Brian May believes Freddie Mercury was insecure about the legacy he’d leave behind. 

The singer fronted Queen from 1970 until 1991, when he died following a four year battle with AIDS. 

During that time, the group scored hits with classics including Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are The Champions and Don’t Stop Me Now, but according to guitarist Brian, Freddie was unconvinced of the greatness of his musical abilities. 

“On one level yes he was always a Rockstar… He behaved as if he was Robert Plant at the time and nobody minded because he just had that kind of aura about him,” he tells Absolute Radio.

“But underneath it no, massive insecurities, massive shyness, it was always with him right until the end.”

The rocker, who will re-release his solo debut ‘Back to the Light’ later this year, explains: “He had a very private side to him Freddie and he faced up to his insecurities by building himself in the way he wanted to be. 

“He’s a very self-made creature is Freddie. And if you peeled of all the layers of the onion, you’d find a lot of complexity, a lot of it which he denied, which is smart I think really. 

“People would say is your music important Freddie and he would say, ‘No, no, it’s just tomorrow fish ‘n’ chips paper. No, I don’t think my songs are worth anything…’ 

“But underneath that, yes of course he felt he had stuff to say… Freddie was always expressing himself in rather daring ways, inside is this rather insecure person and on the outside was a warrior that he was building himself into.”

Brian recently revealed he and bandmate Roger Taylor have been in the studio with Adam Lambert – who stepped into Freddie’s shoes for Queen’s live shows – to work on new music. 

“Adam, Roger and myself have been in the studio trying things out,” he shared. “So it’s not like we’re closed to the idea, it’s just that it hasn’t happened yet.”