Montreal singer-songwriter Marc Martel had heard for years that he sounded like Queen’s flamboyant singer Freddie Mercury. 

That didn’t mean much to him. He never heard of Freddie Mercury.

“When I was younger, I was in a ‘regular’ band, where we performed music that I wrote,” he said. 

“It was a normal thing for people to come up to me and say, ‘Hey, you sound like Freddie Mercury,’ even though I was singing my own songs.”

The irony is that, at the time, he had never heard of Queen. When he heard Mercury sing, he wanted to break free of that comparison.

“I thought that was going to be it for me in my musical career, where for the rest of my life, I’m going to be compared to Freddie Mercury — which I guess is true,” he said. “For the rest of my life, I’m going to be compared to Freddie Mercury.”

Instead of escaping the comparison, Martel unexpectedly built a career around it. His recent project is “One Vision of Queen featuring Marc Martel,” which comes to the Chandler Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Nov. 6. Tickets start at $50.

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Killer musician

Music has been part of Martel’s life for as long as he can remember. Raised in Montreal, he grew up in a household where music and ministry went hand in hand. His father was a pastor, while his mother directed the church’s music and choir programs.

“That’s a fateful combination of parental influences,” Martel said with a laugh. “I had a stage to myself whenever I wanted it, and even when I didn’t want it.”

He studied piano as a child and later taught himself guitar as a teenager. The instrument sparked something beyond performance.

“I started writing songs around that point,” he said.

Yet music never seemed like a realistic career path.

“I didn’t meet a single professional, full-time musician until I was well into my college years,” Martel said. “I didn’t really see it as a valid career path.”

That changed at Briercrest Bible College in Caronport, Saskatchewan, where he formed a band that eventually signed with a Nashville label, bringing him to the United States.

He is the champion

In September 2011, Martel went viral with an online audition video in which he sang “Somebody to Love” for the TV show “The Queen Extravaganza.” Queen drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May chose him to front the band’s official tribute act.

“Things took a turn, and I was picked to be the lead singer of the official Queen tribute band, which was owned and operated by Queen,” he said. “That sort of put me in the public eye as the ‘Freddie Mercury guy.’”

According to Queen Online, the 90-minute show featured more than 20 Queen classics drawn from the band’s biggest hits: “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “Under Pressure,” “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” “A Kind of Magic,” “Radio Ga Ga,” “Somebody to Love” and “Killer Queen.”

That relationship paid off. Martel was chosen to provide uncredited “stunt vocals” for Mercury in the 2018 Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody.” His vocals were blended with archival recordings and Rami Malek’s dialogue and vocals.

The film was produced by Graham King and Jim Beach (Queen’s long-time manager), with May and Taylor serving as executive producers and musical consultants. 

Martel spent time recording songs and scenes for the film, never knowing how much of his work would make the final cut.

“They had me basically sing any song that they thought they might use in the movie,” Martel said. “I had no idea how much they were going to use me and how little they were going to use me.”

Sitting in the theater with his wife for the movie’s premiere became an exercise in suspense.

“I sat there and kind of just on pins and needles the whole time, just waiting for the next singing scene and seeing if they were using my recording or the original recording,” he said. “I think my second viewing of the movie was a little more enjoyable than the first one.”

Even now, Martel occasionally discovers moments he missed.

“The subsequent times that I watched the movie, I started hearing myself in other scenes I didn’t catch the first time,” he said. “Like, ‘Oh, there I am. That’s weird.’”

He will rock you

With “One Vision of Queen,” Martel said the audience response continues to surprise him.

“We’ve played over 400 shows now over the last 10 years,” he said. “I can’t think of a single show that there wasn’t just mayhem by the end of the show, everyone on their feet.”

Queen’s catalog gives him plenty to work with. The band released 15 studio albums, allowing Martel and his musicians to build a set packed with familiar favorites while occasionally digging a little deeper.

“I like to joke on stage that our set list is more stacked than any actual Queen show Queen ever performed,” he said. “We’ve got all the hits to pick from.”

And audiences notice when one is missing.

Martel recalled shortening a show and leaving “Killer Queen” off the setlist, only to hear fans calling for it by name before the night was over.

“People were chanting ‘Killer Queen, Killer Queen,’” he said with a laugh. “There’s only so many songs that you can leave out of a set.”

For someone who once thought the Mercury comparisons were simply an amusing coincidence, it’s a reminder of just how unexpected his journey has been.

“Lots of really wild opportunities have come just due to the fact that I sound like another person,” Martel said.

“It’s a really cool line for me to get to walk, where I get to perform some of the most beloved music in the world, and at the same time, I give my own perspective on it in a unique way that no one else could bring to it.”