Queen stars keep in mind first encounter with ‘born rock star’ Freddie Mercury

Jun 11, 2023 at 5:25 AM

Freddie Mercury stays one in all rock’s nice frontmen, an iconic determine of a legendary group that dominated the charts within the 70s and 80s, in addition to into the early 90s.

Queen’s hits are nonetheless as well-known now as they have been years in the past when the likes of Bohemian Rhapsody, Another One Bites The Dust, I Want To Break Free, We Are The Champions and It’s A Kind Of Magic blasted out from radios and stereos internationally.

Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon might have offered the fabulous musical instrumentation, however Mercury’s distinctive voice greeted listeners to an other-worldly expertise as Queen’s ’s lead singer, whereas his extrovert and flamboyant showmanship on stage belied a shy and introverted character off it.

But his fellow musical colleagues had their doubts about Mercury’s (born Farrokh Bulsara in 1946) vocal talents earlier than he joined the group in 1970 once they have been nonetheless known as Smile.

It was Mercury’s thought to rename the group Queen, not lengthy after changing authentic lead singer Tim Staffell who had stop the fledgling group.

And though the opposite band members have been not sure of the title change, Mercury informed them “it’s wonderful, dear, people will love it”.

Before becoming a member of, Mercury – a buddy of Staffell’s – had been a eager fan of Smile and was determined to turn out to be their lead singer, however needed to wait till Staffell departed.

The band members, although, whereas realising he exuded stage presence and charisma in abundance, weren’t too positive about his vocal chops, as drummer Roger Taylor, who ran a stall with Mercury in Kensington market, nonetheless remembers his first assembly with him, telling SmoothRadio: “It was at my flat in Shepherd’s Bush. He was a mate of Tim from Ealing college.

“He was on the periphery, just a mate, really. He had musical aspirations, but we were quite good players and we weren’t really sure if he could sing.

“But his drive and determination to write original stuff was great. And of course we became huge friends because we had the stall.

“We were living in each others’ pockets, scrubbing together to eat.”

Mercury additionally wrote most of the band’s songs, together with Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen and Don’t Stop Me Now, with Taylor including: “We didn’t know there’s this incredible songwriter with this incredible musical sensibility hidden.

“He was really such a joy to be around, a driving force for the band in the early days.”

May additionally recollects their doubts about Mercury’s singing talents once they first acquired to know him, saying again in 2021: “We loved Freddie from the beginning.

“He was such an ebullient character and so full of confidence. We thought, ‘he’s a good showman, but can he sing?’.

“In the early days, he would throw himself around and give it 100%, but the voice wasn’t developed.

“The instrument was there, but he hadn’t learned that incredible control, which made him the great god Freddie Mercury.

“So we didn’t know. We just thought, ‘Well, we should give this a shot. Freddie seems to be up for it. Why don’t we go for it?’.”

And on his first assembly with him, May mentioned in 2013: “He came to see us play – we were in this little group called Smile and Freddie came along to watch.

“He was really enthusiastic and really full of energy, like he always was, and he came back and was all ‘this is great, but you’re doing this wrong, and this wrong, and this wrong’. What you need is me.”

“He looked like a rock star in those days, absolutely. He acted like a rock star. He was a rock star, always. He was born a rock star.”