Freewind Rider

Freddie Mercury's parents lived just yards from Brian May's childhood home. His mother said Freddie always told her — "Mum, that is business. This is family." He protected them from everything until the very end. The Bulsara family story is one of the most quietly extraordinary in rock history. Bomi Bulsara worked as a cashier for the British Colonial Office in Zanzibar. He married Jer, and their first child — Farrokh — was born in Stone Town, Zanzibar, on September 5th, 1946. Six years later came a daughter — Kashmira. In 1964 — the Zanzibar Revolution forced the family to flee. They settled in a suburban home in Feltham, Middlese*x. And here is the detail that stops you cold. Brian May recalled that Freddie's parents' house in Feltham was only a few yards from where he himself lived. When Brian first visited in their student days — Jer was a busy mum, full of life and optimism, fiercely proud of her children. Two future Queen bandmates. Yards apart. In the same suburban street. Before any of it happened. Bomi and Jer attended Freddie's concerts regularly — one of their small ways of lending their support. But Freddie kept his two worlds completely separate. Jer said — "Freddie kept a strict division between his work and his home all his life. If I ever asked, he would say — 'Mum, that is business, and this is family.' He was kind and very respectful both to myself and his father." She never fully knew his private life. He protected them from everything — the excess, the illness, the truth about his final years. Bomi passed away on Boxing Day 2003 at the age of 95. Jer die*d peacefully in her sleep on November 13th, 2016, aged 94. Both received private Zoroastrian funeral rites. Brian May wrote of Jer — "She was a warm and devoted mum to Freddie. And, like Freddie — always had a strong twinkle in the eye." A family that fled revolution with nothing. And produced one of the greatest artists the world has ever seen. #freddiemercury