Queen revealed that they ‘knew’ Freddie Mercury was ill for ‘awhile’ before he told them he had AIDS in a new interview.
Classic Rock asked, “After Freddie told you of his diagnosis, how did you process it?”
Queen drummer Roger Taylor said, “With difficulty. We knew he’d been ill for a while. He was in bad shape.”
Queen are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, and Taylor is proud. “I do take great joy in the fact that there’s an awful lot of love for us still,” says Taylor. “It constantly surprises me.”
“Everybody else can celebrate it if they want,” Brian May says amiably. “We’d rather just celebrate being here and being alive.”
Taylor puts it more bluntly: “We didn’t want to draw attention to how fucking ancient we are.” Queen last toured in 2019 to celebrate the release of their 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, and the North American run was one of their most successful yet with Adam Lambert. The band had plans to tour into 2020, but the pandemic postponed those plans, so an anniversary tour will have to wait until late 2021 or 2022, like with other major bands.
