Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on September 5 1946 on the small spice island of Zanzibar in Tanzania.
His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were both Parsee (Persian). His father, Bomi, was a civil servant, working as a High Court cashier for the British Government.
Freddie Mercury studied piano in boarding school in India and befriended numerous musicians at London's Ealing College of Art. The music of Mercury's band, Queen, reached the top of U.S. and British charts. Mercury died of AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia on November 24, 1991, at age 45.
In latest buzz, the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center has designated Asteroid 17473 (discovered 1991) in Freddie Mercury’s name, timed to honor his 70th Birthday. Find out more at Rollingstone.com.