Queen just teamed up with singer Adam Lambert to record a new version of their song “We Are The Champions” to honor healthcare workers fighting coronavirus on the frontlines.
Brian May, Roger Taylor, and Lambert recorded a new version of the song called “You Are The Champions,” which was released on Friday. All proceeds from the downloads of the song go to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
“I thought, this is a great way to use the legacy that we have to do some good in the world,” May said. “You know, we don’t really need to make money anymore. We don’t need to be any more famous. We need to use what we have in the best possible way.”
May added that this release comes at a difficult time for him, as he just lost a friend who was like a brother to him to COVID-19.
“That’s the closest it’s come to me physically,” he said, adding it’s given real meaning to the death tolls that are always shown on television.
“Each one of those is a family tragedy,” May said. “Each one of those people lost a loved one. I think psychologically the human race is going to be very damaged.”
For Taylor, the song is personal because his daughter Rory Eleanor Taylor works as a doctor in a London hospital.
“She’s actually in the video with her little cards, displaying advice about isolating, etc.,” he explained.
As for Lambert, who recorded the song from his home in Los Angeles, he’s hoping that it will bring everyone together.
“There’s a sense of unity that’s happening around the world, even though it’s, you know, in a negative, scary time,” Lambert said. “I think that we’re all understanding each other a little bit more right now. And it’s sort of leveling everything out a bit. It’s only through our connection and our love for each other are we going to get through it together.”
Taylor and May are both on lockdown in the United Kingdom, and they are struggling with the loss of freedom, as many of us are.
“It doesn’t get any easier as time gets on. It’s getting worse if anything. I feel like everything that I worked for in my life has been kind of taken away and put somewhere where I can’t reach it,” said May.
Taylor, however, said that not everything about it is bad.
“I think people have found lots of good things to do,” he said. “I think there’s been a lot more contact within families and friends.”
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