Freddie Mercury - voice splitting in singers. Scientists have discovered why Freddie Mercury's voice was so amazing
A long time ago, on this day, September 5, 1946, 69 years ago, on the distant island of Zanzibar, a boy was born with a strange name for us, Farrukh (which means “happy”, “handsome”)...
This could well have been the beginning of some kind of fairy tale in the spirit of Kipling or an adventure novel, but, in fact, it turned out to be the prologue to one of the greatest musical legends of our time. Because perhaps not everyone in the world knows who Farrukh Bulsara is - but it is difficult to find a person who has not heard of Freddie Mercury.
You can talk for hours about the professionalism of Queen musicians - but without Mercury's charisma, the group would not have achieved cult status. One can admire how similar Freddie’s vocals are to the voice of Paul Rodgers, with whom they are trying to replace him, but “Queen + Paul Rodgers” is simply a surrogate for the nostalgic. After all, it’s not about the voice... So, what is the essence of the legend? Among the idols modern world Freddie holds a special place. First of all, because there is a lot of it, it is redundant. He has one of the best votes rock" (in fact - one of the best voices of the twentieth century, Freddie can compete with the best operatic voices), a voice of amazing range (from baritone to counter-tenor), amazing strength, beauty, charm - this would be enough to be remembered to the world. Freddie Mercury is not only his instantly recognizable voice, but his instantly recognizable personality. And this is what makes his art irresistible, and this is what makes it impossible for Queen to work with any other vocalists. Freddie Mercury is one of the greatest singers in the world, his name is one of the legends, or rather, he himself has already become a legend. Even people who have absolutely nothing to do with music know him. Eccentric, energetic and artistic - this is how he remained forever, like an unfading star on the horizon of rock. His songs became symbols of 80s rock, classics, many of them are still popular today.
Some facts:
Farok (or, in other words, Farrukh) was born on September 5, 1946 in Zanzibar into a family of wealthy parents. His childhood was spent on two distant idyllic islands - Zanzibar and Pemba, located in Indian Ocean off the East coast of Africa. Little is known about his childhood. He grew up and was brought up in a boarding house for rich kids. He had few friends and Farrukh was always “on his own”, listened to the Beatles and Elvis Presley under the covers and had his head in the clouds... He put together his first group at the age of 12, together with classmates from the Indian school of St. Petra. Even then, he replaced the exotic name “Farukh” with the universal “Freddie”. When the war began in India, Freddie's ancestors took their son in their arms and moved to England out of harm's way. The boy was already 14 years old at that time and he had absolutely no idea what he should do in cold and inhospitable England, especially since he studied poorly and the only subject in which he excelled was drawing. But, since the boy was gifted - he composed music and poetry, drew well and adored beautiful clothes, he decided to become an art critic. In September 1966 he entered Ealing Art College and graduated three years later with a degree in painting and design. He later explained: "In college we were taught to understand fashion better and to always be one step ahead." Soon he settled in Kensington - a place famous for the fact that bohemians lived here: musicians, artists, people creative professions. And here a fateful meeting for the young man took place with Tim Staffel, the leader of the Smile group.
One of the first photos of Farrukh-Freddie:
Later, his artistic potential was expressed in eccentric and vibrant stage images, full of unexpected and bold details. In 1983, in Queen's video for the song "I Want to Break Free," Freddie appeared as a faun from the ballet "Afternoon of a Faun," in which Nijinsky became famous. He performed some choreographic numbers with the London Royal Ballet. Especially for these scenes, Mercury put on a spotted tights, shaved off his famous mustache and gave himself pointed ears:
Freddie said: “Going on stage in ballet slippers and tights is cool. At that time I needed this effect. I tried to fit it into the stage action, complement the music we were playing, and if it didn’t work, I would I didn't do that. Besides, I really liked Nijinsky's costume" (from the book "Life in His Words" about the early work of Freddie Mercury):
In 1969, Freddie and his friend Roger Taylor opened a store that, among other things, sold the young graduate's paintings. In 1970, Staffel decided to leave the group and Freddie took his place. He suggested renaming the group Queen, and also created a team emblem, taking the coat of arms of Great Britain as a basis and decorating all members of the group with zodiac signs.
Fredii became a success for the whole group, bringing it first to the British charts and then to the world level. At the same time, Freddie took the pseudonym Mercury, under which he became known to the world.
