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In 1993, Paul Rodgers released two albums that paid tribute to his influences. The first was his Grammy-nominated Muddy Waters Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters. The album featured a Who’s Who of guitarists appearing as Rodgers’ guests. Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy, David Gilmour, Brian May, Gary Moore, Brian Setzer, Richie Sambora, Slash, Steve Miller and Trevor Rabin all contributed to the album while Rodgers wrote the title track “Muddy Water Blues.”

Rodgers also recorded a live album titled The Hendrix Set that paid homage to the world’s most innovative guitarist.

“I still put some Hendrix in my solo set,” Rodgers admits. “Hendrix was fantastic. Doing his songs really showed me just how special they were. I can step right into songs like ‘The Wind Cries Mary’ and ‘Little Wing.’ I tag ‘Angel’ onto the end of ‘Little Wing,’ and it is almost like it is supposed to be there.”
Rodgers confesses there is one more artist that he would like to pay homage to.

“One day, I would like to do the same thing for Otis Redding, but I don’t find myself worthy. I hold Otis in such high esteem. He got me through my early teenage years of emotional angst. I believe that I am following in a lot of great people’s footsteps. Otis is number one, but there is also Aretha, Sam Moore, the Four Tops, James Brown, Albert King, BB King, John Lee Hooker and Elmore James. I absorbed what they did when I was young, and now their influences come out in what I do.”

Rodgers actually shared the stage with one of his heroes at the Led Zeppelin reunion show in London. After performing two songs on the main stage, Rodgers played “We Shall Be Free” on a B stage with Sam Moore from Sam & Dave, making Rodgers the only artist to perform twice that historic evening. Rodgers proudly professes, “Sam is a hero of mine, and I’m still learning from him.”

In 2004, Rodgers was invited to close the first Annual U.K. Music Hall of Fame Awards show with “All Right Now.” Having just played the song on “The Strat Pack” DVD, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster, with Brian May, Rodgers called May to see about performing the song again at the awards show.

Rodgers found out that Queen was among the inductees that night, and that if Rodgers would return the favor, then Queen could perform live, too. They performed “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions” and followed with a hair-raising rendition of “All Right Now.” The creative sparks were palpable; the next logical step was to do more.

Queen + Paul Rodgers have, to date, completed two massive tours and released a live CD/DVD, Return of the Champions in 2005 and a studio CD of new songs titled The Cosmos Rocks in 2008.

On working with Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor, Rodgers says, “They are fabulous musicians. That little spark has taken us around the world twice and into doing a brand new album. Doing a new album is something that Queen have not attempted since Freddie [Mercury] passed. I think that, in itself, is a fantastic achievement. I am really proud of what we did together.”

Rodgers and May shared bass duties on the album.

While The Cosmos Rocks has charted across the world, there has been no major push by the record company in America.

“A lot of this business is marketing,” says Rodgers. “There is a lot of fantastic talent out there that some will never know because they do not get the publicity they deserve. Marketing is the key to popularity. I find that you have got to do that which you believe in and keep your fingers crossed. I have always leaned more to music than marketing. Whether it ends up a commercial success or not, you still know that you did your best.”

With the tour now complete and the album in stores, the future for Queen + Paul Rodgers remains a mystery.

“The door is open, as far as I am concerned,” says Rodgers. “If the guys called and had a benefit or charity concert that they were doing, I would be up for that. Playing twice for Nelson Mandela was an enormous honor; he is one of our very few living icons of peace. He is a truly an amazing human being.”

Rodgers reveals, “I don’t know if I want to undertake any more massive four-month tours, although I still love playing shows. Right now, I am home, and I am resting and just waiting to see what my next move will be. I am always going to be active, as music is in my blood.”

Queen + Paul Rodgers may —  or may not — tour again. However, plans are to release a DVD of the band’s 2008 gig in Kiev, where they played to 350,000 people and were televised to another 11 million. Bad Company also played a one-off gig in Florida that will be made into a DVD.

Success seems to follow Rodgers. In 2007, his debut solo DVD, “Live in Glasgow,” went gold and charted internationally, reaching #1 in Canada, #3 in the U.S., #2 in Japan and #4 in the U.K. For a man who prefers to keep a low profile, that doesn’t seem to be an option for Paul Rodgers. His talent as a singer, songwriter and musician cannot be denied. Nor can his contributions to musicians and fans worldwide.

When informed that Jimmy Page is, once again, itching to go on the road, and Robert Plant is seemingly happy to remain doing his own thing, I asked Rodgers the obvious question: “What would you do if Jimmy came knocking on your door once again?”

Rodgers’ reply will surprise you.

“I had never joined an existing band until joining forces with Queen. I formed Free with Paul Kossoff, Bad Company with Mick Ralphs and The Firm with Jimmy Page. Each of those bands had their own separate catalog. If Jimmy and John Paul were to call tomorrow and ask me to take on Led Zeppelin’s music and continue their legacy, I would have to say ‘no’. However, if they were interested in creating some new music, then that would be a different story.”