Entertainment
Queen’s Freddie Mercury Admitted He Wished He Could Sing Like This Legendary Soul Singer
It is quite difficult to imagine a singer as talented as Freddie Mercury having a specific performer he wished he could sing like. The man could belt out notes like no other — a true performer whose ability to draw in crowds has remained a benchmark for every artist who dares to follow in his footsteps. Years after the world grieved his demise in 1991, several artists continue to draw inspiration not only from his band, Queen, but also from his extraordinary vocal prowess. Yet, like those artists, he too had his own influences. And that influence, whom he described as someone who “sings like a dream,” was none other than the “Queen of Soul,” Aretha Franklin.
In a conversation about the greatest singers of all time, it would be criminal not to mention both Mercury and Franklin in the list. Although their voices are distinctly different, there’s one thing they share in common, vocally: sheer power. Both have impressive vocal ranges, and both owe their entire careers largely to their vocal prowess. Mercury embodied what a rock frontman should be like. His charisma and stage presence surely propelled him to the top, but it was always his powerful voice and musical genius that cemented his legendary status — alongside, of course, a string of hits such as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Killer Queen,” “Love of my Life,” “We Are the Champions,” “Radio Ga Ga,” and more. But Franklin, the soul singer behind beloved tracks like “Respect” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” was in a different league of her own.
Aretha Franklin Is an “Effortless” Performer, According to Freddie Mercury
By all means, Mercury was a massive force himself, with their Live Aid performance back in 1985 still considered one of the greatest sets ever. His strength has always been in his incredible showmanship, theatricality, and his ability to make audiences chant in unison. Arguably, no one can sing like him, and no one can sing like Franklin, either. Franklin, the first woman ever inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, is a cultural icon whose mastery of delivery has been lauded for decades — something the Queen frontman could easily vouch for. He said:
“Aretha Franklin’s phrasing is just wonderful. I wish I could sing like her. Her phrasing is just so beautiful and so effortless. She just sings like a dream — she doesn’t have to think about it. When I have to sing, I think about it. I think, ‘Okay, I shall practice a few phrases and then do it.’ I can tell by just listening to Aretha Franklin’s records that she goes in there, and it’s just effortless… It just sounds so effortless, and it’s all sort of spontaneous phrasing and things, which is what I love. I sometimes try to do that.”
Freddie Mercury Drew Inspiration From Aretha Franklin for “Somebody To Love”
While the world was admiring Mercury for all of his greatness, the late singer was never hesitant to express his admiration for Franklin. In fact, “Somebody to Love” — a single Mercury wrote for Queen’s fifth studio album A Day at the Races — was inspired by the “Queen of Soul” herself. Queen and Franklin inhabited different musical realms: Queen leaned toward rock, while Franklin gravitated toward soul and gospel. But thanks largely to Franklin, Queen released one of the most beloved songs in their extensive discography — a song in which her influence is clearly heard. The very track where Queen went full-on gospel.
“‘Somebody To Love’ is Aretha Franklin-influenced,” Roger Taylor said in a 1977 interview with Circus Magazine. “Freddie’s very much into that. We tried to keep the track in a loose, gospel-type feel. I think it’s the loosest track we’ve ever done.”
It’s not as if Mercury needed inspiration from a fellow legend to release an iconic track. He and his band had already delivered some of the world’s most beloved songs, but there’s no denying that his admiration for Franklin was also a gift to longtime fans, ultimately resulting in the creation of “Somebody to Love” — a song forever regarded as one of Queen’s greatest. And if there’s one thing we could have wished for, it would have been a duet between these two legends. A collaboration we’ll sadly never hear.
