name	Bob Geldof
background	solo_singer
birth name	Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof
born	October 05, 1951Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland
instrument	Vocals, guitar, saxophone, harmonica
genre	Rock, pop
occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter, activist, philanthropist
years active	1975–present
label	PolydorAtlantic (US)
associated acts	The Boomtown Rats
website	www.bobgeldof.com
notable instruments	}}

Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE (born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his compositions "Rat Trap" and "I Don't Like Mondays". He co-wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas?", one of the best-selling singles of all time. He starred as Pink in Pink Floyd's 1982 film ''Pink Floyd The Wall.

Geldof is widely recognised for his activism, especially anti-poverty efforts concerning Africa. In 1984, he and Midge Ure founded the charity supergroup Band Aid to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. They went on to organise the charity super-concert Live Aid the following year and the Live 8 concerts in 2005. Geldof currently serves as an adviser to the ONE Campaign, founded by fellow Irish humanitarian Bono. A single father, Geldof has also been outspoken for the fathers' rights movement. Geldof has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II, and is a recipient of the Man of Peace title which recognises individuals who have made "an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace", among numerous other awards and nominations.

Early life

Geldof was born and raised in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, and attended Blackrock College. His father, Robert, (known as Rob) was the son of a Belgian immigrant, Zenon (sometimes mistakenly spelt Lenon) Geldof (born 1881), a hotel chef, and Amelia "Minnie" Falk, a Jewish Englishwoman (born 1873 in London). Zenon Geldof and Amelia Falk were married in 1906 in Westminster and also had two daughters, Cleo Zenobie Geldof (born 1906 in Grantham), and May Geldof (born 1909 in Dublin). At the age of 41, Geldof's mother Evelyn complained of a headache and died shortly thereafter, having suffered a haemorrhage. Geldof attended Blackrock College in Dublin, whose Catholic ethos he disliked. He was bullied for his lack of rugby prowess and over his third forename, Zenon. After work as a slaughter man, road navvy and pea canner in Wisbech, he started as a music journalist in Vancouver, Canada, for the weekly publication ''Georgia Straight''.

Musical career

The Boomtown Rats

Upon returning to Ireland in 1975, he became the lead singer of the band The Boomtown Rats, a rock group closely linked with the punk movement.

In 1978, The Boomtown Rats had their first No. 1 single in the UK with "Rat Trap", which was the first New Wave chart-topper in Britain. In 1979, the group gained international renown with their second UK No. 1, "I Don't Like Mondays". This was equally successful, as well as controversial; Geldof wrote it in the aftermath of Brenda Ann Spencer's attempted massacre at an elementary school across the street from her house in San Diego, California, at the beginning of 1979.

In 1980, The Boomtown Rats released the album ''Mondo Bongo''. Its single "Up All Night" in 1981 was a hit in the U.S. and its video played on MTV with heavy rotation.

Geldof quickly became known as a colourful interview. The Boomtown Rats' first appearance on Ireland's ''The Late Late Show'' saw Geldof as deliberately brusque to host Gay Byrne and during his interview attacked Irish politicians and the Catholic Church which he blamed for many of the country's problems at the time, and responded to nuns in the audience that had tried to shout him down by saying they had "an easy life with no material worries in return for which they gave themselves body and soul to the church". He also criticised his old private school Blackrock College. The interview caused uproar across the country, making it impossible for the Boomtown Rats to play in Ireland again thereafter (apart from one gig at Leixlip Castle in 1980).

After Boomtown Rats

Geldof left the Boomtown Rats in 1986, to launch a solo career and publish his autobiography, ''Is That It?'', which was a best-seller.

His first solo records sold reasonably well and spawned the hit singles "This Is The World Calling" (co-written with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics) and "The Great Song of Indifference". He also occasionally performed with other artists, such as David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and Thin Lizzy. A performance of "Comfortably Numb" with David Gilmour is documented in the 2002 DVD ''David Gilmour in Concert''. In 1992, he performed at the ''Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert'' with the surviving members of Queen at the old Wembley Stadium, singing a song he had co-written with Mercury, called "Too Late God".

Geldof has also worked as a DJ for XFM radio. In 1998, he erroneously announced Ian Dury's death from cancer, possibly due to hoax information from a listener who was disgruntled at the station's change of ownership. The event caused music paper ''NME'' (who had been involved in a running feud with Geldof since his Boomtown Rats days primarily due to his disparagement of The Clash) to call Geldof "the world's worst DJ".

Along with U2's Bono, he has devoted much time since 2000 to campaigning for debt relief for developing countries. His commitments in this field, including the organisation of the Live 8 concerts, kept Geldof from producing any more musical output since 2001's ''Sex, Age & Death'' album.

After Live 8, Geldof returned to his career as a musician by releasing a box set containing all of his solo albums entitled ''Great Songs of Indifference - The Anthology 1986 - 2001'' in late 2005. Following that release, Geldof also toured, albeit with mixed success.

In July 2006 Geldof arrived at the Milan's Arena Civica, a venue capable of holding 12,000 people, to play a scheduled concert to find that the organisers had not put the tickets on general sale and that only 45 people had shown up. Geldof refused to go on stage once he found out how small the attendance was. To offer some compensation for fans, Geldof stopped to sign autographs to those who had shown up. He then played a well-attended free "Storytellers" concert for MTV Italy in Naples in October 2006.

Controversy

At one point during his charity work, Geldof openly demanded to the public 'Just give us the fucking money!' He also once swore on CD:UK appearing to think he could get away with it, when he said 'Fuck the tape' whilst concluding his chat with Cat Deeley. At the NME awards in 2006, when accepting an award, Geldof referred to the host Russell Brand as a 'cunt'. Brand responded by saying 'It's not surprising that Geldof is such an expert on famine: he has after all been dining out on "I Don't Like Mondays" for thirty years'.

In mid-July 2006, he infuriated many New Zealanders by criticising the New Zealand government's foreign aid contribution as 'shameful' and 'pathetic'. Winston Peters, the Minister of Foreign Affairs responded that Geldof failed to recognise the 'quality' of New Zealand aid as well as other New Zealand contributions.

During mid-November 2008, a local for-profit organisation Diversity@Work invited Geldof to Melbourne, to speak about the tragedy of Third World poverty and the failure of governments to combat the crisis. However, it was subsequently revealed that he was paid AU$100,000 for his one-off speech which included a luxury hotel room and first-class airfares. Criticism has been raised at the contradiction of demanding such fees to speak on world poverty and human misery.

Charity work

Geldof's first major charity involvement took place in September 1981, when he performed as a solo artist for Amnesty International's benefit show ''The Secret Policeman's Other Ball'', at the invitation of Amnesty show producer Martin Lewis; he performed a solo version of "I Don't Like Mondays". Other rock artists had 'planted a seed' and appeared to have affected Geldof in a similar manner.

Band Aid

In 1984, Geldof responded to a BBC news report from Michael Buerk about the famine in Ethiopia by mobilising the pop world to do something about the images he had seen. With Midge Ure of Ultravox wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in order to raise funds. The song was recorded by various artists under the name of Band Aid.

In its first week of release the single became the UK's fastest seller of all time, entering the chart at number one and going on to sell over three million copies, making it the biggest-selling single in UK history up to that point, a title it held for almost 13 years. The single was also a major US hit, even though Christmas was long gone by the time it could be released in the States. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" returned to the UK chart a year later, reaching number three, and eventually it raised over £8 million.

Following this massive success preparations were started for the biggest rock concerts the world had ever seen, the following summer.

Live Aid

As Geldof began to learn more about the situation, he discovered that one of the main reasons why African nations were in such dire peril was because of repayments on loans that their countries had taken from Western banks. For every pound donated in aid, ten times as much would have to leave the country in loan repayments. It became obvious that one song was not enough.

On 13 July 1985, Geldof and Ure organised Live Aid, a huge event staged simultaneously at the Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. Thanks to an unprecedented decision by the BBC to clear its schedules for 16 hours of rock music, the event was also broadcast live in the UK on television and radio.

It was one of the most monumental stage shows in history, with Phil Collins flying on Concorde so that he could play at both Wembley and Philadelphia on the same day.

During the broadcast of Live Aid, Geldof shocked viewers into giving cash by not only twice mouthing profanities but also by slamming his fist on the table and ordering them not to go out to the pub but to stay in and watch the show.

Nearly seven hours into the concert in London, Geldof gave an infamous interview in which he used the word 'fuck'. The BBC presenter David Hepworth, conducting the interview, had attempted to provide a list of addresses to which potential donations should be sent; Geldof interrupted him in mid-flow and shouted: "Fuck the address, let's get the [phone] numbers!" It has passed into folklore that he yelled at the audience, "Give us your fucking money!" although Geldof has stated that this phrase was never uttered. After the outburst, giving increased to £300 per second.

The harrowing video of dying, skeletal children that had been made by photo-journalists setting their films to the tune of "Drive" by The Cars, contributed to the concert's success.

