Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson’s collab never saw the light of day — and Queen frontman's bassist reveals a llama was "the last straw"

Well, drats.

A long-lost collaboration between Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson was reportedly shelved decades ago — all because of the King of Pop’s furry friend, a llama who may have played an unexpected role.

Jo Burt, bassist on Mercury’s solo album Mr. Bad Guy, recently spoke to the New York Post about a 1983 recording session involving the Queen frontman and Jackson. At the time, Queen was on hiatus and Jackson was in the middle of a hugely successful run following the release of Bad and Thriller.

According to Burt, the two artists recorded three tracks together — State of Shock, Victory, and There Must Be More to Life Than This — but the sessions were ultimately left incomplete. One reason, Burt claimed, was Jackson’s decision to bring his pet llama, Louie, into the studio.

“I think the last straw was when Michael brought his pet llama into the studio. I think Freddie sort of took umbrage to that," Burt recalled.

The New York Post also referenced a similar story from the 2012 documentary Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender, where Queen’s longtime manager Jim “Miami” Beach recalled Mercury calling him from Jackson’s California home during the sessions.

Beach narrated:

“Mercury rang me and said, ‘Miami, dear, can you get over here? You've got to get me out of here, I'm recording with a llama.’”

Jackson was well-known for keeping exotic animals, including a chimpanzee named Bubbles, an elephant named Ali, and tigers Sabu and Thriller. But it was Louie the llama who may have inadvertently derailed what could have been one of pop music’s most iconic collaborations.

Freddie Mercury’s sister buys back the late legend’s Memorabilia following Auction by his former partner

The resurfacing of the llama anecdote coincided with recent reports about Mercury’s sister, Kashmira Bulsara, who allegedly spent $3.9 million to recover items from the late singer’s personal collection after they were placed up for auction by his former partner, Mary Austin.

Earlier in April, reports suggested that Bulsara had been disheartened to see the collection, including personal keepsakes and memorabilia, being offered to the public. A source said:

“Kashmira was angry and upset to see so many of her beloved brother’s possessions become available for anyone to buy. So she went for a private viewing, anonymously, with Jamal and her PA before the auction to see which bits she wanted to try to get.”

The source added that Bulsara wanted to remain anonymous during the auction process and instructed her assistant to attend the event in person while staying in contact with her via phone.

“Then when it came to auction time, Kashmira’s PA went in-person to Sotheby’s and was on the phone to Kashmira throughout.”

The source added that Bulsara had set aside a substantial budget, and was “actually very happy” when the final figure was revealed.

“Of course, Kashmira appreciates how adored Freddie was across the world, but she was saddened to think of some of his sentimental belongings not being with his loved ones.”

Among the items she successfully recovered were a waistcoat decorated with images of Mercury’s cats, purchased for approximately $185,000, and a rare Wurlitzer Model 850 jukebox, which sold for over $500,000.

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