Recalling the beginning of his five-year tenure with Queen, the singer said:
“To start with, Brian [May] and Roger [Taylor] wanted to do a lot more Free and Bad Company songs because they were big fans. I said, ‘Look, the world has been waiting to hear you and your songs, so let’s keep it Queen heavy.'”
After discussing their disagreement, Paul also shared his admiration for Freddie Mercury, insinuating that Freddie might have also struggled with his former bandmates:
“When I became a part of Queen, I had a lot of respect for Freddie, but when I left, I had even more because I now know what he went through.”
In a new chat with TalkShopLive’s The Rock N Roll Channel, Rodgers also talked about what it was like to be in Mercury’s position as the lead singer, explaining:
“By the time I’d toured with the guys and done all that, I realized what it was like to stand in Freddie’s shoes, and it was not an easy gig,” he says. “I mean, they have so many great songs, and it was a really, really enlightening experience, actually.”
After serving as the vocalist of Queen + Paul Rodgers between 2004 and 2009, the rocker parted ways with the band. He opened up about the split to Billboard in 2009, saying:
“My arrangement with [Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor] was similar to my arrangement with Jimmy [Page] in the Firm in that it was never meant to be a permanent arrangement.”
In the documentary ‘The Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story,’ Roger Taylor also explained that Rodgers left Queen because his musical style was more aligned with blues and soul, which didn’t quite match Queen’s eclectic music.
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