Queen frustrated over Mercury duet with Jackson

Queen drummer Roger Taylor says Michael Jackson's estate have been "difficult" to deal with over the release of his duet with Freddie Mercury.

The band hope to include it on upcoming album Queen Forever, but the King of Pop’s estate are said to be dragging their feet over granting permission.

Asked if the track will be launched this year, Taylor tells the London Evening Standard: “Yes – if we could get a decision from the Michael Jackson estate, who seem to be, well, difficult. William Orbit did a really nice mix of one of our tracks with Michael and I’m pretty certain that will be on Queen Forever. But it’s been like wading through glue.”

Queen Forever will be made up of material from the Queen archive, which includes at least one song featuring the vocals of both Jackson and Mercury.

Taylor adds: “I’m not quite sure what’s on it yet. We’ve got some great new tracks that haven’t been heard and there’s an interesting selection of older stuff.”

Queen are currently on tour with American Idol star Adam Lambert.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.