hits with the songs ‘Barcelona’ (1987, re-released 1992 to commemorate the summer Olympics), recorded with the opera singer Montserrat Caballe, and ‘The Great Pretender’ (1987).

Mercury was born in Zanzibar, Tanzania, to Parsee Indian parents. He attended boarding school in India before his family moved to England in 1964, where he studied design and began singing in bands. He formed Queen in 1971.