It’s been nearly 33 years since Freddie Mercury passed away, and his Queen bandmate Brian May can still recall what he was like during his final days. During a recent interview with AXS TV, the guitarist admitted that he “never ever saw [Mercury] cry.”

“We made the last album, the Made In Heaven album with the tracks that Freddie had left us to play with and it became a real labor of love because he left some lovely little bits and pieces,” May said before remembering how the singer was before he died.

“He was very undramatic about it,” he shared. “I never ever saw him cry or go you know self-pity. He never did that, he was like ‘Let’s just do it, lets keep doing stuff. Freddy was always inspiring. If he was here now, we’d be doing what we always do I’m sure.”

Instead May and drummer Roger Taylor have kept Queen’s legacy alive by collaborating with singer Adam Lambert. “The songs are not fossils, they’re alive and evolving with Adam which is great,” May pointed out. “Sometimes he blows my mind.”

Last month, it was reported that Sony was in the process of acquiring Queen’s music catalog, among other rights, in a $1.27 billion sale. If it goes through, it’ll be the most expensive music sale in history.7