Overview
Made in Heaven is a compilation album including three completely post-Innuendo creations plus several updated rejects from the past, Queen-ised solo and parallel material, and their original 1989 recording of 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' slightly re-mixed. The resulting tracks stem from a lengthy period (roughly 1980 - 1995, but there are even sampled bits dating from circa 1972), which is equally exciting and frustrating to try to organise and document.
Despite all the legends of Frederick still recording in summer or even autumn, his very last studio work as a performer was reportedly on either Monday the 13th or Thursday the 16th of May 1991 (depending on whether or not he also played at least one keyboard part besides singing). It is confirmed he was in Switzerland as late as October but not necessarily recording.
Sessions to complete the work he'd left began in 1993 and at that point it was planned to include the songs on an EP. Brian, in fact, wasn't involved at that point and it was only John and Roger. Throughout 1994, he joined the project and then the three of them plus engineers and guest musicians spent over a year and a half completing it.
Available Sources
Contemporary Fan Club publications help trace a vague timeline of where the project was going at each stage. The letters penned by the surviving Queen members are particularly interesting. One of the engineers who worked at both Abbey Road and The Town House wrote an extremely detailed account of the sessions, which was published in his Facebook page and an edited version was later included on the band's official website.
A few photographs survive from the 1993 - 1995 sessions.
The 2013 Queen Studio Experience event in Montreux featured stems for both 'Mother Love' and 'Made in Heaven'. No multi-tracks have leaked so far.
Documented Timeline
- 1980:
- April: Frederick records the piano and lead vocal of 'It's a Beautiful Day' in Munich, West Germany.
- 1981:
- Unknown: First draft of 'Let Me Live' is penned by Frederick. It's unknown whether or not they made any recordings for it at this point.
- 1983:
- Friday 2nd September: Roderick Stewart, Carmine Appice, Geoffrey Beck and James Cregan visit the band at The Record Plant in Los Angeles, America. They jam for a while and also record a demo of what would become 'Let Me Live'.
- 1984:
- Late May / Early June: Frederick records the piano, vocal and synthesisers for 'Made in Heaven' and 'I Was Born to Love You'.
- 1987:
- Unknown (May?): Roger records 'Heaven for Everyone', with Philip Edney, Erdal Kizilcay, David Richards and Frederick Mercury as additional musicians (Joshua Macrae, Clayton Moss and Peter Noone mime on the video but aren't part of the actual recording line-up).
- 1988:
- Unknown: 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' is penned in Los Angeles and recorded in either Montreux or London or both; 'My Life Has Been Saved' is also recorded around this time.
- 1991:
- January: Preliminary ideas for 'You Don't Fool Me' and 'A Winter's Tale' recorded in Montreux.
- May:
- Friday 10th: Frederick's vocal track on 'A Winter's Tale' is compiled.
- Monday 13th: Work begins on 'Mother Love' - various vocal bits by both co-authors, plus guitar, keyboards and drum-machine. That was Frederick's last vocal recording ever.
- Thursday 16th: More work on 'Mother Love' - guitar overdubs, John's bass and another synth. If Frederick played the latter, then it was probably his last instrumental recording ever.
- Wednesday 22nd: Rough mix of 'Mother Love'. If Frederick was present and/or did the mix himself (with David Richards and Brian May), then it was probably his last session as a co-producer ever.
- October: Roger's letter to the Fan Club confirms four tracks have been recorded in Montreux earlier in the year (presumably: 'Lost Opportunity', 'You Don't Fool Me', 'A Winter's Tale' and 'Mother Love').
- 1993:
- Spring: John and Roger visit Abbey Road Studios and do some recordings on 'It's a Beautiful Day', 'Heaven for Everyone', 'Made in Heaven' and 'I Was Born to Love You'. Michael Crossley plays some keyboards, Noel Harris engineers.
- October: John and Roger work on the album at Metropolis Studios in Chiswick, London. Roger writes a letter to the Fan Club confirming they've been there for two weeks and that Brian's not involved at the moment.
- Wednesday 13th: Work resumed on 'Mother Love' after 875 days, at Metropolis. Only John and Roger work on it at this point as Brian's touring America as a solo artist.
- 1994:
- February:
- Friday 25th: End of the first batch of recordings after Frederick's passing. Brian's not yet involved at this point, and the work's been done entirely by John and Roger (plus their guest musicians and co-producers).
