MERAJI: Freddie Mercury's voice was untrained and unpredictable, mercurial, throttling from an earthy baritone to a wild but heavenly tenor. QUEEN: (Singing) Vontap ist ahiln avil ahiln adhim, Mustapha. I mean, what kind of cultural influences? Where does it come from? If you now know that Freddie was born in Zanzibar, then went to India, then came to London, which again was like a culture shock, then you sort of can see it's like a little bit of multiculturalism that was sort of combined in Freddie Mercury and the way he used his voice. RUDI DOLEZAL: For example, if you listen to a song like 'Mustapha,' you think, I mean, this is very strange. QUEEN: (Singing) Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah will pray for you. He portrays Mercury as an artist who mastered his craft in the West but came of age in the East. MERAJI: The film was directed by Rudi Dolezal. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: In this very hospital, the government hospital Zanzibar, on the 5th of September, 1946, Farrokh Bulsara first saw the dazzling light of the world. He was born on the East African island of Zanzibar, once a base for Persian Gulf traders. MERAJI: That's Mercury's mother, Jer Bulsara, from the film 'Freddie Mercury, The Untold Story.' Farrokh Bulsara was Parsi, a group with ties to ancient Persia.

JER BULSARA: The name we selected for him is Farrokh. (SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, 'FREDDIE MERCURY, THE UNTOLD STORY') MERAJI: He wasn't always the unstoppable British glam rocker Freddie Mercury. I'm a racing car passing by, like Lady Godiva. QUEEN: (Singing) I'm a shooting star, leaping through the sky like a tiger, defying the laws of gravity. Freddie Mercury was the mercurial rock star who chose a stage name in perfect harmony with his voice. Mercury is the Roman messenger god, wings on his sandals, moving quickly from place to place.

SHEREEN MARISOL MERAJI, BYLINE: Mercury is an element that stays fluid when the temperature dips low or soars high. Now, really, that's all the excuse we need to go back into the archive for this 2010 profile of Freddie Mercury by Shereen Marisol Meraji.

That iconic band dropped its first album on this day 50 years ago. MARTÍNEZ: Freddie Mercury led Queen until his untimely death in 1991. But I tell you just be satisfied and stay right where you are. QUEEN: (Singing) Now, they say your folks are telling you be a superstar. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, 'KEEP YOURSELF ALIVE') Fifty years ago today, the world was introduced to one of rock 'n' roll's greatest voices.

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