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Trust is a 2010 American drama film directed by David Schwimmer and based on a screenplay by Andy Bellin and Robert Festinger. It stars Clive Owen, Catherine Keener and Liana Liberato.^[2]

Plot[link]

The film is about a young girl who eventually is a victim of sexual abuse as a consequence of a man she befriends on the Internet. The film commences with a 14-year-old Annie (Liana Liberato) living a happy life in suburban Chicago. She is on the volleyball team and has a healthy relationship with her family. On her birthday, she is given a laptop and is thrilled about her gift. Meeting a 16-year-old boy named Charlie (Chris Henry Coffey) in an online chat room, she establishes a connection with him. Over time, as the two bond by sending phone text messages and IM'ing, he bumps his age up to 20, then 25. Annie, is taken aback at first. She then dismisses these concerns. She continues the relationship, not wanting to end things with him because of how he makes her feel good about herself such as calling her "beautiful." After three months of texts, calling and IM'ing, they arrange a date at the mall. When they finally meet, she finds out that he is at least 35, if not old enough to be her father. Annie is upset about him having lied about his age. While at first, she cries about having been lied to, she soon changes her views when he compliments her looks and he eventually talks her into thinking their age difference does not matter. Charlie proceeds to seduce her and soon swoons her into really liking him. He takes her to a nearby hotel and once they're in a private room, makes her model a red lingerie bra and panties he bought her as a present before he coaxes her onto the bed and then rapes her - all this while secretly filming it.

Afterwards, Annie tells her best friend, Brittany (Zoe Levin), about her sexual encounter with Charlie. Brittany is concerned about this and tells the school counselor, who then calls the police, starting an FBI investigation. Annie is forced to help trap Charlie, but he soon finds out what she is trying to do and breaks off contact with her before the police can track his location. Her father, Will (Clive Owen), starts his own obsessive investigation, taking up the services of a private investigation firm in New Jersey and even stealing a collection of his daughter's chat conversations with Charlie from the FBI. His relationship with his wife (Catherine Keener) begins to deteriorate and he begins to doubt his work at an advertising firm, which involves provocative advertisements using teenagers. When Will tells his boss that his daughter was sexually assaulted, his boss is shocked, but then is relieved when he finds out it wasn't a violent assault by a stranger, and considers it sex with a "friend."

Annie is angry at Brittany for not keeping her relationship with Charlie secret, and angry at her parents for making her betray him and for forbidding her to contact him anymore. However, although Charlie is not identified, his collected DNA shows that he has done the same with three other young girls who all reported it to the police, leaving Annie devastated because she thought she was the only girl in his life. After seeing pictures of the other girls, she complains that they are not even pretty. As such, his compliments about her looks mean much less to her. She finally admits to herself, and to a hospital counselor, she was raped.

The next day she tries to move on with her life by participating in her school's volleyball game. There, Will sees a man in the crowd. Not only is he taking pictures of the girls in the game, but he also looks surprisingly similar to one of the registered sex offenders a private New Jersey investigation firm provided him pictures with. This makes him walk right through the game and confront the man and beat him to the floor causing a scene. The assaulted man doesn't press charges for fear that he will be outed to police. A girl in the game reveals the man to be her father and Will not only embarrasses himself but Annie is left humiliated as well. At home, Annie yells at her father saying she just wants to move on with her life and when Will states they were going through a tough time. For Annie however, there's no "we're going through a rough time", as for her only she is a victim, not him.

When walking in the hallway at school, Annie is confronted by Brittany, who apologizes for the "internet thing" insisting she had "nothing to do with it," leaving Annie confused as she doesn't know what she's talking about. She goes to a library computer and online to find a website in which people make fun of her rape, posting an image of her head pasted onto a pornographic picture, even giving out her address and phone number. This pushes her over the edge. At home, she locks herself in the bathroom and attempts suicide by overdosing with pills, but is saved by her father. Annie survives the suicide attempt. Her friend Brittany spends the night to keep her company mending their broken friendship.

Annie wakes up early the next day, and discovers her father sitting outside in the freezing cold weather. She approaches him, asking if he is alright. Will begins talking to her, reminiscing about the first time she ever got in the family pool, and how brave she was to do it. He tells her that she used to be confident, and nothing frightened her. He admired the way she loved the world and trusted the people in it and how now all that has changed. He weeps and pleads for forgiveness even though he believes he does not deserve it. Annie starts to cry and then embraces him.

As the credits roll, a home video reveals Charlie to be a high school physics teacher named Graham Weston, a married father of a young son.

Cast[link]

Movie cast at Los Angeles première in 2011.

