He added, “It would be nice to create something new. I wouldn’t dismiss the idea. Adam has told us, ‘If you ever want me to sing on something…’ So if the three of us agree to go for it, I’d absolutely be on board.”

The collaboration between May, Taylor, and Adam Lambert dates back to American Idol in May 2009, when they performed “We Are The Champions” together. They reunited in 2011 at the MTV European Music Awards in Belfast, Ireland, delivering a high-energy eight-minute performance of “The Show Must Go On,” “We Will Rock You,” and “We Are The Champions.” By the summer of 2012, Lambert had taken the stage with QUEEN for a series of European shows, including performances in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland. Since then, they have toured extensively, headlining major festivals across the globe.

Despite their success as a live act, Lambert has previously expressed reservations about recording new music with QUEEN. In a 2019 interview with Hunger magazine, he admitted: “People always ask if we want to record together, but I’m not sure it would make total sense. To me, QUEEN is Freddie. What I love most is collaborating, putting these concerts together, and creating on stage—it’s incredibly rewarding. When I bring new ideas to these two legends and they like them, that’s the best part.”

May has previously praised Lambert as the only singer capable of doing justice to QUEEN’s extensive catalog since Freddie Mercury’s passing in 1991 due to AIDS-related complications. “Adam is the first person we’ve worked with who can handle the entire QUEEN catalog without hesitation,” May stated. “He is a gift from God.” Taylor echoed those sentiments, saying: “He’s incredibly musical, and we certainly take anything he says very seriously.”

For his part, Lambert has always been careful to differentiate himself from Mercury. “There’s never going to be another, and I’m not replacing him,” he explained. “That’s not what this is about. I want to keep his memory alive and remind people of how incredible he was—without trying to imitate him. My goal is to show audiences just how much he inspired me.”

Five years ago, in an interview with Classic Rock magazine, May and Taylor admitted that they had attempted to record a song with Lambert but ultimately decided against releasing it. “We did record a song that we never actually finished,” Taylor revealed at the time. “I can’t even remember what it was called. I think we were still debating the name.” May added, “It was a track we tried adapting from a friend’s original idea. It had potential, but we just couldn’t quite crack it.”

Taylor has remained open to the idea of a new QUEEN album featuring Lambert. Meanwhile, in 2022, QUEEN released a rediscovered song, “Face It Alone,” which featured Mercury’s vocals.

The final sale was reportedly slightly below estimates but auctioneers Sotheby’s have said that it is a record for a piano.

The item was amongst thousands of Mercury’s former possessions that were auctioned on Wednesday after being held on display for several weeks.

Further items were sold at the auction including the door to Mercury’s Garden Lodge West London, home which went for a whopping £412,750, way under the projected estimation of £15,000-25,000.

Furthermore, a 15-page original manuscript for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, originally titled ‘Mongolian Rhapsody’ was sold £1.3 million. The manuscript reveals different versions and directions that Mercury experimented with whilst writing the song. Similar notes are also still available for massive hits like ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ and ‘Somebody To Love’.

Mercury also had an extensive art collection including pieces from big name artists like Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso, all of which are going under the hammer in upcoming live auctions.

Personal items from Mercury’s wardrobe were sold including his trademark flamboyant costumes worn for concerts; also sold was his designer crown and cloak as well as a vast variety of kimonos.

A total of 1,469 items from his Garden Lodge home are up for sale by Mary Austen, a former fiancé and friend of the Queen frontman.

Freddy Mercury’s former band mate and Queen guitarist took to Instagram to share the emotional difficulties he had with the auction, he said: “Tomorrow … Freddie’s most intimate personal effects, and writings that were part of what we shared for so many years, will go under the hammer, to be knocked down to the highest bidder and dispersed for ever. I can’t look. To us, his closest friends and family, it’s too sad.”

The first night of the #TheWorldofFreddieMercury auction series saw bidders from 61 countries drive 93% of lots over their estimate, with Bohemian Rhapsody lyrics and Freddie’s Yamaha piano leading the sale.

