Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...

and drummer

Roger Taylor Roger Taylor may refer to: *Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) (born 1949), drummer for Queen *Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer) (born 1960), drummer for Duran Duran *Roger Taylor (author), author of epic fantasy Hawklan series *Roger Taylor (college pr ...

. His songwriting contributions helped Queen become among the most successful acts in music history. May previously performed with Taylor in the blues rock band

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses ...

, which he had joined while he was at university. After Queen's formation in 1970, bass guitarist

John Deacon John Richard Deacon (born 19 August 1951) is an English retired musician, best known for being the bass guitarist for the rock band Queen. He wrote several songs for the group, including Top 10 hits " You're My Best Friend", "Another One Bite ...

joined to complete the line-up in 1971. They became one of the biggest rock bands in the world with the success of the album '' A Night at the Opera'' and its single "

Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack ...

". From the mid-1970s until the early 1990s, Queen played at some of the biggest venues in the world, including at

Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...

in 1985. As a member of Queen, May became regarded as a virtuoso musician. He was identified with a distinctive sound created through his layered guitar work, often using a home-built electric guitar called the

Red Special The Red Special is the electric guitar designed and built by Queen's guitarist Brian May and his father, Harold, when Brian was a teenager in the early 1960s. The Red Special is sometimes referred to as the Fireplace or the Old Lady by May and ...

. May wrote numerous hits for Queen, including "

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded by British rock band Queen for their 1977 album ''News of the World''. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and it placed at numbe ...

", " I Want It All", "

Fat Bottomed Girls "Fat Bottomed Girls" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Written by guitarist Brian May, the song appears on the band's seventh studio album ''Jazz'' (1978) and later on their compilation album ''Greatest Hits''. When released as a single ...

", "

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid ...

", "

Hammer to Fall "Hammer to Fall" is a 1984 song by the British rock band Queen. Written by guitarist Brian May, the song is the eighth track on their 1984 album '' The Works''.

", " Save Me", "

Who Wants to Live Forever "Who Wants to Live Forever" is a song by the British rock band Queen. A power ballad, it is the sixth track on the album '' A Kind of Magic'', which was released in June 1986, and was written by lead guitarist Brian May for the soundtrack to t ...

", "

Too Much Love Will Kill You "Too Much Love Will Kill You" is a song written by British guitarist Brian May of Queen, Frank Musker and Elizabeth Lamers.The Show Must Go On "The show must go on" is a phrase in show business, meaning that regardless of what happens, whatever show has been planned still has to be staged for the waiting patrons. There is no evidence to suggest that it is the abbreviation of a longer phra ...

". Following the death of Mercury in 1991, aside from the 1992 tribute concert, the release of ''

Made in Heaven ''Made in Heaven'' is the fifteenth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 6 November 1995 by Parlophone Records in the United Kingdom and by Hollywood Records in the United States. It was the band's first and only release s ...

'' (1995) and the 1997 tribute single to Mercury, " No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)" (written by May), Queen were put on hiatus for several years but were eventually reconvened by May and Taylor for further performances featuring other vocalists. In 2005, a Planet Rock poll saw May voted the seventh-greatest guitarist of all time. He was ranked at No. 26 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' list of the " 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". In 2012, he was ranked the second-greatest guitarist in a ''

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original art ...

'' magazine readers poll. In 2001, May was inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

as a member of Queen and in 2018 the band received the

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is a special Grammy Award that is awarded by The Recording Academy to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording." ...

. May was appointed a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

by Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

in 2005 for "services to the music industry and for charity work". May earned a PhD degree in

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

from

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

in 2007, and was

Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University The Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University is the titular head of the university who is appointed on the approval of the board of governors. The duties of the chancellor include the conferring of degrees at graduation ceremonies and bein ...

from 2008 to 2013. He was a "science team collaborator" with NASA's ''

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research ...

'' Pluto mission. He is also a co-founder of the awareness campaign

Asteroid Day __NOTOC__ Asteroid Day (also known as International Asteroid Day) is an annual global event which is held on June 30, the anniversary of the Tunguska event in 1908 when a meteor air burst levelled about of forest in Siberia, Russia. Asteroid ...

. Asteroid 52665 Brianmay was named after him. May is also an animal rights activist, campaigning against the hunting of foxes and the culling of badgers in the UK.

Early life

Brian Harold May was born 19 July 1947 in a nursing home at

Hampton Hill Hampton Hill (initially known as "New Hampton") is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames to the south of Twickenham, bounded by Fulwell and Twickenham Golf Courses to the northwest; the road bridge over the railway line; a ...

, near

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, the only child of Ruth Irving (''née'' Fletcher) and Harold May, who worked as a

draughtsman A draughtsman (British spelling) or draftsman (American spelling) may refer to: * An architectural drafter, who produced architectural drawings until the late 20th century * An artist who produces drawings that rival or surpass their other types ...

at the

Ministry of Aviation The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply. ...

. His mother, who was Scottish, married his father, who was

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, at Moulin in Perthshire, Scotland in 1946. May attended the local Hanworth Road state primary school, and at the age of 11 won a scholarship to Hampton Grammar School, then a

voluntary aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation), contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

school. During this time, he formed his first band, named 1984 after

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

's novel of the same name, with vocalist and bassist

Tim Staffell Timothy John Staffell (born 24 February 1948) is an English rock musician, visual artist, model maker and designer. He was a member of Smile, a band which included guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Upon Staffell's departure, Smile w ...

. At Hampton Grammar School, May attained ten

GCE Ordinary Level The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-depth ...

s and three

GCE Advanced Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

s in Physics, Mathematics, and Applied Mathematics. He studied Mathematics and Physics at

, graduating with a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

degree in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

in 1968 with honours. Following his graduation, May received a personal invitation from

Sir Bernard Lovell Sir Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell (31 August 19136 August 2012) was an English physicist and radio astronomer. He was the first director of Jodrell Bank Observatory, from 1945 to 1980. Early life and education Lovell was born at Oldland Com ...

to work at the

Jodrell Bank Observatory Jodrell Bank Observatory () in Cheshire, England, hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio astron ...

while continuing to prepare his doctorate. He declined, choosing instead to remain at Imperial College to avoid breaking from Smile, the London-based band he was in at the time. In 2007, May was awarded a PhD degree in astrophysics from Imperial College London for work started in 1971 and completed in 2007.

Musical career

1968–1970: Smile

May formed the band Smile in 1968. The group included Tim Staffell as the lead singer and bassist, and later, drummer

, who also went on to play for Queen. The band lasted for only two years, from 1968 to 1970, as Staffell departed in 1970, leaving the band with a catalogue of nine songs. Smile would reunite for several songs on 22 December 1992. Taylor's band

The Cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars. Cross or The Cross may also refer to: Religion * Christian cross, the basic symbol of Christianity * Cross necklace, a necklace worn by adherents of the Christian r ...

were headliners, and he brought May and Staffell on to play "Earth" and " If I Were a Carpenter". May also performed several other songs that night.

1970–1995: Queen

In Queen's three-part vocal harmonies, May was generally the lower-range backing vocalist. On some of his songs, he sings the lead vocals, most notably the first verse of "Who Wants to Live Forever", the final verse of " Mother Love", the

middle eight The 32-bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century. A ...

on " I Want It All" and " Flash's Theme", and full lead vocals on "

Some Day One Day ''Queen II'' is the second studio album by the British Rock music, rock band Queen (band), Queen. It was released on 8 March 1974 by EMI Records in the UK and Elektra Records in the US. It was recorded at Trident Studios and Langham 1 Studios, ...

", " She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes)", "

'39 "39" is a song by British rock band Queen. Composed by lead guitarist Brian May, it is the fifth track on their fourth studio album '' A Night at the Opera''. The song was also the B-side to " You're My Best Friend". The song relates the tale ...

", " Good Company", "

Long Away "Long Away" is a song by the British rock band Queen; it is the third track on their 1976 album '' A Day at the Races''. Brian May wrote the song and sings the lead vocals. It is the only Queen single released during Freddie Mercury's lifetim ...

", " All Dead, All Dead", "

Sleeping on the Sidewalk ''News of the World'' is the sixth studio album by the British Rock music, rock band Queen (band), Queen, released on 28 October 1977 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. ''News of the World'' was t ...

", " Leaving Home Ain't Easy" and "

Sail Away Sweet Sister ''The Game'' is the eighth studio album by the British Rock music, rock band Queen (band), Queen. It was released on 30 June 1980 by EMI Records in the UK and by Elektra Records in the US. ''The Game'' features a different sound from its predece ...

" . May frequently wrote songs for the band and has composed many hits such as "

", "

Tie Your Mother Down "Tie Your Mother Down" is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by lead guitarist Brian May. It is the opening track and the second single from their 1976 album '' A Day at the Races''. On its original release as a single in 1977 the ...

", "I Want It All", "

", "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "

The Show Must Go On "The show must go on" is a phrase in show business, meaning that regardless of what happens, whatever show has been planned still has to be staged for the waiting patrons. There is no evidence to suggest that it is the abbreviation of a longer phra ...

" as well as "

Hammer to Fall "Hammer to Fall" is a 1984 song by the British rock band Queen. Written by guitarist Brian May, the song is the eighth track on their 1984 album '' The Works''.

", "Flash", "

Now I'm Here "Now I'm Here" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Written by lead guitarist Brian May, it was the sixth song on their third album, ''Sheer Heart Attack'' (1974). The song is noted for its hard riff and vocal harmonies. In the UK, the so ...

", " Brighton Rock", "

The Prophet's Song "The Prophet's Song" is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by their guitarist Brian May, originally released on their fourth studio album '' A Night at the Opera'' in 1975. Background "The Prophet's Song" was composed by Brian May ...

", "

Las Palabras de Amor "Las Palabras de Amor (The Words of Love)" is a rock ballad by the British rock band Queen. It was released as the third single from their 1982 album ''Hot Space''. It is sung mostly in English, but with several Spanish phrases. Written by guita ...

", " No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)" and " Save Me". Brian may mdp

After the

concert in 1985, Mercury rang his band members and proposed writing a song together. The result was "

One Vision "One Vision" is a song written and recorded by the British rock band Queen, first released as a single in November 1985 and then included on their 1986 album '' A Kind of Magic''. It was conceived by the group's drummer Roger Taylor. For their 1989 release album, '' The Miracle'', the band had decided that all of the tracks would be credited to the entire band, no matter who had been the main writer. p. 67 Interviews and musical analyses tend to help identify the input of each member on each track. May composed "I Want It All" for that album, as well as "

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

" (based on his problems with the British press). For the rest of the album, he did not contribute much creatively. However, he helped in building the basis of "Party" and "Was It All Worth It" (both being predominantly Mercury's pieces) and created the "Chinese Torture" guitar riff. Queen's subsequent album was ''

Innuendo An innuendo is a hint, insinuation or intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called insinuation), that works obliquely by allusion ...

