Marc Martel

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Marc Martel
Marc Martel.jpg
Martel performing in 2013
Background information
Born (1976-11-16) November 16, 1976 (age 47)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
GenresRock, Christian rock, pop
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica, trumpet, sitar
Years active1999–present
Member of One Vision of Queen
Formerly of Queen Extravaganza, Downhere
Website marcmartelmusic.com

Marc Martel is a Canadian Christian rock musician. In 1999, he formed the band Downhere before going solo in 2013. Aside from his own work, Martel is known for his Queen covers and his vocal likeness to frontman Freddie Mercury. He provided some parts of Mercury's singing voice in the film Bohemian Rhapsody . [1]

Contents

Beginnings

He was born in Montreal, Canada to Michel Martel and his wife Barbara Beresford Martel. He attended Briercrest College and Seminary in Caronport, Saskatchewan where he met his roommate Jason Germain. With him and a few friends he formed the band downhere.

Career

Downhere (1999–2012)

Downhere (stylized as downhere) developed their sound while touring on behalf of Briercrest College. After four years of college, the band relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, where they signed with Word Records. Downhere went on to win multiple Juno Awards, Covenant Awards and a Dove Award. They released 10 albums, including On the Altar of Love , before going on hiatus effective January 1, 2013. [2]

Solo (2013–present)

In September 2011, Martel entered a competition to join Roger Taylor's (original drummer for the rock band Queen) official Queen tribute project, the Queen Extravaganza, with a video of Martel singing along with the Queen classic "Somebody to Love". It generated more than one million views on YouTube after being up for only a few days [3] [4] and as of February 2021 it has over 22 million views. [5] This led to an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show a week following the release of the video. Martel went on to be one of the winners of the competition [6] [7] [8] which led to a six-week tour with The Queen Extravaganza in 2012. [9] The Queen Extravaganza continued to tour with Martel until the end of 2016.

Martel released an EP, Prelude, on February 1, 2013 [10] The EP was recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles with producer John Fields.[ citation needed ] His full-length debut, Impersonator, released on September 30, 2014. [11]

In September 2016, he collaborated on "Last Christmas", featured in the video game, Just Dance 2017. [12] On November 18, 2016 The Silent Night EP, a collection of Christmas songs, was released. [13] In 2017, he covered "Footloose" for Just Dance 2018.

In 2017, Martel left Queen Extravaganza and joined the Ultimate Queen Celebration. [14]

In 2019, Martel recorded a new version of "Silver Bells" with Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Christian AC Monitor charts, [15] and the Mediabase Christian AC. This was Martel's first career No. 1 song. [16] He accompanied them on their annual Christmas Tour.

Martel contributed vocal recordings for the Queen biographical film, Bohemian Rhapsody (2018). [17] Film producer Graham King confirmed that Marc Martel recorded vocals for the film in a Rolling Stone article:

Most singing scenes in the movie rely on either vocal stems from Queen master tapes or new recordings by Marc Martel, a Canadian Christian rock singer whose voice is practically identical to the late frontman's. "Literally, you could close your eyes and it's Freddie," says King. "And that's a very tough thing to do." [18]

And in an interview to FilmJournal International he revealed more details about Martel's involvement in the making of the film:

Rami sings a little bit in the film, there's a lot of Freddie Mercury obviously, and a lot of Marc Martel. He sent a video to Brian May and Roger Taylor and he sounds exactly like Freddie Mercury. We knew that we had someone we could use for parts that maybe Rami couldn't do and obviously Freddie didn't do. So we were in Abbey Road recording studio for maybe two and a half months with Marc and with Rami, recording bits and pieces that we knew we needed. It's hard to find someone who can sing like Freddie Mercury and I'm not sure the movie would have happened if we didn't have Marc. [19]

He has also done voice work as Withered Foxy in the 2016 video game Five Nights at Freddy's World . [20]

Personal life

Martel resides in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, Crystal. [21]

Discography

With downhere

Solo

Singles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bohemian Rhapsody</span> 1975 single by Queen

"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, A Night at the Opera (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack of a refraining chorus and consisting of several sections: an intro, a ballad segment, an operatic passage, a hard rock part and a reflective coda. It is one of the few progressive rock songs of the 1970s to achieve widespread acclaim and commercial success and appeal to a mainstream audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen (band)</span> British rock band

Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970 by Freddie Mercury, Brian May, and Roger Taylor, later joined by John Deacon (bass). Their earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock, and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works by incorporating further styles, such as arena rock and pop rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freddie Mercury</span> British rock musician; frontman of Queen (1946–1991)

Freddie Mercury was a British singer and songwriter who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist and pianist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of rock music, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range. Mercury defied the conventions of a rock frontman with his theatrical style, influencing the artistic direction of Queen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert</span> Benefit concert dedicated to Freddie Mercury

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness was a benefit concert held on Easter Monday, 20 April 1992, at Wembley Stadium in London, England, for an audience of 72,000. The concert was produced for television by Ray Burdis, directed by David Mallet and broadcast live on television and radio to 76 countries around the world, with an audience of up to one billion. The concert was a tribute to Queen's lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury, who died of AIDS on 24 November 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Taylor (Queen drummer)</span> English musician (born 1949)

Roger Meddows Taylor is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He achieved international fame as the drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Queen. As a drummer, Taylor was recognised early in his career for his unique sound and was voted the eighth-greatest drummer in classic rock music history in a listener poll conducted by Planet Rock in 2005. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 as a member of Queen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killer Queen</span> 1974 single by Queen

