Brian May believes Freddie Mercury would have been a fan of Adam Lambert's singing.
The 33-year-old star teamed up with Queen in 2014 to play live shows in place of late frontman Freddie - who tragically died in 1994 at the age of just 45.
Brian admits Adam has been a "gift from god" for the band bringing his own unique style to Queen's classic songs and he thinks even Freddie would accept he's a phenomenal singer.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz at the Classic Rock Roll Of Honour Awards, the guitarist said: "Adam is a phenomenon, you just have to watch him. We didn't look for him, we never looked for anyone to replace Freddie ever, the thing with Paul Rodgers happened very naturally. Adam just came out of the blue, I call him the 'GFG' because he's like a gift from God! It was like, 'Where the f**k did he come from?' He's just incredible and he's not a copy of Freddie, he's very much his own man and brings his style to it. He has a unique combination of confidence and humility, and he as the magic touch which means he can resonate with an audience. And his voice is beyond belief I think even Freddie would be saying that."
Queen + Adam Lambert are to play their first ever festival next year when they top the bill at Isle of Wight on June 12.
The 68-year-old guitarist admits he's very excited at the prospect of Queen - which also includes drummer Roger Taylor - making their festival debut but he's worried they won't have enough time to play all of their hits, which include tracks such as 'I want To Break Free', 'Somebody To Love' and 'We Will Rock You'.
Brian said: "The problem with Isle of Wight is how are we going to get all the hits in? We shall see. It's a very exciting prospect for us because we've never done a festival before ... We've been asked to play a lot of festivals and we haven't done it, I guess because we've always wanted control over what we do. But we've given that control for this."
