Queen guitarist Brian May says in his
latest book that fate intervened to unite Adam Lambert and Queen.
Lambert along with May and drummer
Roger Taylor began touring in 2014.
In Queen
in 3-D, May reveals that he and Taylor weren't even
looking for a singer to take the place of Freddie Mercury, who died
in 1991 from complications from AIDS.
“After we’d finished touring with
Paul Rodgers, once again Roger and I felt we were done, and probably
that would be the end of Queen touring. We didn’t go out looking
for a singer who sounded like Freddie and we didn’t embark on one
of these TV searches for stars. We just quietly got on with our
business,” May wrote. “But fate was to intervene. A gift from
God?!”
While competing on American Idol,
Lambert performed Bohemian Rhapsody.
“And into my inbox came a deluge of
people saying, 'You must get together with this guy; he is the
natural successor to Freddie; he is the guy you should be touring
with.'”
May and Taylor later performed with
Lambert on Idol.
“[I]t was really blindingly obvious
that there was a chemistry already between us and Adam,” May
wrote.
“He's never attempted to be Freddie,
and I think that's what endears him to the fans, apart from the fact
that he is an extraordinary singer with an extraordinary presence,”
he added.
Queen + Adam Lambert is currently
touring Europe.