Freddie Mercury Showcase: Queen’s ‘Somebody to Love’
by Best Classic Bands Staff
The picture sleeve of the U.K. single
By 1976, Queen were bona fide rock stars, developing a fast-growing fan base based on their first four albums and steady touring. In less than two-and-a-half years, they had released Queen (1973), Queen II (1974), Sheer Heart Attack (1974) and A Night at the Opera (1975) and their success was evident by their upward progress on the album sales charts. In the U.K., the pattern was 24-5-2-1. In the larger U.S. market: 83-49-12-4.
When it came time to record a fifth studio LP, they chose to produce it themselves. The result was A Day at the Races, their second album named for a Marx Brothers movie. Four weeks before its December 10, 1976 release, Queen put out the first single, “Somebody to Love” on November 12, featuring a (no-surprise!) stunning vocal from Freddie Mercury who also wrote the song, and in three weeks it reached its U.K. chart peak of #2.
Top 40 radio programmers in the U.S. were still a bit slow on fully accepting Queen. A year earlier, the band’s classic rock masterpiece, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” had peaked at #9 and “Somebody to Love,” which debuted on the U.S. singles chart at #70 on Nov. 27 would reach only #13 in America.
As for A Day at the Races, the album became Queen’s second consecutive title to reach #1 in the U.K. It hit #5 in the U.S.
Queen released the official lyric video for the song on May 8, 2017 and it features terrific studio footage of a band hitting their stride. Now you can sing along with Mercury karaoke style!
Watch and sing along to “Somebody to Love”
Mercury was born September 5, 1946. He died on November 24, 1991 at age 45.
Related: Mercury’s private funeral
Queen’s recordings—including many expanded editions—are available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
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