- Saturday 26th: John writes a letter to the Fan Club updating them on what they've been doing. He mentions him and Roger having spent some weeks working on the songs and adding improved bass and drums to them.
- March - June: Brian joins the project, John goes on holiday. In June, Brian writes a letter to the Fan Club and announces the three of them are scheduled to meet a week later to discuss where to take the project from there.
- Summer: Brian works on the project by himself, without any involvement from John or Roger.
- September: Roger confirms, via a letter to the Fan Club, that the three of them are working on the project at that point.
- Autumn: The three of them get together at Metropolis and work for a bit, but sessions come to a halt prematurely. Roger goes on a solo tour, John gives himself some holidays and Brian takes the tapes to his home studio and works on them with co-producer Justin Smith.
- 1995:
- Winter: The three of them work together at Brian's home studio.
- Wednesday 18th January: Brian writes a letter to the Fan Club informing of what they've been doing lately.
- Thursday 9th March: John writes a letter to the Fan Club updating on what they've been up to. He mentions the difficulties of coming to an agreement between the three of them.
- Spring: Separate simultaneous sessions - Brian works at Allerton Hill, John and Roger at Cosford Mill.
- Summer: The three of them work on the project in various forms and alternating between Brian's home studio, Roger's home studio, and Metropolis.
- Monday 3rd July: Brian writes a letter to the Fan Club informing of the work done so far.
- September: Final sessions, which take place at the Town House in London, and which bring back David Richards.
- Sunday 3rd - Tuesday 5th: 'I Was Born to Love You' is mixed.
- Tuesday 5th: Brian records the guitar solo for 'You Don't Fool Me'. It's the last guitar tracking session ever on an original line-up Queen album.
- Wednesday 6th: 'You Don't Fool Me' programming and mixing.
- Thursday 7th: 'You Don't Fool Me' compiling, programming and mixing.
- Friday 8th: 'Track No 13' is begun by David Richards by sampling the opening chords of 'It's a Beautiful Day'.
- Saturday 9th - Wednesday 13th: 'You Don't Fool Me' mixing sessions.
- Wednesday 13th - Friday 15th: 'A Winter's Tale' mixing sessions.
- Friday 15th - Sunday 17th: 'I Was Born to Love You' is mixed, again.
- Monday 18th - Friday 22nd: Six remaining mixes are finished - both versions of 'It's a Beautiful Day' plus 'Let Me Live' (as the previous mix violated copyright), 'My Life Has Been Saved', 'Track No 13' and 'Made in Heaven'.
- Tuesday 19th: Roger Taylor, David Richards, Brian May and Ashley Alexander finish up 'Track No 13'. Roger's synth 'solo' in the middle of it is possibly the last synth tracking session ever on an original line-up Queen album.
- Friday 22nd: The final version of the album is completed.
- October:
- Monday 23rd: The lead single, 'Heaven for Everyone' / 'It's a Beautiful Day', is released in the UK.
- November:
- Wednesday 1st: Almost a week before it's been released, Made in Heaven (the album) has enough pre-orders to already be certified Silver, Gold and Platinum in the UK, for having reached the required sales thresholds of 60,000, 100,000 and 300,000, respectively. That same day, 'Heaven for Everyone' is certified Silver for having shipped 200,000 copies across the UK.
- Monday 6th: Album released in Britain.
- December:
- Friday 1st: The album's certified Double Platinum in Britain for having sold 600,000 copies in that territory.
- Monday 4th: Frederick's parents, Jer and Bomi, write a letter to the Fan Club thanking Brian, John and Roger for having finished the record.
- 1996:
- Monday 1st January: The album's certified Triple Platinum in Britain for having sold 900,000 copies in that territory.
- Tuesday 26th March: The album's certified Gold in America for having sold half a million copies in that country.
- 1997:
- May: Brian May, Frank Musker and Elizabeth Lamers win an Ivor Novello Award for 'Too Much Love Will Kill You'.
- Wednesday 1st October: The album's certified 4 x Platinum in the UK for having sold 1,200,000 copies there.
Documented Recording Venues
- Abbey Road on 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, Greater London NW8 9AY, England.
- Allerton Hill on Westwood Road, Windlesham, Surrey Heath, Surrey GU20 6LS, England.
- Cosford Mill on Bedford Lane, Thursley, Waverley, Surrey GU8 6NN, England.