In total, Live Aid raised over £150 million for famine relief. Geldof was subsequently knighted, at age 34, for his efforts. His autobiography, written soon after with Paul Vallely, was entitled ''Is That It?''. This book achieved further fame for being featured on the GCSE examination syllabus in a following year.

Much of the money raised by Live Aid went to NGOs in Ethiopia, some of which were under the influence or control of the Derg military junta. Some journalists have suggested that the Derg was able to use Live Aid and Oxfam money to fund its enforced resettlement and "villagification" programmes, under which at least 3 million people are said to have been displaced and between 50,000 and 100,000 killed. However in November 2010 the BBC formally apologized to Geldof for misleading implications in its stories on the subject of Band Aid, saying it had 'no evidence' that Band Aid money specifically went to buy weapons.

Commission for Africa

In January 2004, on a visit to friends in Ethiopia, Geldof came to believe that more people were at risk of starvation there than had died in the famine of 1984/85 which had prompted Live Aid. He rang the British Prime Minister Tony Blair from Addis Ababa. According to the Live 8 programme notes by Geldof's biographer and friend, Paul Vallely, the Prime Minister responded: "Calm down Bob. . . And come and see me as soon as you get back. "

The result was the Commission for Africa. Blair invited Geldof and 16 other Commissioners, the majority from Africa and many of them politicians in power, to undertake a year-long study of Africa's problems. They came up with two conclusions: that Africa needed to change, to improve its governance and combat corruption, and that the rich world needed to support that change in new ways. That meant doubling aid, delivering debt cancellation, and reforming trade rules. The Commission drew up a detailed plan of how that could be done. It reported in March 2005. In the months that followed it became clear that world leaders were not taking its recommendations seriously. To force the issue Geldof decided to create a new international lobby for Africa with eight simultaneous concerts around the world to put pressure on the G8. He called it Live 8. The Commission's recommendations later became the blueprint for the G8 Gleneagles African debt and aid package.

Africa Progress Panel

Geldof is a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), an independent authority on Africa deriving its origin from a key recommendation of the Commission for Africa. The Panel launched in April 2007 with the aim of focusing world leaders’ attention on delivering their commitments to the continent. The Panel launched a major report in London on Monday 16 June 2008 entitled ''Africa's Development: Promises and Prospects''.

DATA and the ONE Campaign

Bob Geldof worked closely with DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), an organisation founded by U2's Bono in 2002 to promote debt-relief, third world trade and AIDS relief in Africa. It merged with the ONE Campaign in 2008, where Geldof also is very active. In June 2009, on behalf of the ONE Campaign, he co-edited a special edition of the Italian newspaper ''La Stampa'' with a view on 35th G8 summit.

One Young World

Geldof has signed up to be one of the Counsellors at One Young World a non-profit organisation which hopes to bring together 1500 young global leaders of tomorrow from every country in the world.

Live 8 concerts

On 31 March 2005, Geldof and Ure announced the Live 8 project, to raise awareness of issues that burden Africa, including government debt, trade barriers, hunger, and AIDS issues. Geldof organised six concerts on 2 July 2005 in large cities throughout the industrialised world. They featured musicians from different genres and locations around the world. The cities where Live 8 concerts were played were in industrialised countries, and drew huge crowds. The locations were London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Philadelphia, Barrie, Chiba, Johannesburg, Moscow, Cornwall and Edinburgh.

The concerts were free, and were scheduled just days before world leaders gathered in Gleneagles, for the G8 economic summit, on 6 July. Ure organised the 'final push' Live 8 concert at Edinburgh. 'The boys and girls with guitars will finally get to turn the world on its axis,' Geldof said in a statement. Pink Floyd's performance in London was its first since 1981 to include original bassist, Roger Waters.

Criticism of his charity work

Criticism of Band Aid/Live Aid

In 1985 singer Morrissey was heavily critical of the song Do They Know It's Christmas?:

'I'm not afraid to say that I think Band Aid was diabolical. Or to say that I think Bob Geldof is a nauseating character. Many people find that very unsettling, but I'll say it as loud as anyone wants me to. In the first instance the record itself was absolutely tuneless. One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but it's another thing to inflict daily torture on the people of England. It was an awful record considering the mass of talent involved. And it wasn't done shyly it was the most self-righteous platform ever in the history of popular music.'

In 1986, the anarchist band Chumbawamba released the album ''Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records'', as well as an EP entitled "We Are the World", jointly recorded with US band A State of Mind, both of which were intended as anti-capitalist critiques of the Band Aid/Live Aid phenomenon. They argued that the record was primarily a cosmetic spectacle, designed to draw attention away from the real political causes of world hunger.

Criticism of Live 8

Although part of the campaign "Make Poverty History" (MPH), Live 8 was then accused of hijacking MPH by planning its concerts on the same day as the giant MPH march in Edinburgh, which was said to be the biggest social justice march in Scottish history.

Geldof was also criticised for the lack of African acts performing at Live 8. Geldof responded that only the biggest-selling artists would attract the huge audience required to capture the attention of the world in the run-up to the G8 meeting. Geldof added that there was insufficient public interest in African music among the concert's target markets in Europe and the United States. Including African artists at the expense of recognised artists would have been tokenist, he said, and would have undermined the effect of the concert.

In the lead-up to the G8 summit, Geldof, who had been a member of Tony Blair's Commission for Africa on which the Gleneagles recommendations were largely based, labelled critics of the summit 'a disgrace'. Some leading African campaigners have asked Geldof to stand down from the global anti-poverty movement, and the ''New Internationalist'' (between January and February 2006) said 'It would be long overdue if he did.'

There were also accusations that Live 8 gave unqualified support to the personal and political agendas of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, particularly in the lead up to an election. Though many felt that it was the British politicians who had accepted Geldof's agenda, rather than the other way round, this led to accusations that Geldof had compromised his cause. In contrast with the media support given to Live Aid, Live 8 was subject to criticism by some sections of the media.

The promises made for Africa at the Gleneagles summit, were widely praised: "the greatest summit for Africa ever" (Kofi Annan), "an important, if incomplete, boost to the development prospects of the poorest countries" economist (Jeffrey Sachs) or "a major breakthrough on debt" (Kevin Wakins, until recently head of research at Oxfam). But many aid agencies pronounced their disappointment with the outcome, feeling that the strict conditions imposed on African countries for accepting debt relief left them little better off than before. Some critics have claimed that Live 8 had been more about rehabilitating the careers of ageing rock stars, including Geldof himself, than it was about the poor people of Africa. Geldof himself has made no attempt to revive his music career, although, as the ''New Internationalist'' points out, since becoming prominent in the salvation of Africa, "Geldof has re-released the entire back catalogue of the Boomtown Rats."

Oasis's Noel Gallagher became one of the more vocal sceptics about the impact of Live 8, citing his belief that rock stars have less influence over world leaders than popular culture may believe. His explanation was:

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but are they hoping that one of these guys from the G8 is on a quick 15-minute break at Gleneagles and sees Annie Lennox singing "Sweet Dreams" and thinks, 'Fuck me, she might have a point there, you know?' And Keane doing "Somewhere Only We Know" and some Japanese businessman going, 'Aw, look at him… we should really fucking drop that debt, you know.' It's not going to happen, is it?"

Other humanitarian initiatives

In 2009 joined the project "Soldiers of Peace", a movie against all wars and for a global peace.

Businessman

By 1992 Bob Geldof had established himself as a businessman through co-ownership of the TV production company Planet 24, which pioneered early morning television with ''The Big Breakfast''. Planet 24 was sold to Carlton TV in 1999. TV production company Ten Alps was founded the next day by Geldof and business partner Alex Connock. In April 2011 a new entertainment formats company, Pretend, was launched.

As of 2009, he has been patron of the Exeter Entrepreneurs Society, at the University of Exeter.

Political views

Bob Geldof adopted an anti-euro stance by appearing in an advertisement against the single currency, in 2002. Geldof also criticised the European Union (EU) in 2004 for what he called its 'pathetic' response to Ethiopia's food crisis, although one MEP has claimed he is "misinformed".

During a visit to Ethiopia, Geldof also praised President George W. Bush's proposal to fight AIDS in Africa. This proposal has received criticism from aid groups due to its heavy emphasis on Christian morality and sexual abstinence.

Geldof has recently spoken out about environmental issues, taking some positions that may be considered unusual compared to many other prominent artists and performers, such as advocating for the increased use of nuclear power, saying that, "In the UK, we'll soon have to scramble for more nuclear power. On this issue, I don't care what anyone says: we're going to go with it, big-time. We may mess around with wind and waves and other renewable energy sources, trying to make them sustainable, but they're not. They're Mickey Mouse."

Geldof has also called for the industrial development of developing nations such as China and India to be taken into account when negotiating greenhouse gas emissions targets, and has suggested that the developed world has a role to play in assisting these nations to roll out non-fossil energy systems.

