The Untold Truth of Freddie Mercury’s Sister

Who is Kashmira Cooke?

Kashmira Cooke is a younger sister of legendary singer-songwriter and frontman of the British rock band Queen. She doesn’t have a public career, and all that we know about her professional efforts is that she has appeared in a few documentaries about her late brother, including the “The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody” (2004), and “Freddie Mercury: Magic Remixed” (2006).

Kashmira Cooke Early Life and Bio

Kashmira Cooke was born as Kashmira Bulsara in 1952, in Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania, a daughter of Jer and Bomi Bulsara, who were Parsis from the Gujarat region of the Bombay Presidency province in British India. It means that Kashmira is British by nationality, while her ethnicity is Indian. She is a younger sister of the late singer-songwriter Freddie Mercury, best known as the frontman of the rock band called Queen.

When Kashmira was twelve years old, her family decided to move abroad and escape the violence of the revolution happening in Zanzibar, so they moved to Middlesex, England, where they purchased a small house. As for education, there is not much information about it; it’s believed Kashmira attended the same West Thames College as her brother, Freddie, but there is no proof to back up this info.

Kashmira Cooke Career

Kashmira Cooke earned her celebrity status thanks to her famous brother, but her profession is unknown as she didn’t follow the steps of her older brother into show business. Still, Cooke did appear in a few documentaries about Freddie Mercury and Queen such as “Freddie Mercury, the Untold Story” (2000), “The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody” (2004), and “Freddie Mercury: Magic Remixed” (2006). Kashmira was also a guest in an episode of “The One Show” in 2011.

Kashmira Cooke Personal Life

In 1972, Kashmira married Roger Cooke, a famous English singer-songwriter and record producer, who is best known to the world for his collaborations with Roger Greenaway. Some of the songs that he has produced include “You’ve Got Your Troubles” and “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing”, among many others. The couple has welcomed two children along the way; a son named Jamal Zook, and a daughter named Nathalie. Following four decades of married life, Kashmira and Roger decided to split and live their life separately. The reason for this is still unknown, while since the divorce, there is no information on Kashmira’s relationships. Kashmira’s father died in 2003, and in November 2016, her mother also passed away.

Kashmira Cooke Net Worth

Kashmira Cooke is a multi-millionaire thanks to the success of Queen and her late brother Freddie Mercury, whose net worth was estimated at $50 million at the time of his death in the early 90s.

The band is still earning money, while Kashmira also receives some amount from Bryan Singer’s Oscar-winning biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” (2018). It is believed that Mercury left 50% of his wealth to his former girlfriend and best friend, Mary Austin, while the other 50% is divided between his parents and his sister, Kashmira. After the passing of Mercury’s parents, 25% went to Austin, while Kashmira still received 25% of her brother’s wealth, and is still making money even after death through music royalties.

Freddie Mercury Early Life and Education

Born as Farrokh Bulsara on 5 September 1946, in Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Freddie Mercury spent most of his childhood in India to where his family moved. He began taking piano and singing lessons at the age of seven, and given he was born with four supernumerary incisors, his vocal range was phenomenal.

In 1954, Mercury went to study at St. Peter’s School, a British-style boarding school for boys, situated in Panchgani near Bombay. Four years later, Freddie formed a school band called the Hectics, which covered rock and roll legends such as Little Richard and Cliff Richard. Before returning to Zanzibar to live with his parents in 1963, Mercury attended St. Mary’s School in Mumbai. He subsequently studied art at Isleworth Polytechnic in West London, after which he studied graphic art and design at Ealing Art College, earning his diploma in 1969.

Career Beginnings and Queen

Following his graduation, Freddie was a member of numerous bands, while he also worked as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport, and sold second-hand clothes with Roger Taylor in Kensington Market in London.

The two of them would later become close friends and members of Queen. In 1969, he briefly lived in Liverpool after joining the local band called Ibex, later renamed Wreckage. However, the band failed to take off, so Mercury moved south to Oxford and joined another band, the Sour Milk Sea. They also failed to get recognition, and in April 1970, Mercury joined drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May and became a lead singer of their band called Smile. Bassist John Deacon joined in 1971, and Freddie Mercury renamed the band to Queen, as he felt that this name will be more natural to remember and would leave a strong impression. He also designed the band’s logo, using skills he got from Ealing Art College, combining four zodiac signs of the four band members; two lions for Leo, a crab for Cancer, and two fairies for Virgo.

