Freddie Mercury's death anniversary: 15 lesser-known facts about the legend

Freddie Mercury (September 5 1946- November 24 1991) was a world-renowned British singer, songwriter, record producer, and the lead vocalist of the very popular rock band, Queen. The artist is known as one of the greatest singers in the history of rock music and was most commonly talked about for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range. Today, on Freddie Mercury's death anniversary, here are 15 of Freddie Mercury's facts that fans would love to know that. Read further ahead to know more about the legend’s lesser-known facts.

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Freddie Mercury's trivia

• Only one person in this world knows Freddie Mercury’s final resting place. After his death, his remains were given to his former lover Mary Austin who has kept it a secret for decades. Freddie Mercury had said, “I know exactly where I want to be buried but don’t want anyone to know. I don’t want anyone to dig me up. I want to rest in peace”. As to this day, it remains a mystery.
• Freddie Mercury was David Bowie’s roadie. In April 1969, an unknown singer and songwriter, David Bowie played a “lunchtime gig” in the canteen at Ealing art school. It is then when Freddie helped carry Bowie’s amp and even helped him build a makeshift stage for himself out of those canteen tables. But, Mercury never mentioned their first encounter with each other when he worked with Bowie years later.
• Freddie Mercury was very shy. He said that “when I’m performing, I’m an extrovert but from inside I’m a completely different man”. Queen drummer Roger Taylor had once said, “nobody knows the real Freddie”.
• Freddie Mercury had more teeth than usual. The rockstar had four extra teeth in the back of his mouth that pushed the teeth at the front forward. But, he always refused to have his teeth fixed fearing it would negatively affect his singing.
• Freddie Mercury created his trademark mic stand by an accident. One time while performing on-stage during a show early in his career, his mic stand snapped mid-performance. But, instead of replacing it, Freddie carried on performing and continued to use it, even though it didn't have any bottom.

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• A llama interrupted Freddie Mercury’s recording with Michael Jackson. In 1983, Freddie was invited to Michael Jackson’s home studio in California so that the two musicians could work on a few tracks together. The King of Pop insisted on bringing his pet, “a llama”, to the studio. This was apparently not cool with Freddie Mercury who gave up the collaboration calling his manager complaining "Michael is bringing his pet llama into the studio. I've had enough, I want to get out”.
• A dentist appointment helped pave the way for Sex Pistols. Freddie Mercury cancelled an appearance on the television show, Tonight With Bill Grundy, in order to plug their new album, A Day At The Races. The band cancelled as Freddie Mercury had his first dental appointment in over 15 years, and their replacement was the Sex Pistols.  
• Freddie Mercury nicknamed all of his friends and bandmates after women. He called Elton John “Sharon”, Rod Stewart “Phyllis” and Queen guitarist Brian May “Maggie” and even had one for himself “Melina”. But, he didn’t give one to his base guitarist John Deacon as he was considered too masculine in Freddie Mercury’s eyes.
• Freddie Mercury was a cat lover and owned over 10 cats. In fact, he dedicated his debut solo album, Mr Bad Guy, to his cat. He said and I quote, “This album is dedicated to my cat Jerry. Also Tom, Oscar and Tiffany and all the cat lovers across the universe. Screw everybody else”.
• Born Farrokh Bulsara, Freddie Mercury spent his early years transitioning between Tanzania and India, that was then under the British rule. Freddie Mercury’s family practised Zoroastrianism.

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• In 2019, in order to celebrate Freddie Mercury’s birthday, a brand new box set entitled Never Boring was released collating Freddie Mercury’s music, visuals, written, and spoken words.
• Freddie Mercury had a long-term relationship with Mary Austin in the early 1970s. She became Freddie Mercury’s closest friend and when he died at the age of 45 in 1991, he left her most of his money, his house, and his recording royalties.  
• Freddie Mercury’s collection has been exhibited at stamp shows worldwide.
• Freddie Mercury is on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and was listed at Number 18 in 2009.
• Freddie Mercury was voted Best Rock Singer of all time. Classic Rock bestowed this great honour on Freddie Mercury in 2009.

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Disclaimer: The above information is sourced from various websites/ media reports. This website does not guarantee 100% accuracy of the facts and figures.