Brian May
Sir Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter and astrophysicist, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. He uses a guitar he built himself with the help of his father. The guitar they built is called the "Red Special".
Brian May , PhD | |
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 May performing in 1979 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Brian Harold May |
| Born | 19 July 1947 Hampton, London, England |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1963–present |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts | |
| Education | Hampton Grammar School |
| Alma mater | Imperial College London (BSc (Hons), PhD) |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Inductee, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2001) CBE (2005) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astrophysics |
| Thesis | A survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust cloud (2008) |
| Influences | |
| Website | brianmay |
Apart from music, May earned his PhD in astrophysics in 2007 and is currently the Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.[3] Together with Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, he wrote a book called Bang! The Complete History of the Universe.[4]
May was ranked 39th in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."[5]
Early life
Brian Harold May, the only child of Harold and Ruth May, was born on 19 July 1947 in Hampton, Middlesex and attended Hampton Grammar School (now Hampton School). During this time he formed his first band with vocalist and bassist Tim Staffell named Nineteen Eighty-Four after George Orwell's novel of the same name. He graduated from Hampton Grammar School with ten GCE Ordinary Levels and four Advanced Levels in Physics, Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Additional Mathematics.
May's father Harold worked as a draughtsman at the Ministry of Aviation and had been a long-time cigarette-smoker. As a result, May dislikes smoking, even to the point where he has prohibited smoking indoors at his more recent concerts.
Marriage and children
From 1974 to 1988, May was married to Chrissie Mullen, who is the mother of his three children: Jimmy, who was born on 15 June 1978; Louisa, who was born on 22 May 1981 and Emily Ruth, who was born on 17 February 1987. Chrissie and Brian separated in 1988.
Personal life and other musical collaborations
He has stated in interviews that he suffered from depression in the late 1980s, even to the point of contemplating suicide, for reasons having to do with his troubled first marriage and his perceived failure as a husband and a dad, his father Harold's death, and Freddie Mercury's illness. May is married to former Eastenders actress Anita Dobson, whom he met in 1986, and who gained fame in the 1980s for providing vocals to the theme tune to the aforementioned soap, entitled "Anyone Can Fall in Love". May himself produced the song, which reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1986.
Brian May Media
May (right) on stage with Queen in Hannover, Germany, 1979
May with Queen arriving in Argentina, 1981
May performing in Frankfurt in 2005
May performing in Chile, November 2008
Picture of 2005 Queen + Paul Rodgers tour.
Queen + Adam Lambert performing at the O2 Arena in December 2017
May performing a solo of Dvořák’s New World Symphony in a planet themed segment during a June 2022 Queen + Adam Lambert concert
Brian May live in Cologne, Germany
Brian May performing in 2017
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 May, Brian Harold (2008). A survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust cloud. Imperial College London. . . . https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/bitstream/10044/1/1333/1/May-BH-2007-PhD-Thesis.pdf. Retrieved 8 November 2017. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.443586
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Brian May at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ↑ "May installed as uni chancellor". BBC. 14 April 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
- ↑ "Bang! The Complete History of the Universe". 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
- ↑ "Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/5937559/page/24. Retrieved 2017-08-30.