Gary Mullen, a singer from Glasgow, Scotland, has been performing as Freddie Mercury for over 25 years. With his performances, he tries to pay tribute to Mercury and his work while giving audiences a live concert experience.
Gary Mullen & The Works will bring their show “One Night of Queen” to Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix Saturday, Aug. 1, and to Fox Tucson Theatre Sunday, Aug. 2.
During the show, they perform well-known songs by Queen as well as deeper cuts, including classics such as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Don’t Stop Me Now,” “Under Pressure” and “Somebody to Love.”
Mullen said the show highlights Queen’s genre-crossing repertoire.
“It takes people on that journey. They weren’t just a greatest hits band. They have had incredible albums with such diverse music. You can send people down that rabbit hole, and suddenly they’re buying all the albums. This song that they’d never heard before is now their favorite song,” Mullen said.
Along with Mullen, the band also features David Brockett on guitar, Jon Halliwell on drums and Malcolm Gentles on keyboards.
Halliwell and Mullen have known each other since they were teens, when they played in their first band together. In that group, they played songs by rock groups such as Queen, Black Sabbath and AC/DC.
“It’s cool to now be in a band together, going around the world playing rock music… It’s funny that we played some of these songs so many years ago, and now we’re playing them night after night,” Mullen said.
Brockett, who has been with the group since the beginning and is also the music director, started to play guitar after seeing Queen perform live in Wembley in 1986.
Mullen admires Queen even more after performing their music for over two decades.
“What you find is with playing the music, you become more of a fan because you realize the quality of the musicianship within that band was incredible. You had four guys in a band who were incredible musicians, incredible personalities, and all wrote a top-20 hit,” Mullen said.
While Mullen does perform as Mercury, his bandmates don’t impersonate other members of Queen.
“They play the music and wear the costumes, but I wanted the essence of each member of the band to come through… They’re actually going out and playing rock music as rock music should be played. It’s exciting, and it’s high energy,” Mullen said.
They change the show up regularly to keep it fresh for returning audiences and for themselves. They often base the show on different tours.
“This particular tour we’re doing is the recreation of the Magic Tour, which was Freddie’s last tour with Queen in 1986. It never came to America, so we have the lights, the staging, the costumes, the same sort of set. It gives the American audiences a taste of what they never got to see and hear,” Mullen said.
The show has evolved as new footage of Queen has emerged online.
“Things appear from other parts of the world that someone’s put up on social media that maybe at one time was on a videotape… It’s nice to see archival footage that had never really been seen, like Freddie walking to the stage and meeting Michael Jackson backstage at the LA Forum and having a conversation with Michael Jackson on the way to the stage. People don’t realize that Michael and Freddie actually co-wrote a couple of songs together. One of them was ‘State of Shock,’ which was a duet with Mick Jagger, but it actually was Freddie and Michael that wrote the song,” Mullen said.
While the band tries to stay very true to Queen’s performances, they also want to make it an interactive rock concert for fans.
“I sometimes joke when people are sitting down. I say, ‘Darling, this isn’t ‘Hamilton.’ It’s not a musical. It’s a rock concert, Get up and boogie with us.’ That’s the vibe. It’s basically come along and have a rock and roll party with us for two hours, sing along, play air guitar, headbang… It’s your night. You want to dance? Don’t worry about making a fool of yourself. We’re all here together. We’re all making fools of ourselves together,” Mullen said.
In his research on Mercury, Mullen discovered just how personable the singer was onstage and off.
“I became friends with Peter Freestone, his personal assistant. He said over the time that he was with Freddie — which was 12 years — he never turned an autograph down. The fans were everything to him. If he was having dinner, he’d be like, ‘Where are you sitting?’ He’d come see you afterwards, do autographs and probably pay for their dinner and get them champagne as well. That was just how he was. Freddie’s thing was the connection to the audience. That’s something myself and the band work really hard to do is to make the audience feel that that night and show is for them personally. You’re playing to each person in the room,” Mullen said.
Mullen was surprised to learn about how shy and private Mercury was in his personal life.
“Peter spoke about times they’d be invited to parties, and he’d just be sitting in the corner. Nobody would even know he was there…He was very quiet, unless you engaged him in conversation, then he was quite a conversationalist and storyteller… It’s amazing the difference of the character onstage compared to the person,” Mullen said.
In his performances, Mullen often tries to capture Mercury’s humor.
“He never took himself seriously, smacking his butt to the audience and stuff like that to make them cheer, knowing it was hilarious and knowing it was outrageous…. I love when latecomers turn up because I can usually have fun with them. I will say, ‘Where have you been?’ You break that fourth wall… Suddenly, they realize that they’re part of a show… There’s a connection with those audience members and a bit of fun, and then people relax,” Mullen said.
The show draws crowds of different ages, from those who have been fans of Queen for decades to those who are just discovering the group.
“So many people have either rediscovered Queen from the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ movie or have just discovered them. We get a lot of young kids at the shows now who know all of their songs. They know things like ‘Seven Seas of Rhye,’” Mullen said.
Sometimes, audience members will dress up as Queen band members, such as Mercury, Brian May or Roger Taylor. Some wear specific looks, such as the drag looks from the “I Want to Break Free” video.
Mullen started performing as Mercury in 2000, when he went on the TV show “Stars in Their Eyes.” His mother and wife had secretly entered him, and he went on to win the show.
“There was nobody more shocked than me when first I won the show and then got a chance to go on the road,” Mullen said.
He had been a Queen fan since he was 5 years old but had not impersonated Mercury before this.
“I would go sing a few Queen songs at karaoke or go to a jam night at music bars and go up and sing. That was the limit of it until the TV show,” Mullen said.
After the show, he performed as a solo artist for a time before forming his band in 2001 and starting “One Night of Queen” in 2002.
In the last five years, Mullen and his band have performed over 150 shows a year around the world.
He also does voiceover work for radio, TV and computer games and has released a solo album with songwriting partner Barry Kelly called “Blood, Sweat and Beers.”
Performing as Mercury has opened up opportunities for Mullen. He was invited by Brian May to a Queen and Paul Rodgers show in Cardiff and had a chance to meet the Queen guitarist backstage.
Over the years, he has gotten to know a number of musicians that he admires.
“I’ve done a couple of ‘80s festivals and became friends with people that were my heroes. Then, suddenly, you’re exchanging cell phone numbers, and you’re sending texts. The little boy inside of you goes, ‘What’s going on? I used to buy your records! How did that happen?’ We get to go around the world like a bunch of pirates on a tour bus,” Mullen said.
One Night of Queen
WHEN: Doors open 6 p.m. and show at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 2
WHERE: Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress Street, Tucson
COST: Tickets start at $37.30
INFO: foxtucson.com