Mercury was the author of many Queen songs, including the most successful - Bohemian Rhapsody. When it was released as a single, many people said that it would be an epic failure - it lasted too long, and mixing musical styles seemed risky. But Mercury’s “musical madness” more than justified itself. The video for the song has become one of the most significant in world music, many even call it “the first video in history.
Any composition performed by Freddie Mercury had the imprint of his personality. There was no glossy beauty about it Hollywood stars, magazine gloss, artificial - calculated and verified ideality, just as there was no emphasized ugliness or “shocking” anti-aestheticism of many rock groups. There was a wonderful warmth of naturalness, sweet imperfection, original beauty in him. His entire appearance was marked by a heart-touching openness; one of his characteristic stage gestures was his arms outstretched for a hug or for flight, or rather, for both an embrace and for flight.
Of course, Freddie was very theatrical. His crazy parties with dressing up, a cake that needs to be transported by helicopter, his crowded videos, fantastic costumes (for example, covered with many eyes) betray a riot of imagination - this is a “feast of the imagination.” Hence his attraction to changes in appearance (“the great pretender”) Freddie, judging by the recollections of people who knew him closely, took pleasure in being the source of the holiday. “He loved to have fun” - almost everyone who left memories of Freddie writes about this, but in fact, it seems that, rather, he liked to have fun and stage holiday performances. And the wider the circle of participants, the better - just remember the famous birthday in Ibiza, where in the end there was a place for almost all the residents - “just like that”... A holiday to which you can give a lot. He liked to give - mansions, expensive trinkets, he liked to give money - to friends, lovers, the needy, whom he accidentally heard about. Giving, giving, giving (“All I do - is giving”) - he had some kind of instinct of generosity - and, of course, it manifested itself not only in the fact that he spent money uncontrollably and gave away things. The same boundless generosity is in what and how he sang, in the way he treated the world.
In 1980, Mercury changed his image - he cut his hair and grew a mustache.
In 1982, the group went on vacation, and Mercury could realize himself in solo projects. Among other things, he recorded the album Mr. Bad Boy, which included the song I was born to love you:
Among the most famous Queen songs - We are the Champions, which is considered the anthem of football fans. It is traditionally played during the awards ceremony for the Champions League winners. Since 1977, the group has traditionally closed its concerts with two songs - We are the champions and We will rock you. The day of Queen's unconditional triumph was July 13, 1985, when the Live Aid charity concert took place at Wembley Stadium in London. The event attracted more than 80 thousand people. Despite the fact that Elton John, Paul McCartney, Sting, David Bowie and U2 also performed at the concert, it was Mercury's performance with his team that became the main event of the evening. In 1986, Queen returned to Wembley to promote their album A Kind of Magic.
In 1987, one of the most famous duets of Freddie Mercury took place - with the opera diva Montserat Caballe. It was a unique tandem in which mass and elite music harmoniously united, between which there seemed to be an abyss. By the way, before singing with Freddie, Monserat sang several of his songs during a concert in London's Covent Garden. Mercury, who had previously given the diva a cassette with his recordings, was extremely surprised by this step. According to the memoirs of composer Mike Moran, when they met, Freddie and Montserrat Caballe sang all night long: “they play not for money, but to spend eternity.”
A joint performance with Montserrat Caballe in 1988 was Mercury's last - by that time he had already been hit by AIDS... Already in 1986, they began to talk about Mercury's illness. Freddie made a statement that he had AIDS only on November 23, 1991, after several years of living as a recluse. The next day, November 24, he died.
Freddie Mercury was living proof that there are things in the world, feelings that can only be expressed through the means of art, perhaps they only live in art. Freddie's music is the music of “simple reactions”, simple feelings; it is extremely saturated with a sense of life, greedy love for an imperfect world, a thirst for freedom, and faith. And this is tragic music. His last albums were one better than the other. His voice became stronger and more perfect, and his compositions acquired greater depth. And the tragic nature of his work became more and more obvious: “This is what we have come to: people are divided ...”, “I am only a shadow of the person I should be ...”, “Look what people have done with their souls: they take away from themselves life...the main thing for them is pride...there is no tolerance in them, and the world could be a paradise for everyone,” “Too much love kills...”, etc.
