Freddie Mercury was a musician whose irresistible charm, his passion and his dedication to music can be attributed to the legendary status of the band Queen. Who would have ever thought that a boy born in Africa to Parsi Indian parents would become one of the biggest music icons the world had ever seen? Yet, it was only a year ago when I found out about Freddie’s heritage, and with his recognition as a British rock star rather than an African or Parsi Indian rockstar, and his name change from Farrokh Bulsara to Freddie, people dispute even today on whether Freddie was trying to downplay his roots in order to pursue his musical dream. As someone who is inspired by Freddie Mercury’s fierce passion and colourful personality, I too have been exploring this debate.
As Associate Professor at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Music Jason King notes, Freddie Mercury “operated in at least four closets in his life” – two of those closets were his sexuality and his struggle with AIDs, the other two of his race and nationality, which are much less written about. However, Freddie Mercury was asked about his background in numerous interviews and did not hesitate to talk about his birthplace and who his parents were, showing no sign of wanting to shy away from talking about his identity, albeit at times very briefly.
Freddie Mercury’s name change from Farrokh Bulsara may lead many to suggest that he indeed was trying to forget his roots, but that alone cannot really prove that that was the case. Freddie was a nickname given to him by his peers when he was at school in India as a child, and his new last name Mercury was made in reference to the Greek God, probably meant to better reflect his musical persona.
His family has also taken the time to mention that Freddie was, in fact, proud of his heritage. Roger Cooke, Freddie’s brother in law has said “To an English mind, Asian means Indian. It doesn’t in Freddie’s particular case, he was Persian by ancestry. He was accused of denying his Indian heritage. I don’t think he ever did, but if he did, it would have been because he was Persian.”
His mother has added: “Freddie was a Parsee and he was proud of that, but he wasn’t particularly religious.”
Freddie Mercury was also keen to show the influences of the South Asian and Parsi culture he grew up around in his songs. Aside from the bismillahs in Bohemian Rhapsody, another glaring example would be a Queen song called “Mustapha,” about which King notes that consists of vocalizing similar to a call to prayer, and having grown up in Pakistan around the sound of Adhans myself, I happen to agree.
However, his public exploration of his culture remained brief, and that may very well have to do with the time period Freddie was living in. England was suffering from severe immigrant hostility in the 1960s. Asian representation in music during that period was non-existent and its overt racism was not that uncommon. Hence, what may seem like Freddie’s attempt at masking his identity from the public can very well be a symptom of that time.
Another reason for his reservation would be the fact of his sexuality and how that, combined with his Asian roots, may have left him alienated from both the Asian community and the contemporary predominantly white British community. It would not be inaccurate to say that the Indian community during Mercury’s time was embedded with traditional beliefs that would have found Freddie’s extravagant rock-and-roll lifestyle unacceptable as a man of their community. Thus, perhaps Freddie used the passion of his music to liberate himself from all expectations of different communities, to be unapologetically himself, or as one article described, to be “a flame of beautiful and dramatic ambiguity” through his soul-stirring ballads and highly exuberant stage persona.
From all the evidence compiled, it does not seem fair to suggest that Freddie made a deliberate and strong attempt to mask his identity. It seems more so that the British society avoided exploring and appreciating Freddie’s ethnic background and recognizing him as the East-African, Parsi Indian Queer Rock Opera Star that he was. All in all, we may never Freddie’s true intentions with the way he carried with regards to his identity. All I know that he transcended people’s idea of how a rock star is supposed to look and act. Because of that, he has been able to win over the hearts of so many people around the world even long after his death, a truly legendary feat. Because of that, I am always on the verge of tears when I listen to “Too Much Love Will Kill You,” released by Queen soon after his death from AIDs in 1991.
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