• Clive Owen as Will Cameron
• Catherine Keener as Lynn Cameron
• Liana Liberato as Annie Cameron
• Jason Clarke as Doug Tate
• Viola Davis as Gail
• Noah Emmerich as Al Hart
• Chris Henry Coffey as Charlie/Graham Weston
• Spencer Kurnutt as Peter
• Aislinn Debutch as Katie
• Zoe Levin as Brittany

Production[link]

Set in Chicago and Wilmette, a village north of Chicago, the film was shot in Michigan. Filming locations include Dexter, Plymouth, and the University of Michigan Central Campus, Ann Arbor, as well as the Twelve Oaks Mall.^{[citation needed]}

Critical reception[link]

As of August 21, 2011, the film has a 78% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 43 reviews.^[3]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four, calling Liberato's performance "remarkable", while praising it as "one of the year’s best films: Powerfully emotional, yes, but also very perceptive."^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Trust at the Internet Movie Database

Noel Fielding
Noel Fielding performing at The Mighty Boosh Live
Born	(1973-05-21) 21 May 1973 (age 39) Westminster, London, England
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, radio
Nationality	British
Years active	1996–present
Genres	Sitcom
Notable works and roles	Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh Richmond in The IT Crowd Himself in Never Mind the Buzzcocks Multi-characters In Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy

Noel Fielding (born 21 May 1973) is a British surrealist, comedian, actor, artist, DJ and musician. He is known for his role as Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh, which he co-wrote with comedy partner Julian Barratt, and as a team captain on the music panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks. His solo comedy sketch show Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy began broadcasting in January 2012 on the UK's E4.

Career[link]

Stand-up comedy[link]

Born in Westminster, London,^[1] Fielding performed regularly as a stand-up comedian during the late 1990s, and appeared repeatedly on the television stand-up showcase Lee Mack's Gas. His highly animated stand-up routine included surreal stories, physical comedy, characters, and songs, much like his later work in The Mighty Boosh.

In 2010, Fielding was to perform a solo tour across the country. It was cancelled, however, so he could concentrate on writing The Mighty Boosh film and album with Barratt. Fielding announced via Twitter that he was too busy to do the tour.^[2]

In 2010, Fielding took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital and filmed live at the O2 Arena in London on 30 March.

The Mighty Boosh[link]

Fielding is best known for playing the role of Vince Noir, a childlike eccentric, opposite Julian Barratt (Howard Moon) in the cult comedy series The Mighty Boosh.

Fielding met Barratt when he was performing a gig. Impressed by Fielding's skill, Barratt offered him a place to perform, and the two went on to form a partnership. Barratt and Fielding are said to have compared their relationship to a marriage; the character of Vince Noir is a kind, somewhat naive and loyal friend to Howard Moon. Vince can talk to animals, earning him the nickname "Mowgli in Flares". Vince is vibrant and flamboyant, contrasting with his friend Howard, who is more like a "geography teacher from Leeds".

Fielding plays various supporting characters in the Mighty Boosh, including: Tony Harrison, a small pink head with tentacles and member of the shaman council; The Hitcher, a cockney hitch-hiker with a polo mint for an eye, who enjoys "cutting people up"; The Moon, talks about himself, the stars and other planets, as well as strange and often borderline incoherent things; Spider Dijon, a bongoist in Rudi's band; and Old Gregg, a hermaphroditic merman obsessed with Baileys Irish Cream and watercolors, who is infatuated with Howard and possesses 'The Funk' (a living creature about the size of a medicine ball, but covered in purple teats, which leak funky goodness to help music careers).

The Mighty Boosh won the Shockwaves NME Best TV Award for 3 consecutive years (2007, 2008, and 2009).

Television[link]

Outside his work on The Mighty Boosh, Fielding has also had bit parts in many of Channel 4's somewhat off-beat comedy programmes, including Nathan Barley, The IT Crowd, AD/BC: A Rock Opera and Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, more often than not appearing alongside Julian Barratt. He also appeared in 1998 sketch show Unnatural Acts. In February 2007, Fielding appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks as a panelist, before going on to become a permanent team captain. Fielding also made a short appearance in the film Plunkett & Macleane as a bystander to Robert Carlyle's scuffle in a brothel. Fielding appeared on The Charlotte Church Show as a special guest.

At Bill Bailey's request, Fielding stood in as a team captain for three episodes during Season 21 of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. He also achieved a record for the highest team score ever on the show. When Bailey returned, presenter Simon Amstell made various jokes about Fielding's departure. In 2009, Bailey left the show and Fielding became one of the regular team captains. According to Neil Gaiman's blog, Fielding was scheduled to appear in the film Stardust, but had to drop out due to ill health.^[3] He also participated twice with Russell Brand in 2006 and 2007 on the annual quiz show The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. He participated again in 2010 with Richard Ayoade, Alan Carr, Jonathan Ross, Michael McIntyre, and Ruth Jones. (Charlotte Church was scheduled to participate but she was unable to do so).^[4][5]

In 2008, Fielding appeared with comic partner Julian Barratt on Transmission. As usual, he wore a somewhat flamboyant attire, this time featuring Cuban heels and polka dot trousers.

In 2009, he helped host Comic Relief Does Top of the Pops with Reggie Yates and Fearne Cotton.

Fielding played the role of "Marcus" in the series 3 of How Not to Live Your Life, which was broadcast in November 2010.

