Freddie's live falsetto

Bad Seed wrote: And just for the record Gerry, there is no falsetto on ITLOTGR from Hammersmith '75, unless my memory serves me incorrectly?

You are absolutely correct.

gerry wrote: well believe me freddie did inhale the ciggies.
It was also mentioned in the press in the 80s that his singing voice was getting hammered because of consistent
smoking and the old nodules on his throat.
Even on "Live Aid" day back in 1985 his doctor told him not to perform as his throat was so bad, but freddie
did not want to let the people down and performed.

Freddie's throat problem at Live Aid was laryngitis, something that EVERYONE can suffer from, it has nothing to do with smoking.

Nitroboy: Laryngitis can be caused from a number of reasons but chances are in Freddies case it was caused through singing too hard and loud, which inflames the voice box. This happened a lot of times and cancelled gigs happened now and again.

Bad seed: I never said freddie gave a falsetto voice at hammersmith 1975,
i said he gave a great falsetto voice on the album "Sheer heart attack" on "In the lap of the gods" (revisited).

gerry wrote:
[...]In the 70s Freddies falsetto voice was amazing, check out "In the lap of the gods" (revisited) on the hammersmith 1975 show.

 I rest my case.

sorry i meant on the sheer heart attack album!

Chief Mouse wrote:

Riku M wrote: So the reason he didn't use it more is probably because it didn't suit his singing style/image which at the time was very macho and he liked to belt out the songs with his raw chestpower.

Yeah, but he hardly used it live ever since 1976. But he still did in studio obviously, It's A Hard Life for example.

That's correct. We do have to remember that studio Queen and live Queen were two quite different animals though.

Yes in the studio Freddie had time to record a good falsetto vocal as he was not under any pressure
like he could have been on live.
"Soul Brother" was in my opinion the best ever falsetto i have ever heard freddie do!

There are too many people here who are confusing falsetto with singing high notes. Falsetto is a vocal characteristic, a physical action of the vocal chords that not everyone is able to do, people can sing high notes but not be able to sing falsetto.

This thread is about high notes, not falsetto.

Mooghead: This thread is titled :" Freddies live falsetto"
not high notes like you said!
We all know what falsetto is as freddie was the expert at doing this in Queen.

gerry wrote: Nitroboy: Laryngitis can be caused from a number of reasons but chances are in Freddies case it was caused through singing too hard and loud, which inflames the voice box. This happened a lot of times and cancelled gigs happened now and again.

Singing too hard and loud? Queen had a 2 month rest between the finals gigs of The Works Tour and Live Aid.

gerry wrote:

Mooghead: This thread is titled :" Freddies live falsetto"
not high notes like you said!
We all know what falsetto is as freddie was the expert at doing this in Queen.

Fair response as my post was unclear. I meant to say that this thread had become about Freddies high notes. People aren't differentiating. As for Freddie being the expert in Queen at falsetto?!

May I introduce you to somebody you have obviously never heard of called Roger Taylor.

Mooghead: Roger Taylors falsetto was only high screams and not a patch on freddies beautiful falsetto voice,
as on "Soul Brother" B side to "Under Pressure".

Nitroboy: It does no matter how long a rest you have in between singing because even half an hours heavy singing could cause bad inflammation to anyones vocal chords.
I think at the live aid rehearsals freddie could have over done it.

You can't really say Freddie's or Roger's is superior - Freddie used his beautifully for more tender stuff, while Roger had unmatched power in those high screams night after night on Lap of the Gods. Completely different styles of singing.

yes i agree, freddie used his falsetto for tender songs like " you take my breath away" which was a Queen trade mark
just as much as Brians guitar playing was sounding like a demented seagull screaming!