THE RISE OF MERCURY
By Julie Mccaffrey

WHO would have thought that the shy, toothy 10-year-old sitting proudly behind his sports trophy would grow up to be one of the world’s most flamboyant superstars?

Yet it wasn’t for his athletic prowess that Farrokh Bulsara was to find fame, but as Freddie Mercury, the legendary frontman of rock band Queen.

Freddie was only 45 when he died of pneumonia brought on by Aids 15 years ago. Had he lived, he would be celebrating his 60th birthday on Tuesday.

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To mark this milestone, Freddie’s relatives have opened up their family album for a special TV tribute to the star.

Their snapshots include photos of him as a wispy-haired baby in a flowered dress on his mother’s hip, wearing the flower garland and skull cap of the Zoroastrian religion aged four, as a gangly seven-year-old with his little sister, as a young lad out for a bike ride with his mates, and as the fledgling rocker giving his mum a cuddle.

Together, the pictures give a fascinating insight into Freddie’s early upbringing in Africa and India – parts of his life he kept private from his fans and refused to discuss with his friends. The iconic showman believed his exotic background and family’s Zoroastrian beliefs didn’t exactly fit in with his wild rock 'n’ roll image.

Born on September 5, 1946, and christened Farrokh by his diplomat father Bomi Bulsara and mother Jer, he and his younger sister Kashmira spent their first years on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar.

In 1955, at the age of nine, he was sent to St Peters private boarding school in Panchgani near Bombay where he got the nickname Freddie. He won trophies for sport, excelled at art and stood out as an accomplished pianist. Yet his schooldays were marred by homesickness and the stress of hiding a secret from his classmates.

Fellow pupil Zahid Abrar recalls: „Freddie felt very lonely and would sometimes cry in a quiet corner. He was homesick. At the time, I didn’t know Freddie was a gay guy. I still wonder what was going on in his mind when we were chasing girls.”

But his shyness and unhappiness didn’t stop him shining onstage. By the age of 12, Freddie had played to his schoolmates in his first band, The Hectics. Music was already a big part of his life. In his early teens he and his schoolmates were obsessed with rock 'n’ roll and trying to perfect their Elvis-style quiffs.

In 1964, two years after Freddie finished his schooling, political unrest in Zanzibar forced the Bulsaras to look for a new home. He persuaded his parents to move to England and the family settled in Feltham, South London.

He spent the next 10 years at art school, doing part-time jobs and trying to establish himself as a musician. He formed Queen in 1970 with his friends Roger Taylor, Brian May and John Deacon. They found worldwide fame five years later with Bohemian Rhapsody and went on to sell 150 million albums.

As his fame grew, so did his notoriety. Freddie’s wildly hedonistic parties became the stuff of showbiz legend. He once flew a jumbo jet full of guests to Munich for a black and white ball and hired naked mud wrestlers for a London bash. But despite the scandals he was always the consummate performer.

Mum Jer, who was there for his Live Aid performance in 1985, says: „I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I thought, 'What have you done? You have proved yourself’.”

But by 1987, his life of excess had caught up with him. His sister Kashmira Cooke, 55, says: „I did suspect he had Aids. But I didn’t want to ask a dying man that question so I waited to see if he wanted to tell me. One day I saw that his foot was very badly scarred. He chose that moment to say, 'Look, my dear, you must know that I am dying’.”

Freddie’s death on November 25, 1991, left his family and legions of fans devastated.

Kashmira says: „It didn’t register until I saw the newspaper articles. I can remember now, reading with my dad, his tears and my tears dropping on to the article. I still think of him every day. Every single day.”

Jer adds: „When I hear him on the radio, I realise that people still love him, people still remember him. That keeps me going.”

z 2-09-2006