I'M JUST A SINGER WITH A SONG

"It was like painting a picture - where you have to step away from it to see what it's like. I was stepping away from Queen and I think, it gave everybody a shot in the arm."

In the early days when Queen was formed a lot of people were asking, "When are you going to do your solo project?" But the funny thing is, Brian did a solo project [1983] and Roger did two [1981/1984]. I was virtually the last one to do it. To be honest I thought we would all be doing solo albums long before we did. I suppose when we made a Queen album they were like four solo projects within themselves. I had my bunch of songs and Brian had hi», and Roger and John had theirs, so it was like four little solo projects working side by side, and then we put them together.

I think every artist who's in a group wants to do a solo project sometime , or other. It's something in everyone's metabolism. I mean, I always wanted to do it but I think most people thought I was going to record one in the first five years, and then break up the band. But it wouldn't work that way because there is an inbred jealousy, and they'd all wait to see if my album did better than the last Queen album. That is a good challenge, in that it if my album did do very well, then we'd take the view that the next Queen ailing would have to be even better still.

I was always keen to do a solo album. I juit wanted it to be the right time and the right place so that I could actually work properly on the songs that I wanted to do before I got too old.

There was a time when we were doing tours extensively. We used to do American tours that lasted three or four months and towards the end it was terrible. I never wanted to go on stage ever again. If you're playing the same songs for three months, doing the same routine, you just need time away, but we would go into a studio and make an album, then tour the world, and then go back. That was the routine. We didn't have any time to break away and we virtually did that for eight or nine years. I was getting very bored and so were the others, and I needed to get away and do different things.

So, my Mr Bad Guy album was just a breather, a chance to do some things that I wanted to do without the others. But it certainly wasn't a split from Queen. It was just a form of outlet, something in me that I wanted to do. I wanted to write a batch of songs that actually came out under the name of I'reddie Mercury and I wanted to do all the things I wasn't able to do within i he band. In fact, some of the songs that were discarded from Queen albums ended up on my solo album, but they are good.

When you're doing solo projects you are your own boss, and I find that when I'm my own boss completely, it's easier for me. I make all the decisions and although that's harder sometimes, I can get things done quicker. You mill J call it an ego trip, you could call it going off on a tangent, you could call it anything, but it's basically just a batch of songs I wanted to do my way... I sound like Frank Sinatra.

I had a lot of ideas bursting to get out and there were a lot of musical territories I wanted to explore which I really couldn't do within Queen. I wanted to cover such things as reggae rhythms and I did a couple of tracks I en orchestra. The rest of the band encouraged me to do it. To be honest I would have preferred to have all of the band members play on it, but then it would not have been a Freddie Mercury solo album. If it was going to be a genuine solo album, they had to stay out of it, and that's all there is to it. I think they would have loved to have played on some of the tracks but then would have become Queen tracks, so there was a certain amount of discipline I had to exercise.

Initially I had an idea that I wanted all kinds of famous people to appear on it. I had been working with Michael Jackson for a while [1982] and at the rime he said he would appear on one of the tracks. But in the end it got too late because it's difficult to get these people to be at a certain time and place. So by the time I actually got into recording, I found I was doing it all, and it went the other way and I just decided I wanted to do it completely myself. Basically the musicians I used were German session players, who are very good in their own right but they're not as famous as Michael Jackson or Rod Stewart. I'm glad, though, because I think that it's the best way I could have come up with my first solo album.

I put my heart and soul into Mr Bad Guy and I think it's a very natural album. It had some very moving ballads - things to do with sadness and pain, but at the same time they were frivolous and tongue-in-cheek, because that's my nature. I think the songs on that album reflect the state of my life, a diverse selection of moods and a whole spectrum of what my life was.

As far as the title Mr Bad Guy is concerned, it is to do with me. Mr Bad Guy IS me. I won't explain that totally, you can take it from there.

There Must Be More To Life Than This is a song about people who are lonely. It's basically another love song, but it's hard to call it that because it encompasses other things too. It's all to do with why people get themselves into so many problems. It's mostly that, but I don't want to dwell on that too much. It's just one of those songs that I had for a while. Michael Jackson happened to hear it and liked it and if it had worked out we would have done it together, but I wanted it on this album, so I did it without his help. He'l going to cry when he hears it!

Actually I liked all the songs on the album, but in the end one of my favourite tracks was Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow because of the way it came out. It was a very personal thing. I wrote it in five minutes nn'l everything just gelled into place. It was just very emotional, very very strong. I love that track.

