« I will not be a rock star. I will be a legend».
Freddie Mercury
The pseudonym of Freddie Mercury (mercury in translation from English - mercury) is in perfect harmony with his voice.
The vocalist of the Queen group, who became one of the most charismatic rock stars of all time and peoples, was born on September 5, 1946 on the island of Zanzibar under the name Farukh Bulsara. The singer's parents were from Parsis (an ethnic group associated with the ancient Persians), but were born in India.
In the television film Freddie Mercury, The Untold Story, he appears as an artist whose musical prowess has reached perfection in the West, but whose talent has appeared in the East. Film director Rudi Dolezal points to the Mustapha song from Queen's 1978 album Jazz.
« After listening to this song, you will definitely find it very strange. What cultures have influenced her, where did she come from?”Says the director. " Freddie was born in Zanzibar, then moved to India, then to London - all these trips could well cause a culture shock, right? An insane mixture of completely different cultures flowed in his veins. He skillfully used this feature of his when writing music.».
« He had a super sexy voice”Says singer Adam Lambert. The American Idol winner listened to Queen for hours trying to figure out how Mercury could sing so great. At the casting for the show that brought him fame, the singer sang one of the most famous songs of the English rock band Bohemian Rhapsody.
« There is so much character and charisma in Freddie's voice!”Says Lambert. " He seems to take a little bit from each culture, from each style of performance, and turns it all into a divine sounding mixture.».
Many are amazed how Freddie Mercury managed to establish contact both with a small audience and with crowded stadiums in just a few seconds.
Jackie Smith, manager of the Queen fan club, first met the singer in 1982, following a job posting. She had constant access to the backstages of the band's stadium shows, but claims she has always preferred to see the band from the audience.
« There was always an incredible atmosphere in front of the stage"Smith recalls. " At the last show in Knebworth there were about 120 thousand people, but everyone felt as if they were in a small club, because Freddie in some incomprehensible way achieved contact with everyone, even with those sitting in the farthest stands».
One of Freddie Mercury's signature tricks was the following: he called out to the audience, and they answered him. A singer could make the audience sing a ballad, playing along with them on the piano, or he could arrange his signature dances on stage, waving a microphone.
« He was taller than everyone, the most talented”Says Adam Lambert. " In most cases, music is directly related to sexuality, whether you are straight, gay or bisexual. Rock and roll - about love and sex».
Openly gay Lambert claims that Freddie Mercury's lifestyle and image influenced him in many ways.
« There is clearly something missing on the stage now.”, Says the singer. " Now there is a lack of truly bright male artists who turn their performances into something like a theater. There are many such singers, but where are the men? Where are the classic pop-rock showmen?».
Director Rudy Dolezal claims that in life Freddie Mercury was very modest and always put his talent, his music and his voice before the image. As proof, he cites the following story:
« Everyone knows that Freddie had very strange teeth. Surely every person who has seen a star with similar teeth wondered: "Lord, this guy has a lot of money, why doesn't he finally go to the dentist?" Freddie was very afraid that such a visit to the dentist could irreversibly and forever change the sound of his voice. As you can see, he cared much more about his voice than how he looked. I think this story says a lot.».
In 1991, the humble god of rock and roll with an unpredictable, like mercury voice, died of complications caused by AIDS.
« The spirit of Freddie Mercury is still alive”Says Adam Lambert. " He shook everyone».
Quotes about Freddie Mercury from his colleagues:
David Bowie(David Bowie): " Of all theatrical rock performers, Freddie Mercury went further ... he was beyond all boundaries and beyond all boundaries. And of course, I have always admired men who are not ashamed to wear tights. I saw Freddie only once at a concert: he was the man who conquered the audience as if by magic.».
Axl Rose(Axl Rose) from Guns N'Roses: " If I hadn’t heard Freddie’s music as a child, I don’t know where I would be now. I have never had such a wonderful teacher in my life.».
Elton John(Elton John): " Freddie Mercury was an innovator in both singing and demeanor - as the frontman of the group. We were good friends, and I was incredibly lucky that I managed to know this person for some time in his life. He had an amazing sense of humor, at times even outrageous he was a very kind person and a great musician, one of the most amazing frontmen of a rock band. All in all, in the last 20 years he has become one of the greatest figures in the history of rock and roll. " I miss him, we all miss him, his music, his kindness ... We will always remember that Freddie Mercury was special».