Some on the political left have charged Geldof with hypocrisy, due to his lack of support for causes such as the UK miners' strike (1984-1985) and the anti-war movement. In 2006, Geldof told a business conference that "Back in the 1970s there was no chance for a boy with an idea. Everything was stitched up by the unions."

From January 2002, until sometime in 2005, Geldof listened very closely to Father's Rights campaigners, and it was reported that he had sacks of mail arriving at his door on a daily basis from fathers who were denied justice from the British family courts. He was noted as saying, "I am heartbroken. I just cannot believe what happens to people, what is done to them in the name of the law. You only have to open your eyes to see what I call the 'Sad Dads on Sundays Syndrome'". He has also called for The Children Act to be repealed and his latest statement to Father's Rights campaigners was, "It's not in my nature to shut up".

In December 2005, Geldof agreed to give advice on global poverty to the Conservative Party. He stated, however, that he was uninterested in party politics, and would continue to 'shake hands with the devil on my left and the devil on my right,' in order to achieve results.

In April 2008 Geldof hit the news again when a survey showed that nearly a quarter of British people confused passages from the Bible with speeches made by the famous activist.

Awards and honours

Geldof has received many awards for his fund-raising work, including an honorary knighthood (as Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire) from Queen Elizabeth II, in 1986. Geldof is entitled to use the post-nominal letters "KBE", but as he is not a citizen of a Commonwealth realm, he is precluded from using the title "Sir". Regardless, the nickname 'Sir Bob' has stuck, and media reports will frequently (but erroneously) refer to him as 'Sir Bob Geldof' as if that were his correct title.

In 1986 Geldof was made a Freeman of the Borough of Swale, in north Kent, England. Geldof had for some years been resident in the borough, at Davington Priory, Faversham, and is still living there as of 2009. He received his award during a special meeting of the Swale Borough Council from the Mayor, Councillor Richard Moreton and Mayoress Rose Moreton.

In 2005 he received the prestigious Beacon Fellowship Prize for his leadership role in alleviating poverty, famine and genocide, especially in the Third World, and his advocacy for the rights of fathers.

In 2005 Geldof was awarded the Honorary Patronage of the Trinity College Dublin University Philosophical Society and was a winner of the North-South Prize.

In a list compiled by the magazine ''New Statesman'', in 2006, he was voted third in the list of 'Heroes of our time'.

In 2005, Bob Geldof received the Free Your Mind Award at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

In 2005, Bob Geldof received a Man of Peace Award.

In 2006 he was awarded the Freedom of Dublin City.

In 2006, Bob Geldof was the recipient of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Moral Courage Award by Holocaust Museum Houston.

In 2007, Bob Geldof was made an Honorary Fellow at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. In the same year Richard Curtis presented Bob Geldof the "Cinema for Peace Pioneer Award" honouring him for his achievements.

In 2006 and 2008, Bob Geldof was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2008 he received the Nichols-Chancellor's Medal from Vanderbilt University for his humanitarian efforts, as well as an honorary degree in music from the University of East London, serving on both occasions as the keynote speaker for the 2008 graduating class.

He received an honorary degree of Master of Arts from the University of Kent in 1985. In 2007 he was awarded an honorary degree in Civil Law from Newcastle University. The University held a special honorary degree ceremony to honour key figures in the campaign against world poverty.

In 2009, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from ROTA.

In 2011 he received an honorary doctorate of philosophy from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, for his "decades of charity work for humanitarian causes".

In July 2011, Geldof was the star in the reasonably priced car on BBC2's Top Gear programme. His lap time was confirmed as 1:48.1, placing him as the 14th fastest driver.

Personal life

Geldof's longtime girlfriend and later wife was Paula Yates. Yates was a rock journalist, presenter of the cutting-edge music show ''The Tube'', and later notorious for her in-bed interviews on the show ''The Big Breakfast''. Geldof met Yates when she became an obsessed fan of the Boomtown Rats during the band's early days. They got together as a couple in 1976 when Yates travelled by aeroplane to Paris to surprise him when the band was playing there.

Before they married, the couple had a daughter, Fifi Trixibelle Geldof, born 31 March 1983 (and while Geldof was still conducting an affair with the young Claire King). She was named Fifi after Bob's aunt Fifi, and Trixibelle because Paula wanted a belle in the family. After 10 years together, Bob and Paula married in June 1986 in Las Vegas, with Simon Le Bon (of Duran Duran) acting as Geldof's best man. The couple later had two more daughters, Peaches Honeyblossom Geldof (known as Peaches Geldof) on 13 March 1989, and Little Pixie Geldof (known as Pixie Geldof) on 17 September 1990. Pixie is said to be named after a celebrity daughter character from the cartoon ''Celeb'' in the satirical magazine ''Private Eye'', itself a lampoon of the names the Geldofs gave to their other children. Geldof has stated that his children find his music 'crap' and him an 'embarrassment'.

In 1995, Yates left Geldof for Michael Hutchence, the lead singer of INXS, whom she had met several years previously when she interviewed him on ''The Tube (TV series)'', and again in 1994 when she interviewed Hutchence again for ''The Big Breakfast''. Geldof and Yates divorced in May 1996 and Yates moved in with Hutchence. Yates and Hutchence had a daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, born 22 July 1996. Hutchence later committed suicide and was found hanged in a hotel room on 22 November 1997. Geldof soon after went to court and obtained full custody of his own three daughters and has since become an outspoken advocate of fathers' rights. After Paula Yates's death from a drug and alcohol overdose in 2000, and with the approval of Hutchence's parents, Geldof became the legal guardian of Tiger Lily, believing it best that she be raised with her three half-sisters. In 2007, Geldof formally adopted her, changing her name to Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof although she simply goes by the name of Tiger Hutchence-Geldof.

Geldof currently resides in Battersea, South London with his French actress girlfriend Jeanne Marine and Tiger.

His father died on 26 August 2010 at the age of 96.

Wealth

Geldof's wealth was estimated by ''Broadcast'' magazine in 2001 to be £30 million, a position of 18th in a list of UK broadcasters. He co-founded production company Ten Alps with Alex Connock. Output includes education TV site Schoolsworld, which hosts 3500 videos from the former government Teachers TV project.

In 2007, his two UK properties were owned by companies based in the British Virgin Islands.

See also

Millennium Development Goals

Discography

''For Bob Geldof's recordings with The Boomtown Rats see The Boomtown Rats

Solo albums

Year	Title	Peak chart positions
!width="35"				!width="35"
1986	''Deep in the Heart of Nowhere''	*Released: November 1986	*Label: Mercury Records
1990	''[[Vegetarians of Love''	*Released: July 1990	*Label: Mercury
1993	''The Happy Club''	*Released: 1993	*Label: Mercury (UK) / Atlantic (US)
1994		*Compilation album	*Released: July 1994	Vertigo Records>Vertigo
2001	''Sex, Age & Death''	*Released: October 2001	*Label: Eagle Records
2011	''How To Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell''	*Released: 7 February 2011	*Label: Mercury

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions	Album
Billboard Hot 100>US	Modern Rock Tracks chart>US Mod	Mainstream Rock Tracks chart>US Rock	UK Singles Chart>UK	Media Control Charts>GER
1986	"This is the World Calling/Talk Me Up"
	"Love Like a Rocket/Pulled Apart By Horses/This Is The World Calling/Truly, True Blue"
"I Cry Too/Let's Go"
	"The Great Song of Indifference/Hotel 75/In The Pouring Rain"
"Love or Something/Out Of Order/Friends For Life/One Of The Girls/The Great Song Of Indifference (Barmitzvah Wedding & Party Mix)"
"A Gospel Song/Vegetarians Of Love/The Warmest Fire"
	"Room 19 (Sha La La La Lee)/Huge Birdless Silence/The Great Song Of Indifference/Swear For You"
"My Hippy Angel/Maybe Heaven/Love Or Something"
1993	"The Happy Club/The Great Song Of Indifference/This Is The World Calling/Roads of Germany (after BD)"
1994	"Crazy/Mary Of The 4th Form (Live)/Looking After Number 1 (Live)/Joey's On The Street(Live)//Room 19 (Live)/The Beat Of The Night (Live)/Rat Trap (Live)"						''Loud Mouth - The Very Best Of Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats''
2003	"Pale White Girls"						''Sex Age & Death''
2011	"Silly Pretty Thing"						''How To Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell''

Film appearances

''Pink Floyd The Wall'' (1982) - Pink

''Number One'' (1985) - Harry 'Flash' Gordon

''Spiceworld'' (1997) - as himself (cameo)

''Being Mick'' (2001) - as himself.

'I am Bob' (short film 2007) - in which he loses a look-a-like contest (even after singing the Boomtown Rats' hit "I Don't Like Mondays".)

