It is an impossible task stepping into Freddie’s shoes as an entertainer, let alone a singer. At the Oscars on Sunday night, Adam Lambert will once again perform alongside Brian May and Roger Taylor, as he has done for some years now. However, his distinctive vocals are not used in the movie. A little known singer was used to fill in the gaps between archive Freddie recordings and Malek’s own voice in the live scenes, and he sounds remarkably like the late, great Queen star.
The incredible bonus features on the BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY home entertainment packages give the first proper look (and listen) to Malek in action, performing many of the musical numbers from the show.
Malek, himself, has protested that “nobody wants to listen to that.” At one point, the behind-the-scenes footage shows him singing Fat Bottomed Girls and the simple fact is he sounds good. Not only can he carry a tune, he has the rock strength and sound of Freddie.
However, another performer, picked by Brian May and Roger Taylor as the winner of Queen Extravaganza competition back in 2011, was also used for the film.
Marc Martel, 42, still performs at Queen tribute concerts and spoke of the incredible experience being part of Bohemian Rhapsody. Watch him sing the title song below.
LOcal Canadian star Martel told Noise11: “They hired me to do some of the singing in the movie and give the audience an immersive experience and not be able to tell where the singing is coming from. It is to make the audience believe they are really watching Freddie Mercury sing.”
The Christian rock singer spent weeks at Abbey Road Studios laying down vocal tracks but says he still does not know where his voice mixes with Malek and Mercury in the final film.
Martel told iHeartradio.ca: “Even I didn’t know beforehand where they were choosing to use me. I tried to see as little as possible while work was being done on the movie so that it could be mostly a surprise for me.”