"Killer Queen" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by lead singer Freddie Mercury and recorded for their third album Sheer Heart Attack in 1974. It reached number two in the UK Singles Chart and became their first US hit, reaching number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is about a high-class call girl and has been characterised as "Mercury's piano-led paean to a Moët-quaffing courtesan".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">These Are the Days of Our Lives</span> 1991 single by Queen

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Philip "Spike" Edney is an English musician who, since the 1960s, has performed with a number of bands, most notably with Queen in their live concerts, where his participation started in 1984 during Queen's The Works tour. During the mid-1970s, he recorded and toured with The Tymes and Ben E. King. He is primarily known for playing keyboards but also plays bass, guitar, trombone and contributes backing vocals. Subsequently, in the late 1970s, he was musical director for Edwin Starr and, during the early 1980s, worked with Duran Duran, The Boomtown Rats, Dexys Midnight Runners, Bucks Fizz, Haircut One Hundred and The Rolling Stones. He also appeared with Peter Green on his comeback tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downhere</span> Canadian Christian rock band

Downhere is a Christian rock band from Canada. They have released six studio albums to date: Downhere (2001), So Much for Substitutes (2003), Wide-Eyed and Mystified (2006), Ending Is Beginning (2008), How Many Kings: Songs for Christmas (2009), and On the Altar of Love (2011) and have won several Juno and Covenant Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somebody to Love (Queen song)</span> 1976 single by Queen

"Somebody to Love" is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by lead singer and pianist Freddie Mercury. It debuted on the band's 1976 album A Day at the Races and also appears on their 1981 compilation album Greatest Hits.

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<i>We Are the Champions: Final Live in Japan</i> 1992 film

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<i>Bohemian Rhapsody</i> (film) 2018 film by Brian Singer

Bohemian Rhapsody is a 2018 biographical musical drama film that focuses on the life of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the British rock band Queen, from the formation of the band in 1970 to their 1985 Live Aid performance at the original Wembley Stadium. It was directed by Bryan Singer from a screenplay by Anthony McCarten, and produced by Graham King and Queen manager Jim Beach. It stars Rami Malek as Mercury, with Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Tom Hollander, and Mike Myers in supporting roles. Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor also served as consultants. A British-American venture, it was produced by Regency Enterprises, GK Films and Queen Films, and was distributed by 20th Century Fox.

The Rhapsody Tour was a worldwide concert tour by Queen + Adam Lambert, the collaboration between British rock band Queen and American singer Adam Lambert. The tour was announced following the success of the biopic film Bohemian Rhapsody. The tour marks the group's third visits to North America and Oceania after performing there in 2014 as part of the Queen + Adam Lambert Tour 2014–2015 and in 2017 and 2018 as part of the Queen + Adam Lambert Tour 2017–2018. The North American dates of the tour sold out in April 2019. The North American leg began on 10 July 2019, in Vancouver, Canada at the Rogers Arena and continued throughout the continent until its last show in Charlotte. The tour concluded in Tokyo Dome on 14 February 2024.

References

  1. https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2487630/the-dude-who-helped-rami-malek-sing-in-bohemian-rhapsody-had-a-feeling-it-would-be-a-big-hit
  2. "A Letter From Us To You".
  3. "Canadian singer Marc Martel goes viral with Freddie Mercury imitation". National Post. September 26, 2011. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  4. "Marc Martel: Freddie Mercury Impression Makes For A Very Viral Video". HuffPost Canada. September 23, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  5. My "Somebody To Love" audition. YouTube. September 20, 2011. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  6. "The Band". Queen Extravaganza. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  7. "Marc Martel a Winner of The Queen Extravaganza Contest (VIDEO)". Christianpost.com. December 9, 2011. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  8. Moring, Mark (December 8, 2011). "Christianity Today Entertainment Blog: Downhere's Marc Martel wins Queen Contest". Christianity Today. Archived from the original on April 23, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  9. "Media". Queen Extravaganza. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  10. "iTunes – Music – The Prelude EP by Marc Martel". Itunes.apple.com. February 1, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  11. "Hear It First! Queen Extravaganza Frontman Marc Martel Marches to His Own Drum on 'Ringo Starr'". yahoo.com. September 19, 2014.
  12. "Just Dance Now Credits". justdancenow.com. August 2017.
  13. "Marc Martel Announces 'The Silent Night EP'". newreleasetoday.com.
  14. "The Ultimate Queen Celebration – Our Story". theultimatequeencelebration.com.
  15. "Billboard Chart History – Marc Martel". billboard.com.
  16. "Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Marc Martel's 'Silver Bells' Garners No.1 Spot on Charts". newreleasetoday.com.
  17. "Bryan Singer Will Be the Credited Director on 'Bohemian Rhapsody'". collider.com. June 12, 2018.
  18. "Freddie Goes to Hollywood: How 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Finally Got Made". RollingStone. July 10, 2018. Archived from the original on December 19, 2019.
  19. "King & Queen: Producer Graham King recounts his 10-year effort to bring Freddie Mercury's story to the screen". FilmJournal International. October 22, 2018. Archived from the original on October 26, 2018.
  20. "Five Nights at Freddy's World Characters Voice Actors". April 9, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2020 via YouTube.
  21. "Marc Martel Artist Profile | Biography And Discography". NewReleaseTuesday.com. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  22. "Down to earth with downhere". Jesus Freak Hideout. Retrieved November 2, 2008.
  23. Monger, James Christopher. "(Biography) Downhere > Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved November 2, 2008.
  24. Breimeier, Russ (September 22, 2008). "(Review) Ending Is Beginning". Christianity Today. Retrieved October 11, 2008.
  25. "Downhere Discography". Jesus Freak Hideout. Retrieved May 15, 2010.