Dave Mustaine(Dave Mustaine) of Megadeth and Metallica: “ I knew him and I saw him die. It was incredibly painful because I adored Freddie Mercury. This was a man who never betrayed himself and his voice.».
Trent Reznor(Trent Reznor) of Nine Inch Nails: “ The death of Freddie Mercury touched and influenced me much more than the death of John Lennon».
The legend that Mercury could beat dishes with his voice on high notes was launched by Queen bassist John Deacon.
In the spring of this year, two seemingly unrelated events took place: according to the results of a survey of listeners of Radio Luxemburg (it is believed that this music radio station most accurately reflects the tastes of the "average European"), he was recognized as the best singer of the 20th century Freddie Mercury, more than 30 percent of the respondents voted for him. Elvis Presley, ranked second in the ranking, received just under 15 percent of the vote. And on the Internet auction eBay was sold a very strange tape recording. That is, at first glance, there was nothing special about it: slightly creaking, an instrumental piece of some jazz orchestra sounds on the tape. And somewhere in the second minute of the recording, a man's voice is clearly audible: “Damn it, how long can I call you! It's time to get to work! "
As it turned out, it was a recording made in 1972 by the owner of the Trident recording studio, Norman Sheffield. He was re-recording the Count Basie Orchestra's vinyl record when he was called to work in the studio. And the man who barked so that the sound vibrations of his voice were transmitted to the arm of the turntable and recorded on a magnetic tape - Freddie.
Then in 1972, Queen recorded their first disc in London's Trident, and the owner of the studio decided to take a break from work for that re-recording. But just imagine (or even better, try it yourself) how strong the voice must be in order to mechanically influence the work of the "turntable"!
The legend that Mercury could beat dishes with his voice with his voice was launched by Queen bassist John Deacon. loudness that crystal glasses burst on the table. "
And although, except for him, no one confirms these facts, Queen and Freddie fans do not doubt them. The range of Freddie Mercury's voice was four octaves, which is twice as wide as the voice of an average person, and with three octaves one can already think of a singer's career. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the American singer Tim Storms holds the palm for men - six octaves, the Brazilian Georgia Brown holds a female record of eight octaves. But as the famous vocal teacher Janet Edwards (her clients include Leona Lewis, Mariah Carey and Mel C) says, “With training, the range is brought to three octaves, with four you can only be born. Relatively speaking, from two octaves to three one step, from three to four - the distance as from the Earth to the Moon. "
In the case of Freddie Mercury, the main thing, according to Edwarts, is not the range of voice and not even his strength, but the production, or rather, its complete absence!
“Unlike most rock singers, Mr. Mercury sang in what is called a long belly breath,” explains Edwards. “This is the school of opera singing.
But Freddie learned this technique on his own, and since he never had his own teacher, his manner is far from ideal, but it is precisely in this, so to speak, defectiveness that lies his charm and uniqueness.
In rock music, singers sing with their chest and sing in short phrases, and Mercury demonstrated the so-called continuous exhalation, we hear this in Barcelona and Bohemian Rhapsody. How does it differ from, say, Mr. Ian Gillan? In his youth, the Deep Purple singer also knew how to strike high notes, but those were just notes in the upper register, and Freddie Mercury sang the lyrics at these extreme heights, articulated phrases. " The only rock singer, according to Edwards, who tried to work in the manner of Freddie, is Rob Halford of Judas Priest, "but his small voice, compared to Freddie, lets him down."
It is interesting that Freddie Mercury himself did not consider his voice unique and certainly did not boast about it. As Brian May recalls, “in 1986 we were rehearsing A Kind Of Magic for a concert at Wembley, and Freddie suddenly resisted:“ You play too high, I can't take it! ” We say that we play in the usual key, that he sang like that a hundred times, and he: "Well, to hell with you, sing it yourself!" Roger and I sang, and then he mocked our bleating for a whole year. "
How unique Freddie was, it became clear when Queen was invited to sing Paul Rogers: a three and a half octave voice, it seems, is a worthy receiver, but ... Breathing, and breathing again! Rogers sings Queen's songs the way any professional rocker would sing them - with feeling, with excellent afterburner and even uses the so-called non-closure of the ligaments (a difficult technique of throat singing), but the effect “There is no continuous exhalation! 
