BRENDA EDWARDS is currently starring in Queen and Ben Elton’s sensational smash-hit show ‘We Will Rock You’ at the London Coliseum.

Edwards told The Voice Newspaper that being able to pursue her long held passion of performing in musical theatre is extremely rewarding and she’s grateful for every opportunity.

Kicking off last Friday, the rock theatrical returns to London 21 years after it exploded into the West End.

Edwards stars in the role of Killer Queen. She previously played the part in both the UK tour and the record-breaking Dominion Theatre run.

The Loose Women panellist first found fame on the second season of The X Factor, where she made it all the way to the semi-final. But long before that, she’d harboured dreams of being on stage.

“I’ve always wanted to be in musical theatre and I’ve always wanted to sing on stage for as long as I can remember,” Edwards enthused.

“My singing started from church which is another theatre. It’s exactly the same, the acoustics are amazing. I love things like that.

“On one hand the inspiration comes from the fact that I am so passionate about music and so passionate about singing, because music and singing has got me through so many different things whether that be good or bad.

“And then on the other hand I grew up listening to people like Freddie Mercury and Aretha Franklin. Whitney Houston was a massive inspiration for me not only for her gospel background but the fact that she was a pioneer for her time with her strong voice, which just seared through.

“Music is inspirational for me in general, with the musical theatre side, I am just grateful that I went on a show and somebody saw me and gave me that opportunity.”

Ahead of the strictly limited 12-week season, which ends on August 27. Edwards said she was looking forward to getting her teeth into the role.

“It’s really nice to be able to revise this role again, last time I did it was in 2009 in a UK and Ireland tour and then I came into the Dominion Theatre in 2010 to do the role there and I was there until 2014 when it closed, so it’s been almost ten years.

“I am really proud to be asked back again and being given that opportunity to bring something different, to bring a new flavour t it, which is something that I am hoping to do.

“We’re ten years on and a lot has happened in that ten years. And so, the show grows with the times which is the beauty of Ben Elton’s writing.”

‘We Will Rock You’ tells the story of a globalised future without musical instruments.

A handful of rock rebels, the Bohemians, fight against the all powerful Globalsoft company and its boss, the Killer Queen; they fight for freedom, individuality and the rebirth of the age of rock.

Scaramouche and Galileo, two young outsiders, cannot come to terms with the bleak conformist reality. They join the Bohemians and embark on the search to find the unlimited power of freedom, love and rock!

Speaking on her role, Edwards said: “With the Killer Queen role she is written as a character that is androgynous, so a mix of male and female, and she’s a boss woman but as much as you might have people who are very strong, they are very vulnerable as well.

“That’s a side that I do want to show, that she does have this vulnerable side.

“Whether that’s vulnerable because she is emotionally vulnerable and upset when she’s cries or she’s emotionally vulnerable in the fact that she might lash out to get her point across, that is all showing a human side to this androgynous and alien lifeform. That is The Killer Queen.

“Remember, she was somebody that was human but she was taken over by whatever force and then she became the force.

“That’s why she is the CEO of Global Soft who are responsible for everything that is going on in the iPlanet 300 years in the future, where people are told you will do this and you will do that, you will do as I say.

“Which some people could say is kind of already going on in certain walks of life.”

There’s an obvious pressure that comes with delivering Freddie Mercury classics but pressure is something Edwards has dealt with from the first moment she stepped on to a musical theatre stage.

She’s had leading roles in hit musicals including Mama Morton in Chicago, Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act The Musical and Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray.

Looking back on the journey to date she said: “They have all been challenging in different ways.

“Chicago was the first musical that I went in to, straight out of X-factor, that was challenging because I’d never had any professional acting lessons, I’d never had any professional singing lessons.”

She added: “So, going into a musical in the first place, where you’re singing eight shows a week, live, no autotune underneath that, if you forget your lines, you’re on stage and you can’t take that back, that was pressure for me, because it was my first job.

“This was my second job, We Will Rock You, back in 2009. That was pressure because it’s Queen, It’s Freddie Mercury.

“I have to make these songs relatable to people like how they all know and love them in some way but still bring my own flavour. That was pressure.

“My next role was Carousel at the English National Opera House and I played the role of Nettie. That was pressure for me because it was an operatic score and I’m a soul gospel singer. I put myself under pressure because I don’t sing opera but it was nice that the producers and Directors, they were happy for my soul voice to be used.

“I’m a bit of a Baritone so I took it down there and it was a different flavour for the show, which worked.

“Hairspray, where I was Motormouth, there was a lot of pressure on that because there was a deep message in Hairspray with racial undertones and it was about getting that point across to the people that are watching without them feeling like i am bashing their heads for them not to actually listen.”

Edwards has never been one to run from hard work a trait she says come from her family raising her ‘with the mindset that nothing good comes easy’.

For this current role, even though she was familiar with the narrative, Edwards says she still felt compelled to bring a fresh take.

“A massive challenge is to reinvent yourself, which goes for anybody that is in this space, whether it’s music or theatre or in the music world itself, in general.

“People are always trying to reinvent themselves, to keep with the times. And so, the challenge for me with this, is to bring a different style of Killer Queen.

“It’s the same script but there are some changes. Within my character herself there are some things that are different but there are some things that were in there ten years ago.

“The fact that Ben has gone through to write and change up some things that’s what made me feel like I wanted to bring something different to the character that I’ve already played.”

On delivering the Queen hits with the verve they deserve she said: “There is a lot of pressure to deliver them and give them the respect that they are due.

“Freddie Mercury and Queen, they were an amazing band. No matter what colour you are, what religion, everybody knows about Queen.

“I wish I’d have met Freddie Mercury. Nobody can touch him for his voice. There are lots of people that sing Queen songs but there is only one Freddie Mercury.

“You could hear the Soul, you could hear the Rock and it’s beautiful that the Rock and the Soul were mixed in such a way with his voice, to bring that feeling and tell that story so that everybody can relate to it in whatever circumstances that they were in.”

She added: “The first number that I come out to is the Killer Queen and it’s amazing and it’s such an introduction and it’s a lot of pressure but at the same time if you don’t put yourself under pressure or feel that you are pressured, then it’s just easy.

“I don’t ever want anything to come easy and my family raised me with the mindset that nothing good comes easy.

“So that’s why I continue to work and I continue to strive and I continue to be the best that I can be in the roles that I am given.”

We Will Rock You

London Coliseum, St Martin’s Lane, London WC2N 4ESFinal show: 27 August
Evening performances: Monday, Wednesday* – Saturday at 7:30pm
Matinees: Thursday* and Saturday at 2:30pm, Sunday at 3pm

*Please note that Brenda Edwards will not perform on Wednesday evenings (except 23 August), Thursday matinees and 24 August.

Website: wewillrockyoulondon.co.uk