Freddie Mercury’s greatest asset, according to Amy Lee

There is no doubt that Freddie Mercury is one of the greatest vocalists of all time. Even decades after his death, in 1991, after a tough fight against the HIV virus, the queen remains remembered for his undeniable talent and his performance capacity so developed to the point of dominating stages of all sizes, anywhere in the world.

The performances in Brazil, especially at the first edition of Rock in Rio, in 1985, are proof of that. A perfect combination of power, technique and charisma.

Recognition even comes from other talented vocalists. It is the case of Amy Lee, singer of Evanescence, who surrendered to the merits of Freddie even with her band not sounding as influenced by Queen.

In an interview with Revolver Magazine (via website Igor Miranda),the artist was invited to select the 11 best vocalists of all time in her opinion. It was not surprising that mercury was precisely the first one remembered by her.

When commenting on your choice, Lee was full of praise for the hard rock giant. Initially, he paraded adjectives when talking about his power.

“One of the most amazing ever. As a rock vocalist, simply amazing, perfect. His voice had strength and power, it was all there.”

Then, however, the Evanescence frontwoman highlighted what she believes to be the great differential of her late professional colleague. According to her, the opera background made the star stand out in relation to others in rock.

“What is interesting and unique about Freddie Mercury is that he had the ability to be like an opera singer if he wanted to and he knew it.”

Freddie Mercury and the opera

The comment made by Amy Lee certainly does not consider only the work of Freddie Mercury with Queen. The late vocalist even recorded an album strongly influenced by opera, Barcelona (1988), alongside the Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballé.

The partnership was a dream of mercury, great appreciator of the work of Caballé. At the time of the recordings, he already knew he had HIV and his band had decided to stop playing shows – the last one happened in 1986. Therefore, the star was concerned with working as much as possible in the studio and achieving some of his artistic goals.

The collaboration started after defining that the 1992 Olympic Games would be in Barcelona. It started with the two recording a song that would serve as the theme for the sports competition. However, the process evolved to the point of generating an eight-track album, with Mercury assuming the compositions alongside Mike Moran. Sadly though, the singing giant didn’t live long enough to see the original track used at the Olympics, as he passed away the year before.

It is also worth noting that operatic influences appeared at other times in the career of Freddie as Queen. The best example of this is the hit “Bohemian Rhapsody”, where the star and his bandmates demonstrate vocal skill with the creation of several layers referencing the original theatrical artistic genre.