''. May's contributions increased, although more in terms of arranging than actual writing in most cases. He did some of the arrangement for the heavy solo on the

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title. Title track may a ...

. He added vocal harmonies to "

I'm Going Slightly Mad "I'm Going Slightly Mad" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Written by Freddie Mercury but credited to Queen, with uncredited lyrical contributions by Peter Straker, it was released as the second single from the band's 1991 album ''Innuen ...

" and composed the solo for "

These Are the Days of Our Lives "These Are the Days of Our Lives" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Although credited to the whole band, it was largely written by their drummer Roger Taylor, and is the eighth track on the band's 1991 album ''Innuendo''. The song was ...

", a song for which the four of them decided the keyboard parts together. Two songs May had composed for his first solo album, " Headlong" and "

I Can't Live With You "I Can't Live with You" is a song by the British rock band Queen, which was released in 1991 as the fourth single from their fourteenth studio album ''Innuendo''. The song was written by Brian May but credited to all four members of Queen. It wa ...

", eventually ended up on the Queen project. His other composition was "The Show Must Go On", which he coordinated and was the primary composer. In recent years, he has supervised the remastering of Queen albums and various DVD and greatest hits releases. In 2004, he announced that he and drummer Roger Taylor were going on tour for the first time in 18 years as "Queen", along with Free/

Bad Company Bad Company are an English rock supergroup that was formed in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs, drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell.Bad Company ''AllMusic'' Peter Grant, who managed the rock band Led Zeppelin, also ...

vocalist

Paul Rodgers Paul Rodgers (born 17 December 1949) is a British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead vocalist of numerous bands, including Free, Bad Company, The Firm, and The Law. He has also performed as a solo artist, and co ...

. Billed as " Queen + Paul Rodgers", the band played throughout 2005 and 2006 in South Africa, Europe, Aruba, Japan, and North America and released a new album with Rodgers in 2008, entitled ''The Cosmos Rocks''. This album was supported by a major tour. Paul Rodgers left the band in May 2009. It was not until 2011 that another vocalist,

Adam Lambert Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer and songwriter. Since 2009, he has sold over 3 million albums and 5 million singles worldwide. Lambert is known for his dynamic vocal performances that fuse his theatrical tra ...

, was recruited. Queen + Adam Lambert toured Europe in 2012 and toured the world tour over 2014 and 2015. Their most recent outing was the 2016 Festival Tour. They also played the Big Ben New Year concert on New Year's Eve 2014 and New Year's Day 2015.

1983–1999: Side projects and solo works

During 1983, several members of Queen explored side projects. On 21 and 22 April in Los Angeles, May was in a studio with

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded along ...

, with no intention of recording anything. The result of the two-day session was a mini album titled ''

Star Fleet Project ''Star Fleet Project'' is a solo project of Brian May, Queen's guitarist, and a mini-album of the same name. Released as the work of Brian May + Friends, the album consisted of May, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, drummer Alan Gratzer (then of REO Spee ...

'', which was not originally going to be released. In 1986, May contributed to former

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

guitarist

Steve Hackett Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis ...

's album ''

Feedback 86 ''Feedback 86'' is the 15th studio album by guitarist Steve Hackett. The album is a collection of songs written in 1986 but put on the shelf. Some of the songs were supposed to be on the aborted second GTR album. The album features guest appea ...

'', playing guitar on the track "Cassandra" and providing guitar and vocals for "Slot Machine", which May co-wrote. Although produced in 1986, the album was not released commercially until 2000. In the same year, May worked with actress

Anita Dobson Anita Dobson (born 29 April 1949) is an English stage, film and television actress, and singer. She is best known for her role from 1985 to 1988 as Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. In 1986, she reached number four in the UK Sing ...

on her first album, most noted for the song "Anyone Can Fall in Love", which added lyrics to the ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'' theme tune and reached number four on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in August 1986. May and Dobson married in 2000. In 1988, May contributed guitar solos to the song "When Death Calls" on

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

's 14th album '' Headless Cross'', and the

Living in a Box Living in a Box are a British band founded in 1985. They are best known for their eponymous debut single, produced by Richard James Burgess. The group currently consists of founding members Anthony "Tich" Critchlow (drums) and Marcus Vere (key ...

track "Blow The House Down" on the album '' Gatecrashing''. Both albums were released in 1989. In the aftermath of the November 1991 death of Mercury, May chose to deal with his grief by committing himself as fully as possible to work, first by finishing his solo album, ''

Back to the Light ''Back to the Light'' is the debut solo studio album of Queen guitarist's Brian May, released on 28 September 1992 by Parlophone Records in the UK, and on 2 February 1993 by Hollywood Records in the US and Canada. May's second solo release fo ...

'', and then touring worldwide to promote it. He frequently remarked in press interviews that this was the only form of self-prescribed therapy he could think of. According to

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), a ...

lead singer

Joe Elliott Joseph Thomas "Joe" Elliott (born 1 August 1959) is an English–Irish rock singer, best known as the lead singer and one of the founding members of the hard rock band Def Leppard. He has also been the lead singer of the David Bowie tribute ba ...

, "It was undoubtedly an enormous and terrible blow to lose someone he was so close to. Personally, I know it ripped the heart out of Brian, but having said that, he was in great spirits after the album was finished." ''Back to the Light'' featured the single "

Too Much Love Will Kill You "Too Much Love Will Kill You" is a song written by British guitarist Brian May of Queen, Frank Musker and Elizabeth Lamers.Frank Musker Frank John Musker (born 1951) is a British songwriter and composer. Most prolific in the 1980s and 1990s, he worked with artists such as Sheena Easton, the Babys, Robert Miles, Jennifer Rush, Bucks Fizz, Air Supply, Lucio Battisti, Zucchero, Lisa ...

and Elizabeth Lamers. A version with Freddie Mercury's vocals was later released on the Queen album ''

'' and won the

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been a ...

for Best Song Musically & Lyrically in 1996. In late 1992,

the Brian May Band The Brian May Band was an English-American rock band formed by Queen guitarist Brian May for touring in promotion of his studio albums. History The rhythm section for the band were Cozy Powell and Neil Murray, who had previously worked toget ...

was officially formed. May had loosely formed an earlier version of the band for 19 October 1991, when May took part in the Guitar Legends guitar festival in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, Spain. The line-up for his performance was May on vocals and lead guitar,

Cozy Powell Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English rock drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, ...

on drums and percussion, Mike Moran and

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist best known as a former member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his solo albums released in the 1970s. Born and raised ...

on keyboards, and

Maggie Ryder Maggie Ryder is an English singer/songwriter and musician, principally known as a backing singer for bands such Queen and Eurythmics. Career In her early career, Ryder was the keyboard player with British funk/rock band Krakatoa. She co-wr ...

Miriam Stockley Miriam Arlene Stockley (born 15 April 1962) is a British singer. She was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and her work is influenced by the African music of her home country. Her distinctive ''vocal warm up#Vocalise, vocalise'' style gained in ...

and Chris Thompson on backing vocals. The original line-up was May on vocals and lead guitar, Powell on drums and percussion,

Michael Casswell Michael John Casswell (18 June 1963 – 30 September 2016) was an English session guitarist, who toured and recorded with numerous artists including Brian May, Joe Bonamassa, Steve Hackett, Wang Chung, Ronan Keating, Rose Royce, Cozy Powell, Tony ...

on guitar, Neil Murray on bass, and Ryder, Stockley and Thompson on backing vocals. This version of the band was together only during the South American support tour (supporting

The B-52's The B-52's, also styled as The B-52s, are an American new wave band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate Pierson (vocals, keyboards, synth bass), Cindy Wilson (vocals, p ...

and

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...

) on five dates. Afterwards, May made significant changes, feeling the group never quite gelled. May brought guitarist

Jamie Moses Jamie Moses (born 30 August 1955) is an English rock and pop singer and guitarist. He was formerly a member of The Brian May Band, Queen + Paul Rodgers, Mike & the Mechanics and Broken English. Biography The son of an American father (a ...

on board to replace Mike Caswell. The backing vocalists, Ryder, Stockley and Thompson, were replaced by

Catherine Porter Catherine Porter (born 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She is a former member of The Brian May Band and has appeared in several musicals and films. To date, Porter has released one album of solo material, '' Something G ...

and

Shelley Preston Shelley Preston (born 14 May 1964) is a singer who is famous for being a former member of the pop group Bucks Fizz, when she replaced Jay Aston in June 1985. Her biggest hit as a member of the band was the 1986 track " New Beginning", which re ...

. On 23 February 1993, this new line-up of The Brian May Band began its world tour in the US, supporting

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...

and headlining a few dates. The tour included dates in North America, Europe (support act: Valentine) and Japan. On 15 June 1993, the band did a show in London that would end up as

The Brian May Band The Brian May Band was an English-American rock band formed by Queen guitarist Brian May for touring in promotion of his studio albums. History The rhythm section for the band were Cozy Powell and Neil Murray, who had previously worked toget ...

's only release as a collective, namely Live at the Brixton Academy. At the show, May would sing a few lines of "Love of My Life", and then, as Mercury used to, let the audience join in. After the tour ended on 18 December 1993, May returned to the studio with fellow surviving Queen band members Roger Taylor and

to work on tracks that became ''Made in Heaven'', the final Queen studio album.Buckley, Peter (2003). "The Rough Guide to Rock". p.837. Rough Guides, 2003 The band took Mercury's solo album demos and last recordings, which he managed to perform in the studio after the album ''Innuendo'' was finished, and completed them with their additions both musically and vocally. After Mercury's death, work on the album by Deacon and May began originally in 1992 but was left until a later date due to other commitments. In 1995, May began working on a new solo album of covers tentatively titled ''Heroes'', in addition to working on various film and television projects and other collaborations. May subsequently changed the approach from covers to focus on those collaborations and new material. The songs included '' Another World'', and featured mainly

Spike Edney Philip "Spike" Edney (born 11 December 1951) is an English musician who, since the 1960s, has performed with a number of bands, most notably with Queen in their live concerts, where his participation started in 1984 during Queen's The Works to ...

, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray and Jamie Moses. On 5 April 1998, Cozy Powell was killed in a car accident on the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...

near

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England. This incident caused an unexpected disruption to the upcoming tour for The Brian May Band, which now needed a new drummer on short notice. Steve Ferrone was brought on to help May finish recording the drum tracks and join the band for the early stage promotional tour of five dates in Europe before the world tour. Following the early promotional tour,

Eric Singer Eric Singer (born Eric Doyle Mensinger; May 12, 1958) is an American drummer. Associated with the hard rock band Kiss since 1991, he has also performed with artists such as Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Lita Ford, Badlands, Brian May and Gary ...

replaced him on the 1998 world tour. The 1998 tour saw the brief introduction of a 'support act' known as T. E. Conway. Conway (Brian May in a wig and colourful suit playing the part of a

teddy boy The Teddy Boys or Teds were a mainly British youth subculture of the mid 1950s to mid 1960s who were interested in rock and roll and R&B music, wearing clothes partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, which Savil ...

crooner) would play several 1950s

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

standards before May's 'arrival'. A bonus T. E. Conway EP entitled ''Retro Rock Special'' was attached to some pressings of the ''Another World'' album. The Conway character was retired at the end of the tour. In May 1999, May recorded lead guitars for the Guns N' Roses song "Catcher in the Rye" on '' Chinese Democracy'', however, his performance was removed from the album by the time it was released in 2008.

2000–2010

From his last solo release in 1998, May has been performing as a solo artist, as part of an ensemble, and infrequently as Queen with Roger Taylor. On 22 October 2000, he made a guest appearance at the

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...

25th Anniversary show at

Brixton Academy Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Wes ...

along with Eddie Clarke (former Motörhead guitarist) for the encore song " Overkill". As part of the

Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II The Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II was the international celebration held in 2002 marking the 50th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. It was intended by the Queen to be both a commemoration of her 50 years as ...

celebrations on 3 June 2002, May performed a

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular m ...

of "

God Save the Queen "God Save the King" is the national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant, bu ...

" from the roof of

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

, with the performance appearing on the 30th Anniversary DVD edition of ''A Night at the Opera''. May played guitar on the song "Someone to Die For" on the ''

Spider-Man 2 ''Spider-Man 2'' is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Michael Chabon. Based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, it is the ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

in 2004. On the Queen's birthday honours list of 2005, he was made a

Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

"for services to the music industry and for charity work". In the same year he played the guitar on the song ''Il mare...'' for Italian singer

Zucchero Fornaciari Adelmo Fornaciari (; born 25 September 1955), more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero (), is an Italian singer, musician and songwriter. His stage name is the Italian word for "sugar", as his elementary teach ...

, on his album '' Zu & Co.'', and he took part in the concert at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

in London held in May 2004, with the other guests of the Italian bluesman. May was a celebrity guest at the Genesis reunion concert at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team play ...

in 2007. May and Genesis frontman

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

worked together on two previous occasions, at

The Prince's Trust The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...

Rock Gala in 1988 and the

Party at the Palace The Party at the Palace was a British pop/rock music concert held at Buckingham Palace Garden in London on 3 June 2002. The event was in commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II held over the Golden Jubilee Weekend. It was the ...

in 2002, when Collins had played drums with Queen. In 2011 he contributed to a feature about Collins for ''

FHM ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) is a British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. Its master edition contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World, which has featured models, actres ...

'', praising him as "a great guy and an amazing drummer". Brian May

May worked extensively with stage actress and singer

Kerry Ellis Kerry Jane Ellis (born 6 May 1979) is an English actress and singer who is best known for her work in musical theatre and subsequent crossover into music. Born and raised in Suffolk, Ellis began performing at an early age before training at La ...

after he cast her in the musical ''

''. He produced and arranged her debut studio album '' Anthems'' (2010), a follow-up to her extended play ''

Wicked in Rock ''Wicked in Rock'' is an EP by actress and singer Kerry Ellis. It was arranged, produced and accompanied on guitar by Brian May and features Taylor Hawkins on drums. A 60+ piece orchestra, conducted by Steve Sidwell, was also used. The album ha ...

'' (2008), as well as appearing with Ellis at many public performances—playing guitar alongside her. He also contributed a guitar solo to

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

's '' Hang Cool, Teddy Bear'' album in exchange for the use of drummer

John Miceli John Miceli (born May 29, 1961 in Long Island, New York) is the drummer for Meat Loaf's backing band, the Neverland Express. Meat Loaf Miceli began touring with Meat Loaf in 1991, and was a part of the Neverland Express when '' Bat Out of Hell ...

. Along with Elena Vidal, May released a historical book in 2009 entitled '' A Village Lost and Found: Scenes in Our Village''. The book is an annotated collection of stereoscopic photographs taken by the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

photographer T. R. Williams. It included a focusing stereoscope. May became an enthusiast of stereoscope photographs as a child, and first encountered the work of Williams during the late 1960s. In 2003, May announced a search to identify the actual location of the ''Scenes in Our Village'' images. In 2004 May reported that he had identified the location as the village of

Hinton Waldrist Hinton Waldrist is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, England. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The village is between Oxford and Faringdon, southwest of Oxford. The ...

in Oxfordshire. On 20 May 2009, May and Queen bandmate Roger Taylor performed "We Are the Champions" live on the season finale of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' with winner

Kris Allen Kristopher Neil Allen (born June 21, 1985) is an American singer and songwriter from Conway, Arkansas, and the winner of the eighth season of ''American Idol''. Prior to ''Idol'', he self-released a 2007 album, ''Brand New Shoes''. Allen's ...

and runner-up Adam Lambert providing a vocal duet. In November 2009, May appeared with Taylor on ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

'', with Queen mentoring the contestants, then later performed "Bohemian Rhapsody". In April 2010, May founded the "Save Me" 2010 project to work against any proposed repeal of the British fox-hunting ban, and to promote animal rights in Britain. In February 2011, it was announced that May would tour with Kerry Ellis, playing 12 dates across the UK in May 2011.

2004–2009: Queen + Paul Rodgers

At the end of 2004, May and Taylor announced that they would reunite and return to touring in 2005, with Paul Rodgers, the founder and former lead singer of Free and Bad Company. Brian May's website also stated that Rodgers would be "featured with" Queen as Queen + Paul Rodgers, not replacing the late Freddie Mercury. The retired John Deacon would not be participating. Between 2005 and 2006 Queen and Paul Rodgers embarked on a world tour, the first leg being Europe and the second, Japan and the US in 2006. On 25 May 2006, Queen received the inaugural

VH1 Rock Honors The VH1 Rock Honors were an annual ceremony paying homage to bands who influenced the sound of rock music. The events began in 2006, and the final event took place in 2008. The general format of each show is for modern bands to "pay tribute" to clas ...

at the

Mandalay Bay Events Center The Michelob Ultra Arena, formerly the Mandalay Bay Events Center, is a 12,000-seat multi-purpose indoor arena at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by MGM Resorts In ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, Nevada, and May and Taylor were joined on stage with the

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

to perform a selection of Queen songs. On 15 August 2006, May confirmed through his website and fan club that Queen + Paul Rodgers would begin producing their first studio album in October, to be recorded at a "secret location". The album, titled ''

The Cosmos Rocks ''The Cosmos Rocks'' is the only studio album by Queen + Paul Rodgers (and Queen's sixteenth studio album overall), released on 15 September 2008. It contains 14 new tracks written by Brian May, Roger Taylor, and Paul Rodgers. This is the first ...

'', was released in Europe on 12 September 2008 and in the United States on 28 October 2008. Following the album's release, the band embarked on a tour through Europe and parts of the US, opening on Kharkiv's freedom square in front of 350,000 Ukrainian fans. The show in Ukraine was later released on DVD. Queen and Paul Rodgers officially split up on 12 May 2009. Rodgers did not rule out the possibility of working together again.

2011–present

On 18 April 2011,

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

confirmed that May would play guitar on her track " You and I" from her latest album '' Born This Way'', released on 23 May 2011. May joined Gaga on stage during the performance of "You and I" at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. May performed with

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...

at the Starmus Festival on

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

in June 2011, celebrating the 50th anniversary of

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. Tr ...

's first spaceflight. May performed "We Will Rock You" and "

Welcome to the Black Parade "Welcome to the Black Parade" is a song from American rock band My Chemical Romance's third studio album, ''The Black Parade'' (2006). It was released on September 12, 2006, as the album's lead single, with the studio version available on the b ...

" with the rock band

My Chemical Romance My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mi ...

at the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

on 26 August 2011. On 10 October, May made an appearance to celebrate the reunion of rock band The Darkness at an "intimate"

100 Club The 100 Club is a music venue located at 100 Oxford Street, London, England, where it has been hosting live music since 24 October 1942. It was originally called the Feldman Swing Club, but changed its name when the father of the current owner ...

show with support from

Dark Stares Dark Stares are a British alternative rock band from St Albans, Hertfordshire. Formed in 2009, the band is composed of brothers Miles Kristian Howell (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Taylor Howell (drums, guitars, backing vocals), Brett Harland Howe ...

. A long-time fan of the group, May performed three songs onstage with The Darkness, including Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down", at the

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ham ...

on their subsequent "comeback" tour. At the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards on 6 November, Queen received the Global Icon Award, which

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), campy style, she has been ...

presented to Brian May. Queen closed the awards ceremony, with Adam Lambert on vocals, performing "The Show Must Go On", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions". The collaboration garnered a positive response from both fans and critics, resulting in speculation about future projects together.

Queen + Adam Lambert Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

played two shows at the Hammersmith Apollo, London, on 11 and 12 July 2012. Both shows sold out within 24 hours of tickets going on open sale. A third London date was added for 14 July. On 30 June, Queen + Lambert performed in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, Ukraine at a joint concert with

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

for the Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation. Queen also performed with Lambert on 3 July 2012 at Moscow's

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

, and on 7 July 2012 at the Municipal Stadium in Wroclaw, Poland. Brian May & Roger Taylor @ London - 2012 (36082808132)

In January 2012, May featured on

N-Dubz N-Dubz are an English hip hop trio from Camden Town, London, consisting of cousins Dappy and Tulisa, and Fazer. After winning a MOBO Award for Best Newcomer in 2007, N-Dubz briefly signed to Polydor Records before joining All Around the Wor ...

frontman

Dappy Costadinos Contostavlos (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Κοντόσταυλος; born 11 June 1987), better known by his stage name Dappy, is a British rapper and singer. He is the lead singer of the Camden-based hip hop and grime trio N- ...

's solo single "

Rockstar Rock Star or Rockstar may refer to: Films * ''Rock Star'' (2001 film), an American film starring Mark Wahlberg * ''Rockstar'' (2011 film), an Indian Hindi-language film by Imtiaz Ali * ''Rockstar'' (2015 film), an Indian Malayalam-language fi ...

", providing "rumbling guitar riffs which culminate in an electrifying solo". The pair also collaborated on a performance of "We Will Rock You" for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

Live Lounge The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cotton ...

