"Freddie always had a good voice, and that's always been the anchor of that group" - Sir Paul McCartney (Magic Years video).
Crazy Little Thing Called Love The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke
Fender Telecaster Electric Guitar
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FREDDIE MERCURY As Lead Singer
Many people (me included, I must confess) hate Freddie's ridiculous stage antics, in spite of the loads of people he entertained through them; many people don't even know how well he played piano, or how an extraordinary composer and arranger he was. Sections of media have put him down because of his behaviour, his sexual orientation, the way he dressed or his alleged arrogance. But what virtually everybody has agreed on is that Mercury was a fantastic singer. Having a notable power, a fairly (although not uniquely) large range, a marvellous precision (there are very few cases where he was off-pitch) and a rather distinctive timbre, Freddie's singing career covered many different styles and moods, from raucous hard-rock to tearful ballads. And he was sort of a "jack of all trades, master of most" (or at least "many") in that department. Fred's transition from head-voice to falsetto wasn't as smooth as Roger's, which is why the latter sang the highest bits in the more operatic things (Bo Rhap, Lap of the Gods) and Mercury sang above high F when he wanted to get a dramatic "screech" (Great King Rat, Under Pressure) or a more "church" or "siren" sound (You Take My Breath Away, The Kiss, White Queen). Roger could imitate female voices much more accurately (like the great Robin Gibb, whose falsetto's phenomenal but often overlooked in favour of Barry's, which of course is astonishing as well). A great way to compare the three voices is through The Show Must Go On: both Roger and Brian sang it in their solo tours (and as far as I remember they preserved the original key), so you can listen closely and suss out pro's and con's of each against each other. Some may prefer Brian's emotional delivery, others would go with Roger's hoarse tone and others would fall for Freddie's histrionic continuous crescendo (which would've been very suitable for theatre), but it is a fact that Mercury's voice was cleaner and more powerful than Taylor's or May's (just as some may think Michael Owen played football better than Alan Shearer, or vice-versa, and that's an opinion, but it is a fact that the blonde one's taller). Mercury's voice changed a lot through the years: at first, he had much less projection, which he slowly improved on via recording and touring. By 'Queen II' he sang much better, much cleaner and with much more power than he'd done on 'Queen I' (and it'd only been a year of difference). From 'II' to 'Jazz' he showcased an amazing tenor voice with a broad range. By the start of 'The Game' sessions in Munich, he started to smoke, which caused his voice to get deeper and his range to narrow. Up until 'Magic' (album + tour), he'd focus more on the dramatic side, becoming rather skilful in that area: a 1975 Freddie wouldn't have sung In My Defence with such power, but a 1985 Freddie would have had problems to do Love of My Life as in the album. Since Mercury didn't take care of his voice appropriately, he sometimes forced very high pitches on stage while doing the Impromptu (a concert segment that included Brian, Roger, John and Spike playing blues and Freddie ad-libbing vocals over it). In Japan '85, he sang an impressive soprano F (two octaves and a fourth above middle C), which makes one wonder how high could have his 70's self gone. We'll probably never know for sure: both Freddie's and Roger's ranges surely went beyond what they recorded. Brian's ... not so much. After he learnt about his disease he stopped smoking, which led to more changes to his voice. By that time he sang lower than in most of Queen records (no wonder why Montserrat Caballe thought of him as a baritone), and the 'Barcelona' project was a tour-de-force for him. He actually trained (even if perhaps not formally), and that's reflected in the extraordinary quality of his later-day recordings. Both 'Barcelona', 'The Miracle' and 'Innuendo' have their share of very high notes done powerfully and with head-voice instead of falsetto: high C's, D's, E's and even a couple of F's!
Recommended listening for Freddie's lead voice: - Liar - White Queen - Brighton Rock - You're My Best Friend - Somebody to Love - It's Late - Don't Stop Me Now - Sail Away Sweet Sister (middle-eight) - Staying Power - It's a Hard Life - Princes of the Universe - Was It All Worth It - Don't Try So Hard - A Winter's Tale |
