QUEEN's BRIAN MAY: ADAM LAMBERT Can Sing Higher Than FREDDIE MERCURY Could

QUEEN is about to embark on a European tour with "American Idol" finalist Adam Lambert once again fronting the band.

QUEEN guitarist Brian May admits that the band's current collaboration with Lambert is a better fit than their previous involvement with legendary rock singer Paul Rodgers.

"Adam is so much like [late QUEEN singer] Freddie [Mercury] in many ways," May told Japan's Universal Music (see video below). "But Adam doesn't have to try to be like Freddie, which is the nice thing. He doesn't imitate; he just does his own thing."

He continued: "We didn't look for this guy, [but] suddenly he's there, and he can sing all of those lines. See, they’re difficult songs to sing, QUEEN songs. There's too much range. So many people can't sing them in the original key — even if they are good singers. Adam comes along, [and] he can do it easy. He can do it in his sleep! He can sing higher than even Freddie could in a live situation. So I think Freddie would look at this guy and think, 'Hmm… Yeah. Okay.' There would be a kind of, 'Hmm... You bastard. You can do this.' And Adam also has this presentation, I think. He is a showman. He doesn't have to try. He is a natural, in the same way that Freddie was."

May added: "Some people walk on a stage and they're able to do this, and they're able to connect with an audience. And Freddie had it, without a doubt, and Adam has it also. So for a band this is very important. Everybody's doing their thing, but you need that connection, you need that channel, and Adam is great."

Lambert, May and drummer Roger 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 also performed three sold-out gigs at London’s Hammersmith Apollo.

In 2008, May and Taylor, who had been touring with Rodgers as QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS, released the chart bomb, "The Cosmos Rocks", before calling it a day as a trio and a recording entity — despite a string of globally sold-out concerts.

A new album called "Queen Forever", featuring previously unreleased material recorded with late singer Freddie Mercury, was released last month.