Read more: https://t.co/8hU3uaiB5f

— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) September 6, 2023

At the start of the auction, auctioneer Oliver Barker had this to say: “What we’ve witnessed here at Sotheby’s these last few weeks is nothing short of phenomenal. It has captured the hearts and minds of the public all over the world. By the time the doors closed yesterday, on this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition, we welcomed 140,000 visitors.”

The auction house, Soethby’s, hosted a month-long free open exhibition prior to the auction. The whole auction sale itself is estimated to bring in at least £6 million. Part of the proceeds for the sale will be donated to the Mercury Phoenix Trust and The Elton John Aids Foundation.

The 1978 classic has been canned from the collection in order to create a product more appropriate for younger audiences. The new collection itself is being released on Yoto – a music platform targeted at children.

About the collection, a description on Yoto’s website reads: “It’s the ideal introduction to the music of QUEEN for young music lovers and the perfect soundtrack to kitchen dance parties, road trip singalongs, bedtime air guitar sessions….and much much more”

The track features lyrics such as “Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go round” and “But their beauty and their style went kind of smooth after a while, Take me to the dirty ladies every time”. It seems lyrics like these are the driving force behind the song being canned in favour of having a more appropriate collection of songs for younger children.

Despite the song’s omission from the collection, the rest of the track list from the original 1981 collection has been left untouched, still incorporating classics like “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Are The Champions”.

However, a warning has been issued alongside the release stating: “Please note that the lyrics in some of these songs contain adult themes, including occasional references to violence and drugs. These are the original and unedited recordings. Whilst no swear words are used parental discretion is advised when playing this content to or around younger children.”

The lyrics were written by both guitarist Brian May and vocalist Freddie Mercury. May told Mojo Magazine in 2008: “I wrote it with Fred (late Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury) in mind, as you do, especially if you’ve got a great singer who likes fat bottomed girls… or boys.”

A music insider told the Daily Mail: “It is the talk of the music industry. Nobody can work out why such a good-natured, fun song can’t be acceptable in today’s society. It is woke gone mad. Why not appreciate people of all shapes and sizes like society is saying we should, rather than get rid of it?”

This isn’t the first time the song has been met with controversy, however. Upon the song’s release in 1978, several record stores would refuse to stock the single version of the track due to the original sleeve cover showing a barely dressed woman riding a bicycle.

No comment has yet to be made from the original band members at this time.

Brian May posted a photo to his Instagram of a captured moment during the ceremony where he received his knighthood. The photo shows King Charles lowering his sword on May’s shoulder. Brian wrote a short and sweet caption for the photo, ‘‘No Words ! Bri’’

Aside from gaining worldwide success with Queen throughout the 80’s, The 75-year-old British icon has been responsible for creating some of Queens most well known songs, such as ”Somebody To Love” and ”Don’t Stop Me Now.” The legendary band Queen, consisting of late-front man Freddie Mercury, Bassist John Deacon, Drummer Rodger Taylor and Guitarist Brian May, toured the world together and acquired numerous number ones.

Brian May is no stranger to the royal family or royal residences. In 2002, May performed a guitar solo rendition of ‘’God Save The Queen’’ on the roof top of Buckingham palace. The guitarist also performed at the Platinum jubilee, last June. Brian May appeared in a sketch with Paddington Bear, tapping the beat to ‘’We Will Rock You’’ on a teacup.

Brian May also discussed that the band Queen, which now has 2009 American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert as their front man, are considering touring again this year. Fans had the pleasure of attending re-scheduled concerts of their tour last year, as the tour was previously cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions preventing them from performing their shows. May tours with Adam lambert, as well as legendary Queen drummer Rodger Taylor. Original Queen band member and bassist, John Deacon, has no involvement in the tour.

