Queen is undoubtfully one of the most loved bands in the history of rock and roll, and their projects following Freddie Mercury’s passing have attracted a lot of attention. Their 2018 biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ quickly became an iconic representation of the band’s career and Mercury’s life. In the role of Freddie Mercury, Rami Malek won an Oscar for his impeccable performance and imitation of the musician.
After watching the film, the audience wondered the same thing at once; who was singing the iconic songs in the voice of Freddie Mercury? This question was answered by the film’s sound and music editor, John Warhurst, in 2018. The vocals of Mercury were a mixture of his voice with snippets they could obtain, Rami Malek’s voice to make it sound more natural, and the voice of Marc Martel, whose voice remarkably resembles Mercury’s.
Who is Marc Martel?
Martel is a Canadian musician who is the vocalist of a band called Downhere. His band was fairly known in Canada as they released six studio albums and toured around the US between 1999 and 2011. Unexpectedly, Martel’s inspiration for music was not Queen, and he was not into their music until later.
Once Marc Martel discovered Queen’s music, he stated that he developed what was naturally in him. His favorite song became ‘Somebody to Love,’ which became his audition music for Roger Taylor’s tribute project, The Queen Extravaganza.
The singer’s voice was discovered by Taylor when his friends forced him to upload a video to audition for The Queen Extravaganza. Taylor was shocked at how much he sounded like his late friend Mercury. He stated that when he closed his eyes, it was as if Mercury was there. Martel revealed Taylor’s thoughts in an interview with i-Heart Radio in 2018.
Here is what he stated:
“When Roger Taylor told me, ‘When I listen to you sing, it’s like Freddie walked into the room,‘ I thought, ‘Oh wow, this is something different that I happen to be able to do.’ I guess that was the moment that I started to embrace it a little more.”
The singer embraced Queen and Mercury more and more as the days passed and continued his career by covering Queen songs, attracting attention as the guy who resembles Freddie Mercury. Hence, after the Queen Extravaganza tour, it was no surprise that he was asked to help with the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ biopic.
The Relationship Between Queen And Marc Martel
As mentioned before, Marc Martel was involved with several Queen projects. The singer had the chance to perform ‘Somebody to Love’ with Queen in 2012 on American Idol. The show began with Queen Extravaganza members starting the song with Martel and then revealing Brian May and Roger Taylor with their iconic surprise entrance. Steven Tyler was one of the people sitting on the judges’ seat that night, and it was apparent how excited he was to watch them.
Queen is currently actively performing with Adam Lambert under the name Queen + Adam Lambert. However, according to some fans, Martel would be a better ‘replacement’ for Mercury. This doesn’t seem to bother Lambert or the band because they weren’t looking to replace Mercury in the first place.
You can watch Marc Martel perform with Queen below.