As Robbie Williams, who at one time also auditioned for Freddt's place, said, “all of us, in comparison with him, are ordinary mourners of rock, we can do a lot of things, we even feel his presence behind our backs. But to sing like him is not given to anyone, it is better not to try. "
The great Luciano Pavarotti once said: “I was tempted to sing“ Another One Bites The Dustu ”, and I even began to rehearse this piece, and suddenly discovered that in the second verse I was constantly drawn to falsetto! I listened to the original and made sure that Freddie Mercury sang this piece not in falsetto - high, but not in falsetto. It is very difficult, almost impossible, I know only two or three tenors who could repeat it. "
This is also a rather strange conclusion - if only because Freddie is considered not a tenor, but a baritone, but who in his right mind would argue with Pavarotti!
But the most surprising thing is, probably, in whom Mercury was guided at the beginning of his singing career - this is John Lennon!
According to Freddie, Lennon's vocal part in "Twist And Shout" is "the ultimate dream of a rock singer, a standard of expressiveness and expression, or to sing or not sing at all!"
INTERESTING FACTS
★ It is believed that the person with the widest range of voices was the American vaudeville performer Charles Kellogg (1868-1949): judging by the records left after him, the range of voice was 12.5 octaves, he could imitate birdsong and went to ultrasound (14 thousand Hertz ).
★ According to some experts, Freddie's voice had the qualities "inherent in the voices of the great Italian castrated singers of the 17th-18th centuries: a wide range, equal strength in the upper and lower registers, the ability to change timbre coloration."
★ According to Brian May, Freddie easily sang the part from Sergei Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil, which uses the lowest note of all the world's choral singing.
★ Freddie Mercury was one of the few major league rock singers who never used a vocal coach / coach.
Ksenia POLINA
I have often met expressions like “I have a 4 octave range”, or “a singer of this group has an 8 octave range !! 11”. To understand if this is delirium, it is enough to know what it is octave.
From a physical point of view octave is an increase in the frequency of sound vibrations by half. For example, 440 Hz is for the first octave (standard tuning fork), 880 Hz is for the second octave. The interval between them is an octave. (Such a musical system has been the main one for Europeans for 2 centuries).
The entire band of voice frequencies in people of both sexes lies between about 80 Hz and 1100 Hz. Large octave D (73 Hz) to # third octave (1108 Hz).
Calculated in octaves, we get:
80 * 2 ^ x = 1100;
2 ^ x = 1100/80;
x = ln (110/8) / ln (2) = 3.78 octaves;
Let's round up to 4 octaves. This is the entire (FULL) range of normal human voices from bass to soprano. A person (no matter what gender) who can sing in the 4 octave range, has outstanding vocal abilities (and most likely years of training). There are few such people. These four octaves can be shifted above or below the main band, but now I'm talking in general terms about the range. In the Guinness Book of Records, the record for men is 6 octaves, for women - 8 octaves. There are only a few such mutants in all of humanity.
The vocal ranges (bass-tenor-alto-soprano) are usually divided into 2 octaves. Let's say we take into account not only the normal register of the voice, but also the falsetto - this is still about 1 octave up for men. For female voices, falsetto gives a slight gain in range. There are 3 octaves in total: this well trained singing voice with falsetto. A confident voice without falsetto from 2 to 3 octaves is already good data + very good training.
For example, Freddie Mercury could sing from large octave F to second octave F (and up to E third in falsetto). These are three octaves of pure voice and almost an octave of falsetto. Eric Adams sings in 4 octaves on the recordings.
It should also be borne in mind that the actual range and musical range are different things. Vocal range is usually understood as a set musically useful sounds that are available to the singer. Useful sounds are those sounds that the singer can give the necessary duration, strength and color. For example, I can squeak in falsetto in the third octave and gurgle in bass in a big one - but musically these sounds are useless, because I can neither control their duration, nor make them loud, nor influence the expressiveness. And the very reproduction of them causes such tension that about no execution no question.
The standard piano keyboard is 88 keys. It is 7 octaves with a tail. Twice as much as is available to a very well-developed voice.
- Born on the island of Zanzibar to a Parsi family (an ethno-confessional group of followers of Zoroastrianism in South Asia), Farrukh ("happy") Bulsara attended St. Peter's School in Panchgani (500 km from Bombay). The name "Farrukh" was uncomfortable for his mostly English-speaking classmates, and they began to call him "Freddie".
- In 1947, a photograph of one-year-old Freddie won the title of Photo of the Year at a competition in his hometown.
