Queen were inducted into the inaugural UK Music Hall of Fame on November 11, 2004, at London’s Hackney Empire. Brian May and Roger Taylor accepted an honor decided by the public, then performed with Paul Rodgers. That appearance helped turn a guest collaboration into a touring partnership.
Queen won the vote for the 1970s in Channel 4’s decade-by-decade selection process. The inaugural class paired five founding acts with five chosen by viewers, covering the 1950s through the 1990s. Voters had ten nominees to consider in each category. The ceremony was recorded for television and broadcast three days later.
May and Taylor performed “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” with Rodgers, then returned for the finale with Free’s “All Right Now.” The Queen songs had appeared on the band’s 1977 album News of the World. Across the evening, Rodgers sang material associated with Freddie Mercury alongside a song from his own career.
The connection had begun developing before the induction. In September 2004, May and Rodgers played together at the Fender Stratocaster anniversary concert in London. Recalling it to David “Kid” Jensen on Capital Gold in March 2005, May described how strongly they had responded to playing “All Right Now” together. He called Taylor afterward, leading to the three musicians’ Hall of Fame appearance. “And that really clinched it,” May told Jensen. He said a tour had seemed unimaginable to him even a year earlier. By the interview, they were rehearsing at Bray Studios with a large lighting production being prepared around them. The awards performance had given them a reason to work out what a full show could become.
Guitarist Jamie Moses remembered that possibility being discussed almost immediately. In a 2021 interview for Brian May’s website and the Official International Queen Fan Club, he recalled walking with May through the car park toward the recording truck after the Hall of Fame performance. May told him something special had happened and suggested taking the collaboration further. “This might be worth pursuing,” Moses remembered him saying.
Moses also described what Rodgers brought to Queen’s songs. He heard a blues approach that gave them a different character, with the singer interpreting the material in his own way. Rodgers’ voice and repertoire became part of the project’s identity, reflected in its billing as Queen + Paul Rodgers.
In 2005, the partnership toured Europe, the United States and Japan, followed by a North American tour in 2006. May, Taylor and Rodgers then took the collaboration into the studio to make The Cosmos Rocks. The lineup that had played three songs at Queen’s induction went on to record an album of new material.