And yet... and yet his gaze was always turned to life. There was something worthy of God, and forgiveness, and eternal life in Freddy’s farewell gesture of love, addressed to an invincibly beautiful life for him. In the song “Winter’s Tale,” life seems to be expiring before our eyes. “Everything is spinning, spinning... Everything is like in a dream...” - Freddie sings, and the “spinning” seems to be a fading consciousness, but at the same time - “Snowfall - red skies... silk moon in the sky... Everything is full of peace and quiet... It’s so beautiful! It's like it's painted in the sky! “The world is in your palms” - and all this crazy wealth ends with an exclamation and sigh - “Woohoo!” This is bliss! Delight in the beautiful world fades only with life.
We can talk for a long time about what ultimately led Mercury to his death. Go through all the details of his personal life and savor them, converging on the idea that everything happened for a reason. But what is all this for? He left, but the music remained - understandable to everyone, inspiring, strong. He died, but his songs inspire us to live.
In order to complete the story about Mercury, you don’t need to invent anything. He came up with everything himself, recording a farewell to everyone who knew him and those who had yet to know him - already like a deceased legend. “Show must go on” is a single that Queen recorded in 1991. Freddie was already so ill that he could not participate in the filming of the video. No one can sing Show must go on like Freddie. From an interview with Brian May on CNN, January 9, 2000. “This collection features The Show Must Go On, uh, which is a Queen song, because we once decided to give Queen credits to everything, but this song is kind of... I consider it my child, because I wrote most of it next to Freddie, who was sitting here (points to the next chair) and, um, it was a huge experience, because Freddie at that time really couldn’t (or didn’t want) to express himself in poetry, for except in some specific cases, and he knew... he knew that it had to do with how we felt about him... and I sang the lead vocal for Freddie, and had to sing mostly in falsetto, because I I just couldn’t sing that high, so I went up to Fred: “How’s it going?” - “Fine” - (Fred) puts down his glass of vodka, goes into the studio and just sings it straight away... and I think it's one of the best vocals Freddie has ever done - the original version of The Show Must Go On. .."
The tragedy of a grandiose life, all its violence, suffering and all-embracingness, the thirst for freedom, the unimaginable beauty of the world, which always beckons and is so rarely achievable - this is what sounds in this voice and awakens unquenchable love - because one cannot fully enjoy life. And in fact, this music is equal only to love, and in it there is a divine taste of freedom, and therefore the voice of victory sounds in it, and therefore, when I listen to Freddie, I feel as if his heart is beating inside me.
And in honor of the Birthday of this legendary man, the greatest singer of rock music, our community proposes to hold, as part of our main project, “Queen: We will ROCK YOU!” mini-project "Freddie Mercury - a Legend Man", which will last from September 5 to September 30, 2015. All communities participating in the main project can join our main project if they wish.
I have repeatedly come across expressions like “I have a range of 4 octaves”, or “the singer of this group has a range of 8 octaves!! 11”. To understand whether this is nonsense, it is enough to know what it is octave.
WITH physical point vision octave-- this is a doubling of the frequency of sound vibrations. For example, 440 Hz is A of the first octave (standard tuning fork), 880 Hz is A of the second octave. The interval between them is an octave. (This musical system has been the main one for Europeans for 2 centuries).
The entire range of vocal frequencies in people of both sexes lies approximately between 80 Hz and 1100 Hz. From D major octave (73 Hz) to C# third octave (1108 Hz).
If we convert to octaves, we get:
80 * 2^x = 1100;
2^x = 1100/80;
x = ln(110/8)/ln(2) = 3.78 octaves;
Round up to 4 octaves. This is the entire (ENTIRE) 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 for now I'm talking in general about the range of 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.
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 falsetto - this is about 1 octave up for men. For female voices, falsetto gives a slight increase in range. There are 3 octaves in total: this well trained singing voice including 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 F in the major octave to F in the second octave (and E in the third octave in falsetto). This is three octaves of pure voice and almost an octave of falsetto. Eric Adams sings in 4 octaves on recordings.
It is also worth considering that the actual range and the musical range are different things. Vocal range is usually understood as a set musically useful sounds that are available to the singer. By useful we mean those sounds to which 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 the big one - but musically these sounds are useless, because I cannot control their duration, make them loud, or influence their expressiveness. And their very reproduction causes such tension that no performance no speech.
A standard piano keyboard has 88 keys. This is 7-odd octaves. Twice as much as is available to a very well developed voice.