When I had finished the album I was lost for a title, but an far as I’m concerned album titles are immaterial. It's what you listen to that matters, not what the title is. Don't judge a book by its cover - although, there is a beautiful photograph of me on the cover. Originally I called the LP Made In Heaven, and then it changed. But I was not Made In Heaven... a lightning bolt didn't suddenly go Crack!

I was pleased with the album and I was also pleased with my voice. I like it husky. That's why I smoke - to get that husky voice. I dedicated this album to cat lovers everywhere. Screw everybody else!

Yes, I want it to be successful. It mattered to me a lot because I'd made a piece of music which I wanted to be accepted in the biggest way possible. People said that if it wasn't a hit I should sue Warner Brothers! But I wasn't worried that it might not be successful because if it wasn't, I would just go out and make another one.

When I was planning to do my second solo project I really didn't want it to be just another bunch of songs. I wanted it to have some kind of bearing, something different, to have another stamp to it that spear-headed the damn thing. It could be anything that made it different from another boring studio aIbum. No matter how good my songs were, they'd just be another bunch of songs that you bung on a tape and release. So I was looking for ideas in that direction and suddenly these two wonderful names came up like a tidal wave, and they were Montserrat Caballe.

It really was a shot in the arm and all those cliches. It was something that wasn't calculated, it came rocketing out of the sky and just fell upon me. It virtually enveloped me and I could think of nothing else. It was fabulous. There was so much scope, so much life and energy in it, and as far as I'm concerned it wasn't just a work thing. I was totally in awe.

I think Montserrat has a marvellous voice, and on Spanish television I happened to mention it and she heard it. Next thing I knew she called me up and said, "Let's do something together." I was completely flabbergasted. Thought I adored opera, I had never thought about singing it.

So, I flew off to Barselona to meet her. I was really nervous. I wasn't sure how to behave or what I should say to her. Thankfully she made me feel very at ease right from the start and I realised that both of us had the same kind of humour. She said, "What's your favourite number?" I said, "Number one." Then she said, "From now on I call you my Number One," so I said, "I'll call you my Super Diva!" It was great. She jokes and she swears and she doesn't take herself too seriously. That really thrilled and surprised me because up until then I had been labouring under the illusion that all great opera singers were stern, aloof and quite intimidating. But Montserrat was wonderful. I told her I loved her singing and had her albums and asked if she'd heard of me. She told me she enjoyed listening to my music and had Queen albums in her collection, too. She even thought I might ask her to sing some rock and roll, but I said, "No, no, I'm not going to give you all those Brian May guitar parts to sing - that's the last thing I want to do!" She was very game to try it though.

I wasn't going to just approach her and talk it over with her, because I mean you just can't do those things. I thought I must bring to her a little idea of what she might be getting into, in terms of the music, because trying to explain things musically is so much harder. So I wrote a couple of pieces with Mike Moran, with her voice in mind, and I played her a couple of them, which she immediately took to, and that was how it started.

I thought we would only do one song, or a duet, but she said, "Only one song! You only want to do one?" And I said, "Let's see how we get on and if you like more of my music..." and then she asked, "How many songs does a normal rock'n'roll album have?" "Ten," I said. So she replies, "Well let's do ten songs then." I thought, "It's amazing. I'm going into opera. Forget rock'n'roll!"

I said that I'd write the songs and she would have to come in and try things out. So she looked up her schedule and said, "I have three days spare In May, and that's all." She thought she could just come in and do it like that -that's the way they work you see. I had to have it all prepared, but I knew three days was pushing it.

It' so ridiculous when you think about it, her and me together. But if we have something musically together, it doesn't matter what we look like or where we come from. When she said, "Let's make an album!" I thought, "My God, what am I going to do now?" because you just don't turn the Super Diva down. I thought I'd better put my money where my mouth is. I'm glad I did it because it was such a different thing to do. It was totally un-rock'n'roll, and something that really required a lot of discipline.

The last thing I wanted was a sort of forced combination, and she laid it on the line and just said, "Look, I'd love to do something. We're two musicians, and if it doesn't work out we'll say it's not working and call it a day." It was a real turning point, a proper turning point in my career, because she has taken to me in such a way that I just keep being floored by it. My God, I couldn't believe that somebody of her ilk and of her stature, and of her world, wanted to duet with me.

There was an added stress because it was a big risk. It was something that I don't think anybody else had done before. I had to do research to get some »nrt of operatic knowledge, to make sure that I was using her voice in the right way. So I spent a long time talking to her and listening to a lot of her records to find out her finer points, so that I could actually use them in the music. I wanted to hear what she could do and use the finest qualities in the songs that I was writing. I then had to see how my voice matched with hers. There's no point in just having a wonderful song and finding out that the two voices don't match or agree with each other, so you really have to work twice as hard. By meeting Montserrat I learned so much more about the music, and I have so much respect for it.

