Talk:Freddie Mercury

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Freddie Mercury was nominated as a good article, but it did not meet the good article criteria at the time (No date specified. To provide a date use: {{FailedGA|insert date in any format here}}). There are suggestions below for improving the article. If you can improve it, please do; it may then be renominated.

Freddie Mercury received a peer review by Wikipedia editors, which is now archived. It may contain ideas you can use to improve this article.

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Topic?

hey, how's this an india-related topic? granted the man's indian, but his impact exceeds india and was more global. besides, he wasnt that thrilled with being Indian either. such a project should focus on people whose legacy mostly affected India, such as Gandhi, Syed Ahmed Khan, Ramanujan, etc. not people in the diaspora. put Tony Kanal in the project too, and i'll buy this.

Quote vs. Quotation

I can't edit this page because I'm not a member, and this is only a minor detail, but the verb is to quote and the noun is quotation. So the section in this article would be correctly named "Quotations about Freddie Murcury" not "quotes about freddie.."

Sexuality

How come he is classified as both gay and bisexual? DavidJJJ 19:12, 20 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Because there's a controversy over his orientation. A lot of sources cite him as "openly bisexual," yet many others say he's gay, especially because of the "daffodil quote." I think the controversy should be noted in the article with sources of both assertions, and his category changed to "LGBT" to reflect the uncertainty. LeaHazel : talk : contribs 10:00, 5 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

so is he gay or bi???? i dont get it...............

he is sexual, he had sexual relationships with men and women through his whole life, so he wasn't 100% gay, bisexual would be more appropriate.

Federico Benitez

"Freddie Mercury was born Federico Benitez in the city of Mexico City..." I don't think this is correct, I don't see any sources for this.

This is an "A" article

This does not read like a "B" article. Go to the nominations page for further discussion.138.67.44.86 04:05, 22 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See #Assessment— miketm - Queen WikiProject - 05:16, 22 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes this is a total GA candidate, one of the best written articles of this type I've seen here. (I'm not a hardcore fan, either.) 172.147.227.44 14:03, 6 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It still needs some work.— miketm - Queen WikiProject - 15:02, 6 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with the people above that this reads like an "A" article. I think that it was designated a "B" article quite a while ago and that it has really improved a lot. I am not saying that it could not be improved. It is pretty good though. 138.67.44.38 03:20, 22 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

New Edits

In terms of edits, I felt that the "World's First Persian and Indian Rock Star" section was too awkward. If you cannot even agree on ethnicity (I think that 90% of the people on here do agree that he was Indian), then this should be removed. It is ridiculous to point out the fact that he was the first rock star to be something undefined. Another suggestion is that the word "powerful" be removed from the intro. I agree that this is an subjective word that does not belong in an encyclopedia article. Oh yeah, I also think that "Influences" belongs under the songwriting section. It was too awkward to have it there alone. Another edit involves the addition of a new quote. Some people suggested that the article read too much like a fan page, so I put a more controversial, less glowing quote. Maybe you can think of some others. My goal for the quotations is for them to give insight into Freddie Mercury as an entertainer/musician. 67.190.44.85 23:09, 25 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"There Must Be More To Life Than This"

Hello everybody! While looking about more info about this song on Google I've arrived to this article... then I've managed to track down the source of this addition: http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Freddie_Mercury&diff=26593416&oldid=26580681 My problem is that I was looking for information about this song because I've just listened to it on Pandora, which means that the song has been released! Moreover, while listening to it, it didn't seem that there were any other vocals besides Freddie's (Michael Jackson is however well known, so his voice can be easily recognized). Can anybody clarify this piece of information? Thanks! --Vlad|-> 17:53, 1 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Vlad, I can clear this up. The track you heard on Pandora is likely the solo Freddie version of "There Must Be More To Life Than This" off of his album Mr. Bad Guy. The Michael Jackson version has not been officially released, but the demo version has leaked onto the Web. Suigi 17:59, 1 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Images (once again)

Interesting picture, the one with Freddie at colleage, never seen it before, thanks for adding that one (even if it is a bit small). Can someone please add the one with him striking that pose at Wembley? He is very much associated with his 'tache and poses/theatrics on stage, so that pic would be very representetive. Maybe also add the black and white of him in the white shirt and black tie from 1990? MatteusH 19:53, 7 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Jim Hutton

I read his book a long time ago. IIRC, when it came out, the Queen Fan Club disavowed the book, stating that Jim was out to swindle as much money as he could from Freddie, and that Freddie never cared about him that much.

I was surprised to find parts of his book as references, when it's nothing more than mere tabloid gossip, not worthy of being considered on Wikipedia.

freddie mercury was born from persian parents - not indian

excerpts from other sites and VH1 was one of them. just do a google search.

