Brian

Biography:


Few rock guitarists possess a playing style as instantly recognizable as Queen's Brian May. With his orchestrated guitar armies (multi-tracked guitar lines overdubbed on top of each other) and instantly memorable, well-constructed melodic leads, May is in a class all by himself. Born in Hampton, Middlesex, in July 1947, May showed an interest in music at a very early age -- learning to play the ukulele and piano before receiving his first guitar as a present on his seventh birthday. Shortly thereafter, May and his father began to build a custom guitar from scratch. Completed two years later, the one-of-a-kind instrument would become known as the Red Special, a guitar that would later become May's sonic and visual trademark throughout his career.

It wasn't long until May began to pick up a thing or two from such popular rock guitarists as the Shadows' Hank Marvin, Elvis Presley's sideman Scotty Moore, and Buddy Holly. As a student at secondary school, May formed his first group, the instrumental band 1984, playing around London and even opening a 1967 show at the Olympia Theatre for such soon-to-be big names as Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, Pink Floyd, and Tyrannosaurus Rex (later T. Rex). After beginning studies at Imperial College (in the physics/infrared astronomy field) and growing weary of their musical direction, May left 1984 in the spring of 1968.

During his college career, May hooked up with drummer Roger Taylor (via an ad placed on a college noteboard) and a fellow ex-1984 member, bassist/vocalist Tim Staffell, forming the rock trio Smile. Shortly after graduating from college with an honors degree in physics and math, May focused full-time on music when Smile signed to Mercury Records. Despite great promise, Smile only managed to issue one single (titled "Earth") and a few unreleased tracks before Staffell left the group. But it was a friend of Staffell's who would offer his services as the group's new singer -- Freddie Mercury. With the lineup change came a new name, Queen, and a new musical direction -- heavy rock mixed with grand ballads and a flamboyantly glam look.

After going through numerous bassists, Queen found a permanent member in John Deacon -- resulting in a recording contract with EMI/Elektra and a self-titled debut following in 1973. With each successive release (1974's Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack), Queen's musical direction and stageshow grew stronger and more popular, until they were one of the world's biggest acts by the mid- to late '70s, due to such mega-hit albums as Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, News of the World, and Jazz. Unlike other groups where a single member supplied all the songwriting, all four of Queen's members had their own songwriting credits equally, with May writing some of the group's most identifiable hits -- "We Will Rock You," "Fat Bottomed Girls," "Now I'm Here," and "Tie Your Mother Down," among others.

During a short break in 1983, May issued his first solo release, the four-track EP Star Fleet Project (which featured an all-star cast backing him -- Eddie Van Halen, REO Speedwagon drummer Alan Gratzer, and session bassist Phil Chen), and co-produced the debut recording from the obscure heavy metal outfit Heavy Pettin, titled Lettin Loose. Around the same time, an exact duplicate of May's Red Special guitar was issued to the public via the Guild guitar company, and May recorded a video guitar lesson as part of the Star Licks series.

Queen would continue issuing hit albums and sold-out tours throughout the late '80s (as they experimented with a wide range of musical styles), until they became solely a "studio band" during their latter years, 1989's The Miracle and 1991's Innuendo (the reason for this was kept under wraps at the time, but it later became known that it was due to health reasons -- Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS). With Mercury's death in 1991, Queen went their separate ways, with May focusing on a solo career and other projects (including hosting and playing at a 1991 Guitar Legends concert alongside Steve Vai and Joe Satriani).

May's first full-length solo album was preceded by the single "Driven by You," which reached the Top Ten in England and was featured in a Ford car commercial -- winning an Ivor Novello Award for Best Theme From a TV/Radio Commercial. 1993 finally saw the release of Back to the Light, an album that was a sizeable hit in Europe, and led to May's first solo tour (which included members Cozy Powell on drums, Neil Murray on bass, longtime Queen sideman Spike Edney on keyboards, Jamie Moses on guitar, plus backing vocalists Shelley Preston and Cathy Porter). A year later, a live document of the tour, Live at the Brixton Academy, was issued, mixing new solo material with Queen classics. It wasn't until 1998 that May would issue a proper studio follow-up, Another World.

