Freddie Mercury  would have turned 70 yesterday. To honor the occasion, Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May named an asteroid after the legendary singer. Asteroid 17473, discovered in 1991 near the time of Mercury’s death, is now “Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury.” Moving at 12 miles a second at only a fraction of the brightness the human eye can perceive, Freddiemercury is not quite as radiant as its namesake. The gesture, however, is poignant Titanfall 2 Multiplayer.

“You need a pretty decent telescope to see it,” explained May. “It’s just a dot of light but it’s a very special dot of light and maybe one day we’ll get there.”

This move feels almost overdue: Mercury’s voice and stage presence were truly stellar, so it is appropriate that he now shares a name with not one, but two extraterrestrial bodies. One of Mercury’s most famous lyrics is, “I’m a shooting star leaping through the sky / Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity,” from Queen’s 1978 hit “Don’t Stop Me Now.”

Luckily, the “Don’t Stop Me Now” parallel is limited, as Freddiemercury is not “on a collision course.” It orbits the sun elliptically at more than 217 million miles from Earth, and so presents no threat to our planet at the present time, according to The Guardian.

After working to develop the project for years, Sacha Baron Cohen abruptly dropped out of starring in an officially sanctioned Queen biopic back in 2013. At the time, the story going around was that the band wanted to do a “PG movie” that celebrated Queen, but Cohen wanted a more “gritty” and R-rated “tell-all” that would focus on Mercury. The biopic moved forward a little bit sans Cohen, with Ben Whishaw reportedly the favorite to replace him, but other than a new writer coming on board late last year, nothing has really come of the project yet.

Now, while promoting The Brothers Grimsby, Cohen is opening up a little more about why his involvement in the film fell through. In an interview with Howard Stern (via Entertainment Weekly), Cohen reiterated that the surviving members of Queen wanted a “PG-rated look at Mercury’s legacy,” while he would’ve preferred something that “fully explored Mercury’s wild lifestyle.” It goes further than that, though, because apparently at least one member of Queen actually suggested that Mercury’s death should happen “somewhere in the middle of the movie,” with the rest of the biopic showing how the band continued on without him.

Obviously, that idea is objectively the worst, with Cohen even arguing that “not one person is going to see a movie where the lead character dies from AIDS and then you see the band carry on.” He also went on to say that “[Queen’s] Brian May is an amazing musician…but he’s not a great movie producer.” Considering how much trouble this project has had getting off the ground—even though a Freddie Mercury biopic seems like a sure-fire hit—that plot issue could be the thing that’s holding it back.

Freddie Mercury, lead singer of legendary rock band, Queen, gave the world one of the most famous and recognisable singing voices in music history. But how did he manage to achieve such vocal range?

A new study in Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology set out with the ambitious task of analysing Mercury's voice. By selecting archive recordings, as well as using a rock singer to imitate, a team of Austrian, Czech and Swedish authors discovered some interesting findings about the voice once described as "a force of nature with the velocity of a hurricane."

There had been speculation that Mercury's range was over four octaves but this could not be substantiated by the study. The lead author on the study, Austrian voice scientist Christian Herbst, states that Mercury's voice range was "normal for a healthy adult -- not more, not less." Contrary to his popular image, he was probably a baritone who sang as a tenor with exceptional control over his voice production technique. He is known to have rejected an offer to sing as baritone in an opera duet with singer Montserrat Caballé because he worried that his fans knew him only as a rock singer and would not recognise his voice in baritone.

In many ways, this deeper scholarly interest and analysis of Mercury's voice moves to affirm many of the singer's stage persona traits. In particular, the study examined the intentional distortion Mercury used to produce so-called 'growl' sounds. With a rock singer imitating this special type of singing, the authors filmed his larynx with a high-speed camera at over 4,000 frames per second, giving them an understanding of what Mercury would have done physiologically while singing these 'distorted' notes. The authors could thus reconstruct how Freddie Mercury, in his flamboyant and eccentric stage persona, drove his vocal system to its limits.

What they found was an intriguing physical phenomenon called subharmonics. This is seen in a more extreme way in Tuvan throat singing where not only the vocal folds vibrate, but also a pair of tissue structures called ventricular folds, which are not normally used for speaking or classical singing. Mercury's more fragile side is also fitting with his hallmark vibrato (a rapid, slight variation in pitch). Most pop/rock singers maintain a regular vibrato, whilst his was more irregular, and unusually fast.
This deeper study into one of the world's best known vocal artists contributes not only to the scholarly understanding of voice but also to Freddie Mercury's continuing legacy.

