Freddie's live vocals

Why did Freddie tend to belt/growl/squeeze out his vocals, instead of sing smoothly as he did on the records?

Was this a stylistic choice or did he have poor live technique?

I get that multiple shows take their toll on his vocal chords, which lead to his nodules, but I've yet to see any show after '76 where his voice sounds unstrained. It kinda got worse throughout his career, getting really bad during the Magic Tour.

He started doing the power shouting thing all the time around 79 as he liked how it sounded, there's an interview where he admits his range has lessened but the stuff he does with his voice is better.
He sacrificed a lot of high range control for power. Presumably it was easier on tours.

He also had vocal nodules which caused him problems, so the phrasing and timing of songs were changed to compensate. This was at its worse in 85 and 86, alcohol also didn't help, his voice was pretty damaged.

[QUOTE] [b]emrabt wrote:[/b]

He also had vocal nodules which caused him problems, so the phrasing and timing of songs were changed to compensate. This was at its worse in 85 and 86, alcohol also didn't help, his voice was pretty damaged.

[/QUOTE]
Wow, piece of info I've never heard or read about before!

Can you post the link with additional info about this?
Or you've heard this from somebody from Queen's/Fred's circle (i mean, bout timing and worsening of throat problems in 85-85)?

You can hear it in live recordings.
Look at what they did to seven seas of rhye and in the lap of the gods revisited on the works and magic tours.

Freddie developed nodules in February of 1975 from the constant touring (several nights in a row, two shows in one day, etc). He also had an unhealthy singing technique where he would pull his chest voice higher to reach notes and would constantly force G4/A4s throughout the live sets. Combining those two actions caused the initial problem with the nodules.

Freddie never got the nodules removed (out of fear that it would alter his singing voice) so he figured out ways to sing through and around the nodules. He dropped the use of his falsetto almost entirely (save for a few performances/moments) and started changing the vocal phrasings on songs. The common tactic he did was to change the vocal melodies to make them less demanding live. The new vocal melodies were often on lower thirds, fourths, fifths, or sometimes an octave down from the original notes/melodies. With Roger often singing the original melody, Freddie was able to (for the most part) effectively sing the songs live with the different vocal melodies. He also started cutting off sustains in an attempt to reduce the stress on his voice.

The nodules also reduced his vocal stamina so his voice would often wear out faster than it originally would. Combine that with Freddie's love of partying, his singing style, and the wear and tear of touring - you'll get a voice that can often be hit/miss in the live environment.

Around the News Of The World era, Freddie saw a vocal coach of sorts (the information is a bit vague on this - but Freddie mentioned seeing somebody about his voice in a German magazine). Freddie's live consistency improved after the Races Tour and he sounded far less strained live on the NOTW tour compared with any previous tour. His live delivery changed where he sang with a lighter tone and started to sustain certain notes (usually Ab4/A4) for longer periods of time. It's the first tour where Freddie didn't suddenly dip to a really poor level on some gigs (like the Opera Tour) and he really didn't have off nights in the sense where he was struggling throughout the set (numerous Opera Tour and Races Tour gigs have him in either rough shape or straining throughout the set).

The Jazz/Live Killers Tour was a step backwards as the constant partying and touring wore his voice down quicker than any other tour before the Works Tour. They started the tour during the same month that the album was finished being made, so Freddie likely didn't have as much down time between the album and tour to rest his voice. While he was able to sound decent throughout the 1978 leg, he sounded more strained compared with the previous tour. Throughout the 1979 legs of the tour, his voice continued to deteriorate to the point where he could barely sing the songs (see the Japanese tour leg for that).

Freddie likely learned some more tips between the end of the Jazz Tour and the Crazy Tour because by the time the latter tour started, his live voice was never better. He could sing the songs with more ease and freedom that he never once had before. There are only 5 recordings from the tour, but they all feature Freddie's overall best live singing. He could sing the songs with little to no strain and he still had his natural tone intact. He was able to nail consistent upper 4th octave notes left and right and it's the tour where he was able to belt out the C5 on a fairly consistent basis without much strain involved. He also developed a stronger vibrato that would be a characteristic of his later vocal work.

For the Game Tour, Freddie remained in mostly good shape live, but the smoking that he started in 1980 would cause him some consistency issues that would remain with his live performances up until the end of Queen's touring days. Freddie wasn't really a heavy smoker (he barely inhaled the cigarettes) but it was enough to irritate his vocal nodules and cause issues with live consistency. He also changed his vocal delivery during this era to more of a macho/overdriven style that fit his new image. While he was able to sing well live and still nail the top notes, this new style of singing cause his voice to wear out more often than before.

