Marc Martel doesn't remember the first time someone told him he sounded like Queen's Freddie Mercury when he sang.
His voice "didn't seem particularly remarkable to me," Martel says from his home in Nashville, but admits he didn't grow up listening to Queen and wasn't that familiar with Mercury's voice.
Shawn Ryan"I figured it's a big world. There must be lots of people who sound like him."
Martel sounds so much like Mercury, he was asked to lend his vocals to "Bohemian Rhapsody," the biopic on Mercury recently released in theaters. Rami Malek won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Mercury at last weekend's Academy Awards.
Martel is somewhat cagey, though, when asked exactly what he did during the two months he spent in London recording his vocals.
"They wanted me to fill in the gaps," he says. "They wanted to use as much of Freddie as possible, so I'm in those specific singing moments where they needed me."
Martel is bringing his multi-octave voice to Chattanooga on March 1 and 14 to sing with Black Jacket Symphony when the band performs Queen's "A Night at the Opera" at the Tivoli Theatre. The March 1 show has sold out; tickets remain for March 14. They are $35-$40.
Black Jacket Symphony takes classic albums and performs them in their entirety, start to finish and note for note. To date, they've performed 38 albums, including the Eagles' "Hotel California," the Beatles' "White Album," Nirvana's "Nevermind," Prince's "Purple Rain" and Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours."
Martel was the vocalist last year when the BJS brought "A Night at the Opera" to the Tivoli. If you're going to one of the two upcoming shows, close your eyes and see if you can tell a difference between the record and real life. Good luck.
As a vocalist and musician, Martel says he thinks the idea of performing an album start to finish is "a really cool idea."
"I can see why they've been so successful; how exact and precise they aim to be. It's different than any other band I perform with. We have a lot of fun."
Raised in Canada, Martel moved to Nashville in 1999 when his Christian rock band, Downhere, signed a contract with Word Records. The band broke up a few years ago, and since then, Martel has spent most of his time singing Queen songs.
His first serious - or semi-serious- foray into the role came in 2011, when he casually made a video singing "Somebody to Love" and entered it in a contest being held to pick the singer for The Queen Extravaganza, a tribute production developed by Queen drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May. To Martel's shock, he won.
"I realized pretty quickly that they didn't expect to find anyone who sounded remotely like Freddie," Martel says.
He was part of the Extravaganza from 2012 until 2017, when he left to launch his own Queen tribute tour, the Ultimate Queen Celebration. Martel also has a solo career, releasing several Christmas EPs in recent years. But singing Queen songs has made him a stronger solo artist, he says.
"Since I started singing Queen full-time, my voice has gotten better. I have better endurance; my voice has more textures. I owe a lot to Freddie Mercury."
Contact Shawn Ryan at mshawnryan@gmail.com.