''Oh My God (film)'' (2009) - as himself

Quotation

''NME'' - March 1982

References

External links

Official website

Interview with Bob Geldof on poverty, corporate social responsibility and world trade

Bob Geldof's visit to Ethiopia photo gallery

Bob Geldof's charity work

Bob Geldof KBE at h2g2

Students interview Bob Geldof about campaigning and inspiration for Radiowaves (2008)

Kent TV Website, Interviews with Bob Geldof

Interview with Geldof; ''The Guardian''

Let Us See If Italy Keeps Faith With the World's Poor by Bob Geldof, ''The Huffington Post'', 15 June 2009

Category:Irish humanitarians Category:Irish male singers Category:Irish rock singers Category:Irish singer-songwriters Category:Irish songwriters Category:The Boomtown Rats members Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Fathers' rights activists Category:Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Peabody Award winners Category:People from County Dublin Category:People from Dún Laoghaire Category:Irish people of Belgian descent Category:Irish people of English descent Category:Commission for Africa members Category:BRIT Award winners Category:People of the Year Awards winners Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Free Your Mind Award winners

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This is a list of people whose names in English are commonly appended with the phrase "''the Great''", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as ''e Bozorg'' and ''e azam'' in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus) assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "''the Great''".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers

Abbas I of Persia (1571-1629), Shah of Iran

Akbar (1542-1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India

Alain I of Albret (1440-1522), French aristocrat

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia

Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia

Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias

Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex

Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire

Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty

Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),

Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire

Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand

Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736-1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)

Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden

Casimir III the Great (1310-1370), King of Poland

Catherine the Great (1729-1796), Empress of Russian

Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India

Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans

Chulalongkorn (1853-1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)

Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks

Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen

Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman Emperor

Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire

Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire

Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent

Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse

Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile

Frederick the Great (1712-1786), King of Prussia

Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire

Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594-1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader

Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea

Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC

Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)

Henry IV of France (1553-1610), King of France and King of Navarre

Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea

Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris

Hugh Magnus of France (1007-1025), co-King of France

Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057-1101)

Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat

Ivan III of Russia (1440-1505), Tsar of Russia

John I of Portugal (1358-1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve

John II of Aragon (1398-1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre

Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor

Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i

Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India

Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010-1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia

Kublai Khan (1215-1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty

Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales

Louis I of Hungary (1326-1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland

Mangrai the Great (1238-1317), Lanna, northern Thailand

Emperor Meiji (1852-1912), Emperor of Japan

Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)

Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)

Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom

Mstislav I of Kiev (1076-1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus

Narai (1633-1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)

Naresuan (1555-1605), King of Ayutthaya

Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)

K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque

Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka

Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia

Peter the Great (1672-1725), Tsar of Russia

Peter III of Aragon (1239-1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily

Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar

Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar

Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.

Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014-1044), Tamil King of India

Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt

Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)

Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082-1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties

Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)

Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev

Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent

Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre

Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire

Sejong the Great (1397-1450), Korean king

Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia

Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire

Stephen III of Moldavia (1433-1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)

Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks

Taksin (1734-1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)

Timur (1336-1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty

Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie

Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire

Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor

Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia

Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia

Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire

Valdemar I of Denmark (1131-1182), King of Denmark

Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor

Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus

Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy

William I, Count of Burgundy (1020-1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon

William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou

Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)

Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures

Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East

Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia

Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian

Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt

Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader

Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)

Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint

Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint

Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)

Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine

Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)

Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)

Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit

Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)

Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople

William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other

Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies

Emmy the Great, folk singer

Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III

Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also

Epithet

List of monarchs by nickname

List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I

James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus

Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater

Notes

Category:Monarchs Great, List of people known as The Category:Greatest Nationals Category:Epithets

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name	Freddie Mercury
background	solo_singer
birth name	Farrokh Bulsara
birth date	September 05, 1946
birth place	Stone Town, Zanzibar
origin	London, England, UK
nationality	British Indian
death date	November 24, 1991
death place	Kensington, London, England, United Kingdom
genre	Rock, hard rock, glam rock
instrument	Vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar
occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer
years active	1969–1991
label	Columbia, Polydor, EMI, Parlophone, Hollywood Records
associated acts	Queen, Wreckage/Ibex, Montserrat Caballé }}

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara (Gujarati: ફારોખ બલ્સારા‌), 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Are the Champions". In addition to his work with Queen, he led a solo career, penning hits such as "Barcelona", "I Was Born to Love You" and "Living on My Own". Mercury also occasionally served as a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists. He died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease.

Mercury, who was a Parsi born in Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his mid-teens, has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star". In 2006, ''Time Asia'' named him as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music. In 2005, a poll organised by ''Blender'' and MTV2 saw Mercury voted the greatest male singer of all time. In 2008, ''Rolling Stone'' editors ranked him number 18 on their list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. In 2009, a ''Classic Rock'' poll saw him voted the greatest rock singer of all time. Allmusic has characterised Mercury as "one of rock's greatest all-time entertainers", who possessed "one of the greatest voices in all of music".

Early life

Mercury was born in the British protectorate of Zanzibar, East Africa (now part of Tanzania). His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were Parsis from the Gujarat region of the then province of Bombay Presidency in British India. The family surname is derived from the town of Bulsar (also known as Valsad) in southern Gujarat. As Parsis, Mercury and his family practised the Zoroastrian religion. The Bulsara family had moved to Zanzibar so that his father could continue his job as a cashier at the British Colonial Office. He had a younger sister, Kashmira.

Mercury spent the bulk of his childhood in India and began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. In 1954, at the age of eight, Mercury was sent to study at St. Peter's School, a British-style boarding school for boys in Panchgani near Bombay (now Mumbai), India. Aged 12, he formed a school band, The Hectics, and covered artists such as Cliff Richard and Little Richard. A friend from the time recalls that he had "an uncanny ability to listen to the radio and replay what he heard on piano". It was also at St. Peter's where he began to call himself "Freddie". Mercury remained in India, living with his grandmother and aunt until he completed his education at St. Mary's School, Bombay.

At the age of 17, Mercury and his family fled from Zanzibar for safety reasons due to the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution. The family moved into a small house in Feltham, Middlesex, England. Mercury enrolled at Isleworth Polytechnic (now West Thames College) in West London where he studied art. He ultimately earned a Diploma in Art and Graphic Design at Ealing Art College, later using these skills to design the Queen crest. Mercury remained a British citizen for the rest of his life.

Following graduation, Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand clothes in the Kensington Market in London. He also held a job at Heathrow Airport. Friends from the time remember him as a quiet and shy young man who showed a great deal of interest in music. In 1969 he joined the band Ibex, later renamed Wreckage. When this band failed to take off, he joined a second band called Sour Milk Sea. However, by early 1970 this group broke up as well.

In April 1970, Mercury joined guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor who had previously been in a band called Smile. Despite reservations from the other members, Mercury chose the name "Queen" for the new band. He later said about the band's name, "I was certainly aware of the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it". At about the same time, he changed his surname, Bulsara, to Mercury.

Career

Singer

Although Mercury's speaking voice naturally fell in the baritone range, he delivered most songs in the tenor range. His vocal range extended from bass low F (F2) to soprano high F (F6). He could belt up to tenor high F (F5). 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, perfect coloratura, pure and crystalline in the upper reaches". Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé, with whom Mercury recorded an album, expressed her opinion that "the difference between Freddie and almost all the other rock stars was that he was selling the voice". She adds, "His technique was astonishing. No problem of tempo, he sung with an incisive sense of rhythm, his vocal placement was very good and he was able to glide effortlessly from a register to another. He also had a great musicality. His phrasing was subtle, delicate and sweet or energetic and slamming. He was able to find the right colouring or expressive nuance for each word." As Queen's career progressed, he would increasingly alter the highest notes of their songs when live, often harmonising with seconds, thirds or fifths instead. Mercury was said to have "the rawest vocal fold nodules" and claimed never to have had any formal vocal training.

Songwriter

Mercury wrote 10 of the 17 songs on Queen's ''Greatest Hits'' album: "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Seven Seas of Rhye", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy", "We Are the Champions", "Bicycle Race", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Play the Game".

The most notable aspect of his songwriting involved the wide range of genres that he used, which included, among other styles, rockabilly, progressive rock, heavy metal, gospel and disco. As he explained in a 1986 interview, "I hate doing the same thing again and again and again. I like to see what's happening now in music, film and theatre and incorporate all of those things." Compared to many popular songwriters, Mercury also tended to write musically complex material. For example, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is acyclic in structure and comprises dozens of chords. He also wrote six songs from Queen II which deal with multiple key changes and complex material. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", on the other hand, contains only a few chords. Despite the fact that Mercury often wrote very intricate harmonies, he also claimed that he could barely read music. He wrote most of his songs on the piano and used a wide variety of different key signatures.

