Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara, 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991), was a British Indian musician, best known as the frontman of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his powerful vocals and flamboyant performances. As a songwriter, he composed many international hits, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "We Are the Champions" and "Barcelona". Fronted by Mercury, Queen went on to sell more than 300 million albums internationally as of 2009.
In addition to his work with Queen, he also led a solo career and was occasionally a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists. Mercury, who was a Parsi and grew up in India, has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star". He died of bronchopneumonia induced by HIV (AIDS) on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease. In 2006, Time Asia named him as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be listed as one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music: in 2005, Blender readers voted Mercury the greatest male singer of all time (and second-greatest singer overall after Mariah Carey), and in 2007, Hit Parader readers voted him the 6th greatest heavy metal singer of all time. In 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him number 18 on their list of the 100 greatest singers of all time, reflecting the magazine's editorial opinion.
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