Queen and singer Adam Lambert have a message for workers on the front line of the COVID-19 fight: “You Are the Champions.”

Brian May, Roger Taylor and Lambert recently gathered virtually to record a new version of the Queen classic, We Are the Champions.

The single was released last week on all streaming and download services, with proceeds going to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

“I thought, this is a great way to use the legacy that we have to do some good in the world,” May said. “You know, we don’t really need to make money anymore. We don’t need to be any more famous. We need to use what we have in the best possible way.”

For Taylor, the song has personal significance as his daughter Rory Eleanor Taylor works as a doctor in a London hospital.

The music video shows caregivers and front line workers from across the world, as well as empty city scenes and the band performing in their homes.

Lambert, who joined the track from his Los Angeles home, thinks the song really hits a positive note that everyone is in this together.

“There’s a sense of unity that’s happening around the world, even though it’s, you know, in a negative, scary time,” he said. “I think that we’re all understanding each other a little bit more right now. And it’s sort of levelling everything out a bit.”

Added Lambert, “It’s only through our connection and our love for each other are we going to get through it together.”

The band hopes the charity single will provide some consolation after the pandemic forced them to cancel the 27-show UK and European leg of their biggest-ever tour.

“It was pretty heart-breaking to have to let it go. We have rescheduled for next year and we’re all crossing our fingers. We don’t know, do we? We don’t know if it’s going to be appropriate to get thousands of people in one room, even in 12 months from now,” May said.

Taylor remains optimistic that live music will survive: “I can’t believe that festivals and live music won’t come back. It’s part of our … DNA really now.”

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