Freddie Mercury: News, History & Updates

Freddie Mercury Biography by Greg Prato

Excerpts from Greg’s books for Alternative Nation

GLENN HUGHES [ex-Deep Purple bassist]: Freddie Mercury was a complete one-off. There will never be anyone like him. He was operatic, wasn’t he? I would call him a soulful person. I think his vocals were across the board rock and opera. Very dramatic. I can’t tell who he grew up listening to. But he was just a one-off, and that is the reason why he was so popular. And of course, you look at the way he looked – he had so much bravado and so much elegance. And this is a big thing for me – he had no fear. Let’s be clear, my dear – he had no fear. And that’s a win, win, win in the Hughes household – “no fear” is a thing that is written on my studio wall.

KK DOWNING [ex-Judas Priest guitarist]: Definitely Rob! [In response to the question, “Who do you think pulled off the ‘leather biker look’ better – Freddie Mercury or Rob Halford?”] Actually, that’s probably one of the best questions I’ve ever been asked! Because both of the guys, obviously being gay and both obviously having donned the leathers – which is par for the course – I think the difference was it became Rob’s ultimate and permanent image. Whereas Freddie did it for a bit of fun, I think. But a fun question – I like that a lot. Definitely Rob looked like the epitome – as I hope we all did, together, when we all eventually got into the leather gear – of an archetypal heavy metal band.

RICHARD MARX: It was a testament to Freddie’s amazing voice [that Queen covered so much stylistic ground]. I think that people that can jump genre to genre to genre, and still make it work, and never seem like they’re fish out of water, is so rare. And it’s not just having a great voice like Freddie did, but I think you could hear the love and respect that he had for all these different types of music. He got inside them and it never felt contrived, or sad – for lack of a better word. Sometimes, you hear people trying…especially white people trying to do honest R&B, you go, “Dude, just play rock music or just don’t try. Because it’s embarrassing.” And it felt like Freddie could do no wrong. He was so believable – he was convincing in everything he did. There wasn’t one false note.

CRAIG GOLDY [Dio guitarist]: I remember Ronnie James Dio often mentioned Freddie as one of the very best. I was surprised to hear him say that, but then, knowing how many elements and qualities Ronnie has/had to his voice and the power and inflections, so did Freddie. He could sing softly, quite gruff, a little “metal” sounding one minute, and “angelic” the next – and so could Ronnie. I guess it really was a case of, “It takes one to know one.”

GLEN MATLOCK [Sex Pistols bassist]: Actually the funny thing is we had been in a studio called Lansdowne, which is a very stottie, BBC-ish kind of place in London, in Holland Park, and then moved to a studio called Wessex [to record “Anarchy in the UK”], where a lot of things were done – the Clash did their stuff there. When we went to check it out, there were two rooms there – a big room and a little room. And we went into the big room, opened the door – because the red “DO NOT ENTER” sign wasn’t on – and it was Queen’s room! And Freddie Mercury was in full-flight, and they got annoyed with us. We said, “Well, don’t blame us…you didn’t have the red light on!” So, we got around that, and we went into the smaller room, out the back, a few days later.

I remember going out to get a beer out of the fridge, and as I opened the door, there is somebody bent over, listening through the keyhole…and it was Freddie Mercury! I said, “Oh, Freddie!” And he goes, “Oh, oh…dear, where’s the bathroom?” And I said, “It’s just behind you. You’ve been in here two months!” Really, he could have asked nice and possibly come in. He wanted to find out what it was all about. So, that was quite funny.

BRIAN FALLON [The Gaslight Anthem singer/guitarist]: When Freddie passed away [on November 24, 1991], they did that tribute concert, and I would watch it over and over again. And George Michael sang my favorite song [“Somebody to Love”], so I was really into it, and it connected these dots for me. To me, in the ‘80s, George Michael was the guy with the leather jacket singing “Faith,” and I was kind of like, “Alright, whatever.” But then when I say him really sing – he sang like a soul singer would sing. It just blew my mind. I remember watching that over and over again as a kid.

PAT BOONE: Freddie Mercury was like only two or three I know of…the guy with dark glasses, he went to school at North Texas State, wrote “Pretty Woman”…Roy Orbison. Anyway, there are two or three voices that have several octave ranges, and that’s so unusual. And Freddie had that. He probably could sing bass if he wanted to, but then, he could go into the stratosphere. Some of these guys can soar into the stratosphere with falsettos and other sounds, but Mercury, his was an amazing vocal talent. And he knew it. Now, the guy who took his place, Adam Lambert, also has a remarkable voice. I would say at least as remarkable as Freddie Mercury. So, he was a great choice to take Mercury’s place. He can do everything that Freddie Mercury did, and very few singers could ever say that.

DOUG PINNICK [King’s X singer/bassist]: Freddie Mercury to me is like Celine Dion – he could do anything. And when he wanted to, he did it. When he sang “Somebody to Love,” and at the end, where he did that whole soul thing, where it sounded like he was in some black gospel church, I went, “Whoa. This guy can do anything.” But I love how good he was at projecting his voice. And he never fixed his teeth – just like Barbra Streisand, she won’t get a nose job, because she feels it would change her voice. I champion people that were more concerned about their passion than cosmetic. I think that said a lot about him.

QUOTE SOURCES (CLICK LINK FOR ORDER INFO):
All quotes are from Long Live Queen: Rock Royalty Discuss Freddie, Brian, John & Roger