Credit: Raph Pour-Hashemi
Sun 27 September 2026 17:00, UK
Brian May was always willing to put in the work on any Queen project.
Anything that they made had to be to the best of their abilities, and when you listen to the multiple layers of harmonies on any number of their songs, they were willing to go the extra mile for their fans whenever they made their records. Nothing was phoned in by any stretch, but May did remember having some higher power on his side every now and again when they worked on a particular song.
‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ wasn’t something that fell out of the sky, but the fact that everyone was able to capture that feeling in the room when they recorded it was what really mattered. They were sonic architects in a way whenever they got behind the recording console, and no matter who was writing the tunes, each of them had the potential to turn one of them into something iconic if they worked at it hard enough.
And while the band had one distinctive sound, May was the one with the most powerful riffs at his disposal. He was always relying on those old Beatles records for inspiration, but it’s not like he could ignore a band like Led Zeppelin if he tried. They were everything that he saw himself becoming, and you can hear that sense of grandeur on a lot of their early albums, like Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack.
Freddie Mercury relished the opportunity to make songs that sounded larger than life like that, but it’s not like there was one way to be over-the-top. He was relying on every kind of genre of music to express himself, and it wasn’t unusual for him to go into full camp territory when making some of his tunes. Showtunes might not have been one of the most popular genres for a rock band to swim around in, but the frontman could have done anything as long as his voice suited whatever he was working on.
There was no real limit on creativity, and Mercury was willing to put himself through the paces to make sure that his voice sounded fantastic. Not all of the songs he sang were the most challenging things in the world, but May knew better than anyone that no one was going to be able to sing them quite the same way that Mercury did whenever he delivered them to the audience during every performance.
He was an absolute natural whenever he sang, and May felt that the heavens smiled on him whenever he opened his mouth, saying, “Nothing would ever get in his way of achieving what he wanted to achieve. He said, ‘I want to do this, I’m going to do this. If you don’t want me to do it, get out of my way’. And some people might have found him rude, but generally, Freddie achieved what he did because he was so focused and had so much belief. Pretty fantastic voice as well. A gift from God.”
Further reading: From The Vault
Some people may have been taken aback by the brazen attitude that he had, but it’s not like Mercury ever needed to apologise. He knew that there was so much for him to offer once he opened up his mind, and no one could have managed to make songs like ‘Somebody to Love’ or ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ or ‘Killer Queen’ sound as great as they did without him putting some swagger into it.
He was willing to do anything in his power to give the audience the performance that they deserved, but it was about more than just being a good musician. Throughout every show, Mercury never lost the importance of being an entertainer above everything else, and no one seemed to have the kind of masterful vocal techniques that he did before or since.
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