by Rotem Migdal
Copyright © 2021
English Project – FREDDIE MERCURY
Copyright © 2021
FREDDIE MERCURY
Submitted by: Rotem Migdal, Rotem Primov, Sahar Kedmi
Submitted to: Miriam Duanis
Submitted on: January 24th, 2021
INTRODUCTION by Rotem Migdal
Throughout history, there have been people who have influenced the way we live. Freddie Mercury is one of those people.
I chose to prepare this research project on Freddie Mercury for several reasons. To begin with, he was a member of the rock band QUEEN which is one of my favorite bands. Furthermore, he left a significant mark in the field of music, even today his music is still alive among us.
There are several things that I already know about Freddie Mercury. Firstly, I know that he was the lead vocalist of the rock band QUEEN. In addition, I know that he died of AIDS when he was 46 years old.
I expect to learn new and interesting things about Freddie Mercury.
First and foremost, I want to learn about his childhood and his personal life. Finally, I would like to discover what motivated him to establish the rock band QUEEN.
Freddie Mercury has left his mark on the world. I am looking forward to finding out more about him.
INTRODUCTION by Rotem Primov
Throughout history, there have been people who have influenced the way we live. Freddie Mercury is one of these people.
I chose to prepare this research project on Freddie Mercury for several reasons. To begin with, Freddie Mercury was a famous singer who changed the music industry, and he was brave when he told the world he had AIDS. Another reason is that I always like listening to the rock band “Queen“.
There are a number of things that I already know about Freddie Mercury.
Firstly, I know that he was the lead singer of the band “Queen”. In addition, I know that he died of AIDS.
I expect to learn new and interesting things about Freddie Mercury. First and foremost, I expect to find out more details about his family and about himself. Also, I want to learn how he became the lead singer of “Queen”. Finally, I would like to discover what he did before he died.
Freddie Mercury has left his mark on the world. I am looking forward to finding out more about him.
INTRODUCTION by Sahar Kedmi
Throughout history, there have been people who have influenced the way we live. Freddie Mercury is one of those people.
I chose to prepare this research project on Freddie Mercury for several reasons. To begin with, he was the lead vocalist of the rock band QUEEN. Moreover, he is responsible for great hits that have been written and have done great things on and off stage.
There are a number of things that I already know about Freddie Mercury. Firstly, I know that he was a British singer, songwriter, record producer, and lead vocalist of a rock band. In addition, I know that he died when he was 46 years old.
I expect to learn new and interesting things about Freddie Mercury. First and foremost, I expect to find out about his family and his childhood. Also, I want to learn about his artistry and his personal life. Finally, I would like to discover about his contribution to the world of music.
Freddie Mercury has left his mark on the world. I am looking forward to finding out more about him.
Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on Thursday, September 5th, 1946 on the small spice island of Zanzibar. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara were from the Parsi community of western India. They were members of the old Zoroastrian religion. The Bulsaras had origins in the city of Bulsar in Gujarat. His father, Bomi, was a civil servant, working as a High Court cashier for the British Government. In 1952, Freddie’s sister, Kashmira, was born. The family had moved to Zanzibar so that Bomi could continue his job as a cashier at the British Colonial Office. Mercury was born with four supernumerary incisors, to which he attributed his enhanced vocal range.
At the age of 8, Mercury’s parents sent him to “St Peter’s” which is an English boarding school in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. At “St Peter’s” Freddie loathed cricket and long-distance running, but he liked hockey, sprint, and boxing. At the age of 10, he became a school champion in table tennis. Mercury was born with four extra teeth in the back of his mouth, causing his now-famous buck toothed grin. Mercury never got his teeth fixed because he was afraid it would ruin his impressive four-octave vocal range. Freddie was not only a good sportsman, but his artistic skills were exceptional. He loved art and was always sketching for friends or relatives.
The music he was able to get was mostly Indian, but some Western music was available. He would sing along to either and preferred music to schoolwork. The principal headmaster of St Peter’s had noticed Freddie’s musical talent and wrote to his parents suggesting that they might wish to pay a little extra on Freddie’s school fees to enable him to study music properly. They agreed, and Freddie began to learn to play the piano. It was not long before the charismatic young man formed his first band, the Hectics. The members were Freddie, Derrick Branche, Bruce Murray, Farang Irani, and Victory Rana. The band covered rock and roll artists such as Cliff Richard and Little Richard. They would play at school parties, at annual fetes and school dances, but little else is known about them. On St Peter,
he began to call himself Freddie Bulsara.
In 1963, Freddie finished school and returned to Zanzibar. In the spring of 1964, Mercury and his family fled from Zanzibar to escape the violence of the revolution against the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government, in which thousands of ethnic Arabs and Indians were killed. In that same year he enrolled at the nearby Isleworth Polytechnic. After first studying art at Isleworth Polytechnic in West London, Mercury studied graphic art and design at Ealing Art College, graduating with a diploma in 1969. He later used these skills to design heraldic arms for his band, Queen. In that year Mercury joined a group called “Ibex” as their lead singer.
