Singer to depart from group
Legendary stadium rockers Queen have ended their collaboration with Paul Rodgers, after almost five years of recording and touring.
Queen formed as a power trio in the late 60s, at one point supporting guitar icon Jimi Hendrix. The group then took on board frontman Freddie Mercury, whose wailing vocals and larger than life stage presence came to define the group.
The band continually experimented with studio effects, resulting in the epic, multi-layered smash hit 'Bohemian Symphony'. One of the defining British rock tracks, it has had a lasting and far reaching influence that extends beyond super fan Jeremy Clarkson's dashboard.
Sadly the band's original singer Freddie Mercury died of AIDs in 1991, just a few days after admitting he had the disease. Queen completed one final album based on tracks Mercury recorded before his death, before splitting.
There was a twist in the band's career later, however, when former Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers agreed to fill in on a one off date. The two parties enjoyed the show so much they agreed to carry on with Queen / Paul Rodgers becoming a massive concert attraction and recording 2008's 'The Cosmos Rocks' album.
All that is set to end, with the news that Paul Rodgers is to depart the band. Speaking to American magazine Billboard the singer revealed that he felt it was time to end the partnership.
"At this point we're gonna sit back from this," Rodgers told Billboard. "My arrangement with (Queen) was similar to my arrangement with Jimmy (Page) in The Firm in that it was never meant to be a permanent arrangement."
"I think we made a huge success of it, actually," he added. "We did two world tours and a couple of live recordings, and...made a studio album, which was pretty historical for because they hadn't really gone in the studio with anybody and recorded something like that for a very long time. So it was quite an achievement, I think."
However the rock legend admitted that he could be persuaded to re-join the fold. "It's kind of an open book, really," he said. "If they approach me to do something for charity, for instance, or something like that...I'd be very much into doing that, for sure."
Queen formed as a power trio in the late 60s, at one point supporting guitar icon Jimi Hendrix. The group then took on board frontman Freddie Mercury, whose wailing vocals and larger than life stage presence came to define the group.
The band continually experimented with studio effects, resulting in the epic, multi-layered smash hit 'Bohemian Symphony'. One of the defining British rock tracks, it has had a lasting and far reaching influence that extends beyond super fan Jeremy Clarkson's dashboard.
Sadly the band's original singer Freddie Mercury died of AIDs in 1991, just a few days after admitting he had the disease. Queen completed one final album based on tracks Mercury recorded before his death, before splitting.
There was a twist in the band's career later, however, when former Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers agreed to fill in on a one off date. The two parties enjoyed the show so much they agreed to carry on with Queen / Paul Rodgers becoming a massive concert attraction and recording 2008's 'The Cosmos Rocks' album.
All that is set to end, with the news that Paul Rodgers is to depart the band. Speaking to American magazine Billboard the singer revealed that he felt it was time to end the partnership.
"At this point we're gonna sit back from this," Rodgers told Billboard. "My arrangement with (Queen) was similar to my arrangement with Jimmy (Page) in The Firm in that it was never meant to be a permanent arrangement."
"I think we made a huge success of it, actually," he added. "We did two world tours and a couple of live recordings, and...made a studio album, which was pretty historical for because they hadn't really gone in the studio with anybody and recorded something like that for a very long time. So it was quite an achievement, I think."
However the rock legend admitted that he could be persuaded to re-join the fold. "It's kind of an open book, really," he said. "If they approach me to do something for charity, for instance, or something like that...I'd be very much into doing that, for sure."
Queen / Paul Rodgers
