Long live the Queen?

According to Britain's Press Association, Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor will head into a studio later this year to work on material for a new Queen album, the first since original lead singer Freddie Mercury died eight years ago from AIDS.

May and Taylor are hoping that Queen bassist John Deacon will be on board for the possible re-coronation, but he has yet to formally commit to the project. There are also no plans to find a vocalist to "replace" Mercury, and Taylor has told the U.K. paper "The Express" that the band would most likely use a rotating cast of singers if the upcoming sessions yielded enough material for a potential album.

There has been some speculation that George Michael might be asked to step in as Queen's new vocalist, fueled perhaps by memories of Michael's performance with the surviving members of Queen at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert in April 1992.

But Taylor has said that no singer will be involved

with the upcoming sessions. He and May plan to write a song, determine whose voice would work for the particular tune, and then consider whether or not they want to seriously move forward as Queen again.