Adam Lambert and Brian May
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Queen will never replace Freddie Mercury, but the band reportedly are set to reform once again this summer with another vocalist stepping in to handle the late singer's frontman duties. Flamboyant 'American Idol' star Adam Lambert says he will serve as Queen's singer during a headlining run on this summer's touring Sonisphere festival in Europe.

Original Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor are no strangers to rocking with Lambert. They performed 'We Are The Champions' with him during the 'American Idol' finals when he won in 2009, and then again hit the stage with him just last November at the MTV Europe Awards.

Some Queen purists may scoff at an 'Idol' singer taking over for the late Mercury, but at least Lambert knows his place in this equation. “The intention is to pay tribute to Freddie and the band by singing some f---ing great songs," he tells The Daily Star. "It’s to keep the music alive for the fans and give it an energy that Freddie would have been proud of.”

"There's no intention in my mind of replacing Freddie," he adds. "That's impossible. The way I’m choosing to view it is that it’s a great honor and one I’m in no way going to shirk.”

The pairing should be of no surprise to Ultimate Classic Rock readers who read our interview with Roger Taylor last December. "I think Brian and I will very possibly be doing something with Adam, because he’s really great," he said. "His range is unequaled, I think, and his stage presence is really quite something these days. He’s a phenomenal performer and it went very well, so that was very interesting, actually. We would hope to be doing something with Adam at some point."

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