Canadian singer Marc Martel in running to be part of ‘Queen Extravaganza’ as Freddie Mercury

Queen drummer Roger Taylor is looking for people to tour as part of a cover band and he may have found his lead singer in Canadian Marc Martel.

Martel, who is part of the Juno-award winning Christian rock band Downhere, posted a video of him singing Someone To Love for Taylor's contest.

Maybe it is Martel's vocal resemblance to Freddie Mercury or his mustache, but in a week the video has been viewed about three million times.

"After every show my band does, I probably get 10 people who say, 'Hey! Anybody ever tell you sound like that Queen guy?' " Martel tells CBC about why he decided to record the video and enter the contest.

He tells The Wall Street Journal his favourite song is Bohemian Rhapsody, but singing that for the audition wasn't an option.

"Somebody . . . was my second (option)," he tells The Journal. "I thought lyrically, that song is so perfect for right now . . . it's just a guy crying out that he's tired and can't get ahead, and most people in America can relate to that . . . I know I can."

He says he had trouble sleeping after posting the video and after three hours got up to see his video had 400,000 views.

Taylor launched the talent search last week looking for musicians and singers to star in "The Queen Extravaganza", which will tour as part of the band's 40th anniversary.

"It's a brand-new show specially designed to enable fans to celebrate the music of Queen in a heart-stopping event," says Taylor on the competition's website. "There are great musicians everywhere, and this is a really exciting challenge for us to try and unearth some of those musicians."

Taylor is looking for players for a five-piece band and three vocalists while he will be producer and music director.

At the time of posting, there were about 50 videos of auditions, with Martel's video receiving most of the buzz. Videos will be judged by a panel of experts and the public while Taylor will be present to judge the final round in December.

Downhere was started in Saskatchewan and is now based out of Tennessee. They have won three Juno awards for gospel and Christian recordings.

(Getty Images)