Adam Lambert would have never toured with Queen if he hadn't sung 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in his 2009 'American Idol' audition
Singer Adam Lambert got the opportunity of a lifetime to tour with legendary British rock band Queen and sing lead vocals for them. If you go back in time to when he first appeared on the map 10 years ago, however, you would be able to see that Adam was just another struggling theatre teen working to get noticed. Before he shot to stardom with 'American Idol', Adam was in multiple theatre performances including 'Wicked' in which he was the understudy of Fiyero. He was also the singer for the underground rock band The Citizen Vein at the time.
Nothing in his life at the time, however, seemed to work out for Adam. In an interview that happened years later, Adam reminisced that it was at that point in his life that he wanted to try out for 'American Idol'. He said he had watched the moment Kelly Clarkson was crowned the winner and thought, "Wow, that would be really cool". There were a few things in his way, however.
He said in the interview: "I didn’t think I was the right kind of performer to… I didn’t think I would work on the show. I thought 'Oh, I’m not the type that they look for'." It was this, and the fact that TV producers told him that he would have to quit his job as a theatre performer in order for him to even be considered for the show. Adam knew that if he didn't make it, he would end up without health insurance as well as a steady income.
In spite of this huge risk, the then 26-year-old was excited about his prospects and decided to give it a chance just to see what would happen. He said in the interview: "[I thought] 'Why don’t I just try out? Why don't I just try?' Even though I still thought, 'Nah, this is a long shot'."
Adam was the one who was doubtful and nervous in 2009 when he went for the audition but instantly "felt a good connection to Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Kara DioGuardi". The judges weren't too thrilled with his performance of Michael Jackson's 'Rock With You' but then he pleaded with them for another chance and that's when he sang his already prepared Queen hit song 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.
This was the audition that ended up airing on Fox and fans of the show could see that all the judges were impressed right away. He got a "yes" from all the judges and was sent on his way to the next round in Hollywood.
Only days after Adam's audition aired, the lead guitarist of Queen Brian May saw his performance on social media. In his book 'Queen in 3-D', May said that he started receiving loads of messages about "this incredible guy on 'American Idol' who has sung one of your songs". After he went onto YouTube and saw the audition clip, May was instantly curious.
He wrote: "It was evident that he was something completely out of the ordinary. And into my inbox came a deluge of people saying, 'You must get together with this guy; he is the natural successor to Freddie; he is the guy you should be touring with'."
As Adam continued his meteoric rise on the show, American Idol reached out to May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor to see if they would like to perform with the two finalists of the show — Adam and Kris Allen. Even though the band members said that they loved being on stage with both contestants, May recalled that there was a deeper connection to Adam. He said in an interview: "It was really blindingly obvious that there was chemistry already between us and Adam. It just happened completely naturally and made us all smile."
After the show came to an end, with Adam winning second, he was able to cross paths with Queen again at the MTV Europe Awards in Belfast, Ireland. Queen and Adam Lambert began officially touring together in 2014 and have been performing together ever since. Looking back now, none of this would have happened if he hadn't sung 'Bohemian Rhapsody' for his audition.
The two-hour documentary 'The Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story' airs on Monday, April 29, on ABC.