- Mediterraneo Studios on Sant Llorenç de Balafia, Sant Joan de Labritja, Ibiza, Balearic Islands, Kingdom of Spain.
- Metropolis Studios on 70 Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, Hounslow, Greater London W4 1SY, England.
- Mountain Studios in the Casino Barrière on 9 Theatre Road, Montreux, Vaud 1820, Swiss Confederation.
- Musicland Studios in the Arabella House basement, Munich, Bavaria 81925, Federal Republic of Germany.
- Olympic Sound Studios on 117 Church Road, Barnes, Richmond-upon-Thames, Greater London SW13, England.
- The Record Plant on 1032 North Sycamore Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California 90038, United States of America.
- The Town House on 150 Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush, Royal Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, Greater London W12 8EN, England.
- Trident Studios on 17 St Anne's Court, Soho, City of Westminster, London W1F 0BQ, England.
Documented Personnel
- Performers:
- The band:
- John Deacon: Electric bass, electric guitar, digital synthesisers, MIDI programming.
- Brian May: Lead and backing vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, digital synthesisers, digital piano, MIDI programming.
- Frederick Mercury: Lead and backing vocals, acoustic piano, analogue and digital synthesisers, MIDI programming (?).
- Roger Taylor: Lead and backing vocals, acoustic drums, digital synthesisers, MIDI programming.
- Guest musicians:
- Additional Backing Vocals:
- Rebecca Leigh-White.
- Gary Martin.
- Catherine Porter.
- Miriam Stockley.
- Digital Synthesisers:
- Ashley Alexander.
- Michael Crossley.
- Philip Edney.
- Erdal Kizilcay (?).
- David Richards.
- Electric Bass:
- Studio & Technical Crew:
- Deputy Producers / Chief Engineers:
- Reinhold Mack.
- Joshua Macrae.
- David Richards.
- Justin Smith.
- Assistant Engineers:
- Ashley Alexander: Abbey Road & The Town House.
- John Brough: Town House.
- Mark Christopher: Metropolis (ambience coordinator).
- Andre Gauchat: Mountain.
- Noel Harris: Metropolis.
- Justin Smith: Mountain.
- Ian Sylvester: Metropolis.
- Equipment Supervisors:
- Martin Groves (1987 - 1995).
- Brian Zellis (1980 - 1992).
Documented Instruments
- Acoustic Drums:
- Drum Workshop Bespoke: One of Roger's main kits at the time.
- Ludwig Bespoke: 'Too Much Love Will Kill You'.
- Sleishman Bespoke: Roger's main kit at the time.
- Electric Basses:
- Fender Precisions:
- 1955 Masterbuilt: Possibly a spare, but perhaps used somewhere.
- 196?: John had two (black and natural), which may have been his main ones.
- 1981 Special: Possibly a spare, but perhaps used somewhere.
- 1983 Elite: Possibly used alongside the main ones.
- Non-Fenders:
- Giffin Bespoke: Possibly a spare, but perhaps used somewhere.
- Kramer DMZ: Most likely merely a spare, but could've also been used somewhere.
- Music Man Stingray: Possibly a spare, but perhaps used somewhere.
- Warwick Buzzard: Possibly a spare, but perhaps used somewhere.
- Electric Guitars:
- BHM Bespoke: Brian's main.
- Fender Telecaster: Possibly used by John on 'You Don't Fool Me' (rhythm).
- Parker Fly: Brian on 'Mother Love' (either main rhythm or solo or both).
- Keyboards:
- Digital Synthesisers:
- E-mu Emulator II+: Possibly 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' and 'My Life Has Been Saved', likely used on 'Heaven for Everyone'.
- Ensoniq ASR10: Most prominent on 'Track No 13', but likely used elsewhere as well.
- Korg M1: Used on the 1991 recordings, and likely afterwards as well.
- Roland D-50: Likely used on 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' and 'My Life Has Been Saved'.
- Roland JD-800: One of the keyboards at Roger's studio, possibly used for several tracks.
- Pianos:
- Bechstein III Acoustic: 'Seven Seas of Rhye' (which is sampled at the end of 'It's a Beautiful Day [Reprise]').
- Roland RD-1000 Digital: 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' and perhaps 'My Life Has Been Saved'.
- Yamaha C-7 7' 5" Acoustic: The one in Munich was used on 'It's a Beautiful Day', 'Made in Heaven' and 'I Was Born to Love You'. The one in Los Angeles (same make, model and size) was used on 'Let Me Live'.