In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well. This week, we’re talking about songs with a cappella interludes.

Queen, “Somebody To Love” (1976)

Calling anyone the “greatest” of anything is always asking for trouble. Still, I feel wholly confident in saying Freddie Mercury is the greatest rock vocalist of all time. Zooming past legends like Robert Plant and Mick Jagger, Mercury took vocals to a new level, adding operatic levels of harmonies to the mix. Queen’s other band members were no slouches either. Brian May matched Mercury’s vocal proficiencies on the guitar, and Roger Taylor and John Deacon provided a stellar rhythm section on drums and bass, but it’s the beyond-dynamic frontman you remember most about the band. May, Taylor, and Deacon didn’t even seem to mind. They totally got it.

Realizing that its most obvious asset was its singer/pianist/songwriter, Queen took its best songs and pulled the vocals out so the listener could marvel at Mercury’s insane range and unmatched emotional heights. The band’s ’70s heyday offers plenty of examples of these inspired a cappella moments, from “Bicycle Race” to “Fat Bottomed Girls,” culminating with the masterpiece of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” But for Mercury’s definitive performance, I’m going with the lovelorn anguish of “Somebody To Love.” Like Sinatra, Mercury’s emotional phrasing made even his arena-rock hits seem as intimate as the tiniest, saddest piano bar.

The song starts with a thin, two-syllable plaintive plea: “Ca-an?” leading to the song’s main query: “anybody find me somebody to love?” “Somebody To Love” finds its author and singer, Mercury, in more of a spiritual mood than usual. Unlike the rock opera of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the unbridled joy of “Don’t Stop Me Now,” or the anthemic heights of “We Will Rock You,” here Mercury is inspired by more intimate spirituals (specifically the voice of Aretha Franklin, who also knows from emotional music). He despairs of a life without love, and wonders if he will ever be free from this cage of isolation. Where “Bohemian Rhapsody” had a murder, a mother, and no shortage of drama, the loner from “Somebody To Love” actually describes the banality of his day: getting up, going to work (the chorus sticks up for him: “He works hard / Every day”), even as “everybody wants to put me down” and he’s got “nobody left to believe.” The tragedy here is on a much smaller scale, but to the narrator, just as painful, and life-draining. But as the narrator continues to ask God for some guidance, he is backed by Queen’s multi-layered gospel chorus of background vocals, offering the sense that even this lonely soul is not so solitary.

This vocal chorus punctuates almost every line Mercury sings, with Mercury, May, and Taylor creating a vocal wall that sounds like 100 voices, thanks to layering track over track in the studio. Even the guitar here is a tad restrained, to focus more on the sadness of the song, letting the vocals take center stage throughout. So the song’s dramatic climax is not one of May’s signature solos, but an a cappella build that starts with “Find me somebody to love,” led only by these plaintive, wanting voices. The plea is eventually backed with handclaps as the crescendo builds, working frantic variations on that same, singular demand. The band backs him up ably, but it’s Mercury’s show as usual, and it’s to his credit as a songwriter and vocalist that someone beloved and surrounded by millions puts this isolated sentiment over so sincerely.

You know that question about which band you would travel back in time to catch in its prime? For me, the answer is always Queen, for the chance to hear Freddie Mercury in person. There isn’t even anyone in second place.

FREDDIE MERCURY, THE OUTLANDISH frontman for Queen, whose worldwide hits like ``Bohemian Rhapsody'' and ``We Are the Champions'' combined gaudy theatrical pomp with heavy-metal bluster, became the first major rock star to die of AIDS when he succumbed to complications from the disease on November 24th at his London home. He was forty-five years old.
Mercury, whose real name was Frederick Bulsara, had not performed with Queen in concert since 1986. He had become a virtual recluse over the past two years, yet he repeatedly denied reports that he had contracted AIDS until the day before his death.

``The time has now come for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth,'' he said in his statement, explaining that he had waited so long to make the announcement because ``my privacy has always been very special to me.''