Brian May spoke with a PA news agency, saying ‘’We’re thinking about touring, I can say that. I’m hoping I stay in good health – at the moment I seem to be in pretty good health, which is always great.’’ May suffered a heart attack in May 2020 and underwent surgery where he had three stents fitted. 

The guitarist continued “It’s not been an easy road and there’s been times I thought I would never do it again. But we all seem to be OK so we’re looking at doing some touring, and of course we tour at the top level and it’s very high energy and high demand on your fitness. If we don’t go out until October or whatever I’ll be working on my fitness from now on.” 

“I’m happy that our team were able to find this track,” said guitarist Brian May, “After all these years, it’s great to hear all four of us, yes, Deacy is there too, working in the studio on a great song idea which never quite got completed… until now.” The album will not only feature this lost track but it will also include some of the band’s conversations in studios in London and Montreux, Switzerland.“It was kind of hiding in plain sight,” May continued, “We looked at it many times and thought, oh, no, we can’t really rescue that. But, in fact, we went in there again and our wonderful engineering team went, ok, we can do this and this. It’s kind of stitching bits together.”

Roger Taylor, Queen’s drummer, went on to say that they had “kind of forgotten about this track,” but described the song as “wonderful, a real discovery. It’s a very passionate piece.” This will mark the first new song featuring Freddie Mercury since the Queen Forever album which was released in 2014. It featured three unheard tracks: ‘Love Kills’, ‘Let Me In Your Heart Again’, and ‘There Must Be More to Life Than This’.

The original release of The Miracle went to number one in the UK, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland and received critical acclaim with Rolling Stone saying: “The Miracle is a showcase for Freddie Mercury and his love of sweeping, quasi-operatic vocals. And indeed, Mercury – especially on the title track – has never sounded better…”

Queen formed in 1970 and went on to be one of the biggest stadium rock bands in the world. Their 1981 Greatest Hits album is the best-selling album in the UK and has been certified nine times platinum in the US. The band comprised of Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals) and John Deacon (bass). Freddie Mercury passed away in 1991 from AIDs-related complications. He performed for the final time with Queen at Knebworth in 1986. Today, Roger Taylor and Brian May still perform as Queen with Adam Lambert on vocals.

Recently sharing their revelation over the weekend on a special Zoe Ball broadcast on BBC 2 celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Taylor revealed “We did find a little gem from Freddie that we’d kind of forgotten about, and it’s wonderful. Actually, it was a real discovery. It’s from the Miracle Sessions and I think it’s going to be out in September.” September will feel like all but a few days away by the time it rolls around for Queen fans who have been patiently waiting for moments like these to arrive since Mercury’s tragic passing in November of 1991. The song is called “Face It Alone” as reported by the Metro, and will be the first time the band have released new material featuring Freddie since their 2014 compilation album Queen Forever, which similarly comprised of “forgotten” songs sung by the unparalleled vocalist. Check out the video below to hear one.

When asked about how the gem was uncovered, Brian May said “It was kind of hiding in plain sight. We looked at it many times and thought, ‘Oh no, we can’t really rescue that’. But in fact, we went in there again and our wonderful engineering team went, ‘OK, we can do this and this’. It’s like stitching bits together. But it’s beautiful. It’s touching.”

The song was originally recorded for the bands second to last 1989 album The Miracle which consisted of songs like “I Want It All” and “Breakthru”, but was cut from the record. Now, in the permanent void of Mercury’s untimely death in November of 1991, most will feel this discovery from the cutting room floor to be somewhat of a miracle itself. With Taylor going on to call the song a “very passionate piece”, fans of the iconic vocalist and treasured band are hopefully in for quite an emotive treat, with the release due to grace our ears later in the year.

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Madame Tussauds has provided further details within the press release, “Working in partnership with Bowie’s estate and using information from his 1983 sitting, Madame Tussauds London’s new figure is the second to be created of Bowie and immortalises the singer’s alter ego, the extra-terrestrial rockstar Ziggy Stardust. Fans of the icon of sound and vision will recognise Starman’s signature red hairstyle, cosmic jumpsuit and celestial makeup made famous in the 1970s.”

