Queen’s replacement lead singer Adam Lambert says predecessor Freddie Mercury was first sexually fluid pop star
GIVEN the relative sexual conservatism of the Seventies, it would be easy to assume that legendary QUEEN lead singer was a gay man who was, for the most part, forced into the closet.
But the band’s replacement lead singer ADAM LAMBERT believes his predecessor may have been equally groundbreaking when it came to his sexuality — being the original sexually fluid pop star.
The American Idol star was one of the first modern day US pop stars to come out as gay.
He has spent the last seven years since joining the group researching the personal life of the icon whose shoes he now fills, including speaking extensively to their bandmates ROGER TAYLOR and BRIAN MAY.
Adam tells me: “He was utterly fearless. I think, ‘This guy is free.’
“He did not give a flying eff what anybody thought. He did what he wanted to do.”
In the last couple of years, high profile pop and rockstars - including DEMI LOVATO, MILEY CYRUS and SAM SMITH - have felt comfortable to define as bisexual or pansexual.
Speaking on the new episode of my podcast The Dan Wootton Interview — which you can subscribe to for free now on any podcast app — Adam reckons FREDDIE got there first decades earlier.
Of course, his one true love was Mary Austin, who he referred to as his wife and left to control his fortune.
However, their relationship ended in 1976 when he came out to her as gay privately, something he never confirmed in public.
Adam says: “By definition, I think Freddie was bisexual. I have talked to a lot of people that know him, including his band mates and former friends.
“I think at some point after he separated from his first wife, he was predominantly with men.
“But he had a relationship with a woman at one point and he slept with women here and there from what I understand.
“I think that it's actually ahead of his time in a way because I think you are seeing more of that conversation about sexuality more now.
“And fluidity and people saying, ‘look, I'm whatever, I don't want to label myself because I explore this, that and the other thing.’
“Which is hard for the masses to wrap their head around, and it's hard for people to understand each other’s boundaries when there is not a label put on them.”
He adds: “I think the pendulum has swung more than just back and forth but side to side as well.
“There have been interesting movements. If you look at the Seventies it was all based on this movement androgyny and ‘is he or isn't he’ and all this fluidity.
“You had people like Freddie and BOWIE and MARC BOLAN and even in the early Eighties you had BOY GEORGE.
“It was cool. It was cool to sort of toy with the perception but it was still taboo to say.”
Freddie’s sexuality and his enduring love for Mary is expected to be at the heart of the upcoming BRYAN SINGER Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which will see in the lead role.
Adam reveals: “I met Rami, he is playing Freddie. He is a lovely guy. I saw a scene, and he looks just like him.
“It is fascinating. I can't wait to see the film; I think it is going to be great.”
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For his part, Adam is very clear about his own sexuality.
He explains: “I'm gay, yeah. I am not fluid, although I respect fluidity. I think it's beautiful if you want to explore.
“I have been out since I was 18. I never wasn't out.
“I was talking about cute boys to everybody cause I'm boy crazy! There was no secret.
“We are entering an era where hopefully some of the fear and stigma is lifting off sexuality and some of the shame, and people are able to be who they are and enjoy themselves and connect.”
That’s not to say there have not been serious challenges for artists like Adam who have broken ground by being so bravely open about their sexuality from early in their careers.
He explains: “Ironically, we fast forward to the last ten years and it is taboo to look androgynous.
“But now you can identify as being gay but just don't show yourself as acting gay. “You could say, ‘I'm gay, I'm bi, I'm a lesbian,’ but if you show it in your commercial art, that's where everyone starts getting nervous.
“For example the pronoun he in a song of a gay artist singing about a lover, obviously that would be a man in that lifestyle, why can't we just say he?
“That's the conversation that has been going on.
“I feel privileged to sort of be in the mix on because I think there is a handful of artists that is going to say okay I'm going to say he.”
“But the thing that is tricky is you have the business side of it unfortunately. It isn't necessarily about art and only about integrity, even though that's what it should be.
”You have people investing money who are worried about the marketing.
“I'm actually excited about it, because it needs to be less of an issue, but if in order to get it to that point it's still as an issue.”
Adam has been totally embraced by Roger and Brian to fill the shoes of Freddie.
He says: “The band made me feel very comfortable, they were always very warm and open and it was always a collaboration.
“They could have told me exactly what they wanted me to do and I would have listened because they are Brian and Roger.
“It took me a while to catch up with the guys and get the songs into my body so I wasn't thinking; I was just doing and feeling.”
Their first Las Vegas residency kicks off with ten shows in September.
He says of his bandmates: “They are amazing. I am shocked because I get off stage sometimes and I am exhausted, and I think to myself, ‘These guys are 70.’ They are still doing it.”
With massive fortunes and the Queen legacy preservered, why keep working so hard?
“I think they realise the connection that they have to pop culture and these people and fans that have been supporting them,” Adam says.
“It's interesting because it is something that has taught me a lot about why I do this. It reminds me of the real heart of why you get into the music industry as a performer.”