Canadian singer Marc Martel, who travels around the world performing the songs of Queen, has cancelled an Eastern Europe tour that included seven shows in Ukraine.
“My heart aches for all of you, especially, my Ukrainian bandmates and tour staff, who so proudly showed us around their beautiful homeland in 2019,” Martel wrote in an Instagram post. “As far as I know, at the moment, they are all safe.
“I have such great memories touring cities like Kyiv, Odessa, and Kharkov, and have so looked forward to seeing you all again ever since.”
Martel announced the Queen Show tour in January. “I cannot wait to perform some of Queen’s greatest songs for you,” he wrote at the time, “and see you all in person after these couple of long years of waiting!”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced the 45-year-old Montreal native to scrap plans to perform there as well as in Belarus and the Czech Republic.
“It is difficult to imagine what you are going through on a personal level, as your lives have been turned upside-down so devastatingly,” Martel wrote, adding that he hopes “that you persevere and prosper through to a day where war and fear are, once again, the farthest things from your minds, as they should be.”
Martel, who has called Nashville home for two decades, provided some of the vocals in the 2018 Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which he recorded at London’s famous Abbey Road studio before filming even began.
In 2011, Queen’s Roger Taylor picked Martel to front The Queen Extravaganza, a live production that toured around the world.
In a 2018 interview with iHeartRadio.ca, Martel said he feels “a lot of added purpose” when he performs Queen. “It brings people so much joy and nostalgia and frequently I see people tearing up in the front row,” he said.