Freddie Mercury’s Unique Vocal Style Explained In New Study

The voice of Freddie Mercury, the late Queen frontman, was recently studied by a group of researchers who have determined what made it so impressive.

Freddy Mercury’s Voice

Mercury’s vocal style was at the center of the “Freddie Mercury — acoustic analysis of speaking fundamental frequency, vibrato, and subharmonics” study that was published in the Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology journal. The study was conducted by Austrian, Czech and Swedish researchers, reported CNN.

Using archival recordings of Mercury, the researchers determined that he was particularly skilled at modulating his voice. They also found that he would vibrate his ventricular folds, therefore using subharmonics.

“Freddie Mercury was one of the twentieth century’s best-known singers of commercial contemporary music,” the study states. “This study presents an acoustical analysis of his voice production and singing style, based on perceptual and quantitative analysis of publicly available sound recordings.”

“Perceptually, Freddie Mercury’s irregular (and typically faster) vibrato is clearly audible in the sustained notes of famous songs such as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (A Night at the Opera) or ‘We Are the Champions’ (News of the World), and it appears to be one of the hallmarks of his vocal style,” the study adds.

Mercury co-founded Queen in London in 1970. He remained the band’s frontman until his passing in 1991 at age 45.