Marc Martel is “The Impersonator”

One of the unsung (pun intended) vocal masters of our planet is the incredible Marc Martel. Marc spent a decade and a half as one of the two lead vocalists of the Canadian band downhere. Over the years downhere won 23 GMA Canada, 4 Juno, and one Dove award, but those accolades do little to express the extraordinary talent found in the band. Unfortunately for fans, the members of downhere elected to go on hiatus at the end of 2012.

Martel’s uncanny resemblance Freddie Mercury, both vocally and visually, led him to take on the role of Mercury on the Queen Extravaganza Tour during the past three years. His YouTube audition for the slot went viral, surpassing 9 million views. When Queen’s drummer Roger Taylor first heard and saw Martel he recounted: “It was as if Freddie (Mercury) was in the room.”

Martel’s abilities go beyond just sounding like Mercury or his work with downhere. He recently posted a YouTube video of his operatic abilities on his recording of “The Mercurotti”. Martel described the project:

A duet of two of my favorite musical influences, Freddie Mercury and Luciano Pavarotti. This is one continuous performance from start to finish, shot in one take, using two cameras. No audio has been cut or replaced. I added the “Pavarotti” harmony for “Vincero, Vincero!” afterwards, since I have yet to master singing in both voices simultaneously. Stay tuned, though.

Marc Martel releases his new album Impersonator, Sept 30th. Click here to pre-order the album.