On September 5, Freddie Mercury, the legendary frontman of Queen, would have turned 72 years old. It’s hard to imagine the Great Pretender as an old and frail retired rocker, surrounded by children and grandchildren. “I have no desire to live until I’m 70: it’s probably a very boring activity,”- he once said in an interview and.
You don't need to be a specialist to understand that Mercury's vocal abilities are exceptional. Even science recognized the greatness of his talent. In 2016, Swedish, Austrian and Czech scientists from Palacky University proved the uniqueness of the singer’s vocal range. The results of the study were published in the scientific journal Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology.
To analyze the voice, scientists took studio recordings and archival interviews. During the experiment, researchers found that Mercury was a baritone by nature, although he became famous as a tenor. Scientists also proved that the singer’s vocal range was more than 3, but less than 4 octaves (ordinary opera baritones sing within 2 octaves).
An interesting fact: Freddie once jokingly refused to sing a duet with the opera diva Montserrat Caballe, because he was worried that the fans would not recognize him, singing as a baritone, and would no longer come to concerts.
Montserrat Caballe and Freddie Mercury, Barcelona
Scientists also studied Mercury’s “roaring” singing and came to the conclusion that the singer involved not only ordinary vocal cords, but also ventricular folds (the so-called false ligaments). This technique is mastered by masters of overtone throat singing from Yakutia, Tyva and Tibet. Finally, the Queen singer had an unusually fast and uneven vibrato (a periodic change in timbre, strength, or pitch of a sound).
The combination of these data, as well as a completely wild, powerful and sensitive soul, helped Freddie create a charismatic stage image. Every casually thrown phrase was frank and mystically fateful. This is probably why they touch the heart no less than his songs.
Here are some quotes from the artist.
“I think that in the eyes of the audience, I appear as a person from the stage, very arrogant, very aggressive, surrounded by brilliance, so whenever people talk about me and see me in society, they do not doubt my arrogance. To some extent, this is even good, since I don’t want everyone to know about my true feelings, because this is mine personal life»
“I didn’t want to do anything else, so in order to achieve success, I was ready to experience any difficulties and hardships that fate later presented to me. No matter how long it takes to succeed, you just have to believe in it, and I did. At the same time, it is necessary to have a certain amount of egoism, arrogance and self-confidence.”
“What will I be doing in 20 years? I'll be dead! Are you in doubt?
“If I am destined to die tomorrow, I will not regret. I really did everything I could."
Yes, Freddie, you really did everything and more. Geniuses are not forgotten. Thank you! Happy birthday!
The legend that Mercury could hit dishes with his voice on high notes was started 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 Radio Luxembourg listeners (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 respondents voted for him. Second-place finisher Elvis Presley received just under 15 percent of the vote. And at the online auction eBay a very strange tape recording was sold. 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 male voice is clearly audible: “Damn it, how many times can I call you! It's time to get to work! "
As it turned out, it was a recording made by the owner of the Trident recording studio, Norman Sheffield, in 1972. He was taping a vinyl record of Count Basie's orchestra when he was called to work in the studio. And the man who barked so loudly that the sound vibrations of his voice were transmitted to the tonearm of the player and recorded on magnetic tape - Freddie.
Then, in 1972, Queen recorded their first disc at Trident in London, and the owner of the studio decided to use a break from work for that re-recording. But just imagine (or better yet, try it yourself) how powerful the voice must be to mechanically influence the operation of the “turntable”!
The legend that Mercury could hit dishes with his voice at high notes was started by Queen bassist John Deacon: in his first interviews, and then in his opinion piece for Record Collector magazine, Deacon claims that at least twice “Freddie let out a scream of such power and so loud that the crystal glasses burst on the table.”
And although no one except him confirms these facts, fans of Queen and Freddie do not doubt them. The range of Freddie Mercury's voice was four octaves, which is twice as wide as the voice of the average person, and with three octaves one can already think about a career as a singer. According to the Guinness Book of Records, American singer Tim Storms holds the palm for men here - six octaves; the women's record of eight octaves belongs to the Brazilian Georgia Brown. But as renowned vocal coach Janet Edwards says (her clients include Leona Lewis, Mariah Carey and Mel C), “Training brings the range up to three octaves; you can only be born with four. Relatively speaking, from two octaves to three is one step, from three to four – the distance is like from the Earth to the Moon.”