Live performer

Mercury was noted for his live performances, which were often delivered to stadium audiences around the world. He displayed a highly theatrical style that often evoked a great deal of participation from the crowd. A writer for ''The Spectator'' described him as "a performer out to tease, shock and ultimately charm his audience with various extravagant versions of himself". David Bowie, who performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert and recorded the song "Under Pressure" with Queen, praised Mercury's performance style, saying: "Of all the more theatrical rock performers, Freddie took it further than the rest... 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."

One of Mercury's most notable performances with Queen took place at Live Aid in 1985, during which the entire stadium audience of 72,000 people clapped, sang and swayed in unison. Queen's performance at the event has since been voted by a group of music executives as the greatest live performance in the history of rock music. The results were aired on a television program called "The World's Greatest Gigs". In reviewing Live Aid in 2005, one critic wrote, "Those who compile lists of Great Rock Frontmen and award the top spots to Mick Jagger, Robert Plant, etc all are guilty of a terrible oversight. Freddie, as evidenced by his Dionysian Live Aid performance, was easily the most godlike of them all."

Over the course of his career, Mercury performed an estimated 700 concerts in countries around the world with Queen. A notable aspect of Queen concerts was the large scale involved. He once explained, "We're the Cecil B. DeMille of rock and roll, always wanting to do things bigger and better." The band were the first ever to play in South American stadiums, breaking worldwide records for concert attendance in the Morumbi Stadium in São Paulo in 1981. In 1986, Queen also played behind the Iron Curtain when they performed to a crowd of 80,000 in Budapest, in what was one of the biggest rock concerts ever held in Eastern Europe. Mercury's final live performance with Queen took place on 9 August 1986 at Knebworth Park in England and drew an attendance estimated as high as 300,000.

Instrumentalist

As a young boy in India, Mercury received formal piano training up to the age of nine. Later on, while living in London, he learned guitar. Much of the music he liked was guitar-oriented: his favourite artists at the time were The Who, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, and Led Zeppelin. He was often self-deprecating about his own skills on both instruments and from the early 1980s onward began extensively using guest keyboardists for both Queen and his solo career. Most notably, he enlisted Fred Mandel (a Canadian musician who also worked for Pink Floyd, Elton John and Supertramp) for his first solo project, and from 1985 onward collaborated with Mike Moran (in the studio) and Spike Edney (in concert), leaving most of the keyboard work exclusively to them.

Mercury played the piano in many of Queen's most popular songs, including "Killer Queen", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy", "We Are the Champions", "Somebody To Love" and "Don't Stop Me Now". He used concert grand pianos and, occasionally, other keyboard instruments such as the harpsichord. From 1980 onward, he also made frequent use of synthesisers in the studio. Queen guitarist Brian May claims that Mercury was unimpressed with his own abilities at the piano and used the instrument less over time because he wanted to walk around onstage and entertain the audience. Although he wrote many lines for the guitar, Mercury possessed only rudimentary skills on the instrument. Songs like "Ogre Battle" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" were composed on the guitar; the latter featured Mercury playing acoustic guitar both on stage and in the studio.

Solo career

In addition to his work with Queen, Mercury put out two solo albums and several singles. Although his solo work was not as commercially successful as most Queen albums, the two off-Queen albums and several of the singles debuted in the top 10 of the UK Album Charts. His first solo effort involved his contribution to the Richard "Wolfie" Wolf mix of ''Love Kills'' on the 1984 album (the song also used as the end title theme for National Lampoon's "Loaded Weapon") and new soundtrack to the 1926 Fritz Lang film ''Metropolis''. The song, produced by Giorgio Moroder, debuted at the number 10 position in the UK charts.

Mercury's two full albums outside the band were ''Mr. Bad Guy'' (1985) and ''Barcelona'' (1988). The former is a pop-oriented album that emphasises disco and dance music. "Barcelona" was recorded and performed with the opera singer Montserrat Caballé, whom he had long admired. ''Mr. Bad Guy'' debuted in the top ten of the UK Album Charts. In 1993, a remix of "Living on My Own", a single from the album, reached the No.1 position on the UK Singles Charts. The song also garnered Mercury a posthumous Ivor Novello Award. Allmusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia describes ''Mr. Bad Guy'' as "outstanding from start to finish" and expressed his view that Mercury "did a commendable job of stretching into uncharted territory". In particular, the album is heavily synthesiser-driven in a way that is not characteristic of previous Queen albums.

''Barcelona'', recorded with Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé, combines elements of popular music and opera. Many critics were uncertain what to make of the album; one referred to it as "the most bizarre CD of the year". The album was a commercial success, and the album's title track debuted at the No.8 position in the UK charts and was a hit in Spain. The title track received massive air play as the official hymn of the 1992 Summer Olympics (held in Barcelona one year after Mercury's death). Caballé sang it live at the opening of the Olympics with Mercury's part played on a screen, and again prior to the start of the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final in Barcelona.

In addition to the two solo albums, Mercury released several singles, including his own version of the hit The Great Pretender by The Platters, which debuted at number five in the UK in 1987. In September 2006, a compilation album featuring Mercury's solo work was released in the UK in honour of what would have been his 60th birthday. The album debuted in the top 10 of the UK Album Charts.

In 1981–1983, Mercury recorded several tracks with Michael Jackson, including a demo of "State of Shock", "Victory" and "There Must Be More to Life Than This". None of these collaborations were officially released, although bootleg recordings exist. Jackson went on to record the single "State of Shock" with Mick Jagger for The Jacksons's album ''Victory''. Mercury included the solo version of "There Must Be More To Life Than This" on his ''Mr. Bad Guy'' album.

Personal life

Relationships

In the early 1970s Mercury had a long-term relationship with Mary Austin, whom he had met through guitarist Brian May. He lived with Austin for several years in West Kensington. By the mid-1970s, however, the singer had begun an affair with a male American record executive at Elektra Records, which ultimately resulted in the end of his relationship with Austin. Mercury and Austin nevertheless remained close friends through the years, with Mercury often referring to her as his only true friend. In a 1985 interview, Mercury said of Austin, "All my lovers asked me why they couldn't replace Mary [Austin], but it's simply impossible. The only friend I've got is Mary and I don't want anybody else. To me, she was my common-law wife. To me, it was a marriage. We believe in each other, that's enough for me." He also wrote several songs about Austin, the most notable of which is "Love of My Life". Mercury was also the godfather of Mary's oldest son, Richard.

During the early-to-mid-80s, he was romantically involved with Barbara Valentin, an Austrian actress, who is featured in the video for "It's a Hard Life". By 1985, he began another long-term relationship with a hairdresser named Jim Hutton. Hutton, who himself was tested HIV-positive in 1990, lived with Mercury for the last six years of his life, nursed him during his illness and was present at his bedside when he died. Hutton claimed that Mercury died wearing a wedding band that Hutton had given him. Hutton died from cancer on 1 January 2010.

Personality

Although he cultivated a flamboyant stage personality, Mercury was a very shy and retiring man in person, particularly around people he did not know well. He also granted very few interviews. Mercury once said of himself: "When I'm performing I'm an extrovert, yet inside I'm a completely different man." While on stage, Mercury basked in the love from the audience, which was famously noted by Kurt Cobain, in his suicide note, when he wrote of how he both admired and envied Mercury for being able to do so.

Criticism and controversy

Sexual orientation

Mercury was an acknowledged bisexual. While some critics claimed he hid his sexual orientation from the public, others claimed he was "openly gay".

He would often distance himself from his partner, Jim Hutton, during public events in the 1980s. When asked directly "So how about being bent? " by the ''New Musical Express'' in December 1974, Mercury replied "You're a crafty cow. Let's put it this way, there were times when I was young and green. It's a thing schoolboys go through. I've had my share of schoolboy pranks. I'm not going to elaborate further." A writer for a gay online newspaper felt that audiences may have been overly naïve about the matter: "While in many respects he was overtly queer his whole career ("I am as gay as a daffodil, my dear" being one of his most famous quotes), his sexual orientation seemed to pass over the heads of scrutinising audiences and pundits (both gay and straight) for decades". John Marshall of ''Gay Times'' expressed the following opinion in 1992: "[Mercury] was a 'scene-queen', not afraid to publicly express his gayness but unwilling to analyse or justify his 'lifestyle' ... It was as if Freddie Mercury was saying to the world, "I am what I am. So what?" And that in itself for some was a statement."

HIV

Mercury hid his HIV status from the public for several years, and it has been suggested that he could have raised a great deal of money and awareness earlier by speaking truthfully about his situation and his fight against the disease.

Other controversies

Queen were widely criticised when they broke a United Nations cultural boycott in 1984 by performing a series of shows at Sun City, an entertainment complex in Bophuthatswana, a homeland of (then) apartheid South Africa. As a result of these shows, Queen was placed on a United Nations list of artists who broke the boycott and was widely criticised in magazines such as the ''NME''.

