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Farrokh Bulsara was born of Thursday 5 September 1946 in Stone Town, Zanzibar to Persian parents. Lying in the Indian Ocean, Zanzibar is the collective name for two islands situated 35 km off the coast of mainland Tanzania: Unguja (commonly known as Zanzibar) and Pemba.

Zanzibar’s history was influenced by the British, Persian, Indians, Portuguese, Arabs and the African mainland. In 1964, Zanzibar merged with Tanganyika after the Arab government was overthrown to create the United Republic of Tanzania. Although Zanzibar is part of Tanzania, it elects its own President who is head of the government for matters internal to the island.

Farrokh's parents were from Gujarat in western India, an area well known to Krishna and Gandhi. The name Bulsara, was taken from the small Gujarati town in which Bomi Bulsara was brought up, Farrokh and his younger sister Kashmira’s father. And there it is, North of Bombay, South of Ahmedabad: Bulsar, a tiny dot on a huge coast. (below: photograph of he hospital where was born)

Farrokh parents are Parsees, Indian followers of Zarathustra, the man-God who is best known to most European non-Parsees for speaking in riddles to Nietzsche.
"Body am I entirely and nothing else, and soul is only a word for something about the body" spake Nietzsche's unbelieving Zarathustra. Parsees can indeed trace their origins back to Persia, but only if they turn the clock back an entire millennium, to the 9th century in most cases, when the first boatloads of persecuted religious refugees from the northern deserts landed on the Gujarati coast. Since then, the Parsees have had a thousand years to become indelibly Indian.

Jer and her husband Bomi Bulsara arrived in Britain, fleeing insurrection in 1964, when Farrokh (pictured above on the right) was 17. Most of his formative years were spent however in school a short bus journey away from Bombay.

Farrokh had a long standing relationship with Mary Austin who he met when she was 17. He asked her out the first time on his 24th birthday. She refused, being coy, but agreed to go the following night with him to see Mott The Hoople at the Marquee Club at 165 Oxford Street in Soho. It took Mary three years to fall in love and their relationship lasted six years, their profound frendship continured until his death. Farrokh left her his home at Logan Place, Kensington upon his death at the age of 45 of bronchial pneumonia on 24 November 1991.
The funeral was performed by Indian Parsee priests in the Zoroastrian faith. It was conducted entirely in the ancient tongue of Avasta which dates back to 1,500 years before Christ. Traditionally dead Parsees are left to be picked clean by vultures, but in Britain they are buried or cremated. Aretha Franklin's version of You've Got A Friend was played as four Pallbearers carried the simple brown casket with a single red rose atop. In attendance were his parents and less than 40 close friends and family. Tears streamed down Reginald Kenneth Dwight’s face as he walked red eyed to his green Bentley after the funeral to be driven away. At his request, after cremation Mary placed his ashes in a location known only to her.

Farrokh was a song writer and singer who had a range of 4 octaves from the baritone range he spoke in, he delivered most songs in the tenor range and, in some songs, countertenor. Biographer David Bret described his voice as "escalating within a few bars from a deep, throaty rock-growl to tender, vibrant tenor, then on to a high-pitched, almost perfect coloratura, pure and crystalline in the upper reaches."

Even today flowers and messages are left at the Garden Lodge gate of his house in London where Mary still lives.
For everything that we are known for, we are so much more.

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Delilah was the name of his favorite cat. She was black and white and can be seen on the left lapel of a vest he wore in one of his last appearances.
His words and music still ring prophetic sixteen years after his death.
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I listened to Fat Bottemed Girls on Vinyl when it came out. I memorized and still know every word, every note of the Jazz album.
In his own words, "I’ve taken my bows and my curtain call. You’ve brought me fame and everything that goes with it; I thank you all." Farrokh Bulsara’s music has left an indelible mark on our culture at the close of the 20th century.


I danced on a stage to Crazy Little Thing in 7th grade with Julie Gray. I still have a crush on her.

Thanks Freddie.