In the case of Freddie Mercury, the main thing, according to Edwards, is not the range of his voice or even its strength, but the staging, or rather, the complete absence of it!
“Unlike most rock singers, Mr. Mercury sang in the so-called long belly breath,” Edwards explains, “this is the school of operatic vocals.
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 in this, so to speak, defect that his charm and uniqueness lie.
In rock music, singers sing with their chests and sing in short phrases, and Mercury demonstrated the so-called continuous exhalation, we hear this in “Barcelona” and “Bohemian Rhapsody”. How is he different from, say, Mr. Ian Gillan? The Deep Purple singer in his youth also knew how to hit high notes, but they were just notes in the upper register, and Freddie Mercury sang the text and articulated phrases at these prohibitive heights.” The only rock singer Edwards believes has tried to work in Freddie's style is Judas Priest's Rob Halford, "but he's let down by his small voice compared to Freddie."
It’s 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 insisted: “You’re playing too high, I can’t do it!” We say that we play in the usual key, that he sang this 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 became clear when Queen invited Paul Rodgers to sing: a three and a half octave voice seemed to be a worthy successor, 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-closing ligaments (a complex technique of throat singing), but the effect of “There is no continuous exhalation! 
As Robbie Williams, who at one time also auditioned for Freddt’s place, said, “compared to him, we are all ordinary mourners of rock, we can do a lot of things, we even feel his presence behind us. But no one can sing like him, it’s 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 thing, and suddenly I discovered that in the second verse I was constantly drawn to falsetto! I listened to the original and became convinced that Freddie Mercury did not sing this fragment in falsetto at all - high, but not falsetto. It’s 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 their right mind would argue with Pavarotti!
But the most surprising thing is probably who Mercury looked up to at the beginning of his singing career - John Lennon!
According to Freddie, Lennon’s vocal part in “Twist And Shout” is “the ultimate dream of a rock singer, the standard of expressiveness and expression, either sing like that or don’t 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 recordings left after him, the range of his voice was 12.5 octaves, he could imitate birdsong and went into ultrasound (14 thousand Hertz ).
★ According to some experts, Freddie’s voice had qualities “inherent in the voices of the great Italian castrati singers of the 17th-18th centuries: a wide range, equal strength in the upper and lower registers, the ability to change timbre coloring.”
★ According to Brian May, Freddie sang the part from " All-night vigil"Sergei Rachmaninov, which uses the lowest note in all world choral singing.
★ Freddie Mercury was one of the few major league rock singers who never used the services of a vocal consultant/teacher.
Ksenia POLINA
On September 5, 2018, the legendary singer Freddie Mercury would have turned 72 years old. It is noteworthy that the musician himself was confident that he would not live to see these years.
And if all people, as a rule, dream of living as long as possible and even look for ways to prolong youth, this is what Mercury said:
“I have absolutely no desire to live to be 70 years old. I think it's a very boring job."
Some believe that with such a bold statement, he himself predicted his fate. But it is worth noting that almost all legendary people died very early.
Research related to the life and work of Freddie Mercury is still ongoing, and his exceptional talent has been scientifically proven. In 2016, a group of scientists from the Czech Republic conducted research related to the singer's vocal range. His results are impressive!
For example, scientists have established that Mercury was a baritone, but became famous as a tenor. His voice range was more than 3, but less than 4 octaves. While operatic baritones usually have voices within 2 octaves.
Opera singer Montserrat Caballe, who performed a duet with him, was amazed to learn that Freddie was her longtime fan and collected her CDs. An even greater discovery was that he was not just a talented musician, but also a person who seriously studied music.
When Montserrat asked Mercury why he didn’t sing with his beautiful baritone at his performances, the singer joked that in this case his fans wouldn’t come to his concerts.
The incredible popularity of Freddie Mercury is explained not only by his unique vocals. He had a strong, crazy energy. On stage, Freddie created a bright, memorable image, which, combined with his talent, gave fans great pleasure from every concert.
Here's what the musician said about his life and death:
“If I were to die tomorrow, I would have no regrets. I did everything I could in this life."
And, truly, he did everything he could and even more, completely dedicating himself to the stage. Many years have passed since his death, but his memory will always be alive!
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Freddie Mercury's farewell song - "Mother's Love"
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