#barry mitchell

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Yes, I can definitely tell you more! It's partly speculation, but here's what I'm basing it on. (Fyi, I've thought about Freddie's insecurities regarding their early bassists so much I even wrote a fic about it - in Froger flavour tho. 😂)

So, Queen's second bassist was Barry Mitchell.

Imo, it's evident from a lot of Barry's quotes that he just did not think much of Freddie.

Here's Roger's reaction to the 'Mercury Suit', by the way:

It was also about the music for Barry:

Here is a video of Barry talking about the Genesis incident.

And here is an interview with Barry where he very much suggests that thinking Freddie didn't have what it takes was one of the reasons he left.

Barry wasn't the only one who thought Freddie wasn't really all that impressive at the time.

However, the producer who had produced Smile and stayed friends with Roger, John Anthony, could see their potential (including Freddie's) but didn't think much of Barry!

So that's why I think Freddie may have rightfully felt like he was the reason Barry left, and I can't imagine that he found that easy to shrug off.

On a side note, I found the funniest, most wtf random bit of quote from John Anthony while putting this post together, so let's end it with a laugh. 😆

January 9, 1971, Ewell, UK, Tehnical College. ©️ for the info to Queenlive.ca .

- The venue for this show was near Kensington Market, where Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor had worked at a stall selling clothing and shoes since 1969. They would remain there until March 1974, when their music career would start to take off.

Alan Mair, one of their co-workers at the market, says the gig wasn't very good overall. He said Brian and Roger were very accomplished, but that Freddie looked awkward on stage and sang pitchy at times. He and some friends went to a local pub afterward, and were afraid of what to tell Freddie because he was so excited about the band.

On September 19, instead of rehearsing for this show as planned, they mourned the death of Jimi Hendrix only as musicians could. Original bassist Barry Mitchell explained in a 2018 interview: "We all loved and adored Jimi Hendrix. We were shattered. We were supposed to be working on our own material because we had a gig coming up in a couple weeks. Our heart wasn't in it, so we spent the entire rehearsal jamming Jimi Hendrix songs."