If you’re a fan of Queen, I probably don’t have to tell you just how amazing Freddie Mercury truly is. You might be a fan of Queen and not even know it, thanks to their almost globally renowned song, “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
That’s Freddie Mercury belting out the lyrics to the universally favorite song.
What you might not have known about Freddie is that his voice is literally one of the greatest singing voices in history. The often-quoted claim that his range spanned four octaves, however, could not be substantiated by a 2016 scientific study of his voice, which found his range normal for a healthy adult (see also Wikipedia: Freddie Mercury). And, he was able to hold notes with near perfection as he jumped around on stage.
Freddie’s voice is something we can all appreciate, and one YouTube user has made it even easier. After taking out the background music of “We Are The Champions,” all we’re left with is Freddie’s voice, haunting and beautiful.
Give it a listen!
Bonus Track:
And be sure to share with friends and loved ones who would love to hear Freddie Mercury’s stunning vocals performed solo!
What a 2016 study found about his voice
In April 2016 a team of Austrian, Czech and Swedish researchers led by Christian Herbst, a voice expert at the University of Vienna, published an acoustic analysis of Mercury’s voice in the journal Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, based on archive recordings and interviews. They could not substantiate the four-octave claim and concluded that Mercury was probably a baritone who sang as a tenor with exceptional control. His vibrato was fast and irregular, and is clearly audible in sustained notes of “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Are the Champions”. The researchers also found that Mercury used subharmonics, produced by vibrating the ventricular folds, a technique also used by Tuvan throat singers; to study this growl, they filmed a rock singer imitating it with a high-speed camera running at more than 4,000 frames per second.
Sources: The Irish News, 18 April 2016: Freddie Mercury did not have four-octave singing range, research finds CNN, 20 April 2016: Freddie Mercury voice study
Listen to what the arrangement usually surrounds
An isolated vocal presentation draws attention to phrasing, pauses and changes in delivery that may be less obvious within the full recording. It offers a different listening perspective, rather than a replacement for the finished song. The provenance and editing of a particular upload matter when describing it as an original studio vocal.
Phrasing is more informative than an unsupported range ranking
Listen for where Mercury begins a phrase, changes intensity and releases a note. Those choices reveal musical expression without needing a claim that this upload establishes his entire vocal range. The quoted octave span requires a reliable source and a defined method; an isolated track is a listening perspective, not a comprehensive measurement of a singer’s abilities.
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