The Debut and Rise to Stardom

In July 1973, Queen released its debut self-titled album, which achieved gold status in both the USA and UK. A year later, the band recorded their second studio album “Queen II,” while also in 1984 they released “Sheer Heart Attack” which achieved platinum status in the UK, and had such singles as “Killer Queen,” “Now I’m Here,” and “Lily of the Valley.” In 1975, the band recorded the most expensive album ever at the time of its release – “A Night at the Opera”. The album topped the UK Albums Chart for four non-consecutive weeks, while it reached No. 4 on the US Billboard 200, becoming Queen’s first platinum-certified record in the US. The famous single “Bohemian Rhapsody” became the band’s most successful single in the United Kingdom, while the album recorded over six million sales worldwide.

Many reviewers described it as Queen’s best album, and one of the greatest albums in rock music history. It received Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus and Best Arrangement for Voices – in 2018, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Queen continued with successful recordings, and in 1976 released another platinum album called “A Day at the Races”. By the end of the ‘70s, Queen had recorded two more studio albums: “News of the World” and “Jazz”, both of which went platinum in the US. “We Are the Champions,” “We Will Rock You,” and “Mustapha” are just some of the singles from those two albums.

The 80s and Solo Career

Queen opened the ‘80s with “The Game” and soundtrack for “Flash Gordon”. The former album achieved a 4x platinum status in the US and had a famous single “Another One Bites the Dust,” among the others.

In 1982, the band recorded its tenth studio album “Hot Space”, which failed to earn platinum status in the UK and US, but the single “Under Pressure” featuring David Bowie became one of the most popular songs of the year. By the end of the ‘80s, the band had released three more albums: “The Works” (1985), “A Kind of Magic” (1986), and “The Miracle” (1989), which produced numerous hit singles including “Radio Ga Ga,” “I Want to Break Free,” “A Kind of Magic,” “Princes of the Universe,” “Friends Will Be Friends,” “I Want It All,” and “The Invisible Man,” among others. Freddie Mercury launched his solo career in 1985, with the album called “Mr. Bad Guy” in the period when the Queen were on hiatus from recording. In 1988, he and Spanish operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé recorded “Barcelona”.

Personal Life and Relationships

Ever since his first on-stage appearance, many doubted his sexuality, speculating that he was gay, mostly because of his flamboyancy on stage.

These rumors later turned out to be true, as Freddie has dated both women and men.

Freddie Mercury was in a relationship with Mary Austin from 1970 to 1976, and they broke up after he told Austin of his sexuality. They stayed close after the break-up, and Mercury often stated that Austin was his best and only true friend. During the early to mid-‘80s, Mercury dated German restaurateur Winfried Kirchberger, while in 1985 he began a relationship with hairdresser Jim Hutton, and two of them stayed together until Mercury’s death in 1991. Although many commentators described Mercury as a bisexual rock star, others said that he didn’t hide that he was openly gay. Freddie did keep the distance from his partner Hutton in the early years of their relationship, but that changed in the final years of his life – his obituary reads that he was a “self-confessed bisexual”.

#FreddieMercury
It’s #FreddieFriday Ladies and Gentlemen ❤️👑 pic.twitter.com/UIKkYUK4N5

— Birgit Richter (@BirgitRichter10) June 12, 2020

Illness and Death

The British press first reported that Mercury was tested positive for HIV in October 1986, but the musician denied he was sick, but Jim Hutton confirmed that Mercury was tested positive for AIDS in April 1987. Mercury informed the band members of his illness much earlier than he did the public, and his final appearance on Queen’s album was in 1991 when “Innuendo” was released. The album had several singles, including “The Show Must Go On.” Mercury’s last public appearance came in February 1991, at the 1990 Brit Awards. He retired to his home in Kensington, West London, and released a statement that he had tested HIV positive and had AIDS, only 24 hours before his death. On the evening of 24 November 1991, Mercury died at his home at the age of 45. In 2001, Mercury was posthumously inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004.