- Freddie's father worked as a cashier at the Supreme Court of England and Wales.
- Of all the sports available at school, Freddie preferred hockey, boxing and sprinting. In addition, he won the school table tennis title at the age of 10.
- The director of the school drew attention to the interest in the music of the future singer, he organized piano courses for the boy, as a result of which Freddie received the fourth degree in theory and practice (Piano Grade IV).
- Mercury created his first rock band (together with four school friends) in 1958. She was called The Hectics and performed at school events and anniversaries.
- In May 1966, Freddie entered the department of graphic illustration at the Ealing College of Art in London, where he began to study in the fall. It was there that he met bassist and vocalist Tim Staffel, who invites Freddie to rehearsals for his band Smile. There, Mercury meets with Brian May and Roger Taylor.
- In the year Queen was founded (1970), the singer officially changed his first and last name. He was now Frederick Mercury on his passport.
- Despite the piano lessons he received in childhood, Mercury never considered himself a good pianist. For this reason, he always felt insecure when playing keyboards on stage (in particular, from the first part of Bohemian Rhapsody). In the future, Freddie began to use less piano in the studio, and at concerts most of the keyboard parts went to invited musicians, which allowed the frontman to concentrate on the show.
- Freddie was fond of philately.
- The musician's vocal range was 4 octaves.
- Although Mercury had a microwave in his house, he did not use it, because he did not know how.
- Contrary to rumors and some Queen songs, Freddie spoke only two languages - English and his native Gujarati.
- A passionate cat lover, Mercury dedicated his solo album Mr. Bad Guy, and also loved talking to his favorites on the phone during tours, with the help of his longtime girlfriend Mary Austin.
- One of the main characters in the Guilty Gear fighting game series, Sol, is influenced by the image of Freddie.
- Mercury was afraid to correct his famous malocclusion and remove polyps on the vocal cords, as he thought that this could damage the vocal data. Nevertheless, Freddie gave up smoking only in the last years of his life.
- On the singer's last birthday (September 5, 1991) the premiere of the film “Freddie is Dead. The Last Nightmare "from the series" A Nightmare on Elm Street ".
- Energetic and open on stage, in life Freddie was a rather reserved person and rarely gave interviews.
- The song Crazy Little Thing Called Love (the only one during which Fredia played the guitar at concerts) was written by Mercury in the bathroom.
- A song from the album A Kind of Magic called Princess of the Universe became the theme song for the film and television series Highlander.
- Freddie's last performance in front of the public took place on October 8, 1988, when he, in a duet with Montserrat Caballe, performed Golden Boy, How Can I Go On and Barcelona at the La Nit festival in Barcelona.
- The last song written by Freddie is A Winter's Tale. The last lifetime recordings of the singer's vocals can be heard in the song Mother Love.
- On November 25, 1996, a monument to Freddie Mercury was unveiled in Montreux, Switzerland. The opening of another one took place on June 18, 2003 in London near the Dominion Theater, where the musical We Will Rock You is regularly staged.
Why are so many people excited when listening to Freddie Mercury singing? What is so tempting in his voice to the human ear? The research team decided to approach this issue from a scientific point of view. Here's what they found out.
Scientific analysis
Analysis of the vocal range of the great singer showed that he was able to quickly modulate his voice. This means that it was in his ability to make himself sound both soft and rough at the same time. This, by the way, applies not only to singing, but also to ordinary conversation - for example, interviews. The results of the study were published in the journal Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology. 
Amazing ability
The effect was most likely achieved by rapidly changing the pitch. This skill is beyond their capabilities for most classically trained vocalists. In addition, perhaps Freddie was able to control the so-called ventricular folds of his larynx (the little "wings" within the vocal cords). 
All this led to the fact that Mercury was able to produce "subharmony" - a combination of sounds that the overwhelming majority of people are unable to reproduce. They can only enjoy this sound from the mouth of a genius. The research team likens this to a sound system running at its limits, calling the singer "following the path to chaos." The researchers concluded that these traits, combined with the fast and irregular vibrato, may have helped create the eccentric and flamboyant stage image of Freddie Mercury. 
It was rumored that the vocal range of the Queen soloist spanned four octaves, but an international team of researchers did not find any confirmation of this. But it is absolutely certain that the amazingly talented Freddie Merecury had an incredible voice, and science only once again confirmed how truly original he was.
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