Best Answer: Freddie had four extra teeth on his upper jaw which were pushing the front ones the way you saw in the pictures. It was an overbite and Freddie was never comfortable with it. He was always careful to cover his teeth with his lip while speaking and always putting his hand in front of his mouth when laughing. Freddie had four extra teeth in his upper jaw, creating an overbite that Freddie was apparently never comfortable with. However, he never considered fixing them, because he believed that his four extra teeth were creating the special sound of his powerful voice.
Queen's lead singer Freddie Mercury was an enigmatic man of mystery to many. But Peter Hince worked for Queen for 12 years as roadie for Mercury and for bassist John Deacon. When Hince started out with the band in 1975, they were recording the classic album. He bowed out after their huge show at Knebworth on August 9, 1986 – what turned out to be Queen’s final performance with Mercury.Hince tells of his career with the band in his book.
It offers a revealing insight into the life of the frontman and the years in which Queen became one of the biggest bands in the world.Here, Hince tells us about Mercury: the man behind the myth. He spills the beans about the other members of Queen – Deacon, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. And he reveals the truth about that legendary Queen party. Peter Hince's 1976 tour laminate, as featured in 'Queen Unseen' Freddie Mercury: getting to know Queen's lead singerYou knew Freddie Mercury well. What was he really like as a person?“People talk about Freddie and his ego, but his ego was not as big as people think. It was all a persona. He could make fun of himself, whereas some of the other guys in the band couldn’t do it in the same way.
You could have a laugh with Freddie, but you knew were the line was. He wasn’t necessarily the prima donna that everybody thought he was.”Was Freddie the greatest rock star of his generation?“As a frontman he was unbeatable. It wasn’t just about his voice but the way he commanded the stage. I loved Zeppelin and The Who – Plant and Daltrey were great frontmen – but I think Fred had more in terms of showmanship and presence. For him it was all about interacting with the audience, knowing how to play an audience and get them on his side. And he gave everything in every show.”Did he have a certain presence off stage as well as on?“Oh yeah. Fred was unique.
I used to work for Bowie, but no one had the aura that Fred had. Maybe Mick Jagger did, to a degree. But with Fred there was always something about him, from the very early days. He had that kind of aura. Not aloofness. But you felt that he was someone special.”For all the charisma that Freddie had, did you sense that beneath it all he was insecure?“Oh, totally. He did have a lot of insecurities – not professionally, but personally.”When did you first meet Freddie and the other guys in Queen?“1973.
I was working for Mott The Hoople and Queen were supporting them on a British tour. Queen’s first album had just come out.”.
(Image credit: Michael Putland Hulton Archive)And you worked for Bowie before then?“Yeah. I was Mick Ronson’s roadie on the Ziggy Stardust tour.
After the Hammersmith show and David ‘retired’, I worked for Mott. And by the time Mott had finished in ’75, I needed work and luckily I got the job with Queen.”And you witnessed first-hand their rise to global superstardom“Queen wanted to be the biggest band in the world. They made no secret of that. And yes, I saw it all happen. In the 70s they were a fantastic rock band, and in the 80s they became a fantastic pop band.”You were also witness to the recording of many classic Queen albums.“I was there when Bohemian Rhapsody was recorded. I just remember not knowing what the bloody hell it was all about!
And I was with Freddie when he wrote Crazy Little Thing Called Love. That was a really special moment.”. (Image credit: John Rodgers/Redferns)There is one major disappointment in your book. You refer to an infamous story about the party staged in New Orleans in 1978 for the release of Queen’s album Jazz – at which, it was alleged, guests were served cocaine from bowls carried by dwarves on their heads. You call the story “complete bollocks”“It is – complete nonsense. There were dwarves there, but they were hidden under plates of liver and other cold meats.”John Deacon was always the quiet man of Queen. In a sense, he is the great enigma of the band“John is virtually a recluse now.
He wants to remain private and I think people should respect that. John was always a very down to earth, regular guy. He had six kids and was really into his family, but he also just happened to be in one of the biggest bands in the world.”How would you describe Brian May?“Brian is one of the most complex people you could ever come across.
He’s got a huge heart and wants to be nice and kind to everybody. He was the most sensitive of the band in some ways. But like most people he’s got another side.
He can be quite ruthless.”And Roger Taylor?“Roger loved the rock star lifestyle – all the cars and the country houses. He certainly enjoyed his money, as Fred did, whereas Brian and John, being more traditional family men, they held back a little bit. But Rog loved it. At times he could be a little bit rock-starry, but I think he’s mellowed in the last few years.
He’s more reflective.”Freddie was always a gay man hidden in plain sight. Was that difficult for him during the less enlightened times of the 70s and 80s?“Very much so. Obviously after The Game in 1980, with him becoming more overtly gay with the moustache, I think things became a little difficult for him then.”Live Aid, in 1985, was a defining moment in Queen’s career.