In addition to rock music, May has retained his interest in astronomy and is working on a book about T.R. Williams, a famous stereo photographer of the 1850s. May has also tried his hand at penning original music for movies (the 1996 version of The Adventures of Pinnochio) and a radio series (a BBC radio special on the Amazing Spiderman), as well as recording the soundtrack for the Red and Gold Theatre Company's production of Macbeth, which was staged at London's Riverside Theatre in the late '90s.

May's contribution to rock guitar remains great as his playing has proven to be a great influence on other renowned rock guitarists past and present, including Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Ty Tabor (King's X), Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme), and Phil Collen (Def Leppard), to name but a few.

~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide


"The Guv'nor" Lyrics:


Brian's song about fellow guitarist Jeff Beck, but even Jeff himself said about Brian, "He's the guv'nor. He's the best pop-type oriented guitar player there is, really. Everybody loves to play his licks."

Oooh yeah yeah yeah

Oh I ain't greedy
But you gotta see my point of view
I was not born yesterday
But you know I must have learned a thing or two

But there's a man on the loose, baby
And he's all bad
He'll tan your hide and he'll give you
What you never had

They call him the Guvnor
(God bless the Guvnor)
He's trained to kill
(God bless the Guvnor)
Make way make way for the Guvnor
(Make way for the Guvnor)
Give yourself a thrill, come one

Look at the dude
He's got the world, he got it made
He got attitude
He got a fist like a switchblade
Everyone in the city
Gotta play his game
I don't wanna be a wannabe
I wanna be it

Wanna be the Guvnor
(God bless the Guvnor)
He's politically incorrect
(God bless the Guvnor)
Give way give way to the Guvnor
(Make way for the Guvnor)
You gotta show some respect

Don't bother looking for a way to catch his ass
This man is cooking with a red hot kind of gas
He'll play them hits, electrifying
Tear you to bits, leave you crying crying crying, yeah

So get ready for the showdown
(Don't lose your head)
If licks could kill we'd all be long gone dead
On account of the Guvnor
(God bless the Guvnor, God bless the Guvnor)
God bless the Guvnor
(God bless the Guvnor, God bless the Guvnor)
Make way make way for the Guvnor
You gotta see that man

Let's see some respect now...


"Soul Brother" Lyrics:


Brian (2003): "Freddie told me one day he had a surprise for me -- he said, "I've written a song about you, but it needs your touch on it!" I think, curiously, we were both working on songs separately which referred to each other. Can't remember which one of mine it was, since a lot of my songs were obliquely aimed at him (as well as to be sung by him!). Anyway, we got in the studio and he played this song. Now whether it was really about me I don't know. But I thought it was fab. I know he wrote it in about 15 minutes! As to why not on album (The Game) -- well, Freddie deliberately wrote it as a B-side to fill a gap, so I imagine the album was already sewn up."

One two three
One two three
God bless my soul here he comes now
The man with the most -- how does he do it ?
Sure he's got style.. he's so heavy
He's a trip.. can do anything
Anything anything
He's my soul brother

He's my best friend he's my champion
And he will rock you, rock you, rock you
'Cause he's the saviour of the universe
He can make you keep yourself alive
Make you keep yourself alive
Ooh brother 'cause he's somebody somebody
You can love
He's my soul brother

When you're under pressure, feeling under pressure
Yeah, pressure, yeah, pressure
He won't let you down
When you're under pressure
Ooh, feeling under pressure, yeah, pressure
So he won't let you down
My brother won't let you down
He won't, he won't, he won't let you down
He can do anything, anything, anything
He's my soul brother

Yea ah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Ooh soul brother anything (soul brother)
Anything (soul brother) anything (soul brother)
He's my soul brother brother brother brother brother
(Soul brother) anything (soul brother) anything (soul brother) anything
He's my soul

Soul brother
He can do anything
He can do anything
'Cause he, he's my soul brother