Following graduation, Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand clothes in the Kensington Market in London with girlfriend Mary Austin. He also held a job at Heathrow Airport. Friends from the time remember him as a quiet and shy young man who showed a great deal of interest in music.In 1969 he joined the Liverpool based band, Ibex, later renamed Wreckage. He lived briefly in a flat above the Liverpool pub, The Dovedale Towers.When this band failed to take off, he joined a second band called Sour Milk Sea. However, by early 1970 this group had broken up as well.
In April 1970 Mercury joined guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor who had previously been in a band called Smile. Despite reservations of the other members andTrident Studios, the band’s initial management, Mercury chose the name “Queen” for the new band. He later said, “I was certainly aware of the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it.”At about the same time, he changed his surname, Bulsara, to Mercury.