Alright, here's the thing. I've heard two completely DIFFERENT stories and I wonder which story is the true one.
Story #1:
After a Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert Queen and George Michael released that Five Live EP and George offered himself to replace Freddie and wanted to play as Queen, not Queen + George Michael. He offered himself do do it but band refused it.
Story #2:
After a Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, Brian, Roger and John asked George Michael to join the band and he said no to them.
don't know.
but if i remember correctly there's a press conference out there where bri speaks about this topic. i think it's budapest 1993 (awful quality btw...)... what would be a hint that george didn't refuse after the fm tribute...
no time to check by myself, so grab it from the hub :-D
My God... so much rubish. First of all John Deacon was at That time was pretty much into music business. George Michael's performance on FM Tribute was lengendary good, as we all know. Queen at that time wanted to capitalise the pub from Freddie's passing, avoiding a big gap between GH2 and what would become Made in Heaven. Plus the band wanted something to recapture USA exposure and sucess(and george Michael could be a way to do it).George Michael, on other hand, was having an heavy court dispute with his record label. He didn't want to realese stuff when and what they wanted. So the label prohibeted him to put out records. Five Live was a way to please everybody (Lisa Stainsfield on other hand wanted pub, because her star was fading). It was an huge sucess and some countries even put it as a nº1 in album charts (despite being an EP) which was rectified later, puting it as nº1 in singles chart. George Michael use the sucess to negociate with the label, showing them that he didn't need to continue with his solo career (linked by contract with the label) to be sucessful. If George ever really hinted to be part of the band, or if he just used the boys to blackmale the record label is unknown.
Akindofmagic, all I can say is that George Michael and Brian May were decided to do it, and Roger was apparently agree. However, John was very upset with the idea, so they didn't reach an agreement. John (pressured by Jim Beach to give his approval) finally stopped that project in 1999-2000. I can remember the radio reports from those years. I even listened the new that it was decided that Queen and George Michael would definitely join. Brian has said that there were many meetings of the band to take a decision. And I readed that John didn't want George Michael to join the band, he even hated the idea. In spite of all that, John was still in the band and he even collaborated in the first preparations of the "We will rock you" musical. The serious problems came with the collaborations with Britney Spears, Robbie Williams... All you know that.
It would be an absurd idea as good on the ballards as George Michael would have been when it came to the rock songs where vocals have to compete with what Freddie once called Brian May's fireplace - he'd have stood no chance.
I can't see it for another reason. The band we know (or certain members) wanted to stop being Queen for a while after 1992. Brian and Roger had a bit of a falling out and that's why it took nearly four years after his death to complete Made In Heaven and then they all went away and did their own bits and pieces.
By then George Michael already had a successful career as a solo artist with Jesus to A Child and Fast Love being two UK number one's in 1995 and 1996 respectively. So I don't think there was any possibility at all that George would join Queen.
atg2001, that's not absurd, but a serious project. As well as the informations I've refered to, you can see the special complicity between George Michael and Brian May during the rehearses and during the performance of We Are The Champions, the great connection between George Michael and the audience during that performance and the faces of joy of Brian and Roger because of that. And of course, the Five Live EP... Anyway Brian has admited that there were many meetings to talk about that subject. So it's not absurd at all.