Adam Lambert is becoming the new front man for Queen.
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"Being asked to front Queen is the best thing that can possibly happen," Lambert -- who, with the band, will be touring Europe this summer headlining for the Sonisphere festival -- told the Star.
"The intention is to pay tribute to Freddie and the band by singing some f*****g great songs. It's to keep the music alive for the fans and give it an energy that Freddie would have been proud of."
The 30-year-old singer performed with two of Queen's original members guitarist Brian May, 64, and drummer Roger Taylor, 62, at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast last year, and while his vocals were well received by most fans, he still earned his share of criticism.
"After the EMAs, I heard faint little slithers of a backlash from people saying, 'You can't replace Freddie Mercury.' But I already knew that. There's no intention in my mind of replacing Freddie. That's impossible," Lambert explained.
"The way I'm choosing to view it is that it's a great honor and one I'm in no way going to shirk."
Lambert first stepped onstage with his new Queen bandmates when they performed "We Are The Champions" during American Idol's eighth-season finale in May 2009, which featured Kris Allen being crowned champion over Lambert.
"Straight away I thought, 'These guys are so f*****g rad.' They're a class act, so sweet and paternal and on a musical level really open to great new experiences," Lambert said.
Talk that Lambert might join Queen had originally surfaced shortly after his Idol season concluded in 2009.
"That's a tough question because, honestly, how do you say no to being in Queen? I mean, that's unbelievable," Lambert told The Associated Press at the time.
"But at the same time, I do have my own thing to do right now, and that's my goal. So if I could, I would try to do both. That's the honest question. I would try to do both. I would love to perform with them anytime they wanted me to but I also have my record to do. So, we'll see."
Although he is now joining Queen, Lambert will still be releasing his second solo album entitled "Trespassing" on March 19.
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"I learned so much from doing my first album. 'Trespassing' is much more of an album, not just a collection of would-be singles like my first record," Lambert said, adding that it will be "cool to record with Brian and Roger."
Following Mercury's death and prior to Lambert's addition to the band, Queen recorded an album and toured with singer Paul Rodgers in 2005.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
