Happy Birthday to Musical Legend Freddie Mercury

It's hard to think of many stars more full of life and extraordinary spirit than Freddie.

This year marks 30 years since Freddie Mercury’s untimely death and today would have been the Queen singer’s 75th birthday. 

The charismatic frontman, who died of bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS in 1991.

Freddie said: “Maybe I’m a very tragic person, I don’t know why. But there’s an element of humor at the end, now. So that’s basically what my songs are all about.

The life of Frederick Bulsara began on the East African island of Zanzibar on September 5, 1946. 25 years later in London under the name of Freddie Mercury he was fronting the now legendary rock group named Queen.

The son of Bomi and Jer Bulsara, Freddie spent the bulk of his childhood in India where he attended St. Peter’s boarding school. He began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. No one could foresee where a love of music would take him.

The Bulsara family moved to Middlesex in 1964 and from there Freddie joined up with a blues band called Wreckage. While singing for Wreckage, a fellow student introduced Freddie to Roger Taylor and Brian May, founder members of a band called Smile. Smile metamorphosed into Queen when Freddie joined Roger and Brian as the lead vocalist. 

"He was very artistic. He was quite shy, Freddie was. On stage, the bigger the better: he’d play to 100,000 people and he was amazing. In private, he was a lovely person, great class, great style. I mean — he had a Picasso in his bathroom. It was amazing", says Freddie's friend.

Mercury’s seismic impact on music and pop culture has long been felt since his death. Today (September 5), fans have been sharing stories, tributes, photographs, and more to mark the singer’s birthday.