Star Trek’s William Shatner says Queen are his favourite band and names his top song

4 October 2021, 10:42 | Updated: 5 October 2023, 11:58

William Shatner covered Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' for his fourth album Seeking Major Tom.

Star Trek legend and occasional pop star William Shatner has revealed his favourite band.

While he's covered many artists in his music career, most famously Elton John's 'Rocket Man', The Beatles' 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds', and Pulp's 'Common People', he suggested to The Guardian that covering Queen in 2011 really helped him appreciate the band.

"I did a recording of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and I had to listen to Freddie Mercury and Queen a lot to hear how it was done – this was years after they were gone," Shatner said.

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody (Official Video Remastered)

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"Freddie had such a superb voice. If you’re asking me who is my favourite singer I’d say Freddie Mercury.

"Who is my favourite band? Queen. Favourite song? 'Bohemian Rhapsody'."

He added: "Nobody should be ashamed of the music they like, so nobody should be shamed.

"You are who you are and should be proud of it. Unless you want to eat somebody's heart. Maybe you shouldn't do that."

Bohemian Rhapsody

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After finding fame as Captain James T Kirk in Star Trek, Shatner launched a parallel music career with the release of his quirky spoken-word covers/dramatic album The Transformed Man in 1968.

The more conventional and critically acclaimed Has Been followed in 2004, which featured collaborations with Ben Folds, Joe Jackson, Aimee Mann, Lemon Jelly, Henry Rollins, Brad Paisley and Adrian Belew, as well as novelist Nick Hornby.

His cover of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' featured on his fourth album Seeking Major Tom, which was made up of covers of mainly space-themed pop songs, like 'Space Oddity', 'Space Cowboy', 'Walking On The Moon', 'Silver Machine', 'Learning To Fly' and 'Planet Earth'.

In 2018 he released a Christmas album Shatner Claus, which featured his 'Silent Night' duet with Iggy Pop.