JEFF SCOTT SOTO Says ‘There Were Discussions’ About Him Joining QUEEN Before ADAM LAMBERT

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Jeff Scott Soto says that he was briefly in discussions to follow in the late Freddie Mercury's footsteps as QUEEN frontman, before Adam Lambert joined the legendary rock group. The current SONS OF APOLLO singer, who was one of the vocalists for the officially sanctioned QUEEN tribute QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA, spoke about his possible involvement with QUEEN during a brand new interview with Miles "The Shoe" Schuman. Asked if there was ever any talk of him fronting QUEEN, Jeff replied (see video below): "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." When Schuman pointed out that Soto sings the QUEEN material "really well," Jeff said: "I've said it many a time in interviews and anybody that's asked me why I pick on QUEEN [as a musical inspiration] so much, Freddie [Mercury] and Steve Perry [JOURNEY], they're 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." Earlier in the month, Soto and Brazilian bassist Kuky Sanchez joined QUEEN legends Brian May and Roger Taylor from their respective homes to perform a split-screen version of QUEEN's classic song "We Are The Champions". Check out the video below. Launched in 2012, QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA was put together by Taylor, who, along with May, has been tasked with the duty of preserving the legacy of QUEEN for the past 29 years after the passing of singer Freddie Mercury in 1991. In 2004, QUEEN recruited BAD COMPANY singer Paul Rodgers, with whom they completed two world tours and released an album, "The Cosmos Rocks", in 2008. They amicably parted ways a year later when Rodgers returned to BAD COMPANY. Since 2011, QUEEN has been fronted by former "American Idol" star Lambert. Soto joined JOURNEY about a week and half into a six-week summer 2006 tour with DEF LEPPARD, after Steve Augeri began having vocal issues. He was fired from the band in June 2007.