Although Mercury's condition was long rumored in the tabloid press and virtually an open secret in the music industry, his death still startled many fans and colleagues. Bouquets from Elton John, David Bowie, U2, Ringo Starr and the Scorpions adorned the West London Crematorium, where a brief funeral service in the Zoroastrian faith was held for his family and a few close friends, including the surviving Queen members, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon.

``Of all the more theatrical rock performers, Freddie took it further than the rest,'' says Bowie, who collaborated with Mercury and Queen on their 1981 hit ``Under Pressure.'' ``He took it over the edge. And of course, I always admired a man who wears tights. I only saw him in concert once, and as they say, he was definitely a man who could hold an audience in the palm of his hand. He could always turn a cliche to his advantage.''

Beginning in the early Seventies, the flamboyant Mercury - who cited Jimi Hendrix and Liza Minnelli as his main influences - led Queen through eighteen albums that sold 80 million copies worldwide, amassing almost a dozen U.S. hit singles, including his campy ``Killer Queen,'' the Elvis spoof ``Crazy Little Thing Called Love'' and the bass-heavy anthem ``Another One Bites the Dust.'' Queen's popularity nose-dived in the United States during the Eighties, but the group remained popular in England and around the world.

Queen laced British glam pop with swooping arias, corny vaudeville themes and heavy-rock bombast, but it was Mercury's wicked taste for wretched excess that set the band apart. ``Freddie was clearly out in left field someplace, outrageous onstage and offstage,'' says Capitol-EMI president and CEO Joe Smith, who headed Queen's American label, Elektra Records, at the peak of the group's success. ``He was the band's driving force, a tremendously creative man.''

Elektra's release of Mercury's overwrought, six-minute mock opera ``Bohemian Rhapsody'' - complete with a goofy choir chirping ``Mama mia, Mama mia'' - was only one example of his musical extravagance. He was even more extreme when it came to his concert performances, appearing in leather storm-trooper outfits or women's clothes and taking an arch, gay-macho stance that both challenged and poked fun at the decidedly homophobic hard-rock world.

Offstage, Mercury was known for his wild antics and the lavish gifts he bestowed upon friends. To celebrate his forty-first birthday, for instance, he flew eighty pals to an exclusive hotel on the resort isle of Ibiza, where they were treated to fireworks displays, flamenco dancers and a twenty-foot-long cake carried by waiters dressed in gold and white costumes. ``All I can remember about the whole time we were making records and hanging out was that it was like one continuous party,'' says producer Roy Thomas Baker, who worked on five Queen albums.

Freddie Mercury, original name Farrokh Bulsara   (born September 5, 1946, Stone Town, Zanzibar—died November 24, 1991, Kensington, London,England), British rock singer and songwriter whose flamboyant showmanship and powerfully agile vocals, most famously for the band Queen, made him one of rock’s most dynamic front men.

Bulsara was born to Parsi parents who had emigrated from India to Zanzibar, where his father worked as a clerk for the British government. As a child, Bulsara was sent to a boarding school in Panchgani, Maharashtra state, India. Artistically inclined from an early age, he formed a band there in which he played the piano. When Zanzibar became part of the independent country of Tanzania in 1964, Bulsara moved with his family to Feltham, England. He later studied graphic art and design at Ealing Technical College and School of Art (now part of the University of West London), graduating in 1969.

Influenced by the hard-edged, blues-based style of rock acts such as Cream and Jimi Hendrix, Bulsara began singing with bands in London. He also became friends with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor of the band Smile, and in 1970, when Smile’s lead singer quit, Bulsara replaced him. He soon changed the group’s name to Queen and his own to Freddie Mercury. Bassist John Deacon joined the following year. Incorporating elements of both heavy metal and glam rock, the band debuted on record with Queen (1973), which was followed by Queen II (1974). Despite an impressive blend of majestic vocal harmonies and layered virtuosic guitar work, Queen initially failed to attract much notice beyond the United Kingdom. The album Sheer Heart Attack (1974), however, shot up the international charts, and A Night at the Opera (1975) sold even better. The band’s ambitious approach to both songwriting and studio production was epitomized by the latter album’s mock-operatic single “Bohemian Rhapsody,” one of a number of Queen compositions written principally by Mercury. The song spent nine weeks atop the British singles chart, and its accompanying promotional film helped the music industry recognize its future in video. Spectacular success followed in 1977 with “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You”—which became ubiquitous anthems at sporting events in Britain and the United States.

