Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury duets from 1983 to be released Duets between Freddie Mercury (left) and Michael Jackson from 1983 are set to be released. QUEEN guitarist Brian May says he's working to complete duets recorded 30 years ago by the band's late frontman Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson. May wrote on his blog this month that he was working on the tapes with producer William Orbit. He said the project was "exciting, challenging, emotionally taxing. But cool. Mercury and Jackson recorded together at Jackson's California home in 1983, but the material was not released. May said in 2011 that he had been given permission by the Jackson estate to release the recordings. This month he wrote that "we will have something for folks to hear in a couple of months' time, hopefully." A spokesman for the band declined to provide further information on Tuesday. Mercury died in 1991 and Jackson in 2009.