Queen drummer Roger Taylor compares Freddie Mercury's singing to a 'manic goat' before he became 'colossal force'

29 October 2024, 13:24 | Updated: 29 October 2024, 13:46

Queen drummer Roger Taylor has compared Freddie Mercury's singing to a 'manic goat'.

Taylor said Mercury's voice was "dreadful" at the start of his career, before growing into an iconic frontman.

He and bandmate Brian May were discussing Queen's early years during a Q&A marking the launch of their remastered debut album.

He said Mercury "turned out to be wonderful" but it took some adjusting to begin with.

"I don't think you realise how dreadful he sounded before," he said.

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"I mean, he sounded like some manic goat. He sounded extraordinary, his vibrato.

"My mother’s face when she saw him . . . "

He added: "He turned out to be our wonderful Freddie whom we will never forget.

"He became this colossal force who could reach to the back of any gig or a stadium in Argentina.

"He reached everyone."

May said he "didn’t have the measure of his instrument" at the start and "charged around a lot and screamed a lot", according to the Express.

"People were quite taken aback because it was kind of an unbridled force," he said.

May went on to say: "As soon as he's in the studio, he hears his voice coming back from the speakers and goes, 'Oh I don't like that, I'll do it again, that’s not what I want'.

"In a very short time, he’s tailored his performance to the way he wants it, and he became an expert vocalist very quickly, I would say."

After Mercury died in 1991, Roger and May continued to tour as Queen, with Adam Lambert joining them as their frontman in recent years.

The band's debut album has been completely reworked more than 50 years on from its first release.