Freddie Mercury performance that was "buried deep in the vaults" has been released
A previously-unseen performance by the late, great Freddie Mercury has been unveiled by the singer's long-time friend. The song, "Time Waits For No One," was released on Mercury's website "after four decades buried deep in the vaults," a statement on the site reads.
Not only can fans download an audio version of the song, but they can also watch the always-captivating Mercury perform the song in a music video. An angelic-like Mercury, dressed in white, sings the ballad in his signature broken microphone.
"Time Waits for Nobody," was previously called "Time." The video was made in 1986 for the concept album of a musical, also called "Time."
After two years of work, musician, songwriter and producer Dave Clark released the song with its full title. The musical was Clark's "brainchild," the statement on Mercury's website reads. It opened on London's West End in 1986 and ran for two years, with millions of people attending performances, according to the statement.
Mercury's performance shows him "at his most compelling," the statement reads. The song was recorded in 1985, when Mercury traveled from his home in Germany to London's Abbey Road Studios.
The newly-released video is "a completely stripped-down performance, accompanied by just a piano, showcasing one of music's most beloved and show-stopping voices," the statement reads. "The 'Time' session was recorded in a haze of late nights and fueled by 'fabulous food, vodka and Cristal Champagne', courtesy of Freddie's personal chef Joe Fanelli."
When Clark first commissioned Mercury to sing a song for his musical, naysayers said the superstar wouldn't do it. But they were proven wrong. "We got on great...if I didn't like something I'd say, and vice versa...we were both aiming for the same thing: to make something special," Clark said.
In addition to the audio and video of the performance, Mercury's estate also released a video of him and Clark discussing the story behind the song.
The previously concealed recordings give fans a new glimpse at Freddie Mercury, who died from complications of AIDS in 1991.