Washington, Dec 19 : Queen's band member Brian May has revealed that he didn't know bandmate Mercury was gay because the latter had many girlfriends.

Although the guitarist was very close to Mercury, he had no idea that his bandmate was homosexual.

"No, I didn''t know. I don''t think even he was fully cognisant in the beginning," Contactmusic quoted May, as saying.

"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. I think there was a slight suspicion, but it never occurred to me that he was gay," he added.

Brian revealed that Mercury, who died of AIDS in 1991, was very good at avoiding any questions about his sexual orientation, although he had come to terms with it.

"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," Brian May said.

"I know that all through his life Fred didn''t think that whether he was gay or not was important. 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," he added. (ANI)