"Born Farrokh Bulsara on September 5, 1946, in Zanzibar to Persian parents"

"Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on Thursday September 5th 1946 on the small spice island of Zanzibar. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were both Persian."

It should be changed...

Irooni83 06:03, 28 March 2007 (UTC)Sohail[reply]

they were Parsis dumbass. look at his birth certificate and read his official bios. "Persian" refers to "Parsi" from India. Not the "iranian persian" your talking about. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.221.1.187 (talk • contribs)

Both Parsis in India and Persians in Iran are considered Persians. Please stay away from personal attacks. Klymen 23:30, 9 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

no duh klymen, iranians are mostly persian. but in parsi context, when a parsi calls himself or herself a "persian" he/she does not mean "iranian'. people are inserting edits in here calling freddie iranian when clearly he wasnt so.

Persian and Iranian is the same by definition. What was once called Persia has always been called Iran by its people. The Persians who left Persia more than a thousand years ago to escape the Arab's conquest of Persia were by their own definition Iranians leaving Iran. Persia is what western nations (starting with the Greeks) have called Iran. However I think since people are not familiar with the synonymous relationship between Persian and Iranian, Persian should be used instead of Iranian. Also since Parsi’s are now considered of Indian nationality Freddie Mercury’s Indian background should be recognized. Taking that out has no merit. Klymen 22:55, 12 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Klymen, I believe "Persia" was a larger than Iran (e.g. it included some of Iraq, Afghanistan etc.). Also, in a modern context, Iran stands for "The Islamic Republic of Iran" and many Zoroastrians perfer the historic term Persia which has no implication of links to an Islamic state; except those of course who are still living there who would state they live in Iran. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.183.136.192 (talk) 21:37, 25 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

That's not true, the size of Persia has changed many times and the Persia that was renamed to Iran is the same country. Iran was called Persia before 1935 and its size was not any different in 1934 when it was called Persia. Iran and Persia are the exact same thing. Klymen 22:40, 26 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Indian Vs Persian argument again?!

The Persian/Indian argument regarding Freddie Mercury was settled ages ago. The final consensus was to call him British in the intro and recognize the fact that he is considered both the first Indian and first Persian rock star in his legacy section. Please read archived talk pages before bringing up age old arguments and edit wars. Klymen 11:32, 6 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Since you left, there was a consensus that that section was not necessary.

Where did that take place? ... discospinster _talk 15:56, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Look in the previous archived discussion.

I have, and the only thing I can find that's related is this, which didn't end in a consensus anyway. ... discospinster _talk 20:03, 9 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There are more than 1 billion people who see him as the first Indian rock star and there are close to 100 million Persians who consider him the first Persian rock star. That is a status that is not brought up too much in western media; however it is easily verifiable and encyclopedic. It is something that should be included in his legacy. Klymen 23:27, 9 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think you looked in the wrong box. Anyway, really the section is pointless. There's already a source talking about his rank as one of the top 100 famous Asians and its in the Legacy section. Why make a separate section elaborating on something when his ethnicity is talked about elsewhere. If anything, make it a point in the legacy section. Dont make a whole new point out of it.

I agree. However the whole legacy section is in point form which is un-encyclopedic to begin with. I think rewriting the whole section so it's in paragraph format is of higher priority right now. It's a waste of time to look for a place to merge this thing in when the whole section should be rewritten. Klymen 22:43, 12 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oh dear. Don't tell me this point has come up again. Just call him a Parsi for crying out loud. Every other article on some famous Parsi on wikipedia refers to the person as Parsi-Zoroastrian, Parsi parents, or "of Indian origin, and belongs to the Parsi religious minority". Lets settle on it once and for all so we can improve on other aspects of the singer's life, not just his ethnicity. To tell you the truth, I don't think he really cared or was really "proud" of anything in this regard, despite what many claim. I've talked with both Parsis and Iranians and many of them don't really care about Mercury's heritage one way or another. How about we say he's Asian due to his Indo-Persian background, hmm? After all, as South Asians, Parsis qualify in British censuses as "Asian". That's why Dadbhai Naoroji is labeled the "first Asian MP" Afghan Historian 16:30, 19 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"Asian" rockstar is a neutral term, as Persians and Indians are both Asians. There's a source too.

Asian rockstar has already been mentioned in the article. The first Persian/Indian rockstar is a different topic which has been covered in the talk pages. Please read through them and I'm sure it will answer any question you might have. Klymen 20:54, 5 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Freddie's Famous pose

at wembley stadium in 86, freddie did a pose that i think the swiss modeled after, what song/vid is that pose in?? if you know answer on my talk page please Tu-49 00:46, 5 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]