Queen’s Roger Taylor explains why John Deacon won’t rejoin the band

4 October 2021, 10:38 | Updated: 5 October 2023, 11:57

Queen drummer Roger Taylor pours water on the idea of bassist John Deacon ever coming back to the band.

Queen's bass player John Deacon left the band in 1997, and the group's drummer Roger Taylor has said that he'll never rejoin the group.

Since Deacon left, he has been replaced on the road by a series of other bass players. David Grossman took over from 1998 to 2004, Danny Miranda from 2005 to 2009, and Neil Fairclough from 2011 to the present day.

Of the idea of a reunion with Deacon, Tayor told Mojo (via ContactMusic): "It's a lovely fairy tale, but to be honest I don't think so. John's like a hermit, really.

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"I don't think he's quite equipped for that - he's really fragile. He can't deal with company or the outside world, so far as I know. I guess he just sits there counting his money."

Queen's frontman Freddie Mercury died in 1991 from AIDS-related complications.

The band continued, and completed the posthumous album Made in Heaven featuring vocals laid down by Freddie before his death.

In 1997, they released the standalone single 'No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)', which featured lead vocals from Brian May and Roger Taylor.

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It was the last newly-written music ever released under the Queen banner, and also the only release featuring a three-piece Queen of May, Taylor and Deacon.

Deacon then retired from music and public life, and didn't attend Queen's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001

In the same interview, Taylor revealed that Queen started working on brand new material with their current touring frontman Adam Lambert, before shelving the song.

"Brian suddenly lost interest and I don't really know why," Taylor said.

"We started it in Nashville when we were all quite tired."

He added: "We couldn't decide on a title and the lyric felt a little too negative for Queen, maybe. But it was pretty damn good, and I hope it comes to light."