Going pro with a rock star fantasy
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Gary Mullen had long been a rabid fan of Freddie Mercury and Queen when his mum pulled a fast one on him.
“I was always singing their songs when I was a kid, using my bed as a stage and a hairbrush for a microphone,” the Scotsman said. “Freddie was my hero: larger than life, super-confident, but also with a dark and insecure side.
“He was also very tongue-in-cheek with what he did and never really took himself seriously.”
Mullen played in a few bands and such in high school, but believed he’d had enough of that when it came time to raise his family and took a job with Compaq as a computer salesman, but continued to wow local karaoke audience with his Mercury impersonation.
Then with the consent of the missus, his mother put in an application for him to be on the British television show “Stars In Their Eyes,” a contest in which people impersonate famous singers.
“She knew I wouldn’t do it myself,” he said, “so when they called to tell me I would be in the show, I was incredibly sarcastic with they guy because I thought someone was having me on.”
But compete he did and when he won the Grand Final in 2000, “No one was more surprised than me,” he said.
He also found an opportunity to really make his dreams of being a rock star come true and put together a band “to re-create the Queen experience.”
“For some, it’s a nostalgia trip,” he said, “but the fans keep getting younger and I see people bringing their children and grandchildren. Sometimes I feel like one of the boy bands up there on the stage.”
Since 2002, “A Night of Queen” has been touring the United Kingdom and Europe virtually non-stop, and this year makes its first swing through the United States with rousing renditions of Queen’s greatest hits, such as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Are the Champions,” “Somebody to Love” and “Another One Bites the Dust.”
“Like Freddie, we give it 140 percent every night,” Mullen said. “Otherwise, you’re cheating the fans if they're not deaf and blind by song four.”
- WHAT: “One Night of Queen” by Gary Mullen and the Works
- WHERE: Procter & Gamble Hall, Aronoff Center for the Arts, 650 Walnut, Cincinnati
- WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, March 22
- COST: $30-$40
- MORE INFO: (513) 621-2787; www.cincinnatiarts.org
