Former Sask. resident hoping to become next Freddy Mercury

For years Marc Martel has been told he looks and sounds like Freddy Mercury.

The front man of legendary rock band Queen died in 1991, but if you close your eyes while Martel is singing, you could swear it is Mercury himself.

And Martel, who grew up in Montreal and studied at Briercrest College in Caronport, Sask., has taken advantage of his resemblance to the popular singer – all thanks to an e-mail from a friend.

“In the subject line all it said was ‘A must’, and when I checked it out, I thought, this is something I could do really well at,” Martel said via Skype in Pierre, South Dakota, while touring with his band, Downhere.  

The link was for a contest called Queen Extravaganza. It was calling for auditions to be part of a 40^th Anniversary tribute band tour.  

Martel put his audition video on Youtube, and by Wednesday garnered 4.3M hits. 

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“I got tweeted by Bryan Adams and in the tweet he said, ‘Hey, I told my friend Brian May about you yesterday’, who’s the guitar player for Queen,” Martel said. 

“My brain almost exploded.” 

His musical career really began at Briercrest College. He and several classmates formed Downhere, a Christian rock band. 

Dwayne Uglem, President of Briercrest College, says it was clear Martel had a special talent from the time he walked in the door.  

“I thought, man, he’s got an amazing voice and admired how he used that voice,” Uglem said.  

Cal MacFarlane, Martel’s former teacher, agrees.  

“He was one of those students that when he sang, the hair sort of went up on your neck and you thought, ‘Wow’,” he said.  

Now, Martel frequently performs and interacts with large crowds. According to MacFarlane, it wasn’t always like that.  

“I remember Marc was painfully shy,” he said. “He was one of those guys who would play the piano with his head down. He could barely look at the audience when he played.” 

The Briercrest community has been following Martel’s career, first with Downhere, now with Queen Extravaganza. His success comes as little surprise to them. 

“I’m just excited to see what’s going to become of it,” Uglem said. “We’re cheering for him.” 

Martel will find out in December if he is the champion. For now, he’s still shocked by all the support, but says he has a great support system, including a new bride.  

“It’s pretty mind-blowing,” Martel said.