. Queen performed at the

closing ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

of the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London on 12 August 2012. May performed part of the " Brighton Rock" solo before being joined by Taylor and solo artist

Jessie J Jessica Ellen Cornish (born 27 March 1988), known professionally as Jessie J, is an English singer. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, aged 11, with a role in the West End musical '' Whistle Down the Wind''. She studied ...

for a performance of "We Will Rock You". On 16 September 2012, May appeared at the Sunflower Jam charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall, performing alongside bassist

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

(of

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

), drummer

Ian Paice Ian Anderson Paice (born 29 June 1948) is an English musician, best known as the drummer and last remaining original member of the rock band Deep Purple. He is often cited as one of the greatest drummers of all-time. He remains the only membe ...

(of

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

), and vocalists

Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who has been the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1981 to 1993 and 1999–present. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage ...

(of

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

) and

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

. In a 2013 West End run of ''

Spamalot ''Spamalot'' (also known as ''Monty Python's Spamalot'') is a musical comedy with music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle, and lyrics and book by Idle. It is adapted from the 1975 film ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''. Like the motion picture ...

'' (the musical adaptation of

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

's 1975 film ''

Monty Python and the Holy Grail ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' is a 1975 British comedy film satirizing the Arthurian legend, written and performed by the Monty Python comedy group (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin) an ...

''), May was among the celebrities who played the part of voicing God for a week in aid of charity. In 2015, May played guitar on the end credits song "One Voice" from the film ''

A Dog Named Gucci ''A Dog Named Gucci'' is a 2015 documentary film by Gorman Bechard that chronicles the story of an Alabama puppy set on fire, and the man who came to his rescue. The film made its American festival debut in February 2015 at the Big Sky Documentary ...

''. The song also features the talents of:

Norah Jones Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...

Aimee Mann Aimee Elizabeth Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter. Over the course of four decades, she has released more than a dozen albums as a solo artist and with other musicians. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyr ...

, Susanna Hoffs,

Lydia Loveless Lydia Loveless (born September 4, 1990; as Lydia Ankrom) is an American alternative country singer-songwriter from Columbus, Ohio. Her music combines pop music, classic country, honky tonk, and punk rock. Early life Loveless was born in Cos ...

Neko Case Neko Richelle Case (; born September 8, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case has a powerful, untrained contralto voice, which has been described by contemporaries and cri ...

, and

Kathryn Calder Kathryn Jane Calder (born June 17, 1982) is a Canadian indie rock musician, who performs as a solo artist, and is a member of the bands The New Pornographers and Frontperson. She is a former member of Immaculate Machine. Calder started with The ...

. It was produced by Dean Falcone, who wrote the film's score. "One Voice" was released on

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

, 16 April 2016, with profits from the sale of the single going to benefit animal charities. On 29 March 2019, May inducted Def Leppard into the

. He worked with contemporary metal band

Five Finger Death Punch Five Finger Death Punch, also abbreviated as 5FDP or FFDP, is an American heavy metal band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2005. The band originally consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Ivan Moody, rhythm guitarist Zoltan Bathory, lead gui ...

and blues artist

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd (born Kenny Wayne Brobst; June 12, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has released several studio albums and experienced significant commercial success as a blues artist. Life and career Shepherd wa ...

to re-record a new version of "

Blue on Black "Blue on Black" is a song by American blues rock group Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band. Written by Shepherd with Mark Selby and Tia Sillers, it was originally released on their second studio album, '' Trouble Is...'' (1997). In 1998, the song was re ...

" in support of The

Gary Sinise Gary Alan Sinise (; born March 17, 1955) is an American actor, humanitarian, and musician. Among other awards, he has won a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also received a st ...

Foundation in April 2019. The artists came together to merge

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

and

mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

to re-create the classic song originally co-written by Shepherd. At the end of the month he also performed songs including "

All the Young Dudes "All the Young Dudes" is a song written by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, originally recorded and released as a single by the English rock band Mott the Hoople in 1972 by Columbia Records. Bowie produced the song, which he had given to ...

" with Def Leppard's Joe Elliott at a

Mott the Hoople Mott the Hoople were an English rock band formed in Herefordshire. Originally known as the Doc Thomas Group, the group changed their name after signing with Island Records in 1969. The band released albums throughout the early 1970s but fail ...

show at the

Shepherd's Bush Empire Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was originally ...

2011–present: Queen + Adam Lambert

Not long after performing with ''American Idol'' finalists Kris Allen and Adam Lambert during the programme's season finale in 2009, May and Taylor began contemplating the future of Queen after the group's amicable split with frontman Paul Rodgers. At the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards, Queen was presented with that year's Global Icon Award, accepted by May. As part of the broadcast, Queen performed a short set with Lambert, receiving an overwhelmingly welcoming response. Speculation regarding collaboration with Lambert soon arose, with the three formally announcing a short summer tour of Europe in 2012, including three dates at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, as well as shows in Ukraine, Russia and Poland. The collaboration was revived in 2013, when the three performed together at the

iHeartRadio Music Festival The iHeartRadio Music Festival is a two-day music concert festival held every year in September since 2011 by iHeartRadio along the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. From 2011 to 2015, the festival was held at the MGM Gran ...

at the

MGM Grand Hotel & Casino The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The MGM Grand is the largest single hotel in the world with 6,852 rooms. It is also the third-largest hotel complex in the world by number of rooms ...

in Las Vegas on 20 September. Five months later, May, Taylor and Lambert announced a 19-date summer tour of North America on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

''. Because of ticket demand, five dates were soon added. In May 2014, shows in Australia and New Zealand were announced, along with festival performances in South Korea and Japan. The tour was extended to the UK and greater Europe in early 2015. The group performed together in South America in September 2015, including Queen's first performance at the

Rock in Rio ''Rock in Rio'' is a recurring music festival originating in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It later branched into other locations such as Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas. Nine incarnations of the festival have been held in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, ...

Festival since 1985. In 2016, the group embarked across Europe and Asia on the Queen + Adam Lambert 2016 Summer Festival Tour. This included closing the

Isle of Wight Festival The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...

in England on 12 June where they performed "Who Wants to Live Forever" as a tribute to the victims of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida earlier that day. On 12 September they performed at the

Yarkon Park Yarkon Park ( he, פארק הירקון, ''Park HaYarkon'') is a large park in Tel Aviv, Israel, with about sixteen million visits annually. Named after the Yarkon River which flows through it, the park includes extensive lawns, sports faciliti ...

in Tel Aviv, Israel for the first time in front of 58,000 people. In September 2018 the group had a residency in the MGM Park Theater in Las Vegas. Though the collaboration remains active, there are currently no plans to record a studio album, though the three are willing to do so in the future. On 31 March 2020, Queen + Adam Lambert confirmed that their touring dates were postponed until 2021 because of the global COVID-19 pandemic. On 4 June 2022, Queen + Adam Lambert opened the

Platinum Party at the Palace The Platinum Party at the Palace was a British music concert, held outside Buckingham Palace on The Mall in London on 4 June 2022, in celebration of the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The concert began at 20:00 ( BST). Comedian Lee ...

outside Buckingham Palace to mark the

Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II was the international celebration in 2022 marking the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952, the first British monarch to ever celebrate one. In the United Kingdom, the ...

. Performing a three-song set, May appeared in front of the Victoria Memorial monument as they opened with "We Will Rock You" which had been introduced in a comedy segment where the Queen and

Paddington Bear Paddington Bear is a fictional character in children's literature. He first appeared on 13 October 1958 in the children's book ''A Bear Called Paddington'' and has been featured in more than twenty books written by British author Michael Bond, a ...

tapped their tea cups to the beat of the song.

Musicianship

Guitar style

May has been referred to as a virtuoso guitarist by many publications and musicians. He has featured in various music polls of great rock guitarists, and in 2011 was ranked number 26 on ''

'' magazine's list of the " 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". In January 2007, the readers of ''

'' voted May's guitar solos on "

" and " Brighton Rock" into the "top 50 Greatest Guitar Solos of all time" (No.20 and No.41 respectively). Former

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

vocalist

Sammy Hagar Samuel Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose and subsequently launched a successful solo car ...

stated, "I thought Queen were really innovative and made some great sounding records... I like the rockin' stuff. I think Brian May has one of the great guitar tones on the planet, and I really, really love his guitar work."

Justin Hawkins Justin David Hawkins (born 17 March 1975) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and YouTube personality best known for being the founder, lead singer, and lead guitarist of The Darkness. He was influenced by rock bands of the 1970s and 1 ...

, lead guitarist of the Darkness, cites May as his earliest influence, saying "I really loved his tone and vibrato and everything. I thought his playing sounded like a singing voice. I wanted to be able to do that. Whenever I went to guitar lessons, I was always asking to learn Queen stuff." American guitar virtuoso Steve Vai has spoken highly of May's work, saying: Most of May's electric guitar work live and in the studio is done on the

, which he built with his father, an electronics engineer, when he was sixteen years old. It was built with wood from an 18th-century fireplace, and was composed of household items such as mother-of-pearl buttons, shelf edging, and motorbike valve springs. While May and his father were building the Red Special, May also produced plans to build a second guitar. However, the Red Special was so successful that May did not need to build another guitar. These plans were eventually given to guitar

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...

Andrew Guyton in around 2004–05. Guyton made some slight modifications and the guitar was built. It was named "The Spade", as the body's shape resembled the form shown on playing cards. However, the guitar also came to be known as "The Guitar That Time Forgot". May commented on the Red Special: In addition to using his home-made guitar he prefers to use coins (especially a sixpence from the farewell proof set of 1970), instead of a more traditional plastic

plectrum A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In harpsic ...

, because he feels their rigidity gives him more control in playing. He is known to carry coins in his pockets specifically for this purpose.Laura Jackson (2011)
"Brian May: The Definitive Biography"
Hachette UK, 2011 A meticulous arranger, he focuses on multi-part harmonies, often more

contrapuntal In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

than parallel—a relative rarity for rock guitar. Examples are found in Queen's albums ''A Night at the Opera'' and ''A Day at the Races'', where he arranged a jazz band for guitar mini-orchestra ("Good Company"), a vocal canon ("The Prophet's Song") and guitar and vocal counterpoints (" Teo Torriatte"). May explored a wide variety of styles in guitar, including:

sweep picking Sweep picking is a guitar playing technique. When sweep picking, the guitarist plays single notes on consecutive strings with a 'sweeping' motion of the pick, while using the fretting hand to produce a specific series of notes that are fast a ...

(" Was It All Worth It" "Chinese Torture");

tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are two types of tremolo. The first is a rapid reiteration: * Of a single Musical note, note, particularly used on String instrument#Bowing, bowed string instrument ...

