Brett Eldredge recently released a unique rockabilly cover of Queen’s hit tune “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” The cover will be used in fitness equipment company Peloton’s upcoming ad campaign for training bikes, according to Radio.com .
Eldredge posted the recording to his official YouTube account last week. He preserves the song’s original rockabilly form, but adds handclaps, guitar work, and “doo wop-style backing vocals,” Rolling Stone reported.
The “Love Someone” singer also opted to sing in his recognizable country voice, rather than attempting to imitate Mercury’s.
In addition to adding the video to YouTube, Eldredge shared a clip on social media of him confidently singing the song to his dog, Edgar, without any music. He expressed his excitement about performing the iconic song in the caption on Twitter.
“We lost Freddie Mercury 27 years ago today but his music still lives on… No one can do this song like him, but I just recorded it for a [Peloton] commercial and it’s stuck in my head… thanks for your gift Freddie,” Eldredge said.
“Crazy Little Thing Called Love” was originally released in October of 1979, and was written by Freddie Mercury. The song then appeared on Queen’s 1980 studio album titled The Game. The song hit No. 1 on Billboard ‘s Hot 100 weekly charts in the U.S. in 1979 and 1980. It also topped charts in five other countries.
The tune has been converted to country by other artists as well, the Boot reported. American singer-songwriter Dwight Yoakam, for example, recorded a cover of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” in 1999 — and included it on his studio album titled Last Chance for a Thousand Years: Dwight Yoakam’s Greatest Hits From the ’90s.
Eldredge’s cover comes just weeks after Queen’s biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody , hit theaters and stirred up a buzz about the band. The film, which dives into the rise and fall of Freddie Mercury and British rock band Queen, made over $51 million in the U.S. during its opening weekend — and grossed over $132 million as of November 20, according to IMDb .
We lost Freddie Mercury 27 years ago today but his music still lives on…No one can do this song like him, but I just recorded it for a @onepeloton commercial and it’s stuck in my head…thanks for your gift Freddie pic.twitter.com/URg4HjmoSv
— Brett Eldredge (@bretteldredge) November 25, 2018
Eldredge will soon embark on a tour through the U.S. and Europe for his Glow Deluxe album, starting at The Colosseum at Caesar’s Windsor in Windsor, Ontario. He will also be performing at the Rockefeller Center in New York City for the annual Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Wednesday, November 28. There he will be joined by artists such as John Legend and Pentatonix.
The ceremony will be broadcast live on NBC from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.