{"id":322360,"date":"2026-08-16T01:48:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T01:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/322360\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T01:48:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T01:48:59","slug":"video-george-michael-makes-queens-somebody-to-love-entirely-his-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/322360\/","title":{"rendered":"Video: George Michael Makes Queen\u2019s \u201cSomebody To Love\u201d Entirely His Own"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

George Michael had one of the most intimidating jobs in rock history: stand in front of Queen at Wembley Stadium and sing a Freddie Mercury song.<\/p>\n

Then he chose \u201cSomebody To Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

The performance from the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert remains a striking example of how to honour an unmistakable singer without trying to imitate him. Michael attacks the song with enormous range and control, but his phrasing remains recognizably his own.<\/p>\n

Queen gives him everything the song requires.<\/p>\n

Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon provide the familiar architecture while the London Gospel Choir turns the vocal arrangement into something appropriately massive.<\/p>\n

Michael rises right through the middle of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody To Love\u201d demands power, agility and an understanding of gospel phrasing, three things Michael had in abundance. He moves from controlled verses into huge sustained notes without making the performance feel like a vocal exercise.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what makes the clip so good.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of technical brilliance on display, yet the performance never loses the emotion underneath it. Michael sings the song like someone who understands why Freddie Mercury\u2019s original mattered, rather than someone trying to prove he can hit the same notes.<\/p>\n

The setting adds another layer.<\/p>\n

The surviving members of Queen organized the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium following Mercury\u2019s death, bringing together an extraordinary lineup of performers to celebrate his life while raising awareness and money in the fight against AIDS.<\/p>\n

David Bowie, Elton John, Annie Lennox, Robert Plant, Axl Rose, Slash, Roger Daltrey, Metallica and many others appeared during the event.<\/p>\n

Still, Michael\u2019s \u201cSomebody To Love\u201d has endured as one of its defining moments.<\/p>\n

Part of that comes down to the song itself. Queen built \u201cSomebody To Love\u201d around gospel harmonies, dramatic dynamics and one of Mercury\u2019s most demanding lead vocals.<\/p>\n

George Michael steps into all of that without disappearing inside Freddie\u2019s shadow.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tribute performance that succeeds because the singer standing at the microphone sounds completely like George Michael.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Michael had one of the most intimidating jobs in rock history: stand in front of Queen at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[121432,57016,664,13139,19961,671,121433,24884,672,121434,9,24,63,666,122,124,123,15849,673,614,121435],"class_list":["post-322360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-annie-lennox","tag-axl-rose","tag-brian-may","tag-david-bowie","tag-elton-john","tag-freddie-mercury","tag-freddie-mercury-tribute-concert","tag-george-michael","tag-john-deacon","tag-london-gospel-choir","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queen","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-robert-plant","tag-roger-taylor","tag-slash","tag-somebody-to-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}