Queen frontman Freddie Mercury left a mark on the rock scene with his four-octave vocal range and capability to improve his skills. Though many people praise the musician for his recognizable stage shows, flamboyant attitude, and highly theatrical style, his vocal performances have always been described as astonishing.
With that being said, Mercury once revealed a particular thing that his voice possibly couldn’t handle. Although shocking to hear, the Queen singer didn’t feel confident enough to participate in a musical, for which he recorded two songs. Let’s break down the story of Mercury’s only concern regarding his vocal strength.
Freddie Mercury Recorded Songs For A Musical
Freddie Mercury recorded two songs entitled ‘In My Defence’ and ‘Time‘ for Dave Clark’s musical named as the latter. Both of the songs appeared on the cast album, and ‘Time’ was released as a separate single. The single version, which included an instrumental version, reached no. 32 on the UK Singles Chart.
The song was successful enough to be included in the 2000 box set ‘The Solo Collection’ and the 2006 compilation album ‘Lover of Life, Singer of Songs: The Very Best of Freddie Mercury Solo.’ Though music video was shot at the Dominion Theatre, London, where the play had been staged since the world premiere, Mercury decided not to appear in the musical itself.
Freddie Mercury Said His Vocals Couldn’t Survive The Theatre
In a 1986 interview that later surfaced on the ‘Never Boring’ box set release, Freddie Mercury and Dave Clark reflected on making the songs for the musical. During the conversation, the Queen frontman opened up about his reason for not appearing on the musical despite releasing music for it.
The singer surprised his fans by admitting that his vocals wouldn’t hold if he were to join the musical. If you ask Mercury, theatre required a different kind of singing, whereas he described himself as a rock and roll vocalist. Moreover, he stated that if he were to scream beautifully for three days straight, he would die, which is why a theatre environment wasn’t suitable for him.
Mercury’s statement about theatre follows:
“I think my voice wouldn’t hold. It’s a different kind of singing. I’m doing what I consider rock and roll type of singing, which is what’s basically my voice. I’m not going to scream beautifully for three days and then drop dead. So I think a theatre environment would just not work.”
You can watch the interview and listen to ‘Time’ below.
