Brian May, the guitarist who uses coins as a pick and achieves a unique, distinctive and personal sound. Shown here is a commemorative coin of the queen.
Queen guitarist Brian May turns 75 todaywhose distinctive sound was instrumental in the success of the band he formed in 1970 with drummer Roger Taylor and vocalist Freddie Mercury.
May and Taylor had played together in the group Smile, the defection of singer Tim Staffell forced them to find a replacement. And that’s how Freddie and the new band name appeared.
Brian May live in June 2022, at the Platinum Jubilee Concert in London. Photo: AP
The meeting took place through a mutual friendwho presented them. Freddie was already a Smile fan and he knew the songs. That’s why in the movie Bohemian Rhapsody the situation was exaggerated and an arrogant Freddie was shown asking to enter as soon as he saw Staffell resign, a scene not so far from reality but slightly fictionalized for cinematic purposes.
According to Staffell, he and Freddie were friends in college and his admission came naturally after he left, which was natural and friendly, not premature.
May, a shy star
Brian May.
Brian May was instrumental in putting it together, the march of the enterprise and, later, the continuity of the band when his singer died in 1991. As a guitarist, he gave him a unique sound and was the great internal organizer capable of putting a cold cloth on the vocalist’s division. In addition, he has composed a large number of songs that today are true classics.
Brian May is the author of hits What We will shake you, fat bottom girls, we will tie your mother, now I’m here, hammer to fall, keep alive, save me, 39 years, I want it all, who wants to live forever Y The show must go on.
For many fans May was one of the fundamental ideologues of Queen, the brain who was able to firmly guide the progress of the group and the great continuer and diffuser of their work when it all seemed over, with the death of Mercury and the decision of the bass player. John Deacon abandoning music. Of course, others will say it was Taylor and many others believe it was Mercury himself.
its musical history
Brian May at the AFP photo of the London 2012 Olympic Games
Brian Harold May was born in London and has always stressed the importance of his father in his musical steps. Faced with the economic impossibility of buying an electric guitar, obviously his father suggested that he build one together and after several months of working with homemade materials, such as a knitting needle and discarded pieces of wood, The Red Special took shape. the model staff he has used throughout Queen’s career.
Another famous detail is that never used picksbut a penny coin.
Parallel to his studies in astrophysics, the great passion he has never put aside, not even today, are his first bands. As for Queen, they gained momentum with the stage presence and vocals of Freddie Mercury, as well as completing the lineup with bassist John Deacon.
While Mercury showed a whimsical and glam face, Deacon contributed pop songs and Roger Taylor led the group to a more radical sound with some hints of black music, Brian May was the eminently rock face of the group.
Queen in Argentina in 1981. Press conference Photo Néstor Nebón / Télam Archive
In 1981, Queen arrived in the country and fans were blown away by the sounds May extracted from her guitar. And the paparazzi chasing the members of the group in the sun and in the shade could portray the family life of the guitarist, who walked around Buenos Aires with his wife of the time and their young children, and spent long minutes greeting fans, taking photos. with them and sign autographs.
Dating soloists and queens
Although Brian had made a parallel mini-EP with Queen, Star Fleet Project, in which he collaborated with Eddie Van Halen, Mercury’s death in 1991 challenged May to continue his musical history and, despite some solo work, he decided also to keep the group alive, a task in which he had the complicity of Roger Taylor. Deacon has completely abandoned music.
As a soloist, he visited Argentina and gave great shows. And with several singers – first Paul Rodgers, then Adam Lambert -, through musical comedies or with the production of the film Bohemian Rhapsody: The Story of Freddy MercuryBrian May and Roger Taylor have had the responsibility to date to preserve Queen’s legacy and continue to keep their name at the fore.
The doctor of astrophysicist and member of the legendary rock band Queen, Brian May, together with the German director Grig Richter, creators of the “World Asteroid Day” initiative, analyze the threat that extraterrestrial rocks represent against the Earth and the plans that could prevent a catastrophe of incalculable dimensions. Brian May guitarist and doctor of astrophysics against asteroids new special that warns of the danger of a collision with the Earth he claims he has never found a contradiction between science and music.
He also managed to complete his doctoral thesis in astrophysics in mid-2000, and an asteroid was named in homage to him.
At 75, Brian May survived a heart attack in 2020 and promises to stay active, as a solo artist and keeping the flame of Queen alive.
Source: Telam
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Source: Clarin
