Brian May, born July 19, 1947, is celebrating his birthday today !!!
Here are 15 interesting facts about the gifted guitarist:
(Photo: Queen On Twitter)
1. Brian May is a Doctor of Astrophysics.
2. He has published two articles on the history of the universe.
3. He built his "Red Special" guitar with the help of his father when he was sixteen. It lasted a year and a half with the guitar neck made from a mahogany fireplace, the body from an oak table, and the brackets from bicycle wheels.
4. He built the guitar because he had no money to buy a "Fender Stratocaster" or "Gibson Les Paul" guitar. The cost of the materials for the guitar he built was only a few pounds.
5. Instead of a guitar pick May uses a Sixpence coin that came out of circulation in the 1970s. In 1993 more were produced at May's request.
6. May performed in Israel in 1993 as a warm-up for Guns N' Roses, together with a "dream team" that included, among others, drummer Cozy Powell and bassist Neil Murray.
7. May played the solo in the song "When Death Calls" from the "Headless Cross" album of "Black Sabbath", from 1989.
8. May also collaborated with "Soundgarden" playing guitar on the song "New Damage", which appeared on Greenpeace's 1994 Alternative NRG collection.
9. May will also collaborate with Chris Cornell, on the song "Someone To Die For" which appears in the soundtrack of the movie "Spiderman 2" and is sung by Jimmy Gnecco.
10. He also collaborated with the "Foo Fighters" as part of the soundtrack of "Mission: Impossible 2", playing a cover version of the song "Have A Cigar" by "Pink Floyd".
11. May also collaborated with guitarist Eddie Van Halen on the "Star Fleet Project" that May released independently.
(Photo: Tony Iommi Facebook Page)
12. He was knighted to the Order of the British Empire.
13. May is a good friend of Tony Iommi, he has appeared in two songs from Iommi's first solo album - "Iommi" released in 2000.
14. As of 2013 we started getting teasers from the two about their joint “Riffs” project, and on July 10, 2020, we received a signal from Brian May stating that the “Riffs” project still has a chance.
15. In June 2020 May was chosen as the greatest guitarist of all time by the readers of "Total Guitar" magazine. He has beaten other guitar legends like Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and more.
So let's wish Brian May many more years full of activity and good music.