Fielding produced his first solo series for the Channel 4 network's E4 channel in 2011,^[6] as the broadcaster invests an additional £5 million in its comedy budget following the cancellation of reality show Big Brother.^[7] Provisionally titled Noel Fielding: Boopus, Fielding said of the project: "I want to make something in the spirit of Spike Milligan or the Kenny Everett Show but using modern techniques. Blending filmed comedy with animation. Television needs a madman! I want the show to be psychedelic and beautiful but have charm and personality. If Dali made a show hopefully it would look like this."^[6][8] The show has since been renamed Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy and began broadcasting on Channel 4's E4 channel on 26 January 2012. A video shown to a select audience of C4 staff, producers, writers, performers and journalists showed the Boosh star as a stingray, discussing the recording of albums.^{[citation needed]}

Fielding performed a dance to "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush for Let's Dance for Comic Relief reaching the finale. He has also appeared in a Kate Bush video for the remix version of "Deeper Understanding".

Radio[link]

Fielding starred in the 2001 Mighty Boosh radio series as Vince Noir and other characters. It was broadcast on BBC London Live. He also appeared on The Russell Brand Show on BBC Radio 2 on 26 May 2007 and 13 October 2007, and Team Disgusting's show on Life fm as a co-host for one episode, along with fellow Team Disgusting members Melvis and Birdy.

In November 2007 Fielding starred in five episodes of BBC Radio 2 show Vic Reeves' House Arrest as a local vagrant who knocks on Reeves' door once a week to ask for work.^[9] His character is often given seemingly pointless tasks, such as building a galleon out of sausages, and is paid in small change.

Music[link]

Fielding has appeared in several music videos, including Mint Royale's "Blue Song", alongside Julian Barratt, Nick Frost and Michael Smiley. He also made a brief appearance in the video for Razorlight's "In the Morning". He appeared in music videos for the Robots in Disguise songs "Girl" (alongside Chris Corner who was, at the time, boyfriend to Sue Denim), "The Tears", and "Turn It Up". Recently, Noel has been involved in the Kasabian video "Vlad the Impaler", in which he plays the titular character, and he's referenced in "La Fée Verte" (his friend Sergio Pizzorno said "The line, 'I met Dali in the street.' Dali is Noel Fielding. And he is the modern-day Dali"). He has also appeared in Kate Bush's music video "Deeper Understanding" as a means of thanks for the Let's Dance for Comic Relief performance.

Fielding is friends with the members of Razorlight, and involved them in the "Priest and the Beast" episode of The Mighty Boosh. Fielding lent his voice to the Midfield General song "Midfielding". Fielding also sometimes plays bass live for Robots in Disguise. Furthermore, he has been known to DJ, often playing at The Barfly in London with the rest of The Mighty Boosh or with his DJ collective known as Team Disgusting, made up of six women and the Rev (formerly of Towers of London). Lately, he has been DJing with Dave Brown, who plays Bollo in The Mighty Boosh, under the DJing phenomenon, the Doctor and the Pencil, who first appeared in the Boosh episode "The Chokes".

To coincide with his television show Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy, he and Sergio Pizzorno formed the band The Loose Tapestries, with the possibility of touring the forests of Britain playing the music from the show.

Art[link]

He held his first exhibition, entitled Psychedelic Dreams of the Jelly Fox at Maison Bertaux, a patisserie in Greek Street, Soho in early 2008. He claimed that he was inspired by Henri Rousseau, René Magritte, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, and Dexter Dalwood.^{[citation needed]} He has also revealed that he feels inspired by Salvador Dalí. A second exhibition entitled "Bryan Ferry vs the Jelly Fox" took place at Maison Bertaux, from 5 July 2010 through to 5 January 2011.^{[citation needed]}

On 6 September 2011, Fielding received Honorary Masters Degrees from Buckinghamshire New University for his ongoing interest in the graphics area and support for many art organisations.^{[citation needed]} In October 2011, Fielding released an art book called 'Scribblings of a Madcap Shambleton', which he produced alongside with The Mighty Boosh cast member, Dave Brown (comedian). It features many of his old and new paintings, drawings and photography.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

Fielding resides in Highgate, North London with his partner, radio presenter and DJ Lliana Bird. His parents are Diane and Ray Fielding, both of whom have appeared in Mighty Boosh episodes. His brother is Michael Fielding, who appears as Naboo the Enigma on the show and also portrays various characters in Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy. He also revealed on Russell Brand's radio show that his grandmother is French.^[10] According to an article in The Sunday Times he has said that his "parents had lots of parties" during his childhood. He has also stated that his parents "were just 18" when they had him.^[11].

Fielding was educated at Croydon Art College and studied for a BA in Graphic Design and Advertising at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College (now Buckinghamshire New University)^[12], where he lived with friends and future collaborators Dave Brown and Nigel Coan.^[13]

Fielding has stated that he has no middle name, was never baptised, and does not follow a religion.^[14]

Fielding has reportedly been diagnosed with Gilbert's Syndrome, a harmless inherited condition which is known to cause jaundice.^[15] Fielding has commented that if he drinks too much alcohol, it gives him slight jaundice. In 2009, a Sunday Times article revealed that Fielding had hepatitis during his art college years. This forced him not to drink for six months which got him into the habit of not drinking for a couple of years. "I used to be able to enjoy myself with just nothing. I'd stay up till four in the morning, with everyone else being drunk. Just make a bit of effort and you can get used to it."^[11]

On 15 August 2009, Fielding revealed in an interview with News of the World that he had been taking drugs such as cocaine, ketamine, and MDMA over the past few years, caused by stress due to his increasing fame.