("Brighton Rock", "

Stone Cold Crazy "Stone Cold Crazy" is a song written and performed by British rock music, rock band Queen (band), Queen for their 1974 album ''Sheer Heart Attack''. The song is the eighth track on the album. Although the song was not released as a single at th ...

", " Death on Two Legs", " Sweet Lady", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "

Get Down Make Love ''News of the World'' is the sixth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 28 October 1977 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. ''News of the World'' was the band's second album t ...

", " Dragon Attack");

tapping Tapping is a playing technique that can be used on any stringed instrument, but which is most commonly used on guitar. The technique involves a string being fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion. This is in contrast to stand ...

Bijou Bijou is a French word meaning ''jewel'', often loosely applied to buildings to mean small and elegant. It may also refer to: Buildings * Bijou Palace, also known as the Al-Gawhara Palace, a palace in Cairo, Egypt * Bijou Theatre (Manhattan), two ...

", "

It's Late "It's Late" is a song written by Queen guitarist Brian May and performed by the band for their 1977 album, ''News of the World''. Background The song was May's idea of treating a song as a three-act theatrical play, and the verses are called " ...

", "

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...

", "Cyborg", "Rain Must Fall", "Business", "China Belle", "I Was Born To Love You"); slide guitar ("Drowse", "Tie Your Mother Down");

Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

sounding licks (" Liar", "Brighton Rock"); tape-delay ("Brighton Rock", "White Man"); and melodic sequences ("Bohemian Rhapsody", "

Killer Queen "Killer Queen" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by lead singer Freddie Mercury and recorded for their third album ''Sheer Heart Attack'' in 1974. It reached number two in the UK Singles Chart and became their first US ...

", "These Are the Days of Our Lives"). Some of his solos and orchestral parts were composed by

, who then asked May to bring them to life ("Bicycle Race", "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon", "Killer Queen", "

Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" is the eighth track from the British rock band Queen's 1976 album '' A Day at the Races'', written by Freddie Mercury. It was also released as a single in 1977 on 7-inch vinyl. It was one of several British musi ...

"). May also performed notable acoustic works, including the finger-picked solo of "White Queen" (from ''

Queen II ''Queen II'' is the second studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 8 March 1974 by EMI Records in the UK and Elektra Records in the US. It was recorded at Trident Studios and Langham 1 Studios, London, in August 1973 wi ...

''), " Love of My Life" and the

skiffle Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United States ...

-influenced "'39" (both from ''A Night at the Opera''). Aided by the uniqueness of the Red Special, May was often able to create strange and unusual sound effects. For example, he was able to imitate an orchestra in the song "

Procession A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner. History Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...

"; in "

Get Down, Make Love ''News of the World'' is the sixth studio album by the British Rock music, rock band Queen (band), Queen, released on 28 October 1977 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. ''News of the World'' was t ...

" he was able to create various sound effects with his guitar; in "Good Company" he used his guitar to mimic a trombone, a piccolo and several other instruments for the song's Dixieland jazz band feel. Queen used a "No synthesizers were used on this album" sleeve note on their early albums to make this clear to the listeners. May also used his guitar to create the chime effect in "Bohemian Rhapsody"., Retrieved 28 December 2012.

Influences

May's early influences included

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

and

the Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

, who he says were "the most metallic thing(s) out at the time." Many years later he gained his opportunity to play on separate occasions with Cliff Richard and Shadows lead guitarist

Hank Marvin Hank Brian Marvin (born Brian Robson Rankin, 28 October 1941) is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the ba ...

. He has collaborated with Cliff Richard on a re-recording of the Cliff Richard and the Shadows (then known as the Drifters) 1958 hit "

Move It "Move It" is a song written by Ian Samwell and recorded by Cliff Richard and the Drifters (the English band that would later become "The Shadows"). Originally intended as the B-side to "Schoolboy Crush", it was released as Richard's debut sing ...

" on the Cliff Richard duets album '' Two's Company'' which was released on 6 November 2006. May always stated that

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

and

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

were the greatest influences on him. On the ''Queen for an Hour'' interview on BBC Radio 1 in 1989, May listed Hendrix,

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a focus ...

and

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

as his guitar heroes. In a 1991 interview for ''Guitar World'' magazine, May referred to The Who as "my inspiration", and on seeing Led Zeppelin stated, "We used to look at those guys and think, 'That's the way it should be done.'" May told ''

Guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

'' in 2004: "I don't think anyone has epitomised

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompani ...

writing better than

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...

– he's one of the great brains of rock music". May also cites

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. Due to his virtuosic playing, but relative lack of fame compared to some others, he has been referred to as "the greatest ...

as a major influence, saying "He was a magician. He was one of the very few people of that time who could make his guitar do anything, it seemed. I remember looking at that battered Stratocaster and thinking, 'How does that (sound) come out of there?'" According to May, "...it was Rory that gave me my sound, and that's the sound I still have." May was also influenced by

, guitarist of the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band Genesis, in particular his harmony guitar solo at the end of the band's epic 1971 song "

The Musical Box A music box (also musical box) is a 19th-century automatic musical instrument. Music box or musical box may also refer to: Music Albums *Music Box (Evelyn King album), ''Music Box'' (Evelyn King album), 1979 *Music Box (Mariah Carey album), '' ...

". Hackett said of May, "Equally, his energetic approach to guitar inspired me."

Equipment

Guitars

From 1975 onwards, May had some replicas made of the Red Special, some of which were also used for live and recording purposes, others being mainly spares. The most famous replicas were made by John Birch in 1975 (May smashed it during a concert in the US in 1982),

Greco Greco may refer to: People * Greco (surname), a list of people with this surname * a masculine variant of Greca (given name), an Italian feminine given name * Greco Mafia clan, one of the most influential Mafia clans in Sicily and Calabria Wine ...

BM90 (featured in the promo video of "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" in 1977), Guild (back-up from 1984 to 1993), Fryers (1997–1998, used both live and in the studio) and Guyton (back-up from 2003 to present). On stage, May used to carry at least one backup guitar (in case he broke a string). He occasionally would use others for specific songs or parts, such as alternate tunings. Currently, May owns a company that makes guitars whose design is modelled after the original Red Special guitar. *July 1973 – May 1974:

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...

CBS era (thought to be 1972) *October 1974 – May 1975:

Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typi ...

Deluxe, and the Stratocaster from the previous tour. *November 1975 – May 1976: Same two guitars as before, plus a natural finish John Birch replica of the Red Special. *September 1976: Same three as before, plus a Martin D-18 acoustic for "'39". *January 1977 – August 1979: Just the Birch replica plus an Ovation Pacemaker 12-string acoustic on some numbers ("'39", "Love of My Life", "Dreamer's Ball"). *November 1979 – June 1982: Birch replica (back-up),

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful Les Paul had built a prototype solid bo ...

("Crazy Little Thing Called Love" 2nd verse, middle-eight and solo), Ovation (acoustic numbers). *July – November 1982: Added a

Gibson Flying V The Gibson Flying V is an electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1958. The Flying V offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its siblings: the Explorer, which was released the same year, and the Moderne, which was designed ...

as second back-up. On 9 August 1982, May smashed the Birch guitar, so the Flying V became the only spare. *August – October 1984: The Flying V became a second back-up again as his main spare was the Guild replica. He also used Roger Taylor's Gibson Chet-Atkins Classical Electric. *July 1985 – August 1986: Gibson Flying V no longer used. The rest remained the same. May used a Gibson Chet-Atkins guitar on the 1986 Magic Tour. *In 2012, he received a double-neck replica of the Red Special, with the second neck having 12-strings. He used this guitar at a few gigs with Adam Lambert now being able to play the 12-string part from the studio version of "Under Pressure" live. He currently has a Guild 12-string to replace his Ovation Pacemaker. Some of the non-RS electric guitars he used in the studio included: *

Burns Burns may refer to: * Burn, an injury (plural) People: * Burns (surname), includes list of people and characters Business: * Burns London, a British guitar maker Places: ;In the United States * Burns, Colorado, unincorporated community in Eagle ...

Double Six on "Long Away" (1976) and "Under Pressure" (1981). *Fender Telecaster on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (1979). May used it for the video (but not the recordings) of "Back Chat" (1982). *Gibson Firebird on "Hammer to Fall" and "Tear It Up" (album versions only, not on stage). * Ibanez JS on "Nothing But Blue" (1991). *

Parker Fly The Parker Fly was a model of electric guitar built by Parker Guitars. It was designed by Ken Parker and Larry Fishman, and first produced in 1993. The Fly is unique among electric guitars in the way it uses composite materials. It is notable f ...

on "Mother Love" (1993–1995). For acoustic, he favoured Ovation, Martin,

Tōkai Tōkai ( 東海, literally ''East Sea'') in Japanese may refer to: * Tōkai region, a subregion of Chūbu * Tōkai, Ibaraki, a village, also known as "Tokaimura" (Tokai-village) * Tōkai, Aichi, a city * Tōkai University, a private university in T ...

Hummingbird, Godin and Guild. On a couple of videos, he also used some different electric guitars: a Stratocaster copy on "Play the Game" (1980) and a Washburn RR2V on "Princes of the Universe" (1986). In 1984,

Guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

released the first official Red Special replica for mass production and made some prototypes specifically for May. However, the solid-body construction (the original RS has hollow cavities in the body) and the pick-ups (DiMarzio) that were not a replica of the Burns TriSonic did not make May happy. The production of the guitars stopped after just 300 guitars. In 1993, Guild made a second replica of the RS, made in just 1000 copies, of which May has some and used as a back-up. At the moment, he uses the two guitars made by Greg Fryer—the luthier who restored the Old Lady in 1998—as back-up. They are almost identical to the original, except for the Fryer logo on the headstock (May's original one has a sixpence).

Amplifiers and effects

May has used

Vox AC30 The Vox AC30 is a guitar amplifier manufactured by Vox. It was introduced in 1958 to meet the growing demand for louder amplifiers. Characterised by its "jangly" high-end sound it has become widely recognized by British musicians and others, su ...

amplifiers almost exclusively since a meeting with his long-time hero

at a gig in London during the late 1960s/early 1970s. In the mid-1970s he used six of them, with an

Echoplex The Echoplex is a tape delay effect, first made in 1959. Designed by Mike Battle, the Echoplex set a standard for the effect in the 1960s—it is still regarded as "the standard by which everything else is measured." It was used by some of the ...

delay (with extended delay time) plugged into a separate amplifier, and a second Echoplex plugged into yet another amp; he used a homemade booster, his only effects pedal, which was on all the time. (repr. January 2014) His choice is the model AC30TBX, the top-boost version with Blue Alnico speakers, and he runs the amp at full volume on the Normal channel. May also customises his amps by removing the Brilliant and Vib-trem channels (leaving only the circuitry for the Normal). This alters the tone slightly, with a gain addition of 6–7 dB. He always used a treble booster which, along with the AC30 and his custom '

Deacy Amp The Deacy Amp (pronounced "Deeky" ) is an electric guitar amplifier created in 1972 by Queen (band), Queen's bass guitarist John Deacon, who is an electronics engineer by training. The amplifier circuit board from a Supersonic PR80 portable radio fo ...

' transistor amp, built by Queen bass player John Deacon, went a long way in helping to create many of his signature guitar tones. He used the Dallas Rangemaster for the first Queen albums, up to '' A Day at the Races''. Effects designer

Pete Cornish Pete Cornish is a British designer of electric guitar effects and other electronic musical instruments. He is mainly noted for his elaborate fully custom guitar pedalboard systems. He has worked for Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, T ...

built for him the TB-83 (32 dB of gain) that was used for all the remaining Queen albums. He switched in 2000 to the Fryer's booster, which actually gives less boost than the TB-83. When performing live, May uses banks of Vox AC30 amplifiers, keeping some amps with only guitar and others with all effects such as delay,

flanger Flanging is an audio signal processing, audio effect produced by mixing two identical audio signal, signals together, one signal delayed by a small and (usually) gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a s ...

and chorus. He has a rack of 14 AC30s, which are grouped as Normal, Chorus, Delay 1, Delay 2. On his pedal board, May has a custom switch unit made by Cornish and subsequently modified by Fryer that allows him to choose which amps are active. He uses a

BOSS Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

pedal from the '70s, the Chorus Ensemble CE-1, which can be heard in " In The Lap of The Gods" (''

Live at Wembley '86 ''Live at Wembley '86'' is a double live album by the British rock band Queen. It was recorded live on Saturday 12 July 1986 during The Magic Tour at Wembley Stadium in London, England. The album was released on 26 May 1992, with a companion ...

'') or "Hammer to Fall" (slow version played live with P. Rodgers). Next in the chain, he uses a Foxx Foot Phaser ("We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions", "Keep Yourself Alive", etc.), and two delay machines to play his trademark solo in "Brighton Rock".

Piano and other instruments

As a child, May was trained on classical piano. Although Freddie Mercury was the band's primary pianist, May would step in occasionally (such as on "Save Me" and "Flash"). He mostly used Freddie Mercury's 1972 Steinway piano. From 1979 onwards, he also played synthesisers, organ ("Wedding March", "

Let Me Live "Let Me Live" is a 1996 song by Queen, from the album '' Made in Heaven''. Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor and Brian May share lead vocals, with Mercury singing the first verse, Taylor singing the second verse & bridge, and May singing the last ...

") and programmed drum-machines for both Queen and outside projects (such as producing other artists and his own solo records). In the studio, May used

Yamaha DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 1980 ...

synths for the opening sequence of "One Vision" and the backgrounds of "Who Wants to Live Forever" (also on stage), "Scandal" and "The Show Must Go On". The first instrument May learned to play was the

banjolele The banjo ukulele, also known as the banjolele or banjo uke, is a four-stringed musical instrument with a small banjo-type body and a fretted ukulele neck. The earliest known banjoleles were built by John A. Bolander and by Alvin D. Keech, both ...

. He used a "genuine

George Formby George Formby, (born George Hoy Booth; 26 May 1904 – 6 March 1961) was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he s ...

Ukulele-Banjo" in "

Bring Back That Leroy Brown ''Sheer Heart Attack'' is the third studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 8 November 1974 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. Digressing from the progressive themes featured on ...

" and "Good Company". Occasionally, May would also record on other string instruments such as harp (one chord per take, then copied and pasted by the engineer to make it sound like a continuous performance) and bass (on some demos and many songs in his solo career, and the Queen + Paul Rodgers album). May was keen on using some toys as instruments as well. He used a

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

plastic piano in "Teo Torriatte" and a toy mini

koto Koto may refer to: * Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group * Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument * Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana * Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women * K ...

in "The Prophet's Song".

Vocals

May is also an accomplished singer. From Queen's ''

'' to '' The Game'', May contributed lead vocals to at least one song per album. May co-composed a mini-opera with

Lee Holdridge Lee Elwood Holdridge (born March 3, 1944) is a Haitian-born American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. A 18-time Emmy Award nominee, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two News & Documentary Emmy Awards, and one ...

, ''Il Colosso'', for

Steve Barron Steven Barron (born 4 May 1956) is an Irish-British filmmaker. He is best known for directing the music videos for the songs "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, "Summer of '69" and " Run to You" by Bryan Adams, " Money for Nothing" by Dire Stra ...

's 1996 film, ''

The Adventures of Pinocchio ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' ( ; it, Le avventure di Pinocchio ; commonly shortened to ''Pinocchio'') is a children's fantasy novel by Italian author Carlo Collodi. It is about the mischievous adventures of an animated marionette named Pinocc ...

''. May performed the opera with

Jerry Hadley Jerry Hadley (June 16, 1952 – July 18, 2007) was an American operatic tenor. He received three Grammy awards for his vocal performances in the recordings of ''Jenůfa'' (2004 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording), ''Susannah'' (1995 Grammy Awar ...

Sissel Kyrkjebo Sissel is a Norwegian female given name, a variant of Cecilia.Har du et helgen-navn ?

, and

Just William ''Just William'' is the first book of children's short stories about the young school boy William Brown, written by Richmal Crompton, and published in 1922. The book was the first in the series of William Brown books which was the basis for ...

. On-screen, it was performed entirely by puppets.

Scientific career

Rock Star and Astrophysicist Brian May Visits Paranal

May studied physics and mathematics at Imperial College London, graduating with a BSc (Hons) degree and ARCS in physics with

Upper Second-Class Honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

. From 1970 to 1974, he studied for a PhD degree at Imperial College, studying reflected light from

interplanetary dust The interplanetary dust cloud, or zodiacal cloud (as the source of the zodiacal light), consists of cosmic dust (small particles floating in outer space) that pervades the space between planets within planetary systems, such as the Solar System. ...

and the velocity of dust in the plane of the Solar System. When Queen began to have international success in 1974, he abandoned his doctoral studies, but nonetheless co-authored two

peer-review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

ed research papers, which were based on his observations at the

Teide Observatory Teide Observatory ( es, Observatorio del Teide), IAU code 954, is an astronomical observatory on Mount Teide at , located on Tenerife, Spain. It has been operated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias since its inauguration in 1964. It becam ...

in Tenerife. In October 2006, May re-registered for his doctorate at Imperial College, and he submitted his thesis in August 2007 (one year earlier than he estimated it would take to complete). As well as writing up the previous work he had done, May had to review the work on zodiacal dust undertaken during the intervening 33 years, which included the discovery of the zodiacal dust bands by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

IRAS The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (Dutch: ''Infrarood Astronomische Satelliet'') (IRAS) was the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths. Launched on 25 January 1983, its mission lasted ten mo ...

satellite. After a

viva voce ''Viva voce'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "with living voice" but most often translated as "by word of mouth." It may refer to: *Word of mouth *A voice vote in a deliberative assembly *An oral exam **Thesis defence, in academia *Spoken evi ...

, the revised thesis (titled "A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud") was approved in September 2007, some 37 years after it had been commenced. He was able to submit his thesis only because of the minimal amount of research on the topic during the intervening years and has described the subject as one that became in-demand again in the 2000s. In his doctoral research, he investigated

radial velocity The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity, also known as radial speed or range rate, of a target with respect to an observer is the temporal rate of change, rate of change of the distance or Slant range, range between the two points. It is e ...

using

absorption spectroscopy Absorption spectroscopy refers to spectroscopic techniques that measure the absorption of radiation, as a function of frequency or wavelength, due to its interaction with a sample. The sample absorbs energy, i.e., photons, from the radiating fi ...

and

doppler spectroscopy Doppler spectroscopy (also known as the radial-velocity method, or colloquially, the wobble method) is an indirect method for finding extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs from radial-velocity measurements via observation of Doppler shifts in t ...

zodiacal light The zodiacal light (also called false dawn when seen before sunrise) is a faint glow of diffuse sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust. Brighter around the Sun, it appears in a particularly dark night sky to extend from the Sun's direction in ...

using a

Fabry–Pérot interferometer In optics, a Fabry–Pérot interferometer (FPI) or etalon is an optical cavity made from two parallel reflecting surfaces (i.e.: thin mirrors). Optical waves can pass through the optical cavity only when they are in resonance with it. It is ...

based at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife. His research was initially supervised by Jim Ring, Ken Reay and in the latter stages by

Michael Rowan-Robinson (Geoffrey) Michael Rowan-Robinson (born 1942) is an astronomer, astrophysicist and Professor of Astrophysics at Imperial College London. He previously served as head of the astrophysics group until May 2007 and from 1981 to 1982, and as Gresham ...

. He graduated at the awards ceremony of Imperial College held in the Royal Albert Hall on 14 May 2008. Lintott, Moore, May

In October 2007, May was appointed a Visiting Researcher in Imperial College and he continues his interest in astronomy and involvement with the Imperial Astrophysics Group. He is co-author, with Sir

Patrick Moore Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore (; 4 March 1923 – 9 December 2012) was an English amateur astronomer who attained prominence in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter. Moore was president of the Brit ...

and

Chris Lintott Christopher John Lintott (born 26 November 1980) is a British astrophysicist, author and broadcaster. He is a Professor of Astrophysics in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford. Lintott is involved in a number of popular scien ...

, of ''Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe'' and ''The Cosmic Tourist''. May appeared on the 700th episode of ''

The Sky at Night ''The Sky at Night'' is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first broadcast on 24 April 1957 until 7 January 2013. The latter date ...

'' hosted by Sir Patrick Moore, along with Chris Lintott, Jon Culshaw, Professor Brian Cox, and the

Astronomer Royal Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The post ...

Martin Rees Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 23 June 1942) is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He is the fifteenth Astronomer Royal, ...

who, on departing the panel, told Brian May, who was joining it, "I don't know a scientist who looks as much like

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...

as you do." May was also a guest on the first episode of the third series of the BBC's ''

Stargazing Live ''Stargazing Live'' is a British live television programme on astronomy that was broadcast yearly on BBC Two over three nights every winter from 2011 to 2017. The series was primarily presented by scientist Brian Cox and comedian and amateur a ...