What do you remember most of that day?“Well, at first they weren’t keen to do it. There were serious problems within the band at that time. I think it’s quite likely they would have broken up because (1984 album) The Works hadn’t done anything in America, they didn’t tour it there. And Fred was doing his solo stuff.
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So Live Aid galvanised them. It was a watershed for the band. They got the audience at the right time with the right songs. Maybe they felt they had something to prove. When they came off, you really felt – and they felt – that they’d stolen the show. Elton said that to them afterwards: “You fuckers!”. Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury: 'As a frontman he was unbeatable'In all the years that you worked for Queen, what were the best and worst parts of the job?“The best part was the travel, the experiences, and that kind of reflected glory from working for a huge band.
The worst parts were when you’re not appreciated, you’re feeling used and abused, when it’s a horrible, dirty, mucky existence – loading trucks, not sleeping for two days. But that was all part of the job. And the bottom line was it was a job.”When you finally quit, in 1986, did you have sleepless nights about that decision?“Not really. One day something just clicks. It got to the point where I was working my bollocks off, I didn’t feel I was being appreciated, and there was no way to further yourself within the organisation. I didn’t want to work for another band. I thought I’d go out at the top of my game.
I also felt I probably couldn’t have gone on much longer. It does get to you. I don’t regret it.”Roger says he likes your book. Did that surprise you?' He could be a bit aloof. So that was quite nice. I think he’s a lot more relaxed about things these days.”How do you feel about Roger and Brian carrying on as Queen without Freddie and John?“Well, when Fred died, John was like: ‘That’s it, there’s no more Queen.’ Brian and Roger wanted to carry on in the various guises of Queen, and I understand why they want to do that.
I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do. They can still be musicians without using the Queen name. But the fame game – people like to keep it up as long as they can.”Many Queen fans would agree with you: no Freddie, no Queen.“That’s most poignant thing. After Fred died, you can never recreate that, no matter what guise it is. I saw the Queen + Paul Rodgers thing, and he’s one of my favourite singers, but it was completely the wrong fit.
And as for, I’m sure he can sing, but it’s a bit like some Vegas cabaret in a way. You know, if you never saw the band, well, here’s half the band. But it’s not for me.”.
What are they made of?Dental acrylics, basically. If your nan had false teeth, and she takes them out and puts them in the glass beside her bed, it’s similar material to that. But each tooth has been handmade in layers, to get the colours and to fit Rami. Nothing’s stock.And how do they fit on?We don’t use fixatives. They just go on the front of his teeth, behind his lip. Because the minute you go over the biting surface of your teeth it will affect the way you talk, and you won’t be able to close your mouth.
Whereas Rami could close his mouth fully, because none of my teeth were on the biting surface of his. They literally just clip in and out in seconds. We did varying sizes, going all the way up to Freddie-sized teeth. When we did the first big test and presented it to Bryan Singer the film’s original director, that’s when we realised if we went for the full-sized teeth they were going to be far too big on Rami, because of his size. We scaled it down so that everything matched with Rami’s face and features.Bohemian Rhapsody: Freddie Mercury in 1978.
Rami Malek wears prosthetic teeth to re-create the Queen frontman’s overbite. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/GettyThe teeth for this film are big, but you’ve made a wide range of tooth sizes throughout your careerWe can make teeth as thin as 0.1mm, or fangs that are 1in 2.5cm thick. And we make gold teeth.
Rami asked me to make a set of Freddie teeth in gold for him. I made him a little stand for them. He wanted to keep them at home, because it’s not a common character to play.What would you use the really thin teeth for?If you’re playing a character who’s living in the wild or a vagrant, or something like that, your oral hygiene is pretty bad. So instead of painting on your teeth, which would affect continuity, we can take a thin material, paint that up, you clip it in and suddenly your teeth are discoloured. When we did Tilda Swinton in Suspiria, she’s got them in. She’s one of my regular customers.What kind of tooth work have you done that we wouldn’t notice?I’ve done all the new Star Wars and their spin-offs, and I haven’t noticed one set of our teeth in any of the films yet.What was one of your most difficult undertakings?That would be on, for the film Youth without Youth. The shot was going to be, he’s in hospital and the doctor was going to put his finger in his mouth.
And they wanted every tooth in his head to be loose, like wobbling. It took me two months to work out how I was going to do it. We must have made four or five different sets before being happy enough with one we could present.
I couldn’t believe it worked in the film.And what about a more inventive task?We did teeth that were 30 times life size for the music video. They wanted to put a camera inside her mouth, as if they were filming from inside outward. So it had to be her teeth, her gums, the roof and the floor of her mouth, 30 times life size. I was supplied with a cast of her mouth. It got digitally enlarged.
Then we had to replicate it and get it in the same tooth and gum colours as hers. – New York Times.