Filmography[link]

Acting roles[link]

• Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy (2012)
• Horrid Henry: The Movie (2011)
• Deeper Understanding (2011) - music video
• How Not to Live Your Life (2010)
• Bunny and The Bull (2009)
• The Mighty Boosh Live Future Sailors Tour (2009)
• I Spit on Your Rave (2010)^[16][17]
• Boosh Live (2008–2009) – Vince Noir
• The Mighty Boosh Live (2006) – Vince Noir
• The IT Crowd (2006–2007, 2010) – Richmond
• Nathan Barley (2005) – Jones
• AD/BC: A Rock Opera (2004) – Shepherd
• Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (2004) – Monkey Man
• The Mighty Boosh (2004–present) – Vince Noir
• Surrealissimo: The Trial of Salvador Dalí (2002) – Bauer
• Autoboosh Live (2000) – Vince Noir
• Sweet (2000) – Pete Sweet
• Arctic Boosh Live (1999) – Vince Noir
• Plunkett & Macleane (1999) – Brothel Gent
• The Transponder (1998) – Rabbi Ginsberg
• The Mighty Boosh Live (1998) – Vince Noir
• Unnatural Acts (1998) – Various

Television appearances[link]

• "Damien Hirst:The First Look" (2012)
• Never Mind The Buzzcock Sport Relief (2012)
• Lorraine Kelly's show (2012)
• T4 Interview (2012)
• The Secret Policeman's Ball (2012)
• The Jonathan Ross Show (2012)
• Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy (2012)
• Rob Brydon's Christmas quiz (2011)
• Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow (2011)
• Let's Dance For Comic Relief (2011)
• The One Show (2011)
• British Comedy Awards (2011)
• The Big Fat Quiz of the Year (2010)
• Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow (2010)
• Modern Masters, Dali (2010)
• Channel 4's Comedy Gala (2010)
• The Hour (2010)
• Alan Carr: Chatty Man (2009)
• Chelsea Lately (2009)

With Julian Barratt

• Shooting Stars (2009)
• Comic Relief Does Top of the Pops (2009)
• XMF Interview (2008)
• Harry Hill's TV Burp (2008)
• The Culture Show (2008)
• Comic Relief's The Big One (2007)
• The Big Fat Quiz of the Year (2007)
• The Charlotte Church Show

• Episode 2x02 (2007)

• Never Mind the Buzzcocks

• 21x02-21x04 (2007) Team Captain
• Episode 20x02 (2007)
• Permanent team captain, 2009–present

• The Big Fat Quiz of the Year (2006)
• British Comedy Awards 2006 (2006)
• The Culture Show (2006)
• 1 Leicester Square (2006)
• Friday Night with Jonathan Ross

• Episode 11x10 (2006)

• The Secret Policeman's Ball (2006)
• Soccer AM (2006)
• BBC Breakfast

• interview (2006)

• TRL (2006)
• Alan Partridge Presents: The Cream of British Comedy (2005)
• BBC Breakfast

• Episode dated 26 July 2005 (2005)

• 28 Acts in 28 Minutes (2005)
• British Comedy Awards 2004 (2004)
• Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (2004)
• Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala (2003)
• Liquid News (2003)
• Brain Candy (2002)
• The Big Schmooze

• Episode 1x04 (2000)

• Comedy Café (1999)

• Episode 1x07

• Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round (1998)
• Gas (1997)

Awards[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2009)

• 2010 The Mighty Boosh won Best DVD at the Shockwaves NME Awards 2010.
• 2009 The Mighty Boosh won Best TV Show at the Shockwaves NME Awards 2009.
• 2009 4th in dave's sexiest stand up comedians.
• 2008 2nd Best Dressed Man of the Year GQ Awards.
• 2008 Situation Comedy and Comedy Drama Royal Television Awards 2008.
• 2008 Best Dressed Shockwaves NME Awards 2008.
• 2008 Sexiest Man Shockwaves NME Awards 2008.
• 2008 The Mighty Boosh won Best TV Show at the Shockwaves NME Awards 2008.
• 2007 The Mighty Boosh won Best TV Show at the Shockwaves NME Awards 2007.
• 2003 Time Out comedy award winner for outstanding achievement.
• 2002 Solo Edinburgh show Voodoo Hedgehog nominated for a Perrier
• 2001 The Boosh, first on London Live, then on Radio 4.
• 2000 Arctic Boosh won the Barry Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
• 1999 Perrier nominee with Julian Barratt as Arctic Boosh
• 1998 Herald Angel Award winner.
• 1998 Perrier Best Newcomer winner with Julian Barratt as the double act The Mighty Boosh (1998 Stage show)

References[link]

External links[link]

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Brian May
Brian May in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Brian Harold May
Born	(1947-07-19) 19 July 1947 (age 64) Hampton, London, England, UK
Genres	Rock, hard rock[1]
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer, astrophysicist, author, contributor (The Sky at Night)
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, piano
Years active	1965–present
Labels	Hollywood, Parlophone
Associated acts	Smile, Queen, Phenomena, G3, Queen + Paul Rodgers, Kerry Ellis, Dappy, Irene Fornaciari
Website	brianmay.com
Notable instruments
Red Special Fender Telecaster

Brian Harold May, CBE (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer of the rock band Queen. As a guitarist he uses his home-built guitar, "Red Special", and has composed hits such as "Tie Your Mother Down", "I Want It All", "We Will Rock You", "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Who Wants to Live Forever".

