Red Special

Biography

There are at least 2 artists with the name Brian May 1) Born on 19th July 1947 in Feltham, England to parents Harold and Ruth May, Brian May is probably best known as the guitarist for English rock band Queen. Within the band he introduced unique triple layered guitar harmonies, created on his home made guitar "Red Special", which has become his trademark over the years. He also made his mark during the Queen's jubilee by playing God Save The Queen on top of Buckingham Palace to begin the conce...

There are at least 2 artists with the name Brian May

1) Born on 19th July 1947 in Feltham, England to parents Harold and Ruth May, Brian May is probably best known as the guitarist for English rock band Queen. Within the band he introduced unique triple layered guitar harmonies, created on his home made guitar "Red Special", which has become his trademark over the years. He also made his mark during the Queen's jubilee by playing God Save The Queen on top of Buckingham Palace to begin the concert.

In addition to having huge success as a member of Queen, Brian May also has a string of solo albums including "Back To The Light" and "Another World", as well as having written soundtrack material such as "Furia". Brian also collaborates with artists like Paul Rodgers, Ian Hunter, Eddie Van Halen and many more.

Besides being a talented musician (he can play guitar, bass, ukulele, piano, keyboards, and many other instruments, as well as having the ability to sing), Brian is also a recognized astronomer. He has been made a Doctor in the field of Physics, and has recently been awarded a Doctorate in Astronomy after finishing his thesis, started in the early 1970s before Queen gained recognition. In 2006 he collaborated with Sir Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott to release "Bang! The Complete History Of The Universe". It has since been released in a number of languages.

In recent years Brian has toured with Queen & Paul Rodgers with fellow Queen member Roger Taylor. The collaboration has seen the release of three live albums, "Return of the Champions (2005)," "Super Live in Japan (2006)," and "Live in Ukraine (2009)" and one studio album "Cosmos Rocks (2008)". The band has since split up on friendly terms and do not rule out working together again in the future. For 2010, Brian May will be working on projects outside of the recording studio including the potential We Will Rock You Movie, based on the musical of the same name.


2) Born in Adelaide in 1934 and died in 1997, Brian May (no relation to Brian Harold May of Queen) was one of the first composers to achieve international acclaim as an Australian composer and was best known as the composer of MAD MAX and THE ROAD WARRIOR (MAD MAX II). May received his musical training as a pianist, violinist and conductor at the Adelaide Elder Conservatorium. He joined the Australia Broadcasting Company in 1957, where he formed the ABC Adelaide Big Band, an ensemble that performed all manner of light music for broadcast, and May became a leading figure in Australian light music as a result. He moved to Melbourne in 1970 to arrange and conduct the ABC’s Melbourne Show band. Moving into film music in a period of time when Australia’s film industry was just beginning to take its place among international film circles, May composed such notable film scores as RACE FOR THE YANKEE ZEPHYR, ROAD GAMES, CLOAK AND DAGGER, DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR, MISSING IN ACTION 2, SKY PIRATES, STEEL DAWN, DR. GIGGLES, FREDDY’S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHT MARE and BLINDSIDE. He won the Australian Film Institute Award for best original score with MAD MAX; many other awards followed, including the Golden Award from the Australian Performing Rights Association. He continued to score films until 1993, composing music for more than 30 films and many hours of television, most of which he orchestrated himself. Sadly, the composer passed away in 1997 at the age of 63. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.