The press release continues to describe the new musical zone, “Bowie’s new figure marks the launch of our newly revamped Music Festival zone; the only place where guests can experience a truly impossible line up of musical greats. From posing with Beyoncé and Amy Winehouse, jamming with Jimi Hendrix and Ed Sheeran to owning the stage alongside Freddie Mercury and Stormzy, this is a line up that only Madame Tussauds London could create.”

The London attraction’s latest waxwork marks their second homage to the rock icon. Bowie’s new figure has been modelled after the artist’s alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The English musician first donned the red boots and thunderbolt in the early ’70s, however Bowie retired the alien during a concert in 1973, the now-infamous London gig was filmed for the documentary Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars. The character has remained a huge part of musical history and is regarded as a musician in his own right; the pivotal album The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars cemented the extra-terrestrial Rockstar’s place in pop culture.

 

 

 

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Joining the “Rebel Rebel” singer in the recently opened area are a host of music’s biggest stars including fellow Londoner Stormzy, Ed Sheeran, legendary songstress Amy Winehouse, Freddie Mercury, Jimi Hendrix, Dua Lipa, Bob Marley and superstar Beyonce. To commemorate the exciting new space, Madame Tussauds have placed the musicians’ waxed counterparts in London’s most iconic music venues. The team dug into the city’s deep musical roots and storied history to produce the below video announcing the exhibition’s launch.

Tim Waters, General Manager at London Madame Tussauds has given the following statement, “David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust transcends generations and music genres, making him the ultimate headliner to launch our new Music Festival zone.  We were honoured to work with his estate in what would have been his 75th year and play our small part in keeping his inimitable legacy alive for generations to come. We know that guests love to meet their music heroes here at the attraction. With our new Music Festival experience, we’ve captured the magic of live music, with legends you literally could not see perform together anywhere else, in a way that only Madame Tussauds London could. There’s also the added bonus of no muddy fields or main-stage clashes to contend with.”

Click here for details concerning tickets.

 He then went on to say, “I get so sick of people trying to change things without thinking of the long-term consequences, some of these things are an improvement, some of them are not.”, adding “[Freddie Mercury] was a musician, he was our friend, he was our brother. We didn’t have to stop and think: ‘Ooh, now, should we work with him? Is he the right colour? Is he the right sexual proclivity?’ None of that happened, and now I find it frightening that you have to be so calculating about everything.”. Today, however, May took to Instagram to defend himself. Blaming “predatory press hacks” that have unfairly made him seem “Unfriendly to trans people.”.

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 He explains that his words were “subtly twisted”, and that his “heart is open as always to humans of all colours, all creeds, all sexes and sexualities, all shapes and sizes – and all creatures.”.

For the 2022 ceremony, the British male solo artist and British female solo artist categories will be replaced by a singular artist of the year award, and the same will be applied to the previously gendered international solo artist categories. Regarding the changes, BRIT’s Chair Tom March commented, “It is important that The BRITs continue to evolve and aim to be as inclusive as possible. It feels completely the right time to celebrate the achievements of artists for the music that they create, and the work that they do, irrespective of gender.”. Last year, British non-binary singer Sam Smith was left out of the categories despite being nominated for a number of other awards.

Queen and Adam Lambert are currently set to begin their UK and European ‘Rhapsody Tour’ in Belfast in May 2022, the tour was postponed in February 2020 after their Australian dates due to COVID-19. See here to get tickets. Since the last dates of the tour, drummer Roger Taylor has embarked on a series of solo shows in the UK. On the final night of the tour, October 22^nd, Taylor was joined by May for a surprise performance of a number of Queen classics, as well as a cover of Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti”. See a fan video of the performance below.

The band’s official Instagram page posted the news to fans.