He was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for "services to the music industry and his charity work".^[2] May earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College in 2007 and is currently the Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.^[3] May currently resides in Surrey.^[4]

In 2005, a Planet Rock poll saw May voted the 7th greatest guitarist of all time.^[5] He was ranked at No. 26 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".^[6]

Early life[link]

Brian May, the only child of Harold and Ruth May, was born in Hampton, London and attended Hampton Grammar School (now Hampton School).^[7] During this time he formed his first band with vocalist and bassist Tim Staffell, named Nineteen Eighty-Four after George Orwell's novel of the same name.^[8] He left Hampton Grammar School with ten GCE Ordinary Levels and three Advanced Levels in Physics, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics.^[8] He studied Mathematics and Physics at Imperial College London, graduating with B.Sc. degree with honours.^[9]

Career[link]

Smile[link]

Brian May formed the band Smile in 1968. The group included Tim Staffell as singer and bassist, and later, drummer Roger Taylor, who also went on to play for Queen. The band lasted for only two years from 1968 to 1970, as Staffell left in 1970, leaving the band with a catalogue of only nine songs. Smile would reunite for several songs on 22 December 1992. Taylor's band The Cross were headliners and he brought May and Staffell on to play "Earth" and "If I Were a Carpenter".^[10] May also performed several other songs that night.

Queen[link]

May (right) on stage with Queen in 1979.

In Queen's three-part vocal harmonies, May's was generally the lower-range backing vocal. On some of his songs he sings the lead vocal, most notably the first verse of "Who Wants to Live Forever", the bridge on "I Want It All" and "Flash's Theme", and full lead vocals on "Some Day One Day", "She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes)", "'39", "Good Company", "Long Away", "All Dead, All Dead", "Sleeping on the Sidewalk", "Leaving Home Ain't Easy" and "Sail Away Sweet Sister".

Throughout Queen's career May frequently wrote songs for the band and has composed many significant songs such as the worldwide hit "We Will Rock You", as well as "Tie Your Mother Down", "Who Wants to Live Forever", "Hammer to Fall", "Save Me", "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "I Want It All". Typically, either Freddie Mercury or May wrote the most songs on every Queen album.

May playing his signature Red Special guitar, which contributed an essential part of Queen's sound

After the famous Live Aid concert in summer 1985, Mercury rang his bandmates and proposed writing a song together. The result was "One Vision", which was basically May on music (the Magic Years documentary shows how he came up with the opening section and the basic guitar riff) and Roger Taylor on lyrics, with Freddie Mercury being more a producer and arranger than a proper co-writer, and John Deacon mostly absent.

For their 1989 release album, The Miracle, the band had decided that all of the tracks would be credited to the entire band, no matter who had been the main writer. Still, interviews and musical analyses tend to help identify the input of each member on each track. May composed "I Want It All" for that album, as well as "Scandal" (based on his personal problems with the British press). For the rest of the album he did not contribute so much creatively, although he helped in building the basis of "Party" and "Was It All Worth It" (both being predominantly Mercury's pieces) and created the guitar riff of "Chinese Torture".

Queen's subsequent album was Innuendo, on which May's contributions increased, although more in arrangements than actual writing in most cases; for the title track he did some of the arrangement for the heavy solo, then he added vocal harmonies to "I'm Going Slightly Mad" and composed the solo of "These Are the Days of Our Lives", a song for which the four of them decided the keyboard parts together. He changed the tempo and key of Mercury's song "The Hitman" and took it under his wing, even singing guide vocal in the demo. May also co-wrote some of the guitar lines in "Bijou".

Two songs that May had composed for his first solo album, "Headlong" and "I Can't Live With You", eventually ended up in the Queen project. His other composition was "The Show Must Go On", a group effort in which he was the coordinator and primary composer, but in which they all had input, Deacon and Taylor with the famous chord sequence. In recent years, he has overseen the remastering of Queen albums and various DVD and greatest hits releases. In 2004, he announced that he and drummer Roger Taylor were going on tour for the first time in 18 years as "Queen", along with Free/Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers. Billed as "Queen + Paul Rodgers", the band has played throughout 2005 and 2006 in South Africa, Europe, Aruba, Japan, and North America and released a new album with Paul Rodgers in 2008, entitled The Cosmos Rocks. This album was supported by a major tour.^[11]

Solo work and The Brian May Band[link]

May playing his Red Special

During 1983, several members of Queen explored side projects. On 21 and 22 April in Los Angeles, May recorded his first solo work, a mini-album entitled Star Fleet Project, on which he collaborated with Eddie Van Halen.^[12] May contributed to former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett's album Feedback 86, playing guitar on the track "Cassandra" and providing guitar and vocals for "Slot Machine". "Slot Machine" was also co-written by May.

