Former Journey Singer Discussed Joining Queen

Keavin Wiggins | 04-30-2020

Former Journey frontman Jeff Scott Soto says that there "were discussions" about him fronting Queen before the legendary band tapped former American Idol contestant Adam Lambert for the gig.

Soto, who is currently the frontman for the supergroup Sons Of Apollo, has experience belting out Freddie Mercury's hits in the tribute band Queen Extravaganza, and he was asked in a recent interview if there was every any talk about his becoming the singer of Queen.

He responded, "I can't go into the specifics and I don't wanna go into anything that throws caution to the wind, basically. I can't really elaborate. There were discussions, let's just put it this way.

"There was a short little window of time before Adam that there was a discussion and it didn't get past that. So I'll just leave it at that. I value my friendship and everything that I have with those guys, so I'm not gonna say anything to pat myself on the back just for people to go, 'Hey, you should have...' It's not necessary.

"But to answer your question, and to be honest and truthful about it, yes, there were inklings at one point, and it just didn't turn into anything."

He also explained that former Journey frontman Steve Perry and late Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury had a huge impact on him as a vocalist. He said that the two acclaimed vocalist are "part of my DNA. I'm not trying to be them, I'm just so influenced by their music and what they left behind and their legacies.

That's one of the reasons why I personally thought I fit so well with Journey, because even though I don't sound like Steve Perry, maybe I did when I was younger, but by the time I started singing with them, I was older and huskier in terms of my delivery.

"So those two bands were something I could have stepped into naturally without trying to emulate and trying to be a tribute version of them. They both mean so much to what I do as a singer that it was just a natural thing for me to be able to step into Journey, and it would have been just as natural to step into Queen." Watch the interview below: