The Great Pretender#Freddie Mercury's version

Buck Ram, the manager of the Platters, said that he wrote the song in about 20 minutes in the washroom of the Flamingo Hotel in order to have a follow-up to the success of "Only You (And You Alone)". Ram had boasted to Bob Shad that he had an even better song than "Only You", and when pressed by Shad on the name of the song, Ram quickly replied "The Great Pretender". He said the song would be a hit even before he had written the song to go with the title.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L2kGAQAAMAAJ&q=great+pretender |title=Rock Movers & Shakers|first=Barry |last=Lazell |publisher=Billboard Publications|date= 1989 |page=377 |isbn=9780823076086}} The song was recorded by the Platters and released in November 1955.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aO8ZAQAAIAAJ&q=great+pretender+issued |title=The Da Capo Book Of American Singing Groups |first=Jay |last=Warner|publisher=Da Capo Press|date=2000 |page=256|isbn=9780306809231}} Plas Johnson played tenor saxophone on the recording. It became the best-selling R&B song in January 1956,{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3B4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA47 |title=The Billboard Music Popularity Charts: Rhythm & Blues Records|page=55 |magazine=Billboard |date=January 7, 1956 }} and reached No. 2 on the Top 100 chart on Billboard in February 1956.{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4B4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA51 |title=The Top 100 |magazine= Billboard |date=February 16, 1956|page=51}} It was also the 12th best-selling singles of 1956.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/50s/1957/Billboard%201957-01-26.pdf |title=1956's Top Popular Records |magazine=The Billboard |date=January 26, 1957 |volume=69 |issue=4 |page= 60}}

The Platters performed "The Great Pretender" and "Only You" in the 1956 musical film Rock Around the Clock.,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D2ehAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA139|title=The Classic Rock and Roll Reader: Rock Music from Its Beginnings to the Mid 1970s|first1= William E|last1= Studwell|first2= David|last2= Lonergan |date=22 May 2014|publisher= Routledge|page=139|isbn=9781317720683 }} and the song also featured in the film American Graffiti.

In 2002, "The Great Pretender" by the Platters on Mercury Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which lists the date as 1956.[https://www.grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award#g GRAMMY Hall Of Fame]. Grammy Awards.

In 2004, the song was ranked 360th in Rolling Stone{{'s}} 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.{{cite web |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/the-platters-the-great-pretender-20110526 |title=361: The Great Pretender |date=11 December 2003 |publisher=Rolling Stone}}

{{Infobox song

| name = The Great Pretender

| cover = The_Great_Pretender_Single_1987.png

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Freddie Mercury

| album =

| B-side = "Exercises in Free Love" (3:58)

| released = *February 23, 1987{{cite magazine |last=Smith |first=Robin |title=Index |magazine=Record Mirror |date=21 February 1987 |page=3 |issn=0144-5804}}

• January 25, 1993 (reissue)

| recorded = January 1987

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Pop

| length = 3:25 (7" version)

• 5:55 (12" extended version)

| label = Mercury

| writer = Buck Ram

| producer = * David Richards

• Freddie Mercury
• Mike Moran

| prev_title = Time

| prev_year = 1986

| next_title = Barcelona

| next_year = 1987

| misc = {{Extra album cover

| header = 1992 reissue

| type = single

| cover = Freddie Mercury The Great Pretender Single 1993.jpg

| border =

| alt =

| caption = Cover of 1992 US album release

}}

{{External music video|{{YouTube|mLRjFWDGs1g|"The Great Pretender"}}}}

}}

The song was repopularized in 1987 by Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock band Queen. Mercury's version reached No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart. In one of his last videotaped interviews in spring of 1987, Mercury explained that the song was particularly fitting for the way he saw his career and being on stage.Interview of Freddie Mercury by Rudi Dolezal. 1987.

Mercury's original music video for the song featured him parodying himself in many of his Queen guises through video medium over the years, including visual re-takes of "Radio Ga Ga", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "It's a Hard Life", "I Want to Break Free", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "I Was Born to Love You", and "Made in Heaven". It was directed by David Mallet in February 1987, and also featured fellow Queen member Roger Taylor and actor Peter Straker in drag. The video was also notable for Mercury having shaved off his moustache, which he had sported for much of the 1980s. In 1992, Brian Malouf remixed the song for the film Night and the City, and a new edit of the video was produced using clips from the film.

Wit Studio's original anime television series Great Pretender uses this version as its ending theme.{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug0Mc94Ye1I |title=Great Pretender Non-credit Ending Movie|date=August 13, 2020|publisher=|via=YouTube}}

• Freddie Mercury: lead vocals and backing vocals
• Mike Moran: synthesizers
• Alan Jones: bass
• Harold Fisher: drums

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The song was covered in the UK by Australian vocalist Jimmy Parkinson. It entered the Top 20 on March 3, 1956, six months before the Platters' version; Parkinson's version peaked at No. 9 and remained in the Top 20 for ten weeks.{{cite web|url=https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/440283/versions|title=Cover versions of The Great Pretender by Jimmy Parkinson - SecondHandSongs|website=secondhandsongs.com}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110218165738/http://www.queenonline.com/en/the-band/discography/greatest-hits-iii/#lyrics Lyrics of Freddie Mercury cover at Queen official website] (from Greatest Hits III)

{{Freddie Mercury}}

{{The Platters}}

{{Authority control}}

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Category:1955 songs

Category:1955 singles

Category:1987 singles

Category:The Platters songs

Category:Freddie Mercury songs

Category:Sam Cooke songs

Category:Number-one singles in the United States

Category:Billboard Top 100 number-one singles

Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients

Category:Number-one singles in Australia

Category:Songs written by Buck Ram

Category:Mercury Records singles

Category:Music videos directed by David Mallet (director)