Is Menila Mercouri (the inspiration for Freddie's nickname)familiar to you?

thomasquinn 32989 wrote:

Stelios wrote:

thomasquinn 32989 wrote:

From what I've heard, Freddie's name was meant to refer to the dynamic, fluid character of the metal as much as to the deity.

thomasquinn 32989
do you remember by any chance the source of this.

Was it a band-mate or friend of his, perhaps?

I don't recall, but I think I can look it up for you. Is it OK if I send you a PM when I do?

Of course its OK, thomasquinn 32989.
Thanks for the interest :-)

noorie wrote:

Actually I saw or read somewhere (I have read soooo much about Queen, it is all a blur..) that he took the name after the planet Mercury. It was his 'ruling' planet or something.

That is actually something we can easily verify in the age of internet: Freddie was born September 5, 1946, apparently at roughly 5:10 in the morning, in Zanzibar City. With that information, we can quickly calculate a birth horoscope, through e.g. www.alabe.com

The result is that Mercury doesn't take a central place in his birth horoscope. His rising sign would appear to be Pluto in Leo, with Mercury in Gemini appearing in the horoscope but not taking a central place. So it's there, but it doesn't appear to be especially significant.

Here are a couple of sources, but they could all be completely wrong!

http://www.freddie.ru/e/archives/qbq/11.html
By this time, Freddie had changed his own name, too. Bulsara was too exotic, too Zanzibar. The explanation of his replacement comes from Chris Chesney. "Freddie was a Virgo," he reveals, "and Mercury was his ruling planet.

http://www.mercury-and-queen.com/queen.htm
In April 1970, Tim Staffell decided to leave Smile and Freddie joined them as lead singer. He changed the name of the band to Queen, and his last name to Mercury – Mercury being the Roman messenger of the Gods and Freddie’s ruling planet, as his star sign was Virgo.

http://www.queenarchives.com/index.php?title=Freddie_Mercury_-_11-26-2000_-_Mail_on_Sunday
Mercury was invited to join the band, which was promptly renamed - pun intended - Queen. It was then that he became Freddie Mercury (Mercury was his ruling planet) and, says May, 'changing his name helped him assume a different skin'.

Well my understanding is that Freddie greatly loved the Platters’ “The Great Pretender” that came out as far back as ‘55 and it was released on the label “Mercury Record!” Freddie often times would get his inspiration from other great singers/actresses (Liza Minnelli, Shirley Bassey, Aretha Franklin, et. al.) and incorporate what he’d felt were their best attributes to his stage persona, style of belting out songs, & overall artistry. Just like Freddie often was inspired by or ‘borrowed’ from other greats like Nijinsky’s character from his famous “Afternoon of a Faun” ballet where Freddie heavily borrowed the middle portion of the “I Want to Break Free” video sequence, he likely admired the Mercury Records label and kept their name in the back of his mind & revisit it later...when it suited him just like he’d later covered the Platters’ song “Great Pretender.”

Sofaras the ‘Melina Mercuri’ nickname, THAT was an inside joke between Freddie and Elton John. Elton suggested Freddie utilize a different name when booking a stay in a hotel to trick the press/paparazzi. He came-up with ‘Melina’ and Freddie came-up with the ‘Mercuri’ ‘cos he was a HUGE fan of Golden era Hollywood pictures and so the fun started with Freddie renaming just ‘bout all of his closest male friends some female names (Elton became Sharon, Rod Stewart became Phyllis, Bri became Maggie May, Peter Freestone became Feebie (now mostly known as Phoebe), Rog was Liz Taylor, etc. Mary Austin was named Steve Austin after the “Six Million Dollar Man” show main character.

So Freddie Pluto then... :-)

Freddie Uranus.