Queen to Release Previously Unheard Single with Freddie Mercury

"Face It Alone" was recorded in the sessions for 1989's 'The Miracle'

BY Megan LaPierrePublished Jun 6, 2022

It doesn't take too many logistical leaps to understand why, of all the acts to be offered that big monarchy money and booked to perform at Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, Queen were a natural choice.

And while the band can now add performing at a jubilee that wasn't actually for them (but close enough!) to their storied legacy, they have more up their sleeves yet: this September, the British rockers are going to release a previously unheard song recorded with the late Freddie Mercury during the sessions for 1989's The Miracle.

In a BBC Radio 2 interview backstage at the palace's platinum party, Brian May and Roger Taylor shared the news ahead of their performance amid the weekend's royal festivities.

"We did find a little gem from Freddie that we'd kind of forgotten about," Taylor said. "It's wonderful, actually. It was a real discovery. It's from The Miracle sessions, and I think it's going to be out in September."

According to the drummer, Mercury had sung on the track in 1988, three years prior to his death in 1991, but the song didn't end up making the final cut for the album. Another previously unreleased recording of Mercury's, "Time Waits for No One," was released in 2019, during the wake of Bryan Singer's acclaimed Bohemian Rhapsody biopic.

"It was kind of hiding in plain sight," May said of the forthcoming single. "We looked at it many times and thought, 'Oh no, we can't really rescue that.' But in fact, we went in there again and our wonderful engineering team went, 'OK, we can do this and this.' It's like kind of stitching bits together. But it's beautiful, it's touching."

Taylor added: "It's a very passionate piece."

Pending an exact release date, the song is reportedly titled "Face It Alone."

Queen's remaining active members and American vocalist Adam Lambert have been performing together as Queen + Adam Lambert since 2011, but the band admitted last year that they "couldn't get there" with recording new music together in the studio.

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