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Rock and Roll was born in the late 50's, developed in the early
60's and matured in the late 60's. Featuring electric guitars, explosive drumming and simple
bass patterns, rock burst onto the radio and TV's of everyone in the UK. In the late 60's
performers such as the Rolling Stones and The Who redefined Rock and Roll forever.
Pop music, some say, came after the folk revival in the early 60s and provided
people music that was upbeat and more exciting. The Beatles took the music world by storm. The
Beatles broke the mould in many ways. They produced albums full of good songs, not the usual two
or three. Usually all of their songs were played constantly on the radio and were released as
singles. Another influential pop outfit at the time were the Kinks.
In the 70's punk rock became popular with sections of the youth population.
Bands like the Clash and Sex Pistols were more explicitly political than the popsters they
followed. The pop scene became more appealing to younger and younger people. Once punk died out
pop music became more influential in bringing issues to the public, culminating in 1985 with Live
Aid.
Live Aid, like Band Aid before it, was a project to raise money for victims of
famine in Ethiopia. Michael Buerk's, BBC documentary in October 1984 brought home the true horror
of the famine to people in the UK, and shortly thereafter Bob Geldof brought about the recording
of the Band Aid single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Several other countries and organizations
followed suit (the best-known being USA for Africa with "We are the World"), until in early 1985
Geldof raised the idea of a concert to raise money for famine and civil war victims in Africa.
The venue for the British concert was the "theatre of dreams", Wembley
Stadium, famous for staging sporting fixtures as well as the occasional rock concert. On 13th
July 1985 more than 70,000 people packed Wembley Stadium and approximately 1.4 billion people
watched the event on television in over 170 countries worldwide. The $100 million raised for
famine relief is still the most money raised for charity by a single event. Projects were funded
in Mozambique, Chad, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, the Sudan and Ethiopia.
The concert itself consisted of sixteen hours of music from around the world,
featuring many if the biggest stars of the time. Status Quo were the first on stage at Wembley
Stadium. Phil Collins appeared at 15.27. Just 8 hours and 37 minutes later Collins, after a
transatlantic flight and cab ride, performed at a sister event in the JFK Stadium, Philadelphia.
Freddie Mercury and Queen were widely regarded as the showiest, if not the best, act on view.
10 years on Bob Geldof said: "It had to be the biggest show ever, I was aware
of that. It was entertainment but it was for an almost Biblical Disaster. Maybe for the first
time since Man left the African Rift Valley we began to talk in a common language, and that
language, bizarrely turned out to be pop music".
Perhaps the most significant achievement was that, for once, people felt they
could do something -- they were empowered by Geldof's crusade for justice for those stricken by
drought and civil war in Ethiopia. Nobody was so naive as to suggest that the money raised would
solve the problem, but at least, by giving money, people took an interest in what was happening
in the rest of the world. This is probably the greatest legacy left by Live Aid.
A bare-chested Freddie Mercury is depicted on the stamp. Freddie was born
Farookh Bulsara on September 5th 1946 in Zanzibar, to Persian parents. Freddie moved to India in
1947. He attended boarding school in Panchgani, just outside Bombay. Whilst there he began his
piano lessons, reaching Grade 4 in practical and theory. The family, with the addition now of
younger sister Kashmira, moved to England in 1963. Freddie left Isleworth school in 1964 with
three 'O' levels and one 'A' level in Art. He went to Ealing College of Art to study Graphic
Illustration. He left college in 1969 with a Diploma in Graphic Art & Design (The equivalent of a
Degree). Freddie joined his first serious band, IBEX, in 1969.
Freddie stood 5ft 9Ѕ tall with black hair and dark brown eyes. He was single
and shared his large house and garden with several cats, creatures he adored. He loved opera and
ballet, Marilyn Monroe was his favourite actress and Aretha Franklin just one of his many
favourite singers. He liked to drink either Champagne or iced Vodka and Indian food was one of
his favourites. He sadly died on November 24th 1991.
It is for his work with the pop band Queen that Freddie was known. In 1968,
Brian May and Tim Staffell, both students at Imperial College, decided they wanted to form a
group. Brian placed an advertisement on the college notice board for a drummer, and a young
medical student called Roger Taylor auditioned and got the job. They called the group "SMILE".
Smile were signed to Mercury Records in 1969, and had their first experience of a recording
studio in Trident Studios that year. Tim Staffell was at Ealing College of Art with Freddie
Bulsara, and introduced him to the band. Freddie soon became a keen fan. In 1970 "Smile" decided
to call it a day, as nothing seemed to be happening for them. Tim went off and joined a band
called Humpy Bong, and Freddie left his band "Wreckage" and joined up with Brian and Roger -- it
had all begun.
Freddie changed his name by deed poll to Mercury, changed the band's name to
Queen, and John Deacon was asked to audition as their bass player. In February 1971, John Deacon
was taken on as the fourth member of Queen. The band rehearsed tirelessly and played several
small gigs at Imperial College, where they rehearsed for close friends. Then they were offered
the chance to 'test' a new recording studio called De Lane Lea. In return for trying out the new
equipment, they could also make free demo tapes. They did. No one was interested! They had signed
a recording contract and publishing and management agreements with Trident in 1972, and during
that year were paid just Ј60 per week.
In 1973, Trident and EMI signed a contract for a recording deal for Queen, and
July of that year saw the release of "QUEEN", their first album. The band were offered a big
break -- their first major tour as support band to Mott The Hoople. It began in Leeds in November
1973, and it was said by many people during that tour that 'Queen were more than a support act...'
"QUEEN II" was finally released in March 1974 -- it should have been earlier,
but there was a minor printing error on the sleeve that Queen insisted on having corrected. The
band embarked on their first headlining tour of Britain, starting in Blackpool in March 1974. In
April 1974, the band embarked on their first-ever USA tour as guests to Mott The Hoople.
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