'', on 8 January 2013. On 17 November 2007, May was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, and he was installed in 2008 having also been awarded an honorary fellowship from the university for his contribution to astronomy and services to the public understanding of science. He held the post until 2013. Asteroid 52665 Brianmay was named after him on 18 June 2008 on the suggestion of Patrick Moore (probably influenced by the asteroid's provisional designation of ). Brian May (NHQ201812310024) (cropped)

In 2014, May co-founded

with

Apollo 9 Apollo 9 (March 313, 1969) was the third human spaceflight in NASA's Apollo program. Flown in low Earth orbit, it was the second crewed Apollo mission that the United States launched via a Saturn V rocket, and was the first flight of the ful ...

astronaut

Rusty Schweickart Russell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart (also Schweikart; born October 25, 1935) is an American aeronautical engineer, and a former NASA astronaut, research scientist, U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, as well as a former business executive and governm ...

B612 Foundation The B612 Foundation is a private nonprofit foundation headquartered in Mill Valley, California, United States, dedicated to planetary science and planetary defense against asteroids and other near-Earth object (NEO) impacts. It is led mainl ...

COO Danica Remy and German filmmaker

Grigorij Richters Grigorij S. Richters (born 21 May 1987) is a director, activist, producer and official Forbes Council member. He directed the feature film '' 51 Degrees North'' and co-founded the global awareness movement Asteroid Day with astrophysicist and Qu ...

. Asteroid Day is a global awareness campaign where people from around the world come together to learn about

asteroids An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

and what we can do to protect our planet. May was a guest at the 2016 Starmus Festival where he also performed on stage with composer

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...

. The theme was ''Beyond The Horizon: A Tribute To Stephen Hawking''. During the ''New Horizons'' Pluto flyby NASA press conference held on 17 July 2015 at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, May was introduced as a science team collaborator. He told the panel "You have inspired the world." On 31 December 2018 through 1 January 2019, May was in attendance at the watch party for the New Horizons flyby of the Kuiper belt object,

486958 Arrokoth Arrokoth (minor-planet designation 486958 Arrokoth; provisional designation ), formerly nicknamed Ultima Thule, is a trans-Neptunian object located in the Kuiper belt. Arrokoth became the farthest and most primitive object in the Solar System ...

, and performed an updated version of his "New Horizons" celebratory song. As part of May's role as a collaborator with NASA's science team on the New Horizons mission, he worked on the first stereoanaglyph based on images of (486958) Arrokoth that were captured by the spacecraft. In 2019, he was awarded the Lawrence J. Burpee Medal of the

Royal Canadian Geographical Society The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS; French: ''Société géographique royale du Canada'') is a Canadian nonprofit educational organization dedicated to imparting a broader knowledge and deeper appreciation of Canada—its people a ...

for outstanding contributions to the advancement of geography. In 2020, he participated in the team that contributed the stereography images of numerical simulations of asteroid disruptions and re-accumulations in a publication in the peer-reviewed journal

Nature Communications ''Nature Communications'' is a peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio since 2010. It is a multidisciplinary journal and it covers the natural sciences, including physics, chemistry, earth sciences, medici ...

by Michel, P. et al. (2020) presenting a scenario of formation of the asteroids (101955) Bennu and (162173) Ryugu, visited by NASA

OSIRIS-REx OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) is a NASA asteroid-study and sample-return mission. The mission's primary goal is to obtain a sample of at least from 101955 Bennu, a carbonac ...

and JAXA

Hayabusa2 is an asteroid sample-return mission operated by the Japanese state space agency JAXA. It is a successor to the ''Hayabusa'' mission, which returned asteroid samples for the first time in June 2010. ''Hayabusa2'' was launched on 3 December 2 ...

probes, respectively. He was awarded the JAXA Hayabusa2 Honor Award for his contribution by making stereoscopic images of Ryugu. In 2021, he contributed the stereography images of the structural stability of double asteroid (65803) Didymos, the target of the NASA

DART Dart or DART may refer to: * Dart, the equipment in the game of darts Arts, entertainment and media * Dart (comics), an Image Comics superhero * Dart, a character from ''G.I. Joe'' * Dart, a ''Thomas & Friends'' railway engine character * Dar ...

and ESA

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; grc-gre, Ἥρα, Hḗrā; grc, Ἥρη, Hḗrē, label=none in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she ...

missions, in a publication in the peer-reviewed journal

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; grc, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos suspe ...

by DART and Hera team members. He is also on the advisory board of the NEO-MAPP project ( Near-Earth-Object Modelling and Payloads for Protection), funded by the European Union. In 2022, May was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

honoris causa by Professor Brad Gibson in the EA Milne Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Hull. Unable to attend in person, he joined the graduation ceremony via video link. At the Starmus IV festival in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

in September 2022, May was awarded the

Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication The Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication is an honor bestowed by the Starmus Festival to individuals in science and the arts to recognize the work of those helping to promote the public awareness of science. History The Stephen Hawki ...

Personal life

From 1976 to 1988, May was married to Christine Mullen. They had three children: James (born 15 June 1978), Louisa (born 22 May 1981), and Emily Ruth (born 18 February 1987). They separated in 1988. May had met actress

in 1986. She inspired him to write the 1989 hit "I Want It All". They married on 18 November 2000. He has said in interviews that he had depression in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to the point of contemplating suicide, for reasons having to do with his troubled first marriage, his perceived failure as a husband and father, his father Harold's death, and Freddie Mercury's illness and death. According to ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' Rich List of 2019, May is worth £160 million. He has homes in London and

Windlesham Windlesham is a village in the Surrey Heath borough of Surrey, England, approximately south west of central London. Its name derives from the Windle Brook, which runs south of the village into Chobham, and the common suffix 'ham', the Old Engli ...

, Surrey. May's father Harold was a long-time heavy cigarette smoker. As a result, May dislikes smoking, to the point where he was already prohibiting smoking indoors at his concerts before many countries imposed

smoking ban Smoking bans, or smoke-free laws, are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, that prohibit tobacco smoking in certain spaces. The spaces most commonly affected by smoking bans are indoor work ...

s. He is an active

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

advocate, and he was appointed a vice-president of an animal welfare charity, the

RSPCA The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity operating in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. The RSPCA is funded primarily by voluntary donations. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest and largest a ...

, in September 2012. A vegan since taking part in the 2020

Veganuary Veganuary is an annual challenge run by a UK nonprofit organisation that promotes and educates about veganism by encouraging people to follow a vegan lifestyle for the month of January. Since the event began in 2014, participation has increased ...

challenge, May has stated that meat eating is responsible for the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic. May describes himself as

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

. May is a long-term champion of woodland as a haven and "corridor" for wildlife—both in Surrey, where he has a house, and elsewhere. In 2012, he bought land threatened by building development at

Bere Regis Bere Regis () is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated north-west of Wareham. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 1,745. The village has one shop, a family-owned cheese barn, a post office, and two pubs ...

, Dorset, and, in 2013 and with the enthusiastic support of local villagers, initiated a project to create an area of woodland, now called May's Wood (or "the Brian May Wood"). The wood consists of , formerly under the plough, planted by May's team of co-workers with 100,000 trees. May's Wood is said to be flourishing. In 2013, a new species of the genus ''

Heteragrion ''Heteragrion'' is a genus of damselflies in the family Heteragrionidae. The genus contains the following species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biod ...

'' (Odonata: Zygoptera) from Brazil was named ''Heteragrion brianmayi''—one of four ''Heteragrion'' flatwing

damselflies Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies, which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Anisoptera, but are smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings along ...

named after the bandmates, paying tribute to the 40th anniversary of Queen's founding. May experienced a small heart attack in May 2020. It required the insertion of three

stent In medicine, a stent is a metal or plastic tube inserted into the lumen of an anatomic vessel or duct to keep the passageway open, and stenting is the placement of a stent. A wide variety of stents are used for different purposes, from expandab ...

s into three blocked arteries. May said he had been "very near death". In December 2021, May revealed that he had tested positive for

. He compared his illness to "the worst flu you could imagine" and implored people to get vaccinated, stating that he didn't think he would have recovered as well if he hadn't received a full vaccination and booster shot.

Activism

Brian May filming for the BBC's 'The One Show'

May has formed a group to promote animal welfare. Though a

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

voter most of his life, he has stated that their policies on

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of ho ...

and the culling of badgers meant he did not vote for them in the

2010 UK general election The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom unde ...

. His animal welfare–focussed organisation, Save Me (named after the May-written Queen song), campaigns for the protection of all animals against unnecessary, cruel and degrading treatment, with a particular emphasis on preventing hunting of foxes and the culling of badgers. The group's primary concern is to ensure that the

Hunting Act 2004 The Hunting Act 2004 (c 37) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which bans the hunting of most wild mammals (notably foxes, deer, hares and mink) with dogs in England and Wales, subject to some strictly limited exemptions; the ...

and other laws protecting animals are retained in situ. In an interview in September 2010 with

Stephen Sackur Stephen John Sackur (born 9 January 1964) is an English journalist who presents ''HARDtalk'', a current affairs interview programme on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel. He was also the main Friday presenter of '' GMT'' on BBC World News. ...

for the BBC's ''

HARDtalk ''HARDtalk'' is a BBC television and radio programme broadcast on the BBC News Channel, on BBC World News, and on the BBC World Service. Broadcast times and days vary, depending on broadcasting platform and geographic location. ''HARDtalk' ...

'' program, May said that he would rather be remembered for his animal rights work than for his music or scientific work. May is a staunch supporter of the RSPCA, the

International Fund for Animal Welfare The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is one of the largest animal welfare and conservation charities in the world. The organization works to rescue individual animals, safeguard populations, preserve habitat, and advocate for great ...

, the

League Against Cruel Sports The League Against Cruel Sports, formerly known as the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports, is a UK-based animal welfare charity which campaigns to stop blood sports such as fox hunting, hare and deer hunting; game bird shooting; and anim ...

PETA UK People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; , stylized as PeTA) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. PETA reports that PETA entities hav ...

and the Harper Asprey Wildlife Rescue. In March 2012, May contributed the foreword to a target paper published by the think tank the

Bow Group The Bow Group is a UK-based think tank promoting conservative opinion. Founded in 1951, it is the oldest group of its kind, counting many senior Conservative Party MPs and peers among its members. It represents a forum for political debate with i ...

, urging the government to reconsider its plans to cull thousands of badgers to control

bovine TB ''Mycobacterium bovis'' is a slow-growing (16- to 20-hour generation time) aerobic bacterium and the causative agent of tuberculosis in cattle (known as bovine TB). It is related to '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'', the bacterium which causes tub ...