By the early 1980s Queen had become an international phenomenon, drawing particular attention for its elaborately staged performances in enormous venues. Strutting the stage in outrageous costumes, Mercury effortlessly commanded audiences in the tens of thousands. Although Queen’s commercial fortunes had begun to wane by mid-decade, the band arguably reached its apotheosis as a live act with a stellar performance at the charity concert Live Aid in 1985. That same year Mercury released the solo record Mr. Bad Guy, which took musical inspiration from disco. Mercury later appeared on the sound track of Dave Clark’s science-fiction musical Time (1986) and teamed with Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé for the semi-operatic album Barcelona (1988).

In 1991 Mercury, who had engaged in relationships with both men and women, announced that he had been diagnosed with AIDS. He died a day later from complications related to the disease. Until shortly before his death, Mercury had continued to record with Queen, and he was posthumously featured on the band’s final album, Made in Heaven (1995).

MARCO ARNDT/AP

Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury died in 1991 of complications from AIDS.

Freddie Mercury would have turned 69 on Saturday — but the legendary Queen frontman died of complications from AIDS in 1991.

In honor of the iconic singer’s death, here is a list of 11 other notable HIV-related deaths:

Rock Hudson

Rock Hudson was one of the first mainstream celebrities to die from an AIDS-related illness.

The hunky Hollywood actor was known for films like "Giant," "Pillow Talk" and "Send Me No Flowers."

Before his death in 1985, he came out about his AIDS diagnosis and his homosexuality.

Anthony Perkins

This famous actor is best known for his role as the creepy killer Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho."

Though he kept his diagnosis a secret, Perkins died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1992.

Rudolf Nureyev

A Russian ballet dancer and choreographer, Rudolf Nureyev died of AIDS in 1993 — 10 years after taking a job as the ballet director for the Paris Opera.

But afterward Nureyev’s death, his long-time lover, Robert Tracy, told The Guardian that he believed the government had poisoned Nureyev.

Arthur Ashe

Ashe, the first black man to win in singles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion.

He became an HIV activist and made efforts to raise awareness before dying in 1993.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Actor Rock Hudson died of AIDS in 1985.

Isaac Asimov

The Russian-born science fiction writer was best known for his "Foundation" trilogy.

He contracted HIV from a blood transfusion during heart surgery and, according to CBS, later died of AIDS-related heart and kidney failure.

Liberace

Wladziu Valentino Liberace was a world-famous pianist who starred in "The Liberace Show," a musical TV show with more than 35 million viewers, according to Bio.

Over time he became known for his flamboyant and lavish lifestyle.

Before he died in 1987, there were rumors that he'd contracted HIV. He denied it, but after his death the coroner found that Liberace had died of AIDS-related pneumonia.

Elizabeth Glaser

Though the wife of actor and director Paul Michael Glaser, Elizabeth Glaser became famous in the 1980s largely because of her HIV diagnosis and subsequent activism.

She caught HIV from a blood transfusion she received while giving birth in 1981.

Her son, Jake, contracted HIV in utero, while her daughter Ariel contracted it through breast milk. Although Jake is still alive, Ariel died in 1988 and Glaser died in 1994.

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AP

Tennis star Arthur Ashe died of AIDS after contracting HIV through a blood transfusion.

Eazy-E

Eazy-E was one of the founding members of the controversial rap group N.W.A. He died in 1995 of AIDS-related pneumonia. After his death, music producer Suge Knight - who feuded openly with Eazy-E - stirred controversy by joking that injecting someone with HIV was a good way to off them.

Robert Reed

Robert Reed was most famous for playing played family man Mike Brady on "The Brady Bunch."

According to Bio, when he died in 1992, his death was attributed to colon cancer. But it was later revealed that he had HIV.

Michel Foucault

An acclaimed French philosopher, Michel Foucault was best known for works like "Discipline and Punish" and "The History of Sexuality."

He died in 1984 of AIDS-related illness.

Kuwasi Balagoon

Kuwasi Balagoon was a Black Panther who participated in an infamous armored car heist in Nyack, N.Y., in 1981.

He went to prison for his role in the crime and was still behind bars when he died of complications from AIDS in 1986.