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"The Great Pretender" is a popular song recorded by The Platters, with Tony Williams on lead vocals, and released as a single on November 3, 1955. The words and music were written by Buck Ram, the Platters' manager and producer who was a successful songwriter before moving into producing and management. The song reached the UK charts peaking at number 5.
The song was re-popularized in 1987 by Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock band Queen. Mercury's version reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart. In one of his last videotaped interviews in the spring of 1987, Mercury explained that the song was particularly fitting for the way he saw his career and being on stage.
Mercury's 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", "One Vision", and "I Was Born to Love You". 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 trademark moustache, which he had sported for much of the 1980s.
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