I had no operatic training at all and it's too late for me to start now, dears. I’ve neveer had any kind of formal training actually. It's just come through extensive singing all these years. I don't think rock'n'roll singers have any kind of training, their training is playing on the road. My voice has had enough heating, 10 it"» a bit late to go and have any kind of training. I mean this is my voice and that's it. I just have a range which goes up and down depending on what mood I'm in. But that's the voice she wanted, she didn't I want to ape anybody, you gee. She wanted my natural voice.

I think the music just ran away with itself, to be honest, and I was doing songs that I'd never done before, the sort of songs to suit our voices. I found it very difficult writing them and singing them because all the registers had to be right and they're all duets. I didn't know how the Queen fans would react to it. It is a bit of a... thingy! You can't put it under a label, can you? The worst thing they could call it is 'rock opera' - which is so boring.

With the Barcelona album I had a little bit more freedom and a bit of scope to actually try out some of my crazy ideas. Montserrat kept telling me that she found a new lease of life and a new found freedom. Those were her own words, and I was very taken by it. She told me on the phone that she loves the way our voices sound together... and I was smiling from my ass to my elbow, my dears. I sat at home like I'd just swallowed the canary, thinking, "Ooh! There's a lot of people who'd like to be in my shoes right now."

Montserrat has this amazing personality and it's quite spellbinding. She has this air of dominating a room. I've seen a lot of people like that; pop stars, or whatever you call them, actually trying so hard to go into a room and make sure they're noticed, but she just has this natural air and grace. The difference is really amazing, where she walks into a room and commands people's attention just by being so genuine that you can't help but be enveloped in it. That's how the opera people like to treat their divas. They're like goddesses.

She's like a dream, but at the same time I wasn't going to be all gushing, otherwise I wouldn't be able to do anything. The last thing she wanted was to be able to step all over me. She wanted a guiding force, as well, because she was singing my songs. I had to be strong in that way so I worked my ass off on that album. I worked until I dropped. But Montserrat was absolutely tremendous. Most of the recording was done around her schedule. I mean she just bulldozed around the world singing everywhere. She'll do an opera here, a recital there, with very little time in between. She has amazing energy, it was unbelievable. She ran me ragged my dears!

A Montserrat Caballe performance sensational. She has that same kind of emotion an Aretha Franklin, The way she delivers a song is so very natural, and it's a very different gift. It was fantastic singing on stage with her. What an experience! It really was a dream come true and just before we went on stage I couldn't help wondering if all this was really happening to me. And though I knew I was taking a big chance doing something like that, it gave me such a fantastic rush.

I was a wreck, but then so was she. I was bringing her into my rock'n'roll world and so she was shaking like a leaf, and saying, "Will they accept me?" She asked me how we should do it and I said, "Oh, we should just stand there and deliver the song," which is how operatic recitals are done. I had to sort of restrain myself too. I had to keep in mind that I couldn't do all my usual balletic stuff, none of those prancy poses, and all that. No, I had to just deliver it in a fucking tuxedo - which I'd never done in front of an audience before - and just go for it! It was strange for me to be wearing a tuxedo, but did you see her flying about all over the place?

The atmosphere was amazing. It was such a drag about my voice letting me down, because as we were set to perform I started having difficulties, so I didn't want to risk singing live. It's a very difficult thing for me because they’re complex songs and we just didn't have enough rehearsal time as well. We did think we might do something live but my God, I tell you, it would need a LOT of rehearsal - weeks and weeks of it.

I'm used to singing with Queen, where hiding behind their power is quite my to do. But here, each note counts and it's a very different kind of discipline. I can do it in a studio because I can have re-takes, but I wondered whether I could do it live, where you have to do it straight away. She's used to that, whereas I'm not. I've never done things with orchestras, and if my voice v ' i lot to come up to scratch I'd be letting her down. I wouldn't want to take any chances.

When it over I thought, "I've gone out of my way to try these things, and to see them come to fruition is just wonderful." I didn't think I was capable of writing operatic pieces that would suit a world renowned primadonna. I really didn't know I was capable of things such as that. I thought ‘What else is there left for me to do?" I mean, I defy any other rock'n'roll personality living today to duet with a legendary opera diva, and survive!