He played with a few other bands before joining forces with his future Queen bandmates – drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May. In 1971 John Deacon joined the band and Queen was complete. Freddie designed the band’s logo using their birth signs: two fairies for him (Virgo), two lions for Roger and John (Leo), and a crab for Brian (Cancer). The quartet played their first gig together that June.
In 1973, Queen released their first album, titled “Queen”. They quickly followed up with their second album, “Queen II”, in 1974, which they recorded in over just one month. Queen’s music, however, really only caught on with their third record, “Sheer Heart Attack”, which was also released in 1974. With a sound that has been described as a fusion of hard rock and glam rock, Queen had an even bigger hit the following year with their fourth album, “A Night at the Opera”. Freddie was the author of the first Queen song that entered the British charts (Seven Seas Of Rhye), the first big hit (Killer Queen), and the most famous Queen song that was on
the top of charts for 9 weeks (Bohemian Rhapsody).
Freddie has always been considered the front-man of the band. On October 7th, 1979 Freddie performed with the Royal Ballet. He had never done any ballet before, but it was something he had always wanted to try. In 1980 Freddie changed his image. He cut his hair and grew a mustache. His fans began to send him gifts of nail polish and razor blades. At the end of 1982 Queen, all agreed they wanted to take a break from each other. They announced they wouldn’t be touring throughout 1983.
Freddie had been thinking of making a solo album for some time, and at last, he had time to do something about it. He booked studio time at Musicland in Munich and began work in early 1983. On September 10, 1984, Freddie’s first solo single was released. It was the track he had co-written with Georgio Moroder for Metropolis, Love Kills. The first single from his forthcoming solo album was I Was Born To Love You. It was released on April 9, 1985. Three weeks later Freddie’s first solo album Mr. Bad Guy was released on CBS Records.
On Saturday 13 July 1985 Queen got back together to perform at an event called “Live Aid”, which was a charity show. This event was large in terms of television and was broadcast on satellite, to 1.5 billion viewers worldwide live, and the show was attended by great rock artists. Queen gave the best show there and took full advantage of the time and realized that this is a one-time opportunity in front of a large number of people and proved it, the Queen performed for 21 minutes and was voted to the best Live in the history of rock music.
In honor of this special evening which was meant to raise funds to help the victims of hunger in Ethiopia, they performed a renewal to the single “Do They Know It’s Christmas” which was meant to renewal the single “Do They Know It’s Christmas” which was meant to help raise funds for the struggle and actually flew up as itself and served as a symbol of struggle and support.
The early part of 1987 was very quiet for Queen, so Freddie took the opportunity to go into Townhouse Studios to do some solo work. It resulted in a remake of the classic Platters’ song The Great Pretender. The single was released on February 23rd. In March 1987 Freddie flew to Barcelona to meet Montserrat Caballé. He gave her a cassette with two or four songs. The Spanish opera diva liked these songs and even performed one of them at London’s Covent Garden.
Freddie was delighted. In early April, Freddie began work on the album he agreed to record with Montserrat Caballé. October 8th was the last time Freddie Mercury performed on stage. At the time, he was terribly ill with AIDS, although he didn’t want people to know about it. On the evening of 24 November 1991, about 24 hours after issuing the statement, Mercury died at the age of 45 at his home in Kensington.
Even when he was ill he continued to compose and record songs and even took part in making videos. Mercury’s close friend Dave Clark of the Dave Clark Five was at the bedside vigil when he died. Austin phoned Mercury’s parents and sister to break the news, which reached newspaper and television crews in the early hours of 25 November. On April 20th, 1992 a tribute concert in Freddie’s memory was held at Wembley Stadium, and many famous rock stars took part in it. But the best tribute to Freddie was the album Made In Heaven, released on November 6th, 1995 by the three remaining members of Queen.
Each person affects other people differently. It can be in the behavior, hope, or thoughts he awaking in you. Freddie is that figure for us. There’s a lot of different creations he made but the that had the most influence on us is the song “Don’t Stop Me Now” who performed by him and his band “Queen”. The first thing that caught our mind and soul is the interesting lyrics. Freddie is singing about how good he is feeling and how much fun he’s gonna have tonight. He describes that feeling with so many unique metaphors and adjectives like: “I feel alive and the world I’ll turn it inside out”, “I’m a shooting star, leaping through the sky Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity”.
The talented singer describes the feeling of “Euphoria” – which is extreme happiness. The lyrics makes us feel free and weightless. The rhythm is energetic, one of a kind. Also, it makes us want to get up, take a small pause from all the problems, worries, and things that bother us, and have a good time like the one he describes. We want to just get up and just dance, sing, and have fun even in tough times. To sum up, we think this is an amazing creation and it has a special place in our hearts
The lyrics of “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen
Tonight I’m gonna have myself a real good time
I feel alive
And the world I’ll turn it inside out yeah
I’m floating around in ecstasy
So don’t stop me now
Don’t stop me
’cause I’m having a good time
Having a good time
I’m a shooting star leaping through the sky
Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity
I’m a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva
I’m gonna go go go there’s no stopping me
I’m burning through the sky yeah
Two hundred degrees that’s why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit
I’m travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man out of you
Don’t stop me now
I’m having such a good time
I’m having a ball
Don’t stop me now
If you wanna have a good time
I’m a rocket ship on my way to Mars
On a collision course
I am a satellite
I’m out of control
I’m a sex machine ready to reload
Like an atom bomb about to oh oh oh oh oh explode
I’m burning through the sky yeah
Two hundred degrees that’s why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit
I’m travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic woman of you
Don’t stop me don’t stop me, don’t stop me hey hey hey!
