This Day in African History -- Africa's Greatest Pop Idol Dies

On 24 November 1991 Freddie Mercury died of AIDS induced bracho-pneumonia. Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on the island of Zanzibar (then a British Protectorate) on 5 September 1946. Feddie's parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were Indian Parsis, and they had moved to Zanzibar for Bomi's job as a cashier in the British Colonial Office.

The family fled Zanzibar in 1964 when the recently elected government was overthrown and Zanzibar (briefly) declared a republic. The family moved to Feltham, London, and Farrokh studied art at Isleworth Polytechnic, eventually gaining a diploma in Art and Graphic Design. By April 1970, Farrokh had changed his name to Freddie Mercury and joined with Brian May and Roger Taylor to form Queen.