Freddie Mercury

As the dynamic frontman for Queen, Freddie Mercury became rock 'n' roll royalty in the '70s, his soaring tenor and flamboyant theatricality working in service of his eclectic songwriting skills. He was born Farrokh Bulsara on September 5, 1946 in Zanzibar to Indian parents. He grew up in India, becoming fascinated with rock music and learning the piano. He was 17 when he moved with his family to England, where he attended art school. In the late '60s he went through a series of bands before hitting paydirt in 1970 when he formed Queen with guitarist Brian May, and eventually, bassist Roger Deacon, and drummer Roger Taylor.

Changing his name to the more rock-star-sounding Freddie Mercury, he led the band through a fusion of glam, hard rock, and art rock. Their self-titled 1973 debut album did fairly well, but its 1974 follow-up, Queen II, hit No. 5 in the U.K. and the single "Seven Seas of Rhye" hit the British Top 10. Third album Sheer Heart Attack did even better, but it was 1975's milestone A Night at the Opera that made Queen international superstars, thanks to the mock-operatic worldwide smash "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the ubiquitous, Deacon-penned pop hit "You're My Best Friend." Over the next few years, Mercury and company's eclecticism grew, as they touched on everything from faux-vaudeville to delicate balladry, showtune stylings, and funk.

They hit another peak of success and eclecticism with 1980's The Game, featuring enormous hits like the rockabilly romp "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and the disco thumper "Another One Bites the Dust." Mercury's willfully androgynous look had always hinted at his homosexuality, but by this time, his shift to a leather-clad, shorthaired, mustachioed look left little doubt about his inclinations, though he never officially came out. In 1985 he released his first solo album, Mr. Bad Guy, which didn't do much business anywhere but England. In 1988 he released Barcelona in partnership with Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe. Mercury is said to have received an AIDS diagnosis in 1987, and by 1990 the news was pretty much public. He died of complications from AIDS on November 24, 1991 in London, having released the Queen album Innuendo earlier in the year.

As proof of Mercury's continued appeal even after his death, the film "Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018) was a massive box office success, with star Rami Malek receiving positive notices for his portrayal of Mercury, despite the film taking considerable liberties with the timeline of Queen's career and Mercury's life.