Where was Freddie Mercury born?
MANY Queen fans may think that the legendary frontman was from the UK.
Although Freddie Mercury had British nationality, he was born in another country.
Where was Freddie Mercury born?
Freddie was born in Stone Town, Zanzibar, which is an East African Island off the coast of Tanzania on September 5, 1946.
He was born to parents Bomi and Jer Bulsara.
They had moved to Zanzibar so Bomi could continue his job as a cashier at the British Colonial Office.
Six years later, his parents had a daughter, also born in Zanzibar, called Kashmira Bulsara.
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Freddie spent a portion of his childhood in boarding schools in India before returning to Zanzibar in 1963.
As Zanzibar was a British protectorate until 1963, Freddie and his sister were born British subjects.
He was registered as a citizen of the United Kingdom and colonies on June 2, 1969, after his family emigrated to England.
When did Freddie Mercury move to the UK?
Arab control began in 1840 when the Sultan of Oman at the time moved his capital to Stone Town, Zanzibar.
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On January 12, 1964, a revolution began in Zanzibar, that was described by historian as the most violent outbreak of anti-Arab violence in postcolonial African history.
When the revolution began, 800 African insurgents led by the Afro-Shirazi Party took over key infrastructure in Zanzibar, effectively overthrowing the government.
The conflict led to the removal of the Sultan of Zanzibar and his government. Zanzibar then unified with Tanzania as an independent state.
The uprising resulted in the targeting of people of Arab and South Asian heritage. As many as 17,000 people were killed.
The revolution forced Freddie's parents to take their children and flee Zanzibar for England in November 1964.
The Bulsara family ended up living in Feltham, London Borough of Hounslow.
The house he used to live in with his family is recognised as an English Heritage site and the infamous blue plaque can be seen on the front.
After he moved to the UK, he studied graphic design courses at what is now part of the University of West London. He graduated in 1969.
It was there that he was first introduced to Roger Taylor and Brian May who were in a band called Smile.
When Smile's lead singer quit, Freddie joined Taylor and May as the frontman of the group and in 1970, Queen was born.
Freddie not only lent his legendary vocals to Queen, but he wrote many of their most famous hits.
Queen hits that Freddie wrote include Killer Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody to Love, We Are the Champions, Don't Stop Me Now and Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
Freddie also had a successful solo career as well as producing for and performing with other artists.
Freddie continued to achieve greatness even after he passed away.
As a member of Queen, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004.
What is Freddie Mercury's real name?
The singer was known by a couple of names before he settled on Freddie Mercury.
He was born Farrokh Bulsara.
When he was in boarding school in Panchgani, near Bombay (now Mumbai), he formed his first rock 'n' roll band called The Hectics.
It was during this time that he started to call himself Freddie.
This was seen in the 2018 blockbuster Bohemian Rhapsody, where Rami Malek played the late Queen frontman.
May told Queen Biographer Lesley-Ann Jones: "Freddie had written this song called My Fairy King and there's a line in it that says: 'Oh mother mercury, what have you done to me?'
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According to May, this was the inspiration behind the superstar's name.
In the early 1970s, Freddie legally changed his name from Bulsara to Mercury.