Freddie Mercury felt Queen would 'freak out' over performing classic song in early days
Freddie Mercury performs a classic track in rare Queen live footage shared by the band today. And it happens to be a song that the frontman thought the band would have "freaked out" over if he'd suggested it in their early days.
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This week’s Queen the Greatest Live official YouTube series continues a look back at some of the band’s most memorable covers during their concerts.
Most recently they have shared rare footage of Freddie Mercury leading the group in a medley at Wembley Stadium back in 1986.
This included Ricky Nelson’s Hello Mary Lou, Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti and Elvis Presley’s (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care.
And now fans are treated to the frontman and the band performing Peggy Lee’s Big Spender, made a hit by Shirley Bassey in 1967.
This week’s footage includes Freddie singing the track at Queen’s 1975 Hammersmith Odeon concert and at Wembley in 1986.
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Freddie told Hit Parader in 1977: “Sneaking my cabaret influences into our act was done slowly.
“Could you imagine me doing Big Spender when we were first starting? As a rock band?
“They'd freak. Now we do more a combination of rock ‘n’ roll and theatre.”
Next week’s episode looks back at “An Unforgettable Moment”, whatever that could be…