A further controversy ensued in August 2006, when an organisation calling itself the Islamic Mobilization and Propagation petitioned the Zanzibar government's culture ministry, demanding that a large-scale celebration of what would have been Mercury's sixtieth birthday be cancelled. The organisation issued several complaints about the planned celebrations, including that Mercury was not a true Zanzibari and that he was gay, which is not in accordance with their interpretation of sharia. The organisation claimed that "associating Mercury with Zanzibar degrades our island as a place of Islam". The planned celebration was cancelled.

== Illness and death == According to his partner Jim Hutton, Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS shortly after Easter of 1987. Around that time, Mercury claimed in an interview to have tested negative for HIV. Despite the denials, the British press pursued the rampant rumours over the next few years, fuelled by Mercury's increasingly gaunt appearance, Queen's absence from touring, and reports from former lovers to various tabloid journals - by 1990 the rumours about Mercury's health were rife. Toward the end of his life, he was routinely stalked by photographers, while the daily tabloid newspaper ''The Sun'' featured a series of articles claiming that he was seriously ill.

However, Mercury and his inner circle of colleagues and friends, whom he felt he could trust, continually denied the stories, even after one front page article published on 29 April 1991, which showed Mercury appearing very haggard in what was now a rare public appearance. Brian May confirmed in a 1993 interview that Mercury had informed the band of his illness much earlier. Filmed in May 1991, the music video for "These Are the Days of Our Lives" feature a painfully thin Mercury, which are his final scenes in front of the camera.

After the conclusion of his work with Queen in June 1991, Mercury retired to his home in Kensington. His former partner, Mary Austin, had been a particular comfort in his final years, and in the last few weeks of his life made regular visits to his home to look after him. Near the end of his life, Mercury was starting to lose his sight, and his deterioration was so overpowering he couldn't get out of bed. Due to his worsening condition, Mercury decided to quicken his death by refusing to take his medication.

On 22 November 1991, Mercury called Queen's manager Jim Beach over to his Kensington home, to discuss a public statement. The next day, 23 November, the following announcement was made to the press on behalf of Mercury:

Following the enormous conjecture in the press over the last two weeks, I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV positive and have AIDS. I felt it correct to keep this information private to date to protect the privacy of those around me. However, the time has come now for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth and I hope that everyone will join with me, my doctors, and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease. My privacy has always been very special to me and I am famous for my lack of interviews. Please understand this policy will continue.

A little over 24 hours after issuing that statement, Mercury died on the evening of 24 November 1991 at the age of 45, at his home in Kensington. The official cause of death was bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS. The news of his death had reached newspaper and television crews by the early hours of 25 November.

On 27 November, Mercury's funeral service was conducted by a Zoroastrian priest. An intensely private man, Mercury's service was for 35 of his close friends and family, with Elton John and the remaining members of Queen among those in attendance. Mercury was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery, West London, with the whereabouts of his ashes believed to be known only to Mary Austin.

In his will, Mercury left the vast majority of his wealth, including his home and recording royalties, to Mary Austin, and the remainder to his parents and sister. He further left £500,000 to his chef Joe Fanelli, £500,000 to his personal assistant Peter Freestone, £100,000 to his driver Terry Giddings, and £500,000 to Jim Hutton. Mary Austin continues to live at Mercury's home, Garden Lodge, Kensington, with her family. Hutton was involved in a 2000 biography of Mercury, ''Freddie Mercury, the Untold Story'', and also gave an interview for ''The Times'' for what would have been Mercury's 60th birthday.

Legacy

Continued popularity

The extent to which Mercury's death may have enhanced Queen's popularity is not clear. In the United States, where Queen's popularity had lagged in the 1980s, sales of Queen albums went up dramatically in 1992, the year following his death. In 1992 one American critic noted, "what cynics call the 'dead star' factor had come into play—Queen is in the middle of a major resurgence". The movie ''Wayne's World'', which featured "Bohemian Rhapsody", also came out in 1992. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Queen have sold 32.5 million albums in the United States, about half of which have been sold since Mercury's death in 1991.

Estimates of Queen's total worldwide record sales to date have been set as high as 300 million. In the UK, Queen have now spent more collective weeks on the UK Album Charts than any other musical act (including The Beatles), and ''Queen's Greatest Hits'' is the highest selling album of all time in the UK. Two of Mercury's songs, "We Are the Champions" and "Bohemian Rhapsody", have also each been voted as the greatest song of all time in major polls by Sony Ericsson and Guinness World Records, respectively. The former poll was an attempt to determine the world's favourite song, while the Guinness poll took place in the UK. In October 2007, the video for "Bohemian Rhapsody" was voted the greatest of all time by readers of ''Q'' magazine. Consistently rated as one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music, Mercury was voted second to Mariah Carey in MTV's 22 Greatest Voices in Music. Additionally, in January 2009, Mercury was voted second to Robert Plant in a poll of the greatest voices in rock, on the digital radio station Planet Rock. In May 2009, Classic Rock magazine voted Freddie Mercury as the greatest singer in rock. In 2011, NME magazine readers voted Mercury second to Michael Jackson in the Greatest Singers Ever poll. In 2011, a ''Rolling Stone'' readers' pick placed Mercury in second place of the magazine's "Best Lead Singers of All Time".

Tributes

A statue in Montreux, Switzerland (by sculptor Irena Sedlecka) has been erected as a tribute to Mercury. It stands 3 metres high overlooking Lake Geneva and was unveiled on 25 November 1996 by Freddie's father and Montserrat Caballé. Beginning in 2003, fans from around the world gather in Switzerland annually to pay tribute to the singer as part of the "Freddie Mercury Montreux Memorial Day" on the first weekend of September and the Bearpark And Esh Colliery Band played at the Freddie Mercury statue on 1 June 2010. In 1999, a Royal Mail stamp with the image of Mercury on stage was issued in his honour as part of the Millennium Stamp series.

In 2009, a plaque was unveiled in Feltham where Mercury and his family moved upon arriving in England in 1964. The star in memory of Mercury's achievements was unveiled in Feltham High Street by his mother Jer Bulsara and Queen bandmate Brian May. A tribute to Queen has been on display at the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas throughout 2009 on its video canopy. In December 2009 a large model of Mercury wearing tartan was put on display in the centre of Edinburgh as publicity for the run of ''We Will Rock You'' at the Playhouse Theatre.

A statue of Mercury stands over the entrance to the Dominion Theatre in London's West End since May 2002, where the main show has been Queen and Ben Elton's musical ''We Will Rock You''.

Importance in AIDS history

As the first major rock star to die of AIDS, Mercury's death represented a very important event in the disease's history. In April 1992, the remaining members of Queen founded The Mercury Phoenix Trust and organised ''The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness'' to celebrate the life and legacy of Mercury and raise money for AIDS research, which took place on Easter Monday, 20 April 1992. The Mercury Phoenix Trust has since raised millions of pounds for various AIDS charities. The tribute concert, which took place at Wembley Stadium for an audience of 72,000, featured a wide variety of guests including; Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin), Roger Daltrey (of The Who), Extreme, Elton John, Metallica, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Tony Iommi (of Black Sabbath), Guns N' Roses, Elizabeth Taylor, George Michael, Def Leppard, Seal, Liza Minnelli (and also U2 via Satellite). Elizabeth Taylor spoke of Mercury as "an extraordinary rock star who rushed across our cultural landscape like a comet shooting across the sky". The concert was broadcast live to 76 countries and had an estimated viewing audience of 1 billion people.

Appearances in lists of influential individuals

Several popularity polls conducted over the past decade indicate that Freddie Mercury's reputation may in fact have been enhanced since his death. For instance, in a 2002 vote to determine whom the UK public considers the greatest British people in history, Mercury was ranked number 58 in the list of the "''100 Greatest Britons''", broadcast by the BBC. He was further listed at the 52nd spot in a 2007 Japanese national survey of the 100 most "influential heroes". Despite the fact that he had been criticised by gay activists for hiding his HIV status, author Paul Russell included Mercury in his book "The Gay 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Gay Men and Lesbians, Past and Present." Other entertainers on Russell's list included Liberace and Rock Hudson. In 2006, ''Time Asia'' magazine named him as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years: The article credited Mercury with having "duplicated in popular music what other Indians—such as Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth – have done in literature: taking the coloniser's art form and representing it in a manner richer and more dazzling than many Anglophones thought possible." In 2008, ''Rolling Stone''' magazine ranked Mercury No.18 in its list of the "Top 100 Singers Of All Time".

Portrayal on stage

On 24 November 1997, a monodrama about Freddie Mercury's life titled Mercury: The Afterlife and Times of a Rock God opened in New York City. It presented Freddie Mercury in the hereafter; examining his life, seeking redemption and searching for his true self The play was written and directed by Charles Messina and the part of Mercury was played by Khalid Gonçalves (né Paul Gonçalves) and then later, Amir Darvish. Billy Squier opened one of the shows with an acoustic performance of a song he had written about Mercury titled ''I Have Watched You Fly''.