For the 1981 stuff, Freddie slightly changed the vocal style to make it less macho (probably for vocal consistency). Apart from a rough start in Japan that year, he was excellent live (the sporadic tour dates also helped out a lot) and he really shines on songs like Somebody To Love. The Hot Space Tour is a weird one because he starts off pretty badly (Stockholm, Drammen, Zurich, etc) but as the Euro tour progresses, his voice gets stronger and sounds amazing by the end of the leg. I put that down to Freddie not being in touring shape and his partying causing issues with stamina. After the Euro leg, Freddie's voice starts declining through the North American leg into Japan. The Hot Space Tour was a tour full of excess which explains the vocal issues (especially by the Japanese leg).

By the time the Works Tour started, Freddie's voice lowered at least a tone. His voice had much more of a baritone edge to it. While his voice was very powerful, he had many issues with it throughout the tour. Combined with the partying, age, singing style, and the nodule problem, his voice rapidly declined throughout the tour. He sounds great for the first few gigs (Mainly Brussels and Dublin), but his tone then gets very rough/strained and he has many problems maintaining a consistent voice during the gigs. It's easily Freddie's worst vocal tour of the 80s and the most strained he'd ever sound live (apart from the Jazz Tour). For every gig where he sounds good, there's at least 3-4 where he has a bad night and he sounds awful. While Freddie tended to get into the belty/shouty voice throughout the earlier 80s tours at times, this tour had Freddie developing a "bark" quality to his voice that sounded very unpleasant on his weaker gigs. Songs that he normally would do well on during earlier tours suffered due to the vocal issues. If there is a positive for the tour, he brought back his falsetto and used it on a fairly regular basis (usually on the improv/Impromptu performances). Thankfully, he sounds really good on the Sun City recording that we have.

Live Aid - sounds amazing. This is his natural voice without anything wearing it down. I wish he had that voice on the Works Tour (and to a lesser extent on the Magic Tour).

The Magic Tour was a massive improvement compared to the previous tour. While there still were vocal issues on the tour (especially in early/mid June), Freddie was more consistent on the sets. While not at his live prime anymore, he was still able to effectively deliver the songs and the early Magic gigs are excellent vocally for Freddie. He still would bark out notes from time to time, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was on the previous tour.

To answer the questions in the original post, Freddie's differences between his live and studio voice comes down to many factors. In the studio, his voice was well-rested so he could go out all and have as many takes as he needed to sing all the most demanding vocal melodies. If he has trouble, he could simply redo the take or take a break. Live is where the real voice says hello! You only get one chance to go for it. Combining the nodules with unhealthy live habits (chest pulling, oversinging. etc), singing beyond one's natural boundaries, and engaging in off-stage bad habits (partying, substance use, smoking, etc) leads to the troubles that Freddie had live at times.

Freddie also experimented with vocal distortion throughout his career as well (the more gritty voice that's use on songs like Gimme The Prize). Some of Freddie's growling in the live environment was intentional (using it for effect), but other times it can sounds really ragged due to touring (Races tour growling).

(Continued)

For the final part, Freddie actually sounded less strained post-1976 live on certain tours. The NOTW tour and Crazy Tours sounded much less strained compared with the mid 70s tours. Since Freddie was up/down throughout his touring days, dividing stuff between "post" and "pre" can get very tricky. For example, he sounds much worse on the Jazz Tour compared with the Magic Tour, but he sounds better on the Crazy Tour compared with the Sheer Heart Attack Tour. There are vocal performance on the Works Tour (shockingly) that blow performances from 1975 away, yet there's way better Killer Queen performances on 70s tours compared with the 80s tours. Freddie is not an easy singer at all to put in a box!

I think partying,drinks,drug and smoke fucked his voice real bad. Just to listen In my defence and all other post 86 songs. There you have it.

Thanks for the thorough post, Greg! Here's what Freddie wrote to the Summer issue of FC magazine in 1981 regarding smoking.

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@gregsynth, thanks for the amazing post! Very insightful.

I take it you have been watching that youtube video of the Soprano critiquing Freddie's voice from Live Aid to Somebody to Love 81 Montreal show? ha

She sounds desperate to find fault.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvQiSV--hGY

flash00., yes I’ve seen those, but this video is the one I’m talking about:

https://youtu.be/ganP0dyR3GI

Brilliant post Greg.

[QUOTE] [b]emrabt wrote:[/b]

Brilliant post Greg.[/QUOTE]

Agreed!

For such a hard working vocalist as Freddie it was imperative that his voice would suffer and the smoking certainly destroyed his pure singing voice but he still sounded better than many other vocalists and had the power and drive to be the greatest singer at "Live Aid back in 1985. King Mercury long may he reign.

Indeed, great post Greg!