Tuesday 23 October 2012
There goes my baby She knows how to Rock n' roll She drives me crazy She gives me hot and cold fever Then she leaves me in a cool cool sweat
Pick of the
Week
“Crazy Little Thing
Called Love” by Queen (1980)
He was born to be a showman. With his flamboyant
charismatic presence, the soaring, brilliant, multi-octave voice of Freddie
Mercury is easily worthy of being called one of the top male voices in rock
ever.
His lives on in videos, DVDs, records, CDs, Mp3s and
millions of people’s memories all over the world.
Born Farrokh
Bulsara he was born in Zanzibar, Tasmania and was raised in India till he was a
teen. In Bombay he had already started playing piano when he entered St.
Peter’s British-style boarding school at age 8. Soon to be called Freddie, he
formed his first band when he was 12 and did Cliff Richard and Little Richard
tunes.
After school he
returned to the family home in Zanzibar only to leave again for England due to
the Zanzibar revolution that saw thousands of Arabs and Indians killed. In Felltham,
Middlesex he enrolled in Islesworth Polytechnic where he studied, what else,
art. His diploma in Arts and Graphics was later put to good use when he
designed the ‘Queen’ logo.
After kicking
around with a few bands he teamed up with Brian May and Rodger Taylor who were
a bit nervous about the name “Queen”, but reluctantly agreed. It was about this
time that Freddei changed his surname from Balsara to Mercury.
Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballe with whom Mercury
recorded an album, said of him, “The difference between Freddie and almost all
the other rock stars was that he was selling the voice. His technique was
astonishing. No problem of tempo, he sung with an incisive sense of rhythm, his
vocal placement was very good and he was able to glide effortlessly from a
register to another. He also had a great musicality. His phrasing was subtle,
delicate and sweet or energetic and slamming. He was able to find the right
colouring or expressive nuance for each word.”
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