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Brian May
Brian Harold May
Born 19 July 1947 Hampton, Middlesex, England
Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter, Producer, Astrophysicist
Instruments Guitar, Banjo, Bass Guitar, Keyboards, vocals
May was born in Hampton in Richmond and attended Hampton Grammar school. He is known for being rather quiet and reserved at parties. His avoidance of alcohol can be traced back to an early concert where Queen played with the band Aerosmith. May was backstage with fellow guitarist Joe Perry, Perry brought out a bottle of Whisky which the two drank between them. May felt so ill on stage after that he said he would never have more than one drink before playing again.
May married actress Anita Dobson on november 18 2000. He has three children, James(1978), Louisa(1981) and Emily Ruth(1987) from his first marriage to Chrissy Mullens. May is described as a virtuoso guitarist by some music critics, he has used a range of guitars, most often the "Red Special" which he designed with his father Harold, built with wood from a 19th century fireplace. In addition to using his home-made guitar he prefers to use coins instead of traditional plastic plectrums (especially a sixpence) on the basis that their rigidity gives him more control when playing.
Mays early heroes were Cliff Richard and the Shadows. May was proud upon hearing that in an interview Cliff said that he would have May in his personal fantasy band. As well as recording with Hank Marvin, May also contributed to the 1996 album "Twang", a tribute to Hank Marvin And The Shadows, playing "FBI". The album also featured several other renowned guitarists.
May is an accomplished singer, his wide vocal range went from low "A" to very high Tenor D`s and E`s, occasionally he contributed Falsetto parts as well. In Queens three-part vocal harmonies May was generally lower -range backing vocal. On some of his songs he sings the lead vocal, notably the first verse of "Who Wants To Live Forever" and also "Some Day One Day", "All Dead, All Dead", "Long Away", "Leaving Home Aint Easy", "Good Company", "Sleeping On The Sidewalk" and "39". In the Queens birthday honours list in 2005 he was made a commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to the music industry.
May explored a wide range of styles including SWEEP PICKING, FRET TAPPING, HENDRIX SOUNDING LICKS and MELODIC PARTS. Some solo and orchestral parts were written by Freddie Mercury who then passed them on to May to bring them to life. Aided by the uniqueness of his guitar, the - 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" in "Get Down Make Love" he was able to create sound effects with his guitar that were so unusual that many thought a synthesizer was being used. In "Good Company" he used his guitar to mimic a Trombone, a Piccolo, and several other instruments for the songs dixieland jazz feel.
After the famous Live Aid concert in 1985 Mercury rang his bandmates and proposed writing a song together, the result was, "One Vision" which was basically May on music.,The Magic Years documentary shows how he came up with the opening section and the basic guitar riff, and Roger Taylor on lyrics with Freddie Mercury being more a producer and arranger than a proper co writer with John Deacon mostly absent. May composed "I Want It All" as well as "Scandal" (based on his personal problems with the press).
THE BRIAN MAY BAND
The Brian May Band was officially formed in late October 1992 following the release of his album "Back To The Light". An early version of the band was formed for 19th October 1991 when May took part in the guitar Legenda guitar festival in Seville,Spain. The line up for his perfomance was May (Lead Vocals,Lead Guitar), Cozy Powell(Drums,Percussion), Mike Moran(Keyboards), Rick Wakeman(Keyboards), Maggie Ryder(Backing Vocals), MiriamStockley(Backing Vocals) and Chris Thompson(Backing Vocals).
Following the death of Freddie Mercury in November 1991, May chose to deal with his grief by committing himself as fully as possible to work, first by finishing his solo album 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.
On 5th April 1998 Cozy Powell was killed in a car accident on the M4 motorway near Bristol, England. This caused a huge unexpected dent in the up and coming tour for the Brian May Band, with the need for a new drummer on short notice Steve Ferrone was brought in to help, May finish recording drums for the title track "Another World", and to join the band for the early stage promotional tour of five dates in Europe before the world tour. The line up was then Brian May(Lead Vocals,Lead Guitar) Spike edney(Keyboards), Neil Muray(Bass Guitar), Jamie Moses(Guitar), Steve Ferrone(Drums,Percussion), Susie Webb(Backing Vocals), Zoe Nicholas(Backing Vocals).
Following the early promo tour Eric Singer replaced Steve Ferrone for the full 1998 world tour. In 2005 Edney and Moses were recruited along with Danny Miranda(Bass) to join the Queen and Paul Rodgers tour to fill the roles of Keyboard player and second guitar player respectively.
DID YOU KNOW
- May played lead guitar on Guns N Roses "Catcher In The Rye" which was leaked in February 2006.
- May opened the "Party At The Palace" concert to celebrate Elizabeth 11 Golden Jubilee in 2002 by standing on Buckingham Palace roof and playing "God Save The Queen" on his guitar.
- May is a regular contributor to the BBC "The Sky At Night" programme hosted by Patrick Moore.
- May`s favorite Queen song is "The Miracle".
- May hates his trademark curly hair.
- May is a close friend of Toni Iommi,and is the only guest guitarist to ever appear on a Black Sabbath album. (1987`s Headless Cross - the solo on "When Death Calls"). |
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