I think my solo work probably brought Queen closer together and enhanced our careers. I had no doubt that Queen would come back even bigger. I have a very good outlet within the group, so I'm not stifled in any way and I'm certainly not complaining. It would have been very easy for me at one stage to become a solo artist, because the draw was there. People in the media were always asking when I would go it alone. But I was very happy with Queen, and therefore I didn't need to give my ego a boost by suddenly leaving them and becoming solo. It's a very tempting area for me but why ruin the damn thing? I feel a loyalty towards the band and I'd hate to let them down. That, to me, is too high a price.

Chapter nine

CRAZY PERFORMANCE

"Singing upside down with the Royal Ballet was a wonderful thrill."

I like ballet. It's theatre, and that's the kind of entertainment I like. The audience is so different and I like to see how a performer, an entertainer, puts it across in other situations. I know that rock'n'roll artists are very raucous, but that doesn't mean I can't go and listen to something like Montserrat Caballe doing a recital in New York, which I did, to pin-drop silence. She had no microphone or anything. You can learn a lot from that, how they train, the kind of lighting they use, the sets - it's all research, and it's ill useful.

I've always tried to incorporate those styles into my work, but to say that I’m Very well equipped in ballet dancing is totally wrong. I can't dance for shit, my dears! I cheat a lot and I'm very limited, so on stage I just use my limitations to the full. I did a sort of mock ballet and I knew that at that time to introduce a balletic feel into rock and roll was outrageous. What was a funky rock and roll audience going to say about this prancing ballerina coming on? But 1 thought, "I'll sing my songs with a tutu on, I don't care," because it's basically a form of outrage and shock.

I on1у knew about ballet from watching it on television, but I always enjoyed what I saw. Then I became very good friends with Sir Joseph Lockwood, at EMI, who was also Chairman of the Royal Ballet board of governors. I began to meet people who were involved In ballet and I became more and more fascinated by them. I finally saw Baryshnikov dance with the American Ballet Theatre and he was just mind-blowing - more than Nureyev, more than anyone. I mean he could really fly, and when I saw him on stage I was so in awe that I felt like a groupie.

It all started for me when the Royal Ballet then asked me to dance with them, in 1979, and I thought they were mad! But in the end I did a charity gala with them. As far as I can recall, it's the only time that rock'n'roll has actually ventured into the ballet world... a dabble in an area where most rock'n'rollers would freak out.

After finding out what it involved, it really scared me, to be honest. I can't be choreographed; I'm hopeless at that, I really am. Their whole thing is choreographed; you've got to learn the steps and actually recreate them every night when you perform, or otherwise other things will go wrong. Whereas, on my stage, I have that freedom and I have learned to be able to do what I want, at whatever given point, depending on how I feel. So that's why when I was put in that kind of framework with the ballet people, and they asked me to go through a certain set of movements, I found it exceptionally difficult. I said, "I just can't do it." I suppose because they'd seen me on stage they automatically assumed I was a worthwhile dancer.

Still, they had me rehearsing all kinds of dance steps and there I was at the barre bending and stretching my legs. I was trying to do, in a few days, the kinds of things they had spent years perfecting, and let me tell you, it was murder. After two days I was in agony. I was aching in places I didn't even know I had. Then, when the night of the gala came, I was just amazed at th» backstage scenes. When I had my entrances to do I had to fight my way through Merle Park and Anthony Dowell and all these people, and say. "Excuse me, I'm going on now." It was outrageous.

I did this very exotic leap, fell into the dancers' arms, and they carried in» across the stage as I was still singing. I still don't believe I did that. It was spectacular and the house went quite wild. I wasn't quite Baryshnikov, but it wasn't bad for an ageing beginner.

We did Bohemian Rhapsody and Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and it was nice to put the same songs across in a totally different way and find it could be accepted. I put a bit of rock'n'roll into the ballet and it gave me a great thrill. But it was also the most nerve-racking thing for me, and I was shivering in the wings. It's always the case when you're put outside of your normal sphere, it's much harder, but I always like a challenge. I'd like to see Mick Jagger or Rod Stewart trying something like that.

I think the Royal Ballet people enjoyed it too, and it gave them the chance to loosen up as well. They didn't have to conform to the classical roles and they love doing all that. In fact, they said they'd love to come on tour with Queen and do it the other way round. They would do it like a shot, but I think there's a time and place for everything. At the time, we were doing very macho rock'n'roll, and all those things, and it just wouldn't go.

I did it just to keep me interested, to be honest, but I was very happy doing what I do with Queen. You couldn't suddenly say, at 32, "I want to be a ballet dancer!”" At least, that's my excuse.

Chapter ten

Date: 2015-02-03; view: 865