Los Angeles: The guitarist and drummer with British rock band Queen have joined forces with blues vocalist Paul Rodgers to record a song about AIDS — a tune billed as the group's first studio release in a decade.
Say It's Not True will be made available as a free download in time for the fifth annual 46664 World AIDS Day concert in Johannesburg on Saturday, according to a statement released by the group on Thursday.
Rodgers, who filled the shoes of late Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury on a world tour in 2005-2006, shares vocals on the track with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor.
The song was written by Taylor, who was responsible for such late-era Queen hits as Radio Ga Ga and A Kind of Magic.
Queen broke up after Mercury's AIDS-related death in 1991, but May, Taylor and bass player John Dacon reunited in 1997 to record the tribute song No-One But You. It was released as a single early the following year. Deacon has since retired from the music business.
The new song was first performed live during the inaugural 46664 concert in 2003, and Taylor sang an acoustic version during the band's tour with Rodgers. May and Taylor launched the 46664 AIDS charity with David Stewart of British rock duo Eurythmics.
Its name comes from the prison number of former South African president Nelson Mandela. Queen were among a number of artists vilified in the 1980s for playing the Sun City resort in South Africa, in apparent defiance of the cultural boycott of apartheid.
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