Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBEis an English musician, singer, songwriter and astrophysicist, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. He uses a home-built electric guitar, called the Red Special. His compositions for the band include "We Will Rock You", "Tie Your Mother Down", "I Want It All", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "The Prophet's Song", "Flash", "Hammer to Fall", "Save Me", "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "The Show Must Go On"...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionGuitarist
Date of Birth19 July 1947
CityLondon, England
Queen songs are not about the life of a rock star - they tend to be about the lives of normal people, which is why I think the songs connect so much. We're very lucky that they seemingly connect with every generation.
My children hate me being such a big star. It's very hard for them to have a father who is always in the public eye.
Everybody thought I was a bit of an eccentric for wanting to be out there looking at the stars, but I still do
George Harrison was a fabulous, fabulous, fabulous guitarist, and a wonderful example of what a rock star should be. I totally revered him as an innovator. He was always fresh, daring, magnificently melodic, full of spiritual quality, and totally conscious of the chord structure beneath the solo. And he had the courage to play simple. He never took refuge in effects, or tried to impress with speed. I hope he knew how much we all loved and respected him.
I spent 20 years of my life building up Queen, and now I'm spending years of my life trying to get away from it.
The music itself is very challenging, so I've never really felt the lack of stimulation. I love to be creating; I love to be making things and solving problems, I suppose, and when I'm not, then I'm not an incredibly good person to be around. If I'm not busy, then I think I would be disaster. That's just the way things are.
From the beginning of Queen there was such momentum that I never had any time to do anything else. My energy was 95% focused on the band
To my mind Keep Yourself Alive was never really satisfactory. Never had that magic that it should have had.
At the moment the Queen stuff does sell really well, but there's no guarantee it'll go on forever
For a time I didn't want to answer any questions about Queen. I'd like to be viewed as something alive and relevant, not some fossil.
I don't think anybody comes close to The Beatles, including Oasis
Astronomy's much more fun when you're not an astronomer
This man (FreddieMercury) truly possessed the greatest voice in the history of rock. Journalists, culture experts and analysts have already made several hundred comments on this topic and nothing can be added here.
The guitar was my weapon, my shield to hide behind.