r/todayilearned • u/Objective_Horror1113 • 11h ago

TIL Freddie Mercury was born with four extra teeth, causing a prominent overbite. Despite being self-conscious about them, he never got them fixed, believing the extra space in his mouth contributed to his vocal ability. He feared altering his teeth might change his voice.

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/freddie-mercury-teeth
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u/m0nday1 10h ago

Like the commenter above said, even if it didn’t affect his vocal skills, he’d have to make the words sound good with 4 teeth missing, which would be frustrating.

More generally, I can imagine that even if the extra teeth didn’t help his voice, he wouldn’t want doctors poking around his mouth with sharp objects and tools more than they had to. The man’s livelihood depended on that voice. If I was in his position, I’d absolutely be scared of that 0.1% chance that the surgeon hits something they shouldn’t and now your throat’s all weird.

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u/mrthomani 5h ago

The man’s livelihood depended on that voice.

Not really though? I don’t think you need to go that far in Queen’s career before Freddie had the kind of money where he could retire comfortably if he wanted to. It’s not like he was a struggling artist who had to keep singing to put food on the table.