Marc Martel Featured in Major Media Outlets Amid Queen Movie Awards Triumph
Former Downhere singer featured by 'New York Times' and 'Good Morning America'
Posted: February 27, 2019, 5:00 PM | Category:Movies / Media Artist Tags: Marc Martel Source: Staff Reports JF
Former Downhere vocalist Marc Martel has achieved a notable deal of mainstream success since being "discovered" for his uncanny vocal similarities to the late Queen singer, Freddie Mercury. Martel has had a remarkable fortune to go viral several times as more and more people discover his gift. His latest fame comes courtesy of the Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody. Throughout the film, Martel's vocals were used where original masters of Mercury were unavailable or insufficient to the scene. The film went on to become a runaway success, banking over $800 million at the global box office and scoring a slew of Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Lead Actor for star Rami Malek. Yet, despite all of this, Martel's involvement in the film remained something of an industry secret. While the news made its rounds to Martel's fans on social media, the film's general audience seemed to remain in the dark on just how they got Rami Malek to "sound just like Freddie." Martel received only an "additional vocals" billing in the film credits, an easy-to-miss mention, even for those already looking for his name.
As awards season drew closer and various features on the nominated films began to appear in various media publications, the word of "how they did it" began to become the subject of several stories. In the week leading up to the ceremony, Martel found himself the subject of a New York Times editorial entitled "He Sounds Like Freddie Mercury, and That's Good For Business." Martel was also featured on an Oscar's segment on Good Morning America.
While Martel watched the ceremony itself on television, in which the film collected several of its nominated technical awards in addition to a win for Best Lead Actor for Malek, these media exposures represent another massive exposure for the singer, who used to be one of the best kept secrets in Christian music. The articles make fleeting mention to Martel's time in Downhere, and give Martel's increasingly popular work since a whole new potential audience.
