LOOK FOR THE DAY
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This account is not affiliated in any way with
Dr. Brian May, or Queen.
Dr. May's official website can be found here.
Birth Name: Brian Harold May
Born: July 19th, 1947, Hampton, UK
Genres: Progressive Rock, Heavy Metal, Glam Rock, Hard Rock
Occupation(s): Musician, songwriter, producer, astrophysicist, university chancellor, animal welfare activist.
Instrument(s): Guitar, banjolele, bass, keyboards, piano, vocals, synthesizer.
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Best known as the lead guitarist from Queen and one of music's greatest and most innovative, Brian May is also a scholar, with a phD in Astrophysics and holds the post of Chancellor at Liverpool John Moores University. When he is not updating his website, partaking in astronomy research, or stereo photography, he is collaborating with other musicians, participating in aiding animals through his charity, "Save Me", as well as advertising the wildly-popular musical "We Will Rock You: The Musical" based upon Queen's music. In short - he's a busy guy!
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One of rock's most distinctive guitarists, May's signature guitar sound was a driving force behind Queen's massive success. Having taught himself to play the guitar by first learning the chords on ukulele, he and his father built his now famous "Red Special" guitar out of discarded fireplace wood and bits and pieces of discarded items .May also proved himself to be proficient on piano, as well as incorporating the ukulele-banjo in songs like "Good Company" and "Bring Back That Leroy Brown". His distinct guitar playing style is cited by many musical experts as the main contributor to the "Queen sound".
In 1968, Astronomy student and guitarist Brian May and bass player Tim Staffell, both students at Imperial College, decided they wanted to form a group. Brian placed an advertisement on the college notice board for a “Ginger Baker type” drummer, and a young dental student called Roger Taylor auditioned and got the job. They called the group “Smile”. The group disbanded two years later after Staffell left the group, but not before a student at Ealing College of Art by the name of Farrokh Bulsara became their biggest fan. Freddie, as he was then known, quickly capitalized on Staffell's depature and teamed up with Brian and Roger. Despite Brian and Roger wanting to call the band "Grand Dance", a phrase from a series of C.S. Lewis books, Freddie's suggestion of "Queen" would become the name of their new group. Queen went through several bass players before John Deacon joined the group.
In 2005, Brian and Roger teamed up with Free and Bad Company lead singer Paul Rodgers for a worldwide tour culminating with the release of a brand new album, "Cosmos Rocks", in 2008. The trio amicably parted ways in 2009, leaving Rodgers free to reform Bad Company and May and Taylor free to pursue other projects.
Over the years, owing to his unique sound and style of playing, May has guested on numerous tracks performed and written by other artists.
Some of the most notable:
"When Death Calls" - Black Sabbath (Headless Cross)
"Bad For Good" - Meat Loaf (Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose)
"Love Is Not Real/Next Time You Stab Me in the Back" - Meat Loaf (Hang Cool Teddy Bear)
"You And I" - Lady GaGa (Born This Way)
He is currently touring with Kerry Ellis to promote her debut album Anthems, for which he produced , arranged, and plays lead guitar.
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All of the Queen songs that you hear in the playlist on this page were written by Brian, several of which that have him on lead vocals.
A few were co-written with another member of the band, or all four working together:
Notes:
All of the Queen songs listed below, unless otherwise noted with a symbol, have Freddie Mercury as lead singer.
# = Brian as lead singer.
% = Brian sharing lead with Freddie Mercury.
^ = Brian sharing lead with Roger Taylor.
Queen Songs Written by Brian:
Keep Yourself Alive (Queen - 1973)
Doing All Right (Queen - 1973)
The Night Comes Down (Queen - 1973)
Son And Daughter (Queen)
Procession (Queen II - 1974)
Father To Son (Queen II )
Some Day, One Day # (Queen II )
White Queen (As It Began) (Queen II)
See What A Fool I've Been (Queen II - 1991 re-release)
Brighton Rock (Sheer Heart Attack - 1974)
Now I'm Here (Sheer Heart Attack )
She Makes Me (Stormtrooper In Stilettoes) # (Sheer Heart Attack )
' 39 # (A Night At The Opera - 1975)
Sweet Lady (A Night at The Opera)
The Prophet's Song (A Night At The Opera)
Good Company # (A Night At The Opera)
Tie Your Mother Down (A Day At The Races - 1976)
Long Away # (A Day At The Races)
White Man (A Day At The Races)
Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) (A Day At The Races)
We Will Rock You (News Of The World - 1977)
All Dead, All Dead # (News Of The World)
Sleeping On The Sidewalk # (News Of The World)
It's Late (News Of The World)
Fat Bottomed Girls % (Jazz - 197 cool
Dead On Time (Jazz )
Dreamers Ball (Jazz )
Leaving Home Ain't Easy # (Jazz )
Dragon Attack (The Game - 1980)
Sail Away Sweet Sister % (The Game)
Save Me (The Game )
Flash's Theme (Flash Gordon - 1980)
Battle Theme (Flash Gordon)
The Hero (Flash Gordon)
Dancer (Hot Space - 1982)
Put Out The Fire (Hot Space)
Las Palabras De Amor (The Words of Love ) % (Hot Space)
Tear It Up (The Works - 1984)
Hammer To Fall (The Works)
I Go Crazy (The Works - 1991 Re-release)
Who Wants To Live Forever % (A Kind Of Magic - 1986)
Gimme The Prize (Kurgan's Theme) (A Kind Of Magic)
I Want It All % (The Miracle - 1989) **
Scandal (The Miracle) **
Headlong (Innuendo - 1991) **
I Can't Live With You (Innuendo) **
The Show Must Go On (Innuendo) **
Too Much Love Will Kill You (Made In Heaven - 1995 ) *
No One But You (Only The Good Die Young) ^ (Queen Rocks - 1997
Songs Co-Written by Brian:
With Freddie Mercury:
Is This The World We Created..? (The Works)
Hang On In There (The Miracle) **
Don't Try So Hard (Innuendo) **
The Hitman (Innuendo) **
Bijou (Innuendo) **
Mother Love * (Made In Heaven )
With Roger Taylor:
Thank God It's Christmas (Single release - 1984)
Machines (Or Back To Humans) (The Works)
Songs Written by Brian For His Solo Albums:
Back To The Light: (1993)
"The Dark"
"Back To The Light"
"Love Token"
"Resurrection" (With Jamie Page and Cozy Powell)
"Too Much Love Will Kill You" (With Elizabeth Lamers and Frank Musker)
"Driven By You"
"Nothin' But Blue" (With Cozy Powell)
"I'm Scared"
"Last Horizon"
"Let Your Heart Rule Your Head"
"Just One Life"
Another World: (199 cool
"Space"
"Business"
"China Belle"
"Why Don't We Try Again"
"On My Way Up"
"Cyborg"
"The Guv'nor"
"Wilderness"
"Another World"
Queen+ Paul Rodgers Songs Written by Brian:
"Still Burnin'" ( The Cosmos Rocks - 200 cool
"We Believe" ( The Cosmos Rocks)
"Some Things That Glitter" ( The Cosmos Rocks)
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* "Too Much Love Will Kill You" is credited to Brian May, Frank Musker, and Elizabeth Lamers.
It appears both on Brian's solo album "Back To The Light", and also on "Made In Heaven" with a different arrangement and sung by Freddie.
** On "The Miracle" and "Innuendo", the album credited all songs to "Queen" regardless of who wrote them.
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(Yay! Nice! And you changed the guitar. Nice ^^)
I think we may have been a little intoxicated that night...
That is wonderful!