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The new ‘Greatest Hits’ collection will be available in many exclusive formats, including as a collector’s edition which will come with an exclusive slipcase cover. The collection will also be available as a limited-edition cassette format set, buyers will also be able to purchase the limited-edition colour cassettes which will each represent the band members, Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. Fans can choose the colour of their cassettes based on their favourite band member. These special formats will also include prints the size of CD’s personally signed by members, Brian May and Roger Taylor. Fans will be able to get their hands on the very special edition formats from 2nd July 2021, but they will have to be quick as the special formats are limited to only 1000 copies.

The ‘Greatest Hits’ collection has proved to be a record-breaking album, the album has gone down in history with over 6 million units sold within the UK, at this point in time the collection has sold over 6.75 million copies. The album’s global sale record is even more impressive, with over 25 million units shifted. The impressive sales have made the album the only collection to have shifted over 6 million copies. The album has gone platinum over 22 times and has made chart history as the third longest-charting album in the UK. The collection has made further chart history by spending 946 weeks on the Official Albums Chart Top 100.

The collection is so popular that according to a press release, the album exists within one in four households within Britain and since the recent Queen biopic entitled ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ hit the silver screen, sales for the collection have skyrocketed even more. The collection is often seen within top curated lists for such institutions as Rolling Stone and has become an important part of the popular music canon.

The collection was originally released on 26th October 1981 and debuted on the charts at number two and made it to the number one spot the next week, it stayed at the top of the charts for four weeks.  The release featured many of the band’s most beloved tracks including their famous duet with David Bowie, ‘Under Pressure’. With two sides the album boasted other such celebrated hits as ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ and of course their most famous song ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

Click here to pre-order the collection on various formats.

Announcing the release on Instagram, Queen wrote: “Announcing The First-Ever Official Freddie Mercury Graphic Novel – ‘Lover Of Life, Singer Of Songs!’ An original graphic novel told through Freddie’s own words. #FreddieMercury @z2comics @freddiemercury.”

 

 

 

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The graphic novel Freddie Mercury: Lover Of Life, Singer of Songs will depict Freddie’s life through comic format. Partnering with Z2 Comics, who have previously collaborated with Elvis Presley, Yung Blood and All Time Low, to pay “tribute to one of the greatest figures the music world has ever known.” The journey of Mercury’s life will be told through his words and written by the author Tres Dean, to give “a true insight into the many experiences that helped shape the young Farrokh Bulsara and his compelling existence, both on and off stage.”

In a press release on the graphic novel’s announcement, Queen wrote: “For the first time in comics format, Freddie Mercury: Lover of Life, Singer of Songs will be a journey through Freddie’s life; from his childhood in Zanzibar and India, through his formative years in England, to become the rock star, known and loved by millions around the globe. The story is told in his own words, with each chapter giving a glimpse into the many facets of his life.” They continued: “Following up on the tremendous success of the Oscar-winning 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody, and inspired by the book Freddie Mercury: A Life, In His Own Words, compiled by Greg Brooks and Simon Lupton, this upcoming graphic novel will be another essential addition to the bookshelf or coffee table of fans new and old, sumptuously illustrated by Kyla Smith, Robin Richardson, Safiya Zerrougui, Tammy Wang, and Amy Liu, with accompanying cover painting by David Mack.”

Queen paid tribute to their former frontman, the late Freddie Mercury, last week in an episode as part of their 50th-anniversary series, ‘The Greatest.’ The episode, entitled “Somebody to Love – Freddie’s Greatest Hit?’ explored the inspiration behind the track and discussed whether it was Freddie’s most successful track after they reached new heights with the iconic anthem ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’

Freddie Mercury: Lover of Life, Singer of Songs, is available for preorder now. The graphic novel will be in both softcover and hardcover and will be available to buy from stores this November.

A hardcover deluxe edition is also set to be released exclusively via Z2. It will include an exclusive vinyl LP and limited edition prints by Sarah Jones, Kyla Smith, and Sanya Anwar.