News Freddie Mercury’s Darth Vader on how Star Wars’ George Lucas shut down iconic Queen stunt
EXCLUSIVE: Freddie Mercury’s bodyguard, who played Darth Vader in Queen concerts, has spoken out on the joy of performing We Will Rock You with the late singer and how Star Wars creator George Lucas shut down the iconic stunt.
During Queen’s US tours of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the band recruited hulking great big members of the Northwestern American football team to be their security.
Becoming Head of Security at just 22, Walt “Wally” Versen admitted it was “a bit like hiring the Cambridge rowing team to be your security staff!”
During this period at the height of Queen’s fame, Freddie Mercury made the most of his love for theatrical stunts.
Before Walt was hired, security guards used to take it in turns bringing out the frontman on their shoulders while dressed as either Superman or Santa Claus.
But when Walt joined the team and was asked by the singer to do the same, he had a better idea.
Walt, who was promoting Queen Rock Montreal in IMAX for this week only, remembered being in Phoenix, Arizona in Queen’s dressing room where Freddie was sat down on the couch.
The singer brought up the Superman thing, but his Head of Security suggested Darth Vader instead. After all, Star Wars was really popular with The Empire Strikes Back having come out in 1980. Freddie agreed, so Walt looked up a costume shop in the Yellow Pages and the rest was history.
The bodyguard shared: “Fred sang We Will Rock You from my shoulders. I had quite a unique experience with that song. There’s only three of us left on the planet who heard it from underneath Freddie Mercury!” Yet after performing the stunt a dozen times throughout the tour, it was suddenly halted.
