One of Freddie Mercury‘s biggest fan pages, Freddie Mercury Club, has featured rare photos of the first band of Queen‘s icon, The Hectics, on Instagram.
The Hectics was Freddie Mercury‘s first band, founded in 1958. The band members were students of St. Peter’s Boys School, an English boarding school, in Panchgani, near Mumbai, India.
These golden photographs are 61 years old and belong to March 1, 1959. As you can see in these photos, you can easily see that Mercury was standing in the middle of his 4 bandmates. The other members of the band were Derrick Branche, Bruce Murray, Farang Irani and Victory Rana.
The Hectics played famous rock and roll songs at school events until 1962. Freddie Mercury participated as a pianist instead of being a vocalist for the band.
This is what the fan page wrote:
“The Hectics
On March 1st, 1959, 61 years ago today, Freddie Mercury founded his first music band. The Hectics when he was 13.
Band members included:
Farrokh Bulsara (piano), Bruce Murray (lead vocals), with Derrick Branche, Farang Irani, and Victory Rana.
The school-band was formed while all five were students at St. Peter’s Boys School, an English boarding school in Panchgani, near Bombay (now Mumbai), India.
The Hectics played versions of well-known rock & roll names at school events until 1962.
P.S. Always a musical genius and it’s amazing to know our shy Freddie wasn’t even the singer of the band but the PIANIST. The little Mozart who played all the tunes by ear. And it was years and years later when his bandmates heard this voice by one Mr. Mercury that they realized who it really belonged to…”