Mullen, the Freddie Mercury impersonator whose life took a U-turn in 2000 when he won Britain's television talent show Stars In Their Eyes, has vivid memories of where he was when he learnt of his idol's death on November 24, 1991.
In bed with a hangover, Mullen was handed a newspaper that proclaimed, "The king of Queen is dead".
"Freddie had announced he had Aids the night before so everyone knew the end was going to come, but for it to come 24 hours later ... it was a big shock," Mullen recalls by phone during a rest day on his New Zealand tour.
New Zealand is just one stop in a long-running concert schedule that includes the United Kingdom, Europe, Scandinavia and the United States. Mercury may be dead, but there is plenty of demand for those who attempt to breath new life into the Queen canon, from the primal foot-stomp of We Will Rock You and the anthemic We Are The Champions to the outrageous harmonies of Bohemian Rhapsody.
"We started touring in January and finish in November. Apart from a week here or there we live out of suitcases most of the year," Mullen says, adding he has had to take singing lessons in order to preserve his voice.
"There comes a point when screaming into a microphone night after night takes its toll on your voice. It is about building endurance in your voice, taking days off and resting. But I like talking; I don't like to shut up.
"You do get into a routine of being on the road, getting to the gig, doing the sound-check and performing, then going back to the hotel. It's when you go back home that things start to get a bit weird. You get into another schedule when you're reminded, 'you're taking the kids to school today'."
Still, it's a pretty good life, Mullen acknowledges.
"When you get a bit homesick or you've got the flu, you just have to remind yourself it's not a bad job. It gets a bit weird at times but it beats having a real job. I had one of them and it wasn't as much fun."
Mullen is referring to his life before 2000, the year he won the Stars in Their Eyes final with a record 864,838 votes, more than double the votes of the runner-up.
"The whole thing was a blur for me. I went from selling computers to going out on tour. I hadn't been a professional singer. I had sung in bands with friends and stuff, so it was a real trial by fire. The beginning was a bit of a blur; everything happened so fast. It took about a year or two for me to find my feet.
"It is all very well going on a television show and singing one song, but transferring that into an hour-long show is something else. People will pay money and sit there with their arms folded - it's like they're saying, 'let's see what you can do'.
"A lot of the time I was performing at workingmen's clubs and nightclubs, that sort of thing, where the audiences are super-tough. If you're rubbish, the audience will let you know pretty quickly - especially in Scotland."
After about 18 months of performing solo, Mullen decided to expand the show and incorporate a live band. Enter Scottish session guitarist Davie Brockett.
"I met him one night and told him that if he ever wanted to get a Queen band together he should give me a shout. It kind of went from there; Davie knew the other guys who are now in the band [bassist Billy Moffat, keyboard player Malcolm Gentles and drummer Jonathan Evans] and we ended up doing our first show in 2002."
Sometimes, Mullen says, his music career is a case of "art imitating life imitating art".
"I met [Queen guitarist] Brian May in 2008. It was a classic Wayne's World moment. I thought I'd try to act all cool, but as soon as he walked in the door I sort of crumbled; I made a bit of a prat of myself in the first few minutes, but he was a great guy, really humble, and he seemed to dig what we do."
Mullen emphasises his take on Queen is motivated by a love of the band's music.
"I got into Queen when I was 4 years old. For me it was seeing them perform We Are The Champions on Top of the Pops.
"I'll be 40 next year so it's pretty much been a lifetime of buying their records, watching footage of their concerts, buying magazines.
"I was 13 when Queen did their final tour with Freddie in 1986. Me and my mates couldn't afford tickets so I never got to see them live. My biggest regret is never having seen Freddie perform live."
See it, hear it
Gary Mullen and The Works perform "One Night Of Queen" at the Regent Theatre, Dunedin, tomorrow night.
