Freddie's Voice

You`re right about the difference of his voice. I`m not an expert in vocal technique but I think Fred would have ruined his throat if he tried Impromptu in the 70s, he was more trained in the 80s. But otoh in the 80s he couldn`t have performed You Take My Breath Away as in 1976

i think his voice was at its best at the innuendo album strangely enough, not to say that it was bad before , but the true freddie mercury voice came through at the end and he showed us all that there isnt anyone who can sing like him.

I dont think there are anyone who can sing Show Must Go On the way freddie did, and there wont come anyone else that can.

Mercury SingerOfLife wrote:

i think his voice was at its best at the innuendo album strangely enough, not to say that it was bad before , but the true freddie mercury voice came through at the end and he showed us all that there isnt anyone who can sing like him.

I dont think there are anyone who can sing Show Must Go On the way freddie did, and there wont come anyone else that can.

You're right too. But you have to consider that there are not many singers who record an album knowing that they are going to die in few days... Think about the passion, the love, the strong feelings in general that have always been a leit-motif of his life: it is clear that during the Innuendo recording sessions Freddie did his best to throw outside all he had in his heart and soul... And think about how much his psychological status affected the colour of his voice...

These are the reasons leading many of us to infer that in 1991 he was able to give his best as a singer: but this is not completely true... No singer would have singed "Show must go on" with his throat as he did, and that's because you would risk to ruin your voice forever... It's a technical matter. Everytime I listen to SMGO I feel my throat aching as if it was me singing... And that's because this is the first thing a sing teacher would tell you to do not... It's very dangerous...

Freddie, at that point, had not much to lose and he decided to sing SMGO that way because all the pain, the anger and anything else would have been conveyed directly to the listener's spine... He was very talented, this is undoubtly sure, but I really don't think he would have done that in the ADATR recording sessions...

Apart from all that, I agree there is nobody in the mainstream now that can be compared to Freddie, both as a singer and as a charming band leader...

Albyboy

Somebody To Love and TSMGO are his best performances and Innuendo the album and his work for Made In Heaven are his best album vocals. But he was the man so whatever he sang, whenever he sang it, he was the best.

albyboy: i know what you mean. He gave it all he got , even more , but then again he usually always gives it all in his performance , but the last album was the best he has performed ever and yes thats because he knew that he was going to die.

But thats not to say that i think any singer which has a death sentence like freddie had , could sing like he did , cause they didnt have the voice nor the great techniqe that freddie had.

And about the thing about him hurting his voice, i think the performance he did in "Show must" was truly great but nothing that he couldnt handle , and as you hear , his voice didnt break when you hear mother love.

No, warning, I haven't said that anyone with a death sentence on his head would have done such a performance in TSMGO... I'm not that idiot :-)

One thing is sure: EVERYBODY, in a particular emotional condition, usually makes his best (you know, it's the 'My performances are better when my boss puts me under stress' thing, or something like that (even if I have to say that everyone of us reacts in different ways to emotional stresses)...

... And don't think that even it Freddie was one of the best singers that rock music has ever had, he didn't have limits: he was a human being, he could take mistakes (listen to some bootlegs and you'll understand what I'm saying) and his vocal range was not infinite... Surely he had the numbers to do the TSMGO chorus (he actually did it, didn't he?) but there is a reason if he hardly took those notes with his throat in the past (only in "Gimme the prize" there is something similar, but we cannot say that it was during Freddie's youth)...

Maturity means also knowing your own limits, your highlights and obtain the best from your resources... Freddie was a mature singer and he cared a lot about his voice. For this reason it would have seemed me very strange if in the 1973/1982 period he had sung a chorus line in that way...

:-)

Albyboy

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I think that his voice is great in any song, but I really thought that he voices sounded great in Somebody to love. But I do like his deep voice on Innuendo.

Freddies voice has always been great and there is no point of where it was better. I mean yes it was slightly differnt in 70s and 80s but he was singing different kinds of songs and barcelona just prooves his voice never changed better or worse.

What got me addicted to Queen (besides Brian's amazing guitar work) was the way Freddie could hit the high notes. I thought that was very impressive. So, being that is what attracted me to them, I'd have to say Freddie's voice was better in the 70's, when he had more of a vocal range than later on. However, I've always loved his voice, and it's always been very powerful. Freddie will always be the best in my book, no matter what era!!

Personally i think freddies voice has always been great and very powerfull. I mean just when he makes you think his voice has gone more rough he suprises you with something really incredible. I dont know how many other singers ive heard talking about the great range of the king of rock freddie mercury. I know rob halford from judas priest really loves freddies music, So does sebastian bach, joe elliott, hell even people who arent singers loved his voice.

Alwayes darling.... Even today... :)

I think the first song that made me go 'Wow, this guy is GOOD' was In the Lap of the Gods...revisited when he goes mega-falsetto on 'EASY' and 'RISKY'.

I can't imagine that there are too many more men with a range/control of their falsetto as Freddie had.