Queen: Freddie Mercury 'is always with us' says Brian May 1769444570U0zOYxGW
At the start of Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen legends Brian May and Roger Taylor were part of a band called Smile with Tim Staffell. And just as portrayed on-screen, in real life Freddie [know as Farrokh Bulsara] was one of their biggest fans and a close friend of Tim. But when the latter left the band for another, that’s when Freddie stepped in and formed Queen with the remaining Smile members and bassist John Deacon.
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Now in a new interview with UCR, Tim (who says he’s not bitter at all about Queen’s success) has revealed how Freddie was always destined for stardom.
The 72-year-old said: “He was always telling us that he was going to be [a star].
“It's an abject lesson in confidence, and it's a kind of confidence that I really didn't possess.
“If you don't have that confidence, the chances are you can't perform as well as Freddie did.”
READ MORE: Freddie Mercury: Queen star's lover on TRUTH about Bohemian Rhapsody
On his friendship with Freddie, Tim said: “Freddie and I were constant companions.
“It was the ‘60s. There was this musical revolution in London at the time.
“I had a bursary to go to college, and when I got to the college, I immediately blew all my bursary on a bass guitar and bass amplifier.
“You might call it academically irresponsible. Freddie was the same.”
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The Smile member added: “We were at college because we had to be, but we just wanted to become musicians.
“I guess it's a shame that [Smile] never continued.
“We certainly wouldn't have ever scaled the same heights that Queen did, because it needed Freddie to empower the rest of the band to grant everybody that status.
“I’m not bitter.”
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In fact, Brian and Roger reached out to Tim for a re-recording of Doin’ Alright.
It turns out he co-wrote the Smile song with May and it ended up on Queen’s debut album.
The track was to feature for Smile’s performance in Bohemian Rhapsody, with Jack Roth playing Tim and singing the lyrics.
Bits of the original and Queen version were used in the end product.
However, Brian and Roger felt the Doin’ Alright for Bohemian Rhapsody was too close to Queen and not enough to Smile’s sound.
So in the end they asked Tim to regroup with them for a recording at Abbey Road Studios.
Tim said: “They were trying to get a rougher sound, a much rawer sound more akin to what Smile was like – because Queen had become very refined, and Smile was kind of a raw band.
“So that's why they had me sing it. When I was in the studio, they had me play bass on it, so I overdubbed the bass. The end result is it's a little bit more visceral, and a little more authentic. I guess that's why they asked me to do it.”