May worked with his second wife Anita Dobson on her first album, in which she sang vocals to the EastEnders theme tune. In this form the tune became the song "Anyone Can Fall in Love".^[13] May himself produced the song, which reached No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1986.^[14] In 1989, May contributed guitar solos to the song "When Death Calls" on Black Sabbath 14th album Headless Cross, and the Living In A Box track "Blow The House Down" from the album Gatecrashing.

Following the death of Freddie Mercury in November 1991, May chose to deal with his grief by committing himself as fully as possible to work, first by finishing his solo album, Back to the Light, and then touring worldwide to promote it. He frequently remarked in press interviews that this was the only form of self-prescribed therapy he could think of.^[16] According to Def Leppard vocalist Joe Elliot, "It was undoubtedly an enormous and terrible blow to lose someone he was so close to. Personally, I know it ripped the heart out of Brian, but having said that, he was in great spirits after the album was finished."^[15]

In late 1992, the Brian May Band was officially formed. An early version of the band was loosely formed for 19 October 1991, when May took part in the Guitar Legends guitar festival in Seville, Spain. The line-up for his performance was May (Lead Vocals & Lead Guitar), Cozy Powell (Drums & Percussion), Mike Moran (Keyboards), Rick Wakeman (Keyboards), Maggie Ryder (Backing vocals), Miriam Stockley (Backing vocals) and Chris Thompson (Backing vocals). The original line-up was May (Lead Vocals and Lead Guitar), Powell (Drums and Percussion), Mike Caswell (Guitar), Neil Murray (Bass), Ryder (Backing vocals), Stockley (Backing vocals) and Thompson (Backing vocals). This version of the band lasted only during the South American support tour (supporting The B-52's and Joe Cocker) on only five dates.

Afterwards, May made significant changes, feeling the group never quite gelled. May brought guitarist Jamie Moses on board to replace Mike Caswell. The other change made was in the backing vocal department, with Ryder, Stockley and Thompson were replaced with Catherine Porter and Shelley Preston. On 23 February 1993, this new line-up of The Brian May Band began its world tour in the US, both supporting Guns N' Roses and headlining a few dates.^[17] The tour would take them through North America, Europe (support act: Valentine) and Japan. After the tour ended on 18 December 1993, May returned to the studio with fellow surviving Queen band members Roger Taylor and John Deacon to work on tracks that became Made in Heaven, the final Queen studio album.^[18] The band took Mercury's solo album demos and last recordings, which he managed to perform in the studio after the album Innuendo was finished, and completed them with their additions both musically and vocally.^[19] Work on the album after Mercury's death originally began in 1992 by Deacon and May, but was left until a later date due to other commitments.^[18]

In 1995, May began working towards a new solo album of covers tentatively named Heroes, in addition to working on various film and television projects and other collaborations. May subsequently changed the approach from covers to focus on those collaborations and on new material. The songs included Another World, and featured mainly Spike Edney, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray and Jamie Moses. On 5 April 1998, Cozy Powell was killed in a car accident on the M4 motorway near Bristol, England. This caused a huge, unexpected disruption to the upcoming tour for The Brian May Band, with a new drummer being needed at short notice. Steve Ferrone was brought on to help May finish recording drums and to join the band for the early stage promotional tour of five dates in Europe before the world tour. Following the early promotional tour, Eric Singer replaced Steve Ferrone for the full 1998 world tour.

Later solo work[link]

From his last solo release in 1998 May has been performing as a solo artist, as part of an ensemble, and infrequently as Queen with Roger Taylor. On 22 October 2000, Brian May made a guest appearance at the Motörhead 25th Anniversary show at Brixton Academy along with Eddie Clarke (former Motörhead guitarist) for the encore song "Overkill". In the Queen's birthday honours list of 2005, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire "for services to the music industry".^[20] May is a friend of singer and musician Phil Collins and was a special guest at the Genesis reunion concert at Twickenham Stadium in 2007. On 17 November 2007, Brian May was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University,^[21] taking over from Cherie Blair, and installed in 2008.^[22] May worked extensively with stage actress and singer Kerry Ellis after he cast her in the musical We Will Rock You. He produced and arranged her debut studio album Anthems (2010), a follow-up to her extended play Wicked in Rock (2008), as well as appeared with Ellis at many public performances – playing guitar alongside her. He also contributed a guitar solo to Meat Loaf's Hang Cool, Teddy Bear album in exchange for the use of drummer John Miceli. Along with Elena Vidal, Brian May released a historical book in 2009 entitled A Village Lost and Found: Scenes in Our Village. The book is an annotated collection of stereoscopic photographs taken by the Victorian era photographer T. R. Williams and it is sold with a focussing stereoscope. May became an enthusiast of stereoscope photographs as a child, and first encountered the work of Williams during the late 1960s. In 2003 May announced a search in order to identify the actual location of the Scenes in Our Village images. In 2004 May reported that he had identified the location as the village of Hinton Waldrist in Oxfordshire.

