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Freddie Mercury Refused to Work with Michael Jackson After He Brought a Llama Into the Studio
Apr
Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson once tried to collaborate — but a llama got in the way.
Forty years after the release of Mr. Bad Guy, Mercury’s only solo album, bassist Jo Burt (who played on the project) revealed a strange but true reason the Queen frontman’s recording sessions with Jackson were never completed: Jackson brought his pet llama, Louie, to the studio.
“I think the last straw was when Michael brought his pet llama into the studio,” Burt told the New York Post. “I think Freddie sort of took umbrage to that.”
The unlikely pair attempted to record three duets together in 1983 — “Victory,” “State of Shock,” and “There Must Be More to Life Than This” — but none were released as planned during their lifetimes. While Mercury was on break from Queen before their legendary Live Aid performance in 1985, Jackson was riding high between Thriller and Bad. The collaborations were ambitious — but ultimately derailed by Louie.
In the 2012 documentary Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender, Queen’s longtime manager Jim “Miami” Beach shared his own account of the bizarre session. Mercury called him from Jackson’s Encino home studio, pleading: “Miami, dear, can you get over here? You’ve got to get me out of here — I’m recording with a llama.”
Musical Greats, Eccentric Pets
Jackson, who died in 2009, was known for his deep love of animals — and his private menagerie. Alongside Louie the llama, he famously cared for Bubbles the chimpanzee, an elephant named Ali, and tigers Thriller and Sabu.
Actress Brooke Shields once shared that, despite her fondness for animals, Bubbles didn’t return the affection. “Bubbles didn’t really like me. I’m not quite sure why,” she told Yahoo Entertainment in 2022.
Mercury, for his part, went on to release Mr. Bad Guy in 1985 and continued making music with Queen, delivering one of rock’s most unforgettable performances at Live Aid. He died in 1991 due to AIDS-related complications.
Though fans were deprived of a true Mercury–Jackson collaboration, the story of the studio llama lives on — a surreal footnote in the history of two of pop’s greatest legends.
