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
In print, people can do anything to you. Everything you do is picked apart. People love it; they're waiting for you to make a mistake.
If I go to places where other people are playing, I often get up and play myself. I just enjoy the sound and feel of playing.
I think music is about our internal life. It’s part of the way people touch each other. That’s very precious to me. And astronomy is, in a sense, the very opposite thing. Instead of looking inwards, you are looking out, to things beyond our grasp.
Each gig should be unique. You're always treading that line between keeping yourself fresh and giving people something they want to hear
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.
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.
I had this idea... I wanted the sound to sing and have that thickness but yet still have an edge so that it could articulate. So my dad and I designed the guitar... the one that was made from an old fireplace.