Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury: the songs were recorded at Jackson's California home

Duets between Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury will be released officially in time for the autumn after a wait of three decades, Mercury’s bandmates have declared.

Brian May and Roger Taylor, the guitarist and drummer who played with Mercury in Queen, promised “something for folks to hear” in two months.

The two singers recorded three tracks at Jackson’s home studio in Encino, California, in 1983, but a project to release them foundered because the pair were unable to arrange a second session.

According to Jim “Miami” Beach, the lawyer who became Queen’s manager, Mercury grew tired of the first recording session when Jackson brought one of his pets into the studio.

“They got on well except for the fact that I suddenly got a call