SCOTT Maley never intended to moonlight as Freddie Mercury of a Friday night – let alone front his own Queen tribute act.

But his uncanny likeness with the legendary rocker pegged him for the gig the moment he droned the first verse of Bohemian Rhapsody.

In the 1990s, he joined cover band Kid Gluvz touring the pub and club circuit with popular radio hits. His offhand suggestion to include one of Queen’s rock anthems to the set list snowballed. One song turned into a 30-minute Queen ‘finale’ and before the bandmates quite realised how the covers and intriguing Mercury lookalike had become the star attraction.

They swiftly reformed as a full-fledged Queen tribute act, now known as Supreme Queen.

“I was aware of Queen of course, even when I was little but I was a fan of lots of music. Elvis Presley really my ‘first’,” chuckles the 46-year-old Supreme Queen frontman. “Even before the tribute act, and without the moustache, I looked very much like him. Doing Freddie, the mannerism, the voice, it all came quite naturally.

“The Queen medley took a life of its own. The Queen songs took over and I just picked things up easily. It really suited me.”

Even Mercury’s personal assistant Peter Freestone was bowled over, Scott recalls with pride, at the sight of his ‘Freddie’ bounding across the stage.

The act has gone through many incarnations over the past 20 years (mainly for copyright reasons) - you may know them as Killer Queen, Queen on Fire or Flash – and line-up changes.

Despite a chequered history, the show’s mission to bring the Queen experience back to the stage in all its unbridled eccentricity, as a pure celebration of Mercury’s excess, musicianship and unpredictability, has remained virtually unchanged.

“Queen were spectacular on stage and Freddie was the whole package, a great frontman with great vocals. They took everything to their limits, it was so unexpected and improvised. Their music must be lived and experienced,” he says firmly. “It’s so exhilarating, the audience sing and dance. We have the classics but we also add songs Queen never performed live. Queen has such loyal fans we try to be as close to the band as we can. Their music is so universal. For many people it’s very nostalgic and for others it’s the concert they could never go to.”

Supreme Queen has come a long way since the gruelling pub days driving up and down the country to etch their mark on the tribute circuit. They slowly earned their stripes, eventually touring the world and performing to arenas of 10,000 spectators.

“It took a while to get there. But stopping was not an option for me,” adds the former construction worker turned professional singer. “You have to have this belief that this is what you want to do, even if it’s going to take many year to get there. It didn’t always run smoothly but Queen didn’t run smoothly either.”

Supreme Queen is on at the Wyvern Theatre on January 22 at 7.30pm. To book call 01793 524481 or visit swindontheatres.co.uk.