Brian May has claimed that for years he was unaware that Freddie Mercury was gay. The Queen guitarist says that he and the band's frontman were very close -- especially in the early days of the band -- yet he was virtually clueless about the flamboyant singer's homosexuality because he had a number of girlfriends.

"No, I didn't know. I don't think even he was fully cognizant in the beginning," May told British newspaper The Daily Express. "You're talking to someone who shared rooms with Fred on the first couple of tours, so I knew him pretty well.

"I knew a lot of his girlfriends and he certainly didn't have boyfriends, that's for sure," added May, who recently earned a Ph.D. in physics. "I think there was a slight suspicion, but it never occurred to me that he was gay."

May also recalled that Mercury -- who died of complications from AIDS in 1991 -- had a tendency to avoid the issue of his sexuality when asked directly. He said, "I remember Freddie being asked if he was gay in one of his early interviews and he said, 'Yes, darling, of course. I'm as gay as a daffodil.' It was a neat way of sidestepping the issue because, actually, Freddie was no fool.

"I know that all through his life Fred didn't think that whether he was gay or not was important," May concluded. "He loved music, he love his work, and he didn't want anything to get in the way. Anyone who portrays Fred as purely a gay story is missing a lot of the point."