Queen frontman Adam Lambert talks exclusively to Attitude about stepping into Freddie Mercury’s shoes
The American Idol star talks about being a gay singer
By Steve Brown
American Idol star-turned-Queen frontman Adam Lambert has fronted one of two Attitude July issues.
The singer is back in the UK, joining Queen, the world’s greatest rock band, on their European tour. The American Idol star, who was the first out gay man to score a Number 1 Billboard album, speaks exclusively to Attitude about his own experience of being proud in his sexuality in today’s music industry.
He admitted when he first started as a musician it was a “struggle” as a gay singer as he wanted to connect to audience’s and have them relate to his music.
Adam told Attitude: “It has never been: ‘These are the rules.’ It’s more about the struggle and the stress of what will and will not connect, and that has changed since I started out.
“As a pop artist, you want people to relate to you and then at some point I had to balance all of that out with who I actually am, as an artist, as somebody who wants to express himself.”
He also talks about Freddie Mercury’s legacy and whether or not the iconic singer was in the closet.
“I don’t know how ‘in the closet’ Freddie actually was,” Adam added.
“I mean it was like another time where it was just taboo to even discuss it in the media. I think it might have been interpreted as him being tongue-in-cheek, but he sort of owned it from the get-go.
“There were interviews where they were asking if he was gay and he said: ‘Yeah as a daffodil… gay as a daffodil’. And I don’t know if they thought he was being flippant, but he never really said, ‘No, I’m not’.”
Read Adam’s full interview in Attitude’s new July issue, which also comes with a second cover featuring Sense8 star Miguel Angel Silvestre. Buy now and take advantage of our best-ever subscription offers: 3 issues for £3 in print, 13 issues for £19.99 to download to any device.
