Biographic - Sunday January 7, 2007 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Freddie Mercury Born Farrokh Bulsara on September 5, 1946 on the Island of Zenzibar (now part of Tanzania), Freddie Mercury was educated at boarding school in India. In 1963, he joined his family in England, where they had fled to escape political unrest, and he attended art college while playing in various bands. In 1971, he teamed up with guitarist Brian May, who was studying post-graduate Astronomy, and dentistry student Roger Meddowes-Taylor on drums to form Queen. The line-up was completed by the addition of Science student John Decan on bass. By the mid-1970s, thanks to hits such as "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Are The Champions" Queen was once of the biggest bands in the world. In the 1980, the group topped the U.S. charts twice, with singles "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Another One Bites the Dust" and sold out four straight nights at Madison Square Garden. A 1984 concert tour to Sun City in South Africa, in Breach of boycott to protest apartheid, earned wide condemnation and a U.N. boycott- but the following year a triumphant appearance at Live Aid was followed by a massive surge in Back Catalog sales and a hugely successful European tour. But as the decade wore on, Freddie's increasingly gaunt appearance in photos and videos fed rumors and media speculation about his health, on November 24, 1991, the 45-year-old superstar succumbed to complications arising from aids and died at his London home. But the music lives on, remaining a staple of countless movie and TV soundtracks, and many of today's top bands cite queen as a major influence.

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