Singer Paul Rodgers recently recalled his five-year-long run being  the vocalist of legendary band, Queen.

He noted how standing in Freddie Mercury’s shoes was “not an easy gig” by any means.

Queen has had a long and successful partnership with the talented vocalist Adam Lambert. However, this collaboration was made possible because in 2004, Brian May and Roger Taylor joined forces with Paul Rodgers. This move proved that while finding a replacement for the late Freddie Mercury was impossible, it was possible to assume a new form and deliver the original material with justice.

Speaking to TalkShopLive’s “The Rock N Roll Channel” in a recent interview, Rodgers looked back on how it all began. He said (via Blabbermouth):

“Brian spoke to me about doing some gigs just for fun. ‘Cause we’ve done this TV show together and we played ‘All Right Now’ and ‘We Will Rock You’. And it seemed to fit. And he said, ‘Let’s do some shows out in Europe just for fun.’ And I went into it with a lot of respect for Freddie, actually. And I came out of it, when I wanted to get back to my own music, with even more respect. 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. I mean, they have so many great songs, and it was a really, really enlightening experience, actually. It was.”

Reflecting on what his arrival meant to the band at that point, Rodgers said:

“They hadn’t toured. They’d done lots of one-off shows with various great people — Elton John and George Michael. They’re some great singers, but they never toured with them. And I was able to get them out touring, because they knew that they had the songs, but they just didn’t feel confident enough to get out there and actually, you know, do a tour. And that’s what we did together. And the fans were lovely. They were beautiful.”

With Rodgers at the mic, Queen went on two world tours and released an album, “The Cosmos Rocks”, in 2008. They amicably parted ways a year later when Rodgers returned to Bad Company. The current incarnation of Queen, featuring Adam Lambert, the 2009 “American Idol” runner-up, was created in 2011 and has gone on several tours, including worldwide runs in 2014-15 and 2017-18.