Barcelona

Barcelona is an album recorded by Freddie Mercury, the front-man of the popular British rock band Queen, and operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé. The album was recorded in 1987 and 1988, and released in 1988. After Barcelona was selected to be the next Olympic city, Freddie was approached to write a song as a theme for the forthcoming games. The idea was to create a duet with Montserrat, as she is from the city. During the initial meetings, Fredd... more

Barcelona is an album recorded by Freddie Mercury, the front-man of the popular British rock band Queen, and operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé. The album was recorded in 1987 and 1988, and released in 1988. After Barcelona was selected to be the next Olympic city, Freddie was approached to write a song as a theme for the forthcoming games. The idea was to create a duet with Montserrat, as she is from the city. During the initial meetings, Freddie and Montserrat had developed a respect for each other's music and voices. They soon decided to work on an album together, with Mercury and Mike Moran taking the creative lead as songwriters. The song was composed by Mercury and includes violins by Homi Kanga and Laurie Lewis, cello by Deborah Ann Johnston, horn by Barry Castle and percussion by Frank Ricotti. It was written to be the theme song of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, but Mercury died less than a year earlier. It was however performed live at the opening by Montserrat,... less