On 20 May 2009, May and Queen band mate Roger Taylor performed "We Are the Champions" live on the season finale of American Idol with winner Kris Allen and runner-up Adam Lambert providing a vocal duet.^[23] In November 2009, May appeared with Taylor on the UK series of The X Factor, with Queen mentoring the contestants, then later performing "Bohemian Rhapsody". In April 2010, May founded the "Save Me" 2010 project to work against any proposed repeal of the British fox-hunting ban, and also to promote animal rights in Britain.^[24] In February 2011 it was announced that May would tour with Kerry Ellis, playing 12 dates across the UK in May 2011.^[25]

On 18 April 2011 Lady Gaga confirmed that May would play guitar on her track "You and I" from her latest album Born This Way, released on 23 May 2011.^[26] On 26 August, May performed "We Will Rock You" and "Welcome To The Black Parade" with American rock band My Chemical Romance at the Reading Festival.^[27] On 28 August, May performed "You and I" live with Lady Gaga at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards at the Nokia Theatre, Los Angeles.^[28]

Queen + Paul Rodgers and Queen + Adam Lambert[link]

2005 Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour

At the end of 2004, May and Taylor announced that they would reunite and return to touring in 2005, with Paul Rodgers (founder and former lead singer of Free and Bad Company). Brian May's website also stated that Rodgers would be "featured with" Queen as Queen + Paul Rodgers, not replacing the late Freddie Mercury. The retired John Deacon would not be participating.^[29]

Between 2005 and 2006 Queen and Paul Rodgers embarked on a world tour, the first leg being Europe and the second, Japan and the US in 2006.^[30] On 25 May 2006, Queen received the inaugural VH1 Rock Honors at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, and May and Taylor were joined on stage with the Foo Fighters to perform a selection of Queen songs.^[30][31] On 15 August 2006, May confirmed through his website and fan club that Queen + Paul Rodgers would begin producing their first studio album beginning in October, to be recorded at a "secret location".^[32] The album, titled The Cosmos Rocks, was released in Europe on 12 September 2008 and in the United States on 28 October 2008. Following the album the band again embarked on a tour through Europe and parts of the US, opening on Kharkov's freedom square in front of 350,000 Ukrainian fans.^[33] The show in Ukraine was later released on DVD.^[33] Queen and Paul Rodgers officially split up on 12 May 2009. Rodgers does not rule out the possibility of working together again.^[34][35]

At the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards on 6 November, Queen received the Global Icon Award, which Katy Perry presented to Brian May.^[36] Queen closed the awards ceremony, with Adam Lambert on vocals, performing "The Show Must Go On", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions".^[36] The collaboration garnered a positive response from both fans and critics, resulting in speculation about future projects together.^[37] Queen + Adam Lambert will play two shows at the Hammersmith Apollo, London on 11 and 12 July 2012.^[38][39] Both shows sold out within 24 hours of tickets going on open sale.^[40] Queen will also perform with Lambert on 30 June 2012 at Moscow's Olympic Stadium.^[41][42]

Highlights[link]

Brian May in 1979

Brian May began composing in 1968/1969, and through the years he has collaborated with other songwriters, including Frank Musker, with whom he wrote "Too Much Love Will Kill You", and with Elizabeth Lamers, whose music won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically & Lyrically in 1996.^[43] A meticulous arranger, he focuses on multi-part harmonies, often more contrapuntal than parallel – a relative rarity for rock guitar. Examples are found in Queen's albums A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races, where he arranged a jazz band for guitar mini-orchestra ("Good Company"), a vocal canon ("The Prophet's Song") and guitar and vocal counterpoints ("Teo Torriatte").

May explored a wide variety of styles in guitar, including sweep picking ("Was It All Worth It", "Chinese Torture"), tremolo ("Brighton Rock", "Stone Cold Crazy", "Death on Two Legs", "Sweet Lady", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Get Down Make Love", "Dragon Attack"), tapping ("Bijou", "It's Late", "Resurrection", "Cyborg", "Rain Must Fall", "Business", "China Belle", "I Was Born To Love You"), slide guitar ("Drowse", "Tie Your Mother Down"), Hendrix sounding licks ("Liar", "Brighton Rock"), tape-delay ("Brighton Rock", "White Man") and melodic sequences ("Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "These Are the Days of Our Lives"). Some of his solos and orchestral parts were composed by Freddie Mercury, who then asked May to bring them to life ("Bicycle Race", "Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon", "Killer Queen", "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy"). May also performed notable acoustic works, including the acoustic guitar live version of "Love of My Life" from 1975's A Night at the Opera, the finger-picked solo of "White Queen" and the skiffle-influenced "'39".

In January 2007, the readers of Guitar World voted May's guitar solos "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Brighton Rock" into the "top 50 Greatest Guitar Solos of all time" ("Bohemian Rhapsody" was voted No. 20 and "Brighton Rock" was voted #41).^[44]

Aided by the uniqueness of his guitar – the Red Special – May was often able to create strange and unusual sound effects. For example, he was able to imitate an orchestra in the song "Procession"; in "Get Down, Make Love" he was able to create various sound effects with his guitar; in "Good Company" he used his guitar to mimic a trombone, a piccolo and several other instruments for the song's Dixieland jazz band feel. Queen used a "No synthesizers were used on this album" sleeve note on their early albums to make this clear to the listeners.^[45]

Other instruments[link]

The first instrument Brian May learned to play was the banjolele, which he then played on Queen's song "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" (live and in the studio). For "Good Company", he used a regular baritone ukelele which he had bought in Hawaii on a holiday. Occasionally, May would also record on other string instruments such as harp (one chord per take, then copied and pasted by the engineer to make it sound like a continuous performance) and bass (on some demos and many songs in his solo career, and the Queen + Paul Rodgers album).

