Freddie Mercury, Elton John and Rod Stewart Almost Formed a Group
Three of rock's most distinct voices once discussed joining forces.
Apparently Rod Stewart, Freddie Mercury and Elton John nearly formed a supergroup they were going to call Nose, Teeth & Hair, based on their respective physical attributes.
The New York Post spoke with Rudi Dolezal, an Austrian filmmaker who's made several documentaries about Mercury and with whom he developed a close friendship. “Freddie invited me to his private functions often, and, at one dinner party, the guests included Rod Stewart and Elton John," he said. "I remember there was a lot of bitching about other artists and about themselves. I think Rod came up with the idea of forming a group called Nose, Teeth & Hair, because Rod had a big nose, Elton had problems with his hair and Freddie had his teeth.”
Mercury was born with four extra incisors, which pushed his front teeth forward into a prominent overbite. He's said to have been very self-conscious about them, and often covered his teeth with his hands or his upper lip when speaking. But he never had them fixed because he was reportedly worried about the effect the procedure would have on his voice.
In Stewart's 2012 autobiography, the singer gave a little more information about the concept. Calling Mercury a "sweet and funny man whom I really adored," Stewart recalled the discussion took place at the house Queen were renting in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles.
"The general idea was that we could appear dressed like the Beverley Sisters," he wrote, referring to Britain's version of the Andrews Sisters. "Somehow this project never came to anything, which is contemporary music’s deep and abiding loss.”