Portrayal in film

Brian May announced in a September 2010 BBC interview that Sacha Baron Cohen, previously best known for his comedic characters Borat, Ali G and Brüno, had been chosen to play Mercury in a film about his life. ''TIME'' commented with approval on his singing ability and visual similarity to Mercury. The motion picture is being written by Peter Morgan, who had been nominated for Oscars for his screenplays ''The Queen'' and ''Frost/Nixon''. The film, which is being co-produced by Robert De Niro's TriBeCa Productions, will focus on Queen's formative years and the period leading up to the celebrated performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert. Filming is due to begin sometime in 2011.

In April 2011, Brian May confirmed that a lot of work was still being done in preparation for the film. He said that after holding back for a long time due to mixed feelings, the band had approved a team to start filming later in 2011, and Baron Cohen's eagerness had been the key to progress.

Discography

Notes

his parents defined themselves with "Nationality: British Indian" and "Race: Parsi". The Parsis are an originally Persian ethnic group of the Indian subcontinent who follow Zoroastrianism. |- | style="vertical-align:top; width:3em; text-align:right;"|b) | The Bulsara family gets its name from Bulsar, a city and district that is now in the Indian state of Gujarat and is today officially known as Valsad. In the 17th century, Bulsar was one of the five centres of the Zoroastrian religion (the other four were also in what is today Gujarat) and consequently "Bulsara" is a relatively common name amongst Zoroastrians. |- | style="vertical-align:top; width:3em; text-align:right;"|c) | Mercury is portrayed in the manga and anime series Cromartie High School as the character Freddie (and as the minor character Mercury), and as himself in the British Channel 4 show House of Rock along with Marc Bolan, John Lennon, Notorious BIG, John Denver and Kurt Cobain. |}

References

Notation done in Scientific Pitch, and thus is written one octave lower than what is displayed here.

Bibliography

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External links

(official EMI Music)

Category:1946 births Category:1991 deaths Category:AIDS-related deaths in England Category:Bisexual musicians Category:BRIT Award winners Category:British people of Parsi descent Category:English male singers Category:English people of Indian descent Category:English pianists Category:English rock keyboardists Category:English rock musicians Category:English rock singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English songwriters Category:English tenors Category:English Zoroastrians Category:Tanzanian emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:LGBT musicians from the United Kingdom Category:LGBT people from Africa Category:LGBT people from South Asia Category:Queen (band) members Category:Zanzibari Indians

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Name	Ernie Manouse
Birth date	September 01, 1969
Residence	Houston, TX
Nationality	American
Known for	InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse
Employer	HoustonPBS
Occupation	Television Host
Website	ernieontv.com }}

Ernie Manouse (born September 1, 1969 in Binghamton, New York) is an American television host, radio personality, writer and producer. He currently hosts the interview show InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse, produced by HoustonPBS. His work with HoustonPBS has met critical acclaim in the southern United States, earning him numerous KATIE awards and regional Emmy Awards

Early life

Manouse was born Ernest David Manouse in Binghamton, New York. He is of Greek descent. He attended Loyola University Chicago and studied to be a music video director. While in college, he guest-hosted Outlook, a Chicago-based radio show, with a classmate. Their radio presentation received such a positive reaction that Outlook hired them permanently.

Career

Manouse began his career in television with NBC Network News, then moved into radio withWLS and WLUW in Chicago, and then back to TV at HoustonPBS. Ernie has since worked his way through many aspects of talk shows – from producing sex therapy call-in radio shows ''Sex Talk'' and ''The Phyllis Levy Show'' to hosting his own brand of chat and magazine programs. He can also be seen on PBS Stations across the country hosting numerous pledge and entertainment specials, including three of public television’s most successful pledge events with financial guru Suze Orman.

In 1996, Ernie moved to Houston, Texas and spent six years hosting and producing the daily magazine program ''WeekNight Edition'' which evolved into ''WeekDAY'' and became Houston’s most celebrated local television program, earning multiple Emmy and Houston Press Club awards. Manouse shared with Matthew Brawley the 2006 Katie Award for "Outstanding Interview/Talk Show" for the Southern region. In October 2002, Manouse helped to create and produce the local prime time magazine show The Connection, which he hosted for two years. In 2004, Manouse launched the syndicated series InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse. This award winning series is distributed nationally to PBS stations across the country, and airs in more than 100 cities in the U.S. and the Virgin Islands. The show features Manouse in unedited, one-on-one interviews with noted personalities such as Patti LuPone and Jamie Foxx. Manouse thoroughly researches his guests before interviewing them, and arranges an informal setting to encourage spontaneous discussion. Another area of broadcasting that Manouse has explored is late night talk, and on February 9, 2005, Manouse launched The After Party, combining arts coverage and light-hearted interviews reminiscent of Johnny Carson and Jack Parr. The show received positive reviews from both critics and audiences alike, garnering the coveted Emmy nomination for "Best Entertainment/Variety program" in its first season. The program ended its run on November 15, 2006 after over 50 episodes.

In 2006, Manouse produced and anchored A Conversation on RACE for HoustonPBS. He also produced the political Red, White & Blue and moderated the 2002 Houston Mayoral Debates, the 2008 Texas Supreme Court Judicial Debate, and the 2008 Texas US Senate Debate. In 2009, Manouse became the anchor and producer of Houston 8, a weekly current events discussion series. He also hosted the 2009 HoustonPBS Spelling Bee, the largest regional qualifying spelling bee for the national Scripps Spelling Bee.

After seven nominations for the Lone Star (Texas) regional chapter of the Emmy Awards, Manouse won three Emmys in 2009. He won for Best Information Series and Best On-Air Talent. He also won an Emmy for his work on the Houston Spelling Bee in the category of Best Event Coverage. Manouse is also a voice actor. He has done the English voiceovers for over a dozen Japanese anime videos produced by ADV Films including ''Gilgamesh'', ''Le Chevalier D'Eon'' and Cromartie High School.

Community involvement

Manouse is an active member of the Houston LGBT community. Manouse has hosted community events such as the U.S. Military Ball, and The Cattle Baron’s Ball. He serves on the advisory board of both Stages Repertory Theatre and Dominic Walsh Dance Theater. He served as Vice President of Public Affiars for the Greater Houston United Services Organization (USO). He was also vice president of the Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

References

External links

USO Houston

InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse

Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

Ernie Manouse's website

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:LGBT television personalities Category:Loyola University Chicago alumni Category:LGBT people from the United States Category:American people of Greek descent Category:American television talk show hosts Category:People from Binghamton, New York

name	Chrissie Hynde
background	solo_singer
birth name	Christine Ellen Hynde
born	September 07, 1951Akron, Ohio, United States
instrument	Rhythm GuitarVocals
genre	Rock, New Wave
occupation	Singer-songwriter, guitarist
years active	1975–present
label	Sire, WEA, Rhino
associated acts	The Pretenders, JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys, Johnny Moped, The Moors Murderers, Tube & Berger, UB40
notable instruments	Fender Telecaster }}

Christine Ellen "Chrissie" Hynde (born 7 September 1951, Akron, Ohio) is an American rock musician, best known as the leader of the rock/new wave band The Pretenders. She is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, and has been the only constant member of the band throughout its history.

Early life and career

Hynde is the daughter of a part-time secretary and a Yellow Pages manager. She graduated from Firestone High School in Akron, Ohio. She stated that "I was never too interested in high school. I mean, I never went to a dance, I never went out on a date, I never went steady. It became pretty awful for me. Except, of course, I could go see bands, and that was the kick. I used to go to Cleveland just to see any band. So I was in love a lot of the time, but mostly with guys in bands that I had never met. For me, knowing that Brian Jones was out there, and later that Iggy Pop was out there, made it kind of hard for me to get too interested in the guys that were around me. I had, uh, bigger things in mind."

Hynde experimented with hippie counterculture, eastern mysticism, and vegetarianism. While attending Kent State University's Art School for three years, she joined a band called Sat. Sun. Mat. (which included Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo). Hynde was on the campus during the infamous Kent State shootings. She knew Jeffrey Miller, one of those killed.

Hynde also developed an interest in the UK music magazine ''NME''. She eventually saved enough money to move from Ohio to London in 1973. With her art background, Hynde landed a job in an architectural firm but left after eight months. It was then that she met rock journalist Nick Kent (with whom she became involved) and landed a writing position at ''NME''. However, this proved not to last and Hynde later found herself working at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's then-little-known clothing store, SEX. Eventually, she tried to convince a very young Sid Vicious (who used to hang around at SEX) to do a Mariage blanc, in order for her to get a work permit. Hynde then attempted to start a band in France before her return to Cleveland in 1975.

Hynde went back to France in 1976 to try to form a band, but it did not work out. For one show at the famous Olympia theater, she took the lead singer duties of the band The Frenchies, which their singer had left (at the time, Hynde had been romantically involved with famous rock critic Nick Kent, but left him for The Frenchies' drummer). She found her way back to London in the midst of the early punk movement. In late 1976, Hynde responded to an advertisement in ''Melody Maker'' for band members and attended an audition for the band that would become 999. Jon Moss (who would later be in Culture Club) and Tony James of Generation X also auditioned. Later, Hynde tried to start a group with Mick Jones from The Clash.

