Brian May
- Born Brian Howard 19 July 1947
- English musician, songwriter, singer, and astrophysicist.
- As a child, he was trained on classical piano but the first instrument he learned to play was the banjolele (Banjo-Ley-Lee)
- He has an O.B.E for “services to the music industry and for charity work”
- He achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of Queen, which he co-founded with Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor
- With Queen he released 15 studio albums, 10 live albums, 16 compilation albums, two soundtrack albums, 2 extended plays, 73 singles and sold 300 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling artists in history.
- He is married to Anita Dobson
- He was awarded a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London for work started in 1971 and completed in 2007
- He often uses a home-built electric guitar called the Red Special which he built with his father when he was 16 years old.
- He also prefers to use coins – especially a sixpence, instead of a more traditional plastic plectrum,
- He has featured highly in various music polls of great rock guitarists
- According to The Sunday Times Rich List, he is worth £160 million.
- He launched a solo career after the death of Freddie Mercury, with his album, Back to the Light,
- He wrote many hits for Queen, including “We Will Rock You”, “I Want It All”, “Fat Bottomed Girls”, “Flash”, “Hammer to Fall”, “Save Me”, “Who Wants to Live Forever”, “Too Much Love Will Kill You”, and “The Show Must Go On”.