Newspaper Report: Australian Singer Asked To Join QUEEN

August 4, 2003

Australian singer John Farnham has reportedly been asked to join rock legends QUEEN.

The Daily Telegraph reported Farnham had been offered "the gig of a lifetime" — to follow in the footsteps of the late Freddie Mercury as QUEEN's lead singer.

Farnham "blew away" the band after recording a new version of its classic "We Will Rock You" with QUEEN guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor in Melbourne two weeks ago, the newspaper said.

The former LITTLE RIVER BAND frontman who's gone on to have a successful solo career recorded his vocals in May in Melbourne, and then sent the tapes to London, where May and Taylor added their parts.

In a posting on his web site, brianmaynews.com, May called Farnham's vocals "truly awesome...The marvels of a great singer!...It gets better the more you listen to it...It stars off very true to the original but gets to a new place...It sounds huge."

May estimates that he layered 15 guitar parts onto the song.

The song was recorded for release as an official 2003 Rugby World Cup theme.

"We have not heard the last of John Farnham and QUEEN," an industry source said, the paper reported.

Farnham's manager Glenn Wheatley had confirmed discussions between Farnham and May had taken place.

QUEEN's U.K.-based management team will be in Melbourne on Tuesday (Aug. 5) to discuss Farnham's commitment to the band beyond the "We Will Rock You" track, according to the paper.

QUEEN are preparing for the Australian opening of their musical, "We Will Rock You", on August 7 in Melbourne.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).