''Mr. Bad Guy'' is the only solo studio album by British musician

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...

, lead singer of Queen. Released in 1985, during a period in which Queen were on hiatus from recording, it contains eleven songs, all written by Mercury himself. The album was reissued on 11 October 2019, in newly remixed form, on CD, vinyl, digital and streaming services, via Mercury Records.

Background

In contrast to Queen's typically rock-oriented work, Mercury and co-producer Reinhold Mack drew on

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, dance music and

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influences for ''Mr. Bad Guy'', all of which had surfaced on Queen's previous studio album, '' Hot Space'' (1982), also produced by Mack. Mercury stated, "I had a lot of ideas bursting to get out and there were a lot of musical territories I wanted to explore which I really couldn't do within Queen." Co-producer Mack added, "he used to get pretty annoyed working with the others, because there was always Brian saying, 'It needs to be more rock 'n' roll.'" ''Mr. Bad Guy'' took nearly two years to record, as Mercury had to gather enough material together while committing to band activities. Initially, the album was supposed to feature duets with Mercury and Michael Jackson. However, other sources state that personal conflicts were to blame for unfinished tracks. Mercury reportedly dropped out of any further collaboration after feeling uncomfortable working with Jackson's pet llama in the studio. One track from these collaborative sessions, "

There Must Be More to Life Than This "There Must Be More to Life Than This" is the eighth track on Queen singer Freddie Mercury's debut solo album '' Mr. Bad Guy'', released on 29 April 1985 by Columbia Records. The song was originally recorded by Queen for 1982's ''Hot Space'', ...

", was reworked for the ''Mr. Bad Guy'' album, although the original recording featuring Jackson was eventually released on ''

Queen Forever ''Queen Forever'' is a compilation album by the British rock band Queen (band), Queen. Released on 10 November 2014, it features tracks the band had "forgotten about" with vocals from original lead singer Freddie Mercury. Queen's bassist John De ...

'' in 2014.

Production

Recording was taxing on Mercury, as he took part in everything from performing the tracks (including vocals, piano and synthesizer), arranging the orchestration and working with the sound engineers. Mercury's use of synthesizers and orchestration in track development added to the diversity of each piece. The album's original title was ''Made in Heaven'', but Mercury changed his mind weeks before the album went to press. Originally released on

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

/ CBS, copyrights for ''Mercury Songs'', a company owned by Freddie Mercury's estate, had been revoked following his death in 1991. ''Mr. Bad Guy'' would remain out of print on CD until 2000, when it was included on The Solo Collection, and in 2019, when it was reissued and remixed due to the commercial success of '' Bohemian Rhapsody'', a biographical film about him.

Singles

Lead single " I Was Born to Love You" with the non-album B-side "Stop All the Fighting" debuted at number 50 on 14 April 1985, peaking at number 11 on 5 May 1985. It also reached number four in South Africa and number 20 on 1 June in Austria. " Made in Heaven" peaked at number 57 on the UK Singles Chart on 21 July 1985 and charted for four weeks. "Living on My Own" charted at number 50 in the United Kingdom, while the fourth and final single, "Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow," debuted and peaked at number 76 on the UK chart on 24 November 1985.

Re-worked singles

"Living on My Own" was re-released in 1993 in a remixed form by No More Brothers, while "I Was Born to Love You" became Mercury's only solo chart success in Australia, reaching number 13. That song and "Made in Heaven" were later reworked by the three surviving Queen members and included on the 1995 studio album '' Made in Heaven''.ARCHIVE MR. BAD GUY (1985)
- freddiemercury.com

Track listing

All songs written by

Personnel

The following personnel are credited in the liner notes. * Freddie Mercury – vocals, piano,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

* Fred Mandel – additional piano,

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

* Paul Vincent – lead guitar *

Curt Cress Curtis Cress (born 11 August 1952), known by his stage name Curt Cress, is a German musician, singer and songwriter. Life and work Curt Cress began his career in 1965 in Hanau with the band Load. Later also in Hanau he played with the bands I ...

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drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Stephan Wissnet – bass guitar *

Jo Burt Jo Burt (born 1956) is an English rock musician. He is possibly known for being the bassist for Black Sabbath during their 1987 tour in support of the album ''The Eternal Idol''. He left the band once the tour ended. Jo Burt was also a founding ...

– bass guitar on "Man Made Paradise" * Mack and Stephan Wissnet – programming * Rainer Pietsch - orchestral arrangements ;Technical * Mack, assisted by Stephan Wissnet – engineering * The Artful Dodger –

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–

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Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mister Bad Guy Freddie Mercury albums 1985 debut albums Albums produced by Reinhold Mack Albums produced by Freddie Mercury Columbia Records albums