Robbie Williams revealed that he turned down an offer from Brian May and Roger Taylor to be the lead singer of Queen , before Adam Lambert joined the group. The singer told the story in an interview with the American radio station Sirius XM .
The offer came in 2001 after the recording of "We Are The Champions" for the film A Knight's Tale, starring Heath Ledger. According to Williams, the main reason for turning down the offer was his low self-esteem.
“Although I’m very confident with the microphone, I have low self-esteem. I felt I was sparing Queen the audacity of trying to get on stage to embody an icon like Freddie Mercury . To me, he’s angelic. He’s divine. I was scared,” he said.
Robbie Williams also commented on Adam Lambert, the band's current vocalist who has been with them since 2011: “If Adam wasn't the lovely person he is, I'd be afraid of him, because of the talent he has. His voice is incredible, as is his performance. And he's a great person. I'm very happy when I meet people who have enormous talent and, at the same time, are nice. It's much better than meeting talented but idiotic people, because you end up hating what those people do.”
Watch the full interview below.
