He is also one of the most successful songwriters of his generation, providing Queen with many of their finest musical moments -- among them the anthemic "We Will Rock You," the driving "Keep Yourself Alive," and one of their finest ballads, "Who Wants to Live Forever." Brian May has penned 22 Top 20 hits worldwide.
Born in Hampton, Middlesex, in July 1947, May showed his outstanding academic qualities at an early age, winning a scholarship when he was 11 to the top school in his district. Throughout his teenage years, he was fascinated by astronomy and for a while seemed set to follow a career path in this field.
But Brian also harbored a passion for music. He first learned to play the ukulele-banjo and later studied the piano before taking up the guitar, which he found to be a more expressive and flexible instrument.
"My first guitar was my seventh birthday present. I still remember the excitement -- the smell of the new varnish and its apparent bigness for little fingers. I made a pickup for it and played through my dad's homemade grammophone amplifier. From there, we took the plunge -- to make an electric guitar from scratch, by hand. It took us two years, my dad and I."
Growing up in the '50s and '60s, Brian was surrounded by the influences of an era dominated by such artists as the Shadows and Elvis Presley. His own taste, though, covered a wider spectrum -- from blues and country to rock to classical. He favored such artists as Buddy Holly, Lonnie Donegan, Hank Marvin and Rick Nelson, artists whose records featured guitar solos, a musical evolution that captivated and inspired him.
It was inevitable that he would form his own band, and this he did while in secondary school -- a five-piece instrumental group called 1984, after George Orwell's futuristic novel. The music was less futuristic, lodged somewhere between the Shadows and the blues. Throughout the year that followed, 1984 played a number of small gigs in and around London, including a less than auspicious appearance at the Olympia Theatre in 1967 following Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, Pink Floyd, the Herd, and Tyrannosaurus Rex.
At the same time, Brian was enrolled at Imperial College, reading physics and infra-red astronomy. The pressures of his studies together with increasing musical differences took their toll on the band, and in the spring of 1968, Brian left.
Through an ad Brian pinned on a college notice-board he met Roger Taylor and together with another former 1984 member, Tim Staffell, they formed the group Smile.
Brian in the meantime had graduated with honors degree in physics and math. His immediate plan was to embark on a doctorate on the movements of dust on the solar system, which would take him one step closer to becoming a professional astronomer. But four years later, the thesis was still incomplete, overshadowed by his commitment to music.
Smile signed to Mercury Records in 1969 and cut their first single, "Earth." After recording a few more tracks, Staffell decided to leave the band. Determined to continue, May and Roger Taylor reformed Smile to take in Freddie Mercury and John Deacon. And so Queen was born.
The band signed with EMI and Elektra in 1973, and a year later were given their first major break, touring as the support for Mott the Hoople. The impact that had on Brian is reflected in his new solo album, paying tribute to those days with a blistering version of Ian Hunter's "All the Way to Memphis."
From the beginning, May contributed both vocals and guitar to Queen's unique sound and played a major role in the band's writing and production. He experimented with multitrack guitar harmonies, a skill that was to become one of his -- and Queen's -- trademarks.
As songwriter, Brian provided Queen with a string of classic hits, including "Keep Yourself Alive," "We Will Rock You," "Tie Your Mother Down," "I Want It All," and "The Show Must Go On." He developed an interest in film scoring when Queen became the first rock group to score a major film, "Flash Gordon," subsequently followed by the score for "Highlander." May continues to pursue this passion, most recently providing original music for director Steve Baron's 1996 screen version of "Pinocchio."
May's solo career as a recording artist began in 1991 when he was asked to write the music for a Ford commercial. Out of this came "Driven by You," which was released as a single in November of that year and reached No. 6 on the UK charts and won him his first solo Ivor Novello Award for "Best Theme from a TV/Radio Commercial."
The album's success brought about Brian's first solo tour. The Brian May Band was formed, featuring old friends Cozy Powell on drums, Neil Murray on bass, and Spike Edney on keyboards, with new friends Jamie Moses on guitar and Shelley Preston and Cathy Porter on backing vocals.
The new album, "Another World," has been three years in the making and sees Brian eager to return to live performance. A UK and European tour again featuring original Brian May Band members Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, Spike Edney, and Jamie Moses was planned for autumn this year. Just as plans were finalized came the tragic news of Cozy Powell's death in a car crash. Brian and the group were devastated by the loss of Cozy, a brilliant and inspiring musician, crucial contributor to the Brian May album and irreplaceable friend. Plans for the tour are proceeding, but no decision has been made yet regarding who will replace Powell.
Brian also retains his keen interest in astronomy -- venturing off to distant parts of the world whenever an eclipse is imminent -- and is currently working on a book of T.R. Williams, a prominent stereo photographer of the 1850s.
With a musical career spanning almost three decades, Queen founding member Brian May has earned himself a place in rock history as one of the most accomplished and talented contemporary guitarists. Respected and admired by fans and fellow musicians alike, his influence on a new generation of musicians -- from Guns N' Roses' Slash to the Foo Fighters -- is a tribute to his unique style and musicianship.
Brian's second solo album, "Another World," again demonstrates his versatility as a writer, covering a wide terrain of styles -- from the monster rock track "Business" to the subtlety of the album's closer and title track. The album also contains personal tributes from May to some of those musicians and writers who came before him and shaped his own distinct style -- Jimi Hendrix, Larry Williams, and John Lennon.
The result was the world's most famous homemade guitar, Brian's trademark "Red Special."
The album "Back to the Light" followed, providing him with two further hit singles, the title track and "Too Much Love Will Kill You" -- a song he had previously performed live at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert as his gift to Freddie. When the song was later recorded by Queen on their final album, it won May his second Ivor Novello. "Back to the Light" achieved double gold status in the UK and sold more than a million copies worldwide.