Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on Thursday September 5th 1946 on the Small Spice Island of Zanzibar. Freddie was a British musician, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his powerful vocals and flamboyant performances. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "We Are the Champions" and "Barcelona". With Mercury, Queen had sold more than 300 million albums internationally as of 2009. In addition to his work with Queen, he also led a solo career and was occasionally a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists.
Mercury hid his HIV status from the public for several years, and it has been suggested that he could have raised a great deal of money and awareness earlier by speaking truthfully about his situation and his fight against the disease.
A little over 24 hours after issuing that statement, Mercury died on the evening of 24 November 1991 at the age of 45. The official cause of death was bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS.
Freddie Mercury's death represented an important event in the history of AIDS. In April 1992, the remaining members of Queen founded The Mercury Phoenix Trust and organized The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness, which took place Easter Monday, 20 April 1992.[81] The Mercury Phoenix Trust has since raised millions of pounds for various AIDS charities. The tribute concert, which took place at Wembley Stadium for an audience of 72,000, featured a wide variety of guests including Robert Plant, Roger Daltrey, Extreme, Elton John, Metallica, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Tony Iommi, Guns N' Roses, Elizabeth Taylor, George Michael, Def Leppard and Liza Minnelli. The concert was broadcast live to 76 countries and had an estimated viewing audience of 1 billion