After the band failed to take flight, Malcolm McLaren placed her as a guitarist in Masters of the Backside, but she was asked to leave the group just as the band became The Damned. After a brief spell in the Johnny Moped band, Mick Jones had invited Hynde to join his band on their initial tour of Britain. Hynde's recollection of that period: "It was great, but my heart was breaking. I wanted to be in a band so bad. And to go to all the gigs, to see it so close up, to be living in it and not to have a band was devastating to me. When I left, I said, 'Thanks a lot for lettin' me come along,' and I went back and went weeping on the underground throughout London. All the people I knew in town, they were all in bands. And there I was, like the real loser, you know? Really the loser."

Hynde also spent a short time with The Moors Murderers in 1978. Named after two child-killers, the band consisted of future Visage front man Steve Strange on vocals, Vince Ely on drums, and Mark Ryan (aka The Kid) and Hynde on guitar. The band's name alone was enough to start controversy and she soon distanced herself from the group, as noted in the ''NME''. Hynde said "I'm not in the group, I only rehearsed with them". She stated that "Steve Strange and Soo Catwoman had the idea for the group, and asked me to help them out on guitar, which I did, even though I was getting my own group together and still am."

The Pretenders

Late 1970s

In 1978, Hynde made a demo tape and gave it to Dave Hill, owner of the label Real Records. Hill stepped in to manage her career, and began by paying off the back rent owed on her rehearsal room in Covent Garden, London. Hill also advised Hynde to take her time and get a band together. In the spring of 1978, Hynde met Pete Farndon (bass guitar / vocals), and they selected a band consisting of James Honeyman-Scott (guitar / vocals / keyboards), and Martin Chambers (drums / vocals / percussion), put the name The Pretenders on the group, inspired by the song "The Great Pretender" by The Platters. They recorded a demo tape (including "Precious", "The Wait" and a Kinks cover, "Stop Your Sobbing"), handed it to Hynde's friend Nick Lowe, produced a single ("Stop Your Sobbing/The Wait") and performed their first gigs in a club in Paris. The single was released in January 1979 and hit the Top 30 in UK. The band's early success was followed by their first gigs in Britain where they earned wide critical acclaim. Later that spring (1979), The Pretenders recorded their eponymous first album and hit the charts in UK and US with the song "Brass in Pocket". The band traded on the success of this first album (for Sire Records) for some time, as it wasn't released around the world until well into 1979 (some charts consider it the best album of 1980, for example).

1980s-1990s

The band released an EP album in early 1981 while contractual issues were resolved, then ''Pretenders II'' later in the summer. These albums were not well received by critics (though hits such as "Talk of the Town" and "Message of Love" were on both). By the summer of 1982, drug use within the band was creating serious problems for Hynde. The Pretenders lineup would change repeatedly over the next decade as a result of drug related deaths and internal conflict. Honeyman-Scott died of heart failure in June 1982, just days after Farndon had been fired from the band. Martin Chambers left the band in the mid 1980s. Amidst the ever changing lineup, the controversial Hynde endured as the sole original Pretender until Chambers' return in the mid 1990s.

Throughout the mid-1980s and early 1990s, Hynde employed a string of session and professional musicians within the band, always keeping the name Pretenders. With many of the albums through this period, the only constant presence is her own, and the album art often reflects this (using her picture alone in some cases).

Other musical projects

Hynde, along with Curved Air's Sonja Kristina, sang backing vocals on Mick Farren's ''Vampires Stole My Lunch Money'' 1978 album and also on Hurt by Chris Spedding. She also sang backing on a track, Nite Klub, on The Specials eponymous album . Hynde is unofficially credited with adding the lines "Cartier, Cartier" in a cameo on the 1983 song "Add It Up"" by The Kinks. Hynde sang a duet with INXS on their album ''Full Moon, Dirty Hearts'' in 1993. Hynde appears on the title track of the album. Hynde sang the vocals on the track "State of Independence Part II" on a Moodswings album named ''Moodfood'', which was played during the closing credits on the soundtrack of ''Single White Female''. Hynde also recorded a cover of Morrissey's "Everyday is Like Sunday", which is available on The Pretenders album "Pirate Radio" as well as providing backing vocals on Morrissey's single "My Love Life" in 1991 and again on b-side "Shame Is The Name" in 2009.

Hynde recorded a duet with Frank Sinatra on Sinatra's 1994 album ''Duets II''. They performed the song "Luck Be a Lady". In 1995, Hynde made an acting appearance (and performed "Angel of the Morning" on acoustic guitar) on the US television comedy ''Friends''. Also, in 1995, Hynde sang a cover of "Love Can Build a Bridge" with Cher and Neneh Cherry. Eric Clapton appeared on the track, supplying the lead guitar solo that is featured in the song's instrumental bridge. In 1997, Hynde battled Rush Limbaugh over using her song "My City Was Gone" without permission. After Limbaugh agreed to donate royalties to PETA, she let him use the song.

Later that year, Hynde played guitar and sang vocals with Sheryl Crow on the song "If It Makes You Happy" during a concert in Central Park. Hynde is mentioned prominently in the lyrics of the Terence Trent D'Arby song "Penelope Please." In 1998, Hynde sang a duet with her friend Emmylou Harris, "She", accompanied by The Pretenders on the Gram Parsons tribute album, "Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons." Hynde had previously reviewed Gram and Emmylou's debut country rock classic, "GP." The version merges Emmylou's country rock and Chrissie's reggae tinged new wave effectively. Hynde also recorded a song called "Cry (If You Don't Mind)" with the Spanish band Jarabe de Palo for their album ''Un metro cuadrado - 1m²''. She supplied the voice for the clouded leopard in the movie ''Rugrats Go Wild'' (2003) in which she sang a duet with Bruce Willis.

In 2004, Hynde moved to São Paulo, Brazil for a couple of months in order to play with Brazilian musician Moreno Veloso in an informal tour that lasted until December 2004. She bought a flat in the Copan Building in São Paulo city. She was also the vocalist on Tube & Berger's 2004 #1 Hot Dance Airplay track "Straight Ahead". The track gave Hynde her first US #1 track on the Billboard charts. Likewise in 2005, Hynde duetted with Ringo Starr on a song entitled "Don't Hang Up" which can be heard on Starr's album ''Choose Love''. Also in 2005, Hynde collaborated with Incubus on a song called "Neither Of Us Can See." The song is on the soundtrack album for ''Stealth''.

On October 17, 2008, she was an opening act for fellow Akron-area musicians Devo at a special benefit concert at the Akron Civic Theater for the then-presidential candidate Barack Obama. The Black Keys, another Akron-based band, and the then up-and-coming solo artist, Rachel Roberts, performed prior to her.

Hynde features as guest vocalist on Ray Davies' 2009 Christmas single ''Postcard From London''.

Chrissie Hynde and Welsh singer J.P. Jones have formed a band called "J.P., Chrissie and the Fairground Boys". They released their debut album, ''Fidelity'', on August 24, 2010, and they are currently on tour. Several stops on the tour were recorded and sold on usb flash drives.

On February 5, 2011, Hynde and the Pretenders performed live on CMT's "Crossroads (VH1 TV series)" with Faith Hill and her band, including songs from both catalogs.

Personal life

Hynde had a daughter in 1983 with Ray Davies of The Kinks. She then married Jim Kerr, lead singer of the band Simple Minds, and had a daughter. They later divorced, and Hynde married artist Lucho Brieva in 1997. They separated in 2002.

Hynde lives in London, England, and also has an apartment in the Northside Lofts in her hometown of Akron.

Hynde is a vegetarian and animal rights activist. She is a supporter of PETA and the animal rights group ''Viva!''.

Restaurant venture

Hynde opened a vegan restaurant in Akron, Ohio, called ''The VegiTerranean''. The restaurant, which officially opened in November 2007, serves fusion Italian-Mediterranean food. The restaurant's head chef is James Scot Jones. Prior to the restaurant's soft opening, on 15 September 2007, she performed three songs at the restaurant with an acoustic guitarist, Adam Seymour, a former lead guitarist of The Pretenders.

References

External links

Pretenders official website

Pretenders Archives

Pretenders 977 Radio

Hynde: BBC News article

Hynde: Associated Press News article

Q & A with Chrissie Hynde -- Blender.com, October 2008

Category:1951 births Category:The Pretenders members Category:American dance musicians Category:American expatriates in Brazil Category:American expatriates in France Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American rock guitarists Category:Songwriters from Ohio Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American vegetarians Category:Female New Wave singers Category:Female rock singers Category:Kent State University alumni Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Ohio Category:People from Akron, Ohio

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