Freddie's Voice

When I first heard Queen, it was their Greatest Hits album, sometime in the late 1990's (before widespread internet access). Anyway it always sounded to me as if there were more than one main singer with the band, because Freddie's voice always sounded different.

Freddie's voice changed in different periods, really with all the different albums...is it normal or unusual that a vocalists voice would change like this? (e.g. 74 sounding Freddie, different to Jazz era etc.) To put in context, take Roger or Brian, their voices always sounded pretty much the same over the years. Would be interested in hearing people's view on this.

p.s. Great King Rat always surprised me that it's such a deep sounding Freddie for early 70's.

Yeah, his voice did change. Partly due to aging, smoking, different singing technique (?), weight loss / gain and AIDS (I assume).

I'd sort his studio voice in periods like this -

1973 - 1975 the early years tender tone
1976 - 1979 similar but more high notes, grit
1980 - 1982 more powerful, stronger voice, even more high notes, slightly lower voice
1984 - 1988 extremely powerful voice, more grit, even lower voice
1989 - 1991 thinner voice, especially on the album Innuendo, sounds slightly weaker but nails the high notes as great as ever

At least that's the picture in my head.

I like his voice up to ˜ 1980, then I start liking it again from 1989 onwards. One can only speculate why his voice got so hoarse and gritty at times there in the mid 80's. Probably partying and smoking, along with the macho attitude he adopted.

The grit was due to a bad technique and smoking of course.
His voice became thinner because of the decease, i mean, weightloss means less mass, which means that the voice isn`t going to be as rich as when you`re a bit bulky.

And of course loss of breath control !
He however learned techniques as is apearant on Barcelona!

Always the same kind of threads.

I agree with Oscar J, I like his voice a lot after 1989 onwards, too (I still like it 1980-89, but it's different). I have a slightly different take on the reason for the change... I think that in 1989, despite being in such poor health, he didn't chain smoke any more and didn't tour, so didn't batter his vocal cords like in the mid 80s, and that's the main reason for the sound changing. He over-sang a lot at his 'peak', and paid for it vocally (I mean always trying to produce a bigger sound than your body/voice will allow, which is how he damaged his voice, and got the vocal nodules... along with the smoking and general partying etc.). Despite being physically sick after 1989, ironically he was probably taking better care of himself and his voice than he had for the previous decade, and I think his voice is sweeter (I can hear that it's 'thinner' than a few years previously, but I like it - and he starts hitting the high notes again, as others have mentioned). When you over-sing in the middle part of your voice, as he frequently did during his career, you can lose the top register, which he often did, especially on tour. Think of operatic tenors and the classic 'cracking the high notes'. It's the same thing. Give too much in the middle, you really pay for it at the top. Belting out all those anthems to stadium audiences just took its toll in the mid 80s.

It's fascinating to compare his vocals on I Want it All (listen to the a capella version) to anything on the first albums. Even on We Are the Champions (1977) he sounds so weak compared to the mid- to late 80s.

Weak? No.

In my opinion, yes. But I could change weak => unpowerful. The refrains scream for a Magic Tour voice and all they get is a young guy with a nice voice trying as much as he can, only to realise that he needs to wait for almost 10 years to deliver those lines how they were meant to be delivered.

[QUOTE] [b]BradMay wrote:[/b]

The grit was due to a bad technique and smoking of course.
His voice became thinner because of the decease, i mean, weightloss means less mass, which means that the voice isn`t going to be as rich as when you`re a bit bulky.

And of course loss of breath control !
He however learned techniques as is apearant on Barcelona!

[/QUOTE]


Im a bit confused on what you mean by "bad technique" . The smoking factor, agreed totally. But, how can it be he used a bad tech? Im not saying this as glorification for Freddie, but I just don't know how he would consciously use bad techniques.

[QUOTE] [b]Chief Mouse wrote:[/b]

Yeah, his voice did change. Partly due to aging, smoking, different singing technique (?), weight loss / gain and AIDS (I assume).

I'd sort his studio voice in periods like this -

1973 - 1975 the early years tender tone
1976 - 1979 similar but more high notes, grit
1980 - 1982 more powerful, stronger voice, even more high notes, slightly lower voice
1984 - 1988 extremely powerful voice, more grit, even lower voice
1989 - 1991 thinner voice, especially on the album Innuendo, sounds slightly weaker but nails the high notes as great as ever

At least that's the picture in my head.[/QUOTE]


Ohh... Can I also add, that weight and body tone, body mass can also change things.

The highlights you mentioned all seem correct, Freddie was skinnier in is early yes, not the mucho man he was later in life.

In the studio, 84-88 was Freddie's best period vocally. Live, I'd say it was 80-82.

I really don't like the shouty, strained sounding vocals in his mid 80's studio vocals. It's like he always wore a buttplug while singing during those years.

The voice on Innuendo album is always been an enigma to me.

The songs were recorded maybe between 1988-1990 and the voice changes quite a bit between them.

I think his thinner voice is heard especially on Show must Go on, Days of Our Lives, I Cant Live with You, Slightly Mad and Headlong.

The powerfull one is of course on All gods People which was done already during Miracle-period (?) and when I listen of Dont Try So Hard and the tile track, i dont feel the voice is that weak. There is still lots of power and force behind it.

So his voice changed the most during 1990. The same ailing voice is still heard on Made in Heaven tracks that were done during 1991.

[QUOTE]

[b]ploughman wrote: [/b] The voice on Innuendo album is always been an enigma to me.

The songs were recorded maybe between 1988-1990 and the voice changes quite a bit between them.

I think his thinner voice is heard especially on Show must Go on, Days of Our Lives, I Cant Live with You, Slightly Mad and Headlong.

The powerfull one is of course on All gods People which was done already during Miracle-period (?) and when I listen of Dont Try So Hard and the tile track, i dont feel the voice is that weak. There is still lots of power and force behind it.

So his voice changed the most during 1990. The same ailing voice is still heard on Made in Heaven tracks that were done during 1991.[/QUOTE]

You forgot The Hitman, he sounds really thin in that one. In The Show Must Go On he really seemed to try pushing it and it does sound powerful, although I can't even imagine him singing that with Barcelona voice.

All God's People parts were recorded in 1987 I think. There is a part "then I, then I, then I" which sounds thin, probably recorded around 1990.

And yeah, Don't Try So Hard and Innuendo still have The Miracle voice. I think recorded in early 1989 (?).