Freddie Mercury
Year: 1991; Age: 45
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Mercury’s voice would be a
thing of legend were it not
recorded. With seemingly little
effort, the Queen frontman
could shift from crooning like
a balladeer to snarling from
his gut at a moment’s notice
(see “Killer Queen”). But he’s
also important for bringing a
sense of drama to hard rock,
encouraging his bandmates
to sing operatically on
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” show
off their senses of humor
(note the kazoo in “Seaside
Rendezvous” and the whole
“I Want to Break Free” video
where they dressed in drag)
and generally shoot for writing
the most bombastic and
grandiose songs they could
(“We Are the Champions”).
On the stage, he was a
flamboyant, indefatigable
presence who could get tens
of thousands of people to
clap their hands along to
songs like “We Will Rock You”
and “Radio Ga Ga.” “I love the
way Freddie performed,” My
Chemical Romance frontman
Gerard Way once said. “He
would strike amazing poses;
maybe he practiced them
in front of a mirror, but he
wasn’t pretending to be
somebody else. That was
him telling the world, ‘This
is who I am.’” Despite his big
persona, Mercury kept his
offstage life private, rarely
granted interviews, though
that didn’t keep him from
becoming an LGBT icon. In
the early Nineties, rumors
began circulating that he
had contracted AIDS, which
he confirmed just two days
before his death of bronchial
pneumonia, a side effect of
his disease. His music has
gone on to inspire countless
musicians, from Lady Gaga to
Metallica. KG
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