, stating that the findings of Labour's major badger culling trials, several years earlier, show that culling does not work. The paper was authored by Graham Godwin-Pearson with contributions by leading

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

scientists, including Lord Krebs. In 2013, May joined French guitar player

Jean-Pierre Danel Jean-Pierre Danel (born 4 June 1968) is a French guitarist, record producer, music writer, and songwriter. Jean-Pierre Danel has recorded a large number of guitar albums, as well as guitar teaching materials. In 2006, his album ''Guitar Connecti ...

for a charity Danel launched for the benefit of animal rights in France. The guitarists signed guitars and art photos together, and were joined by Hank Marvin. Brianmaywestminster

In May 2013, May teamed up with actor

Brian Blessed Brian Blessed (; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor, presenter, writer and mountaineer. Blessed is known for portraying PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars'', Augustus in the 1976 BBC television production of ''I, Claudius'', King Richard IV i ...

and

cartoonist Jonti "Weebl" Picking, as well as animal rights groups including the RSPCA, to form Team Badger, a "coalition of organisations that have teamed up to fight the planned cull of badgers". With Weebl and Blessed, May recorded a single, "

Save the Badger Badger Badger "Save the Badger Badger Badger" is a mashup of Jonti Picking's 2003 viral Flash animation ''Badgers'' and "Flash" by Queen. The song was released on 19 May 2013, in response to proposed badger culling in the United Kingdom. The song features v ...

"—a mashup of Weebl's viral 2003 Flash cartoon

meme A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...

, "

Badger Badger Badger ''Badgers'', also known informally as ''Badger Badger Badger'' or ''The Badger Song'', is a Flash animated meme by British animator Jonti Picking. It consists of 12 animated cartoon badgers doing calisthenics, a mushroom in front of a tree, a ...

", and Queen's "

", featuring vocals by Blessed. On 1 September 2013, "Save the Badger Badger Badger" charted at No. 79 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 39 on the UK

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

chart and No. 1 on the iTunes Rock chart. In June 2013 naturalist Sir

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

and rock guitarist

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash ...

joined May to form a supergroup, Artful Badger and Friends, and released a song dedicated to badgers, "Badger Swagger". Prior to the 2015 general election, it was reported that May was considering standing as an independent Member of Parliament. It was also revealed that May had started a "Common Decency" project "to re-establish common decency in our lives, work and Parliament". May said he wanted to "get rid of the current government" and wished to see a

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

containing "individuals voting according to their conscience". May was one of several celebrities who endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

Caroline Lucas Caroline Patricia Lucas (born 9 December 1960) is a British politician who has twice led the Green Party of England and Wales and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Pavilion since the 2010 general election. She was re-elected ...

at the election. He also endorsed a Conservative Party candidate, Henry Smith, on the grounds of his animal welfare record. In July 2015, May criticised UK Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

for giving Members of Parliament a free vote on amending the ban on fox hunting in England and Wales. During a live television interview, he described the pro-hunting organisation the

Countryside Alliance The Countryside Alliance (CA) is a British organisation promoting issues relating to the countryside such as farming, rural services, small businesses and field sports, aiming to "Give Rural Britain a voice". History The Countryside Alliance ...

as "a bunch of lying bastards" for their support for a change to the law. The government postponed the vote following the intervention of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

's Westminster MPs, who committed to vote to keep the ban as it existed. May told anti-hunt protesters in a rally outside Parliament that it was "a very, very important day for our democracy" but added "we have not yet won the war, there's no room for complacency". In June 2017, May endorsed Labour Party leader

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

in the 2017 general election. May shared an article on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' headlined "Jeremy Corbyn says Fox hunting is 'barbarity' and pledges to keep it banned" and captioned it: "Well, I guess that just about clinches it !! Anyone see any good reason not to prefer the evidently decent Corbyn over the weak and wobbly Mrs May? Bri". In October 2018, May said, "I don't like all this separatist stuff and you know this sort of illusion that we can all stand on our own, to me the future lies in co-operation. I get up every day and put my head in my hands about

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

– I think it's the stupidest thing we ever tried to do." He also said that Prime Minister

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

was "driven by vanity and thirst for power". In the run-up to the

2019 United Kingdom general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party receiving a Landslide victory, landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 4 ...

May criticised what he saw as the poor conduct of the media and declined to endorse either candidate, stating that he found it "impossible" to vote for either Jeremy Corbyn or

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

. After the election in which the Conservatives won a majority, May vowed to continue fighting for animal rights but in an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

and blog post he urged his followers to congratulate Johnson and "wish Boris a decent chance to rebuild Britain" before praising reforms to animal welfare laws made by

Environment Secretary

Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parli ...

. In 2021 May criticised Johnson for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, calling it inadequate. In the lead up to the 2019 Okinawan referendum on landfill work at Henoko Bay for the expansion of the base in Okinawa, Japan, May advocated voting in opposition to the landfill.

Stereophotography

May has had a lifelong interest in collecting Victorian

stereophotography Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...

. In 2009, with co-author Elena Vidal, he published his second book, ''A Village Lost and Found,'' on the work of English stereophotography innovator T. R. Williams. He was awarded The

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

's Saxby Medal in 2012 for achievement in the field of three-dimensional imaging. May made a significant technical contribution to the book to accompany the exhibition 'Stereoscopic Photographs of Pablo Picasso by Robert Mouzillat', held at the

Holburne Museum The Holburne Museum (formerly known as the Holburne of Menstrie Museum and the Holburne Museum of Art) is located in Sydney Pleasure Gardens, Bath, Somerset, England. The city's first public art gallery, the Grade I listed building, is home to ...

in Bath, England, from February to June 2014. The book provides photographs of Picasso in his studio, at a bullfight at

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

, and in his garden. May's 3D Owl viewer is used to view the photographs in 3D. The purchase of his first card in 1973 started May on a lifelong and worldwide search for Les Diableries, which are stereoscopic photographs depicting scenes of daily life in Hell. On 10 October 2013 the book ''Diableries: Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell'' by Brian May, Denis Pellerin and Paula Fleming was published. In 2017, May published ''Queen in 3-D'', chronicling the group's 50-year history. It contains over 300 of his own stereoscopic photos and is the first book about the band published by one of its members. Included with the book is May's patented OWL Stereoscopic Viewer.

Portrayal in film

In the 2018 biographical film ''Bohemian Rhapsody'', he was portrayed by

Gwilym Lee Gwilym Lee (born 24 November 1983) is a Welsh actor. He is best known for his roles in '' Jamestown'', ''Midsomer Murders'', ''Top End Wedding'', ''The Great'', and for playing guitarist Brian May in the Queen biopic ''Bohemian Rhapsody''. Ear ...

. May himself served as a creative and musical consultant for the film, and worked especially closely with Lee.

Discography

With Queen *"

Keep Yourself Alive "Keep Yourself Alive" is the debut single by the British rock band Queen. Written by guitarist Brian May, it is the opening track on the band's eponymous debut album (1973). It was released as Queen's first single along with "Son and Daugh ...

" (1973) vocal bridge with Taylor, rest sung by Mercury *"Some Day, One Day" (1974) *"She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes)" (1974) *"

" (1975) *"

" (1975) *" Good Company" (1975) *"

" (1976) *" All Dead, All Dead" (1977) *"

" (1977) *"

" (1978) chorus vocals *"Leaving Home Ain't Easy" (1978) *"Sail Away Sweet Sister" (1980) Mercury sings the bridge *"

" (1980) with Freddie Mercury *"Put Out the Fire" lead on falsetto lines *"

" (1982) harmony vocals on chorus *"I Go Crazy" (1984) lead bridge vocals *"

" (1986) first verse, harmony and other lines throughout *" I Want It All" (1989) with Mercury *"Lost Opportunity" (1991) *" Mother Love" (1995) lead vocals on final verse *"

" (1995) lead vocals on third verse *" No-One but You" (1997) with Taylor Solo discography *''

'' (1992) *'' Another World'' (1998) *'' Furia'' (2000) soundtrack Collaborations *''El Vampiro Bajo el Sol'' (with

Paralamas do Sucesso Os Paralamas do Sucesso (also known simply as Paralamas) is a Brazilian rock band, formed in Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro, in the late 1970s. Its members since 1982 are Herbert Vianna (guitar and lead vocals), Bi Ribeiro (bass), and João Barone ...

and

Fito Paez A unit prefix is a specifier or mnemonic that is prepended to units of measurement to indicate multiples or fractions of the units. Units of various sizes are commonly formed by the use of such prefixes. The prefixes of the metric system, such a ...

) (1994) *'' Anthems'' (with Kerry Ellis) (2010) *''

Acoustic by Candlelight ''Acoustic by Candlelight: Live on the Born Free tour'' is the first live album by actress and singer Kerry Ellis and rock musician Brian May, released on 17 June 2013. The 15-track album consists of material from live shows of the first leg of ...

'' (with Kerry Ellis) (2013) *'' Golden Days'' (with Kerry Ellis) (2017) *

(with

, and Brantley Gilbert) (2019) *

Floating in Heaven "Floating in Heaven" is a song by astrophysicist and guitarist Brian May (of Queen (band), Queen), and singer and bassist Graham Gouldman (of 10cc). It was released on 12 July 2022 on digital streaming platforms including a music video on the offi ...

(single with

Graham Gouldman Graham Keith Gouldman (born 10 May 1946) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician, best known as the co-lead singer and bassist of the art rock band 10cc. He has been the band's only constant member since its formation in 1972. Before 10cc ...

) (2022)

References

External links

* *
The ESA's Hera space mission members' listThe EU Horizon 2020 NEO-MAPP project members' list
{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Brian 1947 births 20th-century British guitarists 20th-century English male singers 20th-century English singers 21st-century British guitarists 21st-century English male singers 21st-century English singers Alumni of Imperial College London Animal welfare workers British astrophysicists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English agnostics 20th-century British astronomers English male guitarists English male singer-songwriters English male writers English multi-instrumentalists English people of Scottish descent English rock guitarists English rock keyboardists English rock pianists English rock singers English record producers Hollywood Records artists Ivor Novello Award winners Lead guitarists Living people British male pianists People associated with Liverpool John Moores University People educated at Hampton School People from Hampton, London Queen (band) members Queen + Adam Lambert members Queen + Paul Rodgers members Singers from London

Early life

Musical career

1968–1970: Smile

1970–1995: Queen

1983–1999: Side projects and solo works

2000–2010

2004–2009: Queen + Paul Rodgers

2011–present

2011–present: Queen + Adam Lambert

Musicianship

Guitar style

Influences

Equipment

Guitars

Amplifiers and effects

Piano and other instruments

Vocals

Scientific career

Personal life

Activism

Stereophotography

Portrayal in film

Discography

See also

References

External links