CAIRO - On November 24, 1991, which in two days will be precisely 20 years ago, the world of music lost one of its most influential figures – Mr Farrokh Bulsara, better known as Freddie Mercury. In case the name doesn't ring any bells, let me tell you that he was the iconic singer of legendary British rock band Queen. As a vocalist, Freddie was exceptional and he was also an amazing songwriter. However, his main strength was his incredible stage charisma. This man wasn't just capable of moving the entire audience of a stadium, but he was also more of a figure that could hypnotise them all and hold their hearts in his hand. To me Freddie was and will always be the ultimate stage performer. Freddie was born in Zanzibar, Tanzania and when he was a boy he was properly trained to play the piano till the age of nine. Years later in London, he learned how to play the guitar as well. He played the piano on many of Queen's hits like “Killer Queen”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy”, “We Are the Champions”, "Somebody to Love” and “Don't Stop Me Now” to name but a few. This wasn't only in the studio, but also on stage. For instance, he played the piano during Queen's performance in the best rock concert ever, “Live Aid”, in July 1985. Anyway, to me Queen's part in the concert really started when Freddie got up and held his trademark mic stand to sing while moving all over the stage. Even when he played acoustic guitar on “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” he was charismatic. Speaking of Live Aid, Queen's part was voted by a group of music executives as the greatest live performance in the history of rock music! I guess that this was mainly due to Freddie's unforgettable performance. That man had the courage to do vocal warm-up exercises with a crowd of 72,000 fans at Wembley Stadium repeating each note after him! No one – and I mean no-one at all – ever did or does this. Although I strongly believe that no-one can compare with him, I am not underestimating the incredible talents of his fellow Queen members – guitarist Brian May, bassist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor. Each and every one of these three is an unbelievably talented musician, songwriter, performer and backing vocalist in his own right. However, Freddie was the force behind the power as well as the front man. In 1975 Queen of course achieved a record by holding onto the top spot in the UK charts for nine consecutive weeks with the epic “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Time went by and 16 years later the very same version of the song topped the UK chart again for five weeks… but there was a reason for that at the time – it was right after Freddie died. This timeless number mixes hard rock with opera and a ballad in a truly amazing way. When I was young I didn't like it at all, but as I grew up I learned how to appreciate such quality. I guess it was too progressive for a young boy. This number includes the most amazing bar you could ever listen to in a song, “Besm Allah” (In the name of God), which was sung three times on that track. Another enigmatic Queen song is “Mustapha”, which includes the following lyrics “Ibrahim, Ibrahim, Ibrahim, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah will pray for you, hey, Mustapha, Mustapha, Mustapha Ibrahim” and also “Salam Aleikum” (Peace be on you). This eyebrow-raising song makes me wonder! Back to epics and one of them is “Innuendo”, which was released in 1991. By then Freddie knew he was going to die and listening to this track and imaging what he must have felt like while recording it, makes me feel somehow uncomfortable. Another hit he recorded after finding out that he was going to die was “Barcelona”, which was released as a Freddie Mercury duet with renowned soprano Montserrat Caballé. Naturally this track reflects Freddie's love of opera. It was a hit upon its release in 1987 and once again in 1992 to coincide with the Barcelona Olympics. Supposedly, the initial date of release was 1992 but Freddie wanted to witness its release while he was still alive so it was scheduled for 1987. How come he knew he was going to die? He was diagnosed with HIV, which means he knew he had AIDs and was bound to die sometime soon. Anyway, he recorded an entire album with his soprano friend Montserrat and this track was taken from it. That wasn't his debut opera experiment… as we said before parts of “Bohemian Rhapsody” were influenced by opera and also in 1984 he wrote and released – with the other three members of Queen – the brilliant “It's A Hard Life”. The opening part of that number was based on a line from the aria “Vesti la giubba”, from Leoncavallo's “Pagliacci”. Despite the classical style used in some of Freddie's works with Queen, he was responsible for lighter ones like the irresistible 1950s rock ‘n roll styled “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and many more. Together with legendary rock singer David Bowie, Queen made one of my all-time favourite tracks – “Under Pressure”. This song contains what might be described as the greatest bass line ever and there's a story behind it that proves how talented the five artists who made the song (Queen & Bowie) are. They met at Bowie's studio in Switzerland, jammed for a while and came up with a number one hit! I told you that Queen participated in the world's best rock concert Live Aid and in my opinion the second best concert was the Freddie Mercury Tribute, which was performed to commemorate his life, five months after he died. With some calculations we will know that this concert was held in April 1992 and it took place at Wembley Stadium. This concert featured the three surviving members of Queen, who were joined on stage by everyone from David Bowie to George Michael and from Elton John to Axl Rose. Incidentally, when asked who was the best singer that day, Brian May answered George Michael and he chose Bowie as the worst. Send me Freddie's mic stand to: [email protected]
