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Brian May

This article is about the British musician and astrophysicist. For the Australian film composer, see Brian May (Australian composer). For the Canadian politician, see Bryan May.

Brian May
CBE
May performing in September 2022
Born
Brian Harold May

(1947-07-19) 19 July 1947 (age 77)
Hampton Hill, Middlesex, England
Occupations
  • Musician
  • songwriter
  • animal welfare activist
  • astrophysicist
Years active1963–present
Spouses
  • Christine Mullen
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1976; div. 1988)​
  • ​
    (m. 2000)​
Children3
Awards
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Guitar
  • vocals
  • keyboards
Labels
Member of
Formerly of
EducationPhD, Doctor Degree in Astrophysics
Alma materImperial College London
Scientific career
FieldsAstrophysics
ThesisA survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust cloud (2008)
Doctoral advisor
Websitebrianmay.com

Brian Harold May CBE (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysicist. He achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen, which he co-founded with singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor. His guitar work and songwriting contributions helped Queen become one of the most successful acts in music history.

May previously performed with Taylor in the progressive rock band Smile, which he had joined while he was at university. After Mercury joined to form Queen in 1970, bass guitarist John Deacon completed 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". From the mid-1970s until 1986, Queen played at some of the biggest venues in the world, including an acclaimed performance at Live Aid in 1985.[3] As a member of Queen, May became regarded as a virtuoso musician and was identified with a distinctive sound created through his layered guitar work, often using a home-built electric guitar called the Red Special.[4] May wrote numerous hits for Queen, including "We Will Rock You", "I Want It All", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "Flash", "Hammer to Fall", "Save Me", "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "The Show Must Go On".

Following the death of Mercury in 1991, aside from the 1992 tribute concert, the release of Made in Heaven (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.[5] He was ranked at No. 33 on Rolling Stone's 2023 list of 250 greatest guitarists of all time.[6] In 2012, he was further ranked the second-greatest guitarist in a Guitar World magazine readers poll.[7] In 2001, May was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Queen and, in 2018, the band received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[8]

May was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005 for services to the music industry and for charity work.[9] May earned a PhD degree in astrophysics from Imperial College London in 2007,[1][2] and was Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University from 2008 to 2013.[10] He was a "science team collaborator" with NASA's New Horizons Pluto mission.[11][12] He is also a co-founder of the awareness campaign Asteroid Day.[13] Asteroid 52665 Brianmay was named after him. In 2023, May contributed to NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, the agency's first successful collection and earth delivery of samples directly from an asteroid (the asteroid Bennu).[14] May is also an animal welfare activist, campaigning against fox hunting and the culling of badgers in the UK.[15] May was knighted by King Charles III in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to music and charity.[16]

  1. ^ a b c d May, Brian Harold (2008). A survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust cloud (PDF) (PhD thesis). Imperial College London. Bibcode:2008srvz.book.....M. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-77706-1. hdl:10044/1/1333. ISBN 9780387777054. OCLC 754716941. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.443586 Open access icon
  2. ^ a b c d Brian May at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  3. ^ "Queen at Live Aid: the real story of how one band made rock history". Classic Rock. 13 July 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  4. ^ May, Brian; Bradley, Simon (2014). Brian May's Red Special. Prion Books. ISBN 978-1-78097-276-3.
  5. ^ "BBC News: Planet Rock Radio poll". 10 July 2005. Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
  6. ^ "100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time: Brian May". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 20 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  7. ^ "Readers Poll Results: The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Guitarworld.com. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  8. ^ Blistein, Jon. "Queen, Tina Turner to Receive Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  9. ^ "Queen star May hails Muse album". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  10. ^ "May installed as uni chancellor". BBC. 14 April 2008. Archived from the original on 18 October 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  11. ^ Danthropology (30 July 2015). "Queen's Brian May is a member of NASA's New Horizon team". Patheos.com. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  12. ^ "Smithsonian.com – Smithsonian Magazine". Smithsonianmag.com. Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  13. ^ "European Space Agency to join Brian May's Asteroid Day". BBC. 9 February 2016. Archived from the original on 9 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  14. ^ "Queen's Brian May helped NASA return its first asteroid sample". CNN. 25 September 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference animal welfare was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ "No. 63918". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2022. p. N2.

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