Don’t stop me don’t stop me ooh ooh ooh (I like it)
Don’t stop me don’t stop me
Have a good time good time
Don’t stop me don’t stop me
I’m burning through the sky yeah
Two hundred degrees that’s why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit
I’m travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man out of you
Don’t stop me now
I’m having such a good time
I’m having a ball
Don’t stop me now
If you wanna have a good time
Just give me a call
Don’t stop me now
’cause I’m having a good time
Don’t stop me now
Yes I’m having a good time
I don’t wanna stop at all
In this section, we “met” with a person who enlightened us with their opinions, thoughts, and knowledge regarding the figure we are doing the project on.
We chose to interview Freddie’s sister Kashmira Cooke. We think that she is the most suitable person to tell us a more personal side about him as a person who knew him personally. Moreover, she is his family. We contacted her at first through the Instagram platform and continued to communicate with her by email.
Q1: What do you like to do in your free time?
A: You asked what I like to do in my free time, well I like relaxing and I’m fond of spending time with my family, sharing memories, listening to music and talking about Freddie.
Q2: Can you share a childhood memory?
A: A great memory I have is a letter Freddie sent when he was approximately 12 and was at the boarding school, in this letter if the cold I had at the time was better, to think about it really warms my heart.
Q3: How was Freddie as a teenager?
A: When he was a teenager, it’s very well known that he was a shy boy. As a brother, he was extremely caring and nice… Oh yes, he was ADORABLE!
Q4: When did you know that he had star quality?
A: I knew Freddie had some potential quite early… Although he was shy he had a very impressive charisma and I knew he had amazing artistic skills quite early as well.
Q5: How did you feel when he became famous?
A: When he became famous, I was very happy for him, it was what he deserved from the beginning. He said it himself, he always knew he’ll be a star!
Q6: Which of Queen’s songs is your favourite?
A: I have many favourite Queen songs, I’d say I love them all! But at the moment, I listen to “Let Me Live” a lot…
Q7: Would you used to go to his performances?
A: Yes of course I went to some Queen performances! I sometimes helped Freddie with the makeup and hair and it was wonderful…
Q8: How do you think your brother should be remembered? Do you think enough is done to preserve his memory?
A: I think Freddie should be remembered as the tender and generous man he was and also as the singer he was… My mother fought a lot to keep Freddie’s legacy alive and lots of things have been done, we’re very grateful. Since last year I joined social media to stay close to his fans and I do my best to answer quickly, I stay close to them and I gladly share things.
Q9: Have you seen the movie? What did you like and what didn’t you like about it?
A: Of course, I watched the movie! I was even at its premiere in 2018! To be honest, I’m not a fan of the movie because it didn’t show Freddie as a nice person. The image of Freddie this biopic gave was not very respectful and lots of things don’t match with the reality, it’s sometimes frustrating…
But I love the fact that it brought many young fans to the Queen fandom…
They just have to get informed about reality because most of them are extremely stubborn and they keep insisting on facts that happened in the movie but not in the reality!
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Freddie Mercury – Mr. Bad Guy (1985)
Bohemian Rhapsody | Official Trailer
We found the preparation of this project worthwhile for several reasons:
First, we learned more details about Freddie Mercury. Secondly, we developed several skills. Moreover, we learned how to work as a team.
We learned many things while working on the project:
First and foremost we learn about his childhood and his personal life, his family, and his sources. Moreover, we discovered what activities he liked to do, and details about his first band, and the beginning of his career. Furthermore, we learned what motivated him to establish the rock band QUEEN, his solo career, and more details about his death and his last moments.
We developed several skills during our work on this project:
We learned how to work in a team, leading an opinion, convincing team members to agree with our opinion, accepting other possibilities for thought, summarizing full content in text for a summary containing the main points.
Working in a team can be difficult, it has benefits and disadvantages.
On the one hand, it was much more fun to work as a team because beyond the work we did we also talked and laughed about different subjects, and that made the work more enjoyable and delightful. Moreover, we had a dialogue in which we raised suggestions and thoughts and violated each other’s ideas.
On the other hand, there were things we enjoyed less while preparing this project. It was important to us to write the chapters together and there was difficult to set a meeting because each member of the group has a different schedule so sometimes we delayed the meeting until the last few days.
In conclusion, we are grateful that we had the opportunity to prepare this project.
Freddie Mercury Biography
https://www.biography.com/musician/freddie-mercury
Freddie Mercury Biography
פרדי מרקיורי – ויקיפדיה
https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%93%D7%99_%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%99
Published: Jan 24, 2021
Latest Revision: Jan 30, 2021
Ourboox Unique Identifier: OB-1016798
Copyright © 2021
Skip to content