As a child, he was also trained on classical piano. Although Freddie Mercury was the band's main pianist, Brian would occasionally step in (such as on "Save Me"). From 1979 onwards, he also played synthesisers, organ ("Wedding March") and programmed drum-machines for both Queen and outside projects (such as producing other artists and his own solo records).

May is also an accomplished singer.^[46] From Queen's Queen II to The Game, May contributed lead vocals to at least one song per album. May co-composed a mini-opera with Lee Holdridge, Il Colosso, for Steve Barron's 1996 film, The Adventures of Pinocchio. May performed the opera with Jerry Hadley, Sissel Kyrkjebo, and Just William. On-screen, it was performed entirely by puppets.

Musician[link]

May tapping.

Brian May has been referred to as a virtuoso guitarist by many publications and musicians.^{[48][49][50][51][52]} He has featured in various music polls of great rock guitarists, and in 2011 was ranked number 26 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".^[6] Former Van Halen vocalist Sammy Hagar stated, "I thought Queen were really innovative and made some great sounding records.. I like the rockin' stuff. I think Brian May has one of the great guitar tones on the planet, and I really, really love his guitar work."^[52] May has used a range of guitars, most often the "Red Special", which he designed when he was only 16 years old.^[53] It was built with wood from an 18th century fireplace. His comments on the guitar:

"I like a big neck – thick, flat and wide. I lacquered the fingerboard with Rustin's Plastic Coating. The tremolo is interesting in that the arm's made from an old bicycle saddle bag carrier, the knob at the end's off a knitting needle and the springs are valve springs from an old motorbike."

—Brian May^[54]

In addition to using his home-made guitar he prefers to use coins (especially a sixpence from the farewell proof set of 1970), instead of a more traditional plastic plectrum, on the basis that their rigidity gives him more control in playing.^[55] He is known to carry coins in his pockets specifically for this purpose.^[55]

May's early heroes were Cliff Richard and The Shadows, who he says were "the most metallic thing(s) out at the time." Many years later he gained his opportunity to play on separate occasions with both Cliff Richard and Shadows lead guitarist Hank Marvin. He has collaborated with Cliff Richard on a re-recording of the Cliff Richard and The Shadows (then known as The Drifters) 1958 hit "Move It" on the Cliff Richard duets album Two's Company which was released on 6 November 2006. On Queen For An Hour 1989 Interview on BBC Radio 1 May listed Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton as his guitar heroes. In a 1991 interview for Guitar World magazine, May referred to The Who as "my inspiration", and on seeing Led Zeppelin stated, "We used to look at those guys and think, "That's the way it should be done."^[56]

During the time in which Brian May and his father were building the Red Special, May also produced plans to build a second guitar. However, so successful was the Red Special, that May simply had no need to build another guitar. These plans were eventually given to guitar luthier Andrew Guyton in around 2004/05, some slight modifications were made and the guitar was built. It was named "The Spade", as the shape of the body resembled the form shown on playing cards. However the guitar also came to be known as "The Guitar That Time Forgot". As yet, this guitar has not been used in any recordings and remains in May's possession.

Equipment[link]

Brian May performing in Frankfurt in 2005

Most of May's electric guitar work live and in the studio was done on the Red Special, which he built with his father during his teenage years.^[57][58][59] From 1975 onwards, he has also had some replicas made, some of which were also used for live and recording purposes, others were mainly spares. The most famous replicas were made by John Birch (in 1975—May actually smashed it during a concert in the States in 1982), Greco BM90 (featured in the promo video of "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" in 1977), Guild (back-up from 1984 to 1993) and Fryers (1997–1998, used both live and in the studio). On stage, Brian used to carry at least one back-up guitar (in case he broke a string) and occasionally would use others for certain songs or parts. Currently, May has his own company which makes guitars whose design is modelled after the original Red Special guitar.

• July 1973 – May 1974: Fender Stratocaster Pre-CBS
• October 1974 – May 1975: Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, and the Stratocaster from the previous tour.
• November 1975 – May 1976: Same two guitars as before, plus a natural finish John Birch replica of the Red Special.
• September 1976: Same three as before, plus a Martin D-18 acoustic for "'39".
• January 1977 – August 1979: Just the Birch replica plus an Ovation Pacemaker 12-string acoustic on some numbers ("'39", "Love of My Life", "Dreamer's Ball").
• November 1979 – June 1982: Birch replica (back-up), Fender Telecaster ("Crazy Little Thing Called Love" 2nd verse, middle-eight and solo), Ovation (acoustic numbers).
• July – November 1982: Added a Gibson Flying V as second back-up. On 9 August 1982 Brian smashed the Birch guitar, so the Flying V became the only spare.
• August to October 1984: The Flying V became a second back-up again as his main spare was the Guild replica. He also used Roger Taylor's Gibson Chet-Atkins Classical Electric.
• July 1985 – August 1986: Gibson Flying V no longer used. The rest remained the same.

Some of the non-RS electric guitars he used in the studio included:

• