ADAM LAMBERT: 'It's Impossible' To Replace FREDDIE MERCURY

QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT frontman Adam Lambert was honored with the International Award at last night's (Friday, June 30) O2 Silver Clef Awards at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel in London, England. Speaking to Music-News.com editor Marco Gandolfi at the event, Lambert said about what it has been like to sing parts originally written and recorded by iconic QUEEN vocalist Freddie Mercury: "Listen, there's no replacing Freddie Mercury. It's impossible. Freddie Mercury is a mythic rock god. Not only did he sing the hell out of those songs, he wrote so many of them. Those were his stories in a lot of those songs. And if I didn't have the recordings of Freddie Mercury, I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am with this music. So he's incredibly inspiring and he definitely gave me all of the ingredients that I needed to even pull it off on stage. So I look at it always as a celebration and a tribute to him."

Adam also touched upon Mercury's cultural legacy, saying: "I think Freddie's many things. I think the voice alone, it does something to you when you listen to it. He had an incredible voice, and I think that, as his tool, connected him with so many people out there. And then his songwriting — he wrote beautiful, human, emotive music about the human experience, and I think that also connected him with people. And then once you got him onstage, you look at old footage of him and he was very free and full of joy, and I think that inspired a lot of people as well, including myself."

This past March, QUEEN guitarist Brian May spoke to SiriusXM's Classic Rewind about the evolution of the band's live performance since he and drummer Roger Taylor first shared the stage together with Lambert more than a decade ago. He said: "I think our chemistry is better than it ever was. I mean, Roger and I go back hundreds of years, as you probably know. But with Adam, I mean, it was good from the beginning, but it's now amazing. We now have a real empathy on stage, a real kind of understanding. There's a connection. And you probably know, we don't have any clicks or backing tracks or anything, so we're completely free and we can feel what each other wants to do. So every night, it'll go a slightly different way. And I love that — the danger of that is brilliant. And we all feel more confident, I think. And I think as you get older, you get more forgiving of yourself. You don't regard things as mistakes. You regard everything as an opportunity. You get more forgiving of your younger self as well. You think, 'Okay, I was only young.' But it's a different feeling.

"I just think it's a privilege to be out there and to be able to do that and to get that incredible response from the audience," Brian added. "The QUEEN thing has been something amazing for all of us, and it's a real privilege to have that."

After SiriusXM's Mark Goodman noted that QUEEN managed to not only continue after the passing of Mercury, who died in 1991 of complications from to AIDS, but thrive following the arrival of Lambert, the guitarist said: "It's amazing that we didn't look for him. I always think that. We didn't advertise; we didn't audition. He just turned up out of the blue, out of heaven, and he had everything that we needed, plus more. And it is truly incredible."

Lambert, May and Taylor first shared the stage during "American Idol" in May 2009 for a performance of "We Are The Champions". They teamed up again in 2011 at the MTV European Music Awards in Belfast, Ireland for an electrifying eight-minute finale of "The Show Must Go On", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" and in the summer of 2012, Lambert performed a series of shows with QUEEN across Europe as well as dates in Russia, Ukraine and Poland. They have since completed a number of tours and performed at some of the biggest festivals in the world.

In May 2019, Lambert said that he wasn't convinced it was the right move for him to record new music with QUEEN. Speaking to Hunger, he said: "People always ask if we want to record together, and I'm not sure it makes total sense, because it wouldn't really be QUEEN, because, to me, QUEEN is Freddie. My favorite thing is collaborating and putting these concerts together and creating on stage — it's super fulfilling and exciting. To present these ideas to these two gentlemen — especially when they like the idea."

May previously described Lambert as the only singer the band had found capable of filling Mercury's shoes. "Adam is the first person we've encountered who can do all the QUEEN catalog without blinking," said May. "He is a gift from God." Taylor echoed the guitarist's sentiments, adding: "[Adam's] incredibly musical, and we certainly take anything he says quite seriously."

Lambert, for his part, downplayed the Mercury comparisons, saying: "There's never going to be another, and I'm not replacing him. That's not what I'm doing. I'm trying to keep the memory alive, and remind people how amazing he was, without imitating him. I'm trying to share with the audience how much he inspired me."

In 2004, QUEEN recruited BAD COMPANY singer Paul Rodgers, with whom they completed two world tours and released an album, "The Cosmos Rocks", in 2008. They amicably parted ways a year later when Rodgers returned to BAD COMPANY. Since 2011, QUEEN has been fronted by Lambert.