Queen’s Roger Taylor says Adam Lambert joining the group was like "fate unfolding".
The iconic rock band’s 69-year-old drummer has admitted they thought the ‘We Are The Champions’ group would never perform again after the death of frontman Freddie Mercury – who died in 1991 from bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS at the age of 45 – and that the chapter was over forever.
‘American Idol’ alumni Lambert, 37, joined the group in 2011, after the Queen + Paul Rodgers incarnation ended after five years in 2009.
Guitarist Brian May and Taylor teamed up with the singer for the documentary, ‘The Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story’, which documented the journey of the ‘For Your Entertainment’ hitmaker stepping into the enigmatic late frontman’s shoes.
In the film, Taylor said: "We thought it was all over. And I think Brian and I, well we kinda thought that was the end of that chapter.
"And everything that’s happened, especially since we met Adam has just been fate unfolding."
‘The Show Must Go On…’ also sees Lambert talk about Mercury’s "loneliness" and how he has come to feel "connected" to his idol on many levels.
He shared: "There’s a few of them [songs] that really hit home from me.
"In learning more about Freddie over the years and learning that there was definitely a loneliness there, I feel like I have enough in common with some of the things Freddie was going through."
Queen + Adam Lambert embarked on a successful worldwide tour from 2014 to 2018, which is also documented in the two-hour documentary, which aired on ABC in the US on Monday night (29.04.19).
Behind-the-scenes concert footage dating back to their first shows in 2011, as well as a string of interviews with May and Taylor, and Rami Malek, who won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Mercury in the recent ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ biopic, were also featured.
Meanwhile, Lambert recently revealed that while speaking with the band, they allegedly told him that they believe that if the ‘Radio Ga Ga’ singer was still alive, the two of them would have gotten on well.
They were apparently recalling to Lambert about how Mercury had a "dry" sense of humour, and would sometimes pull pranks backstage while on tour, and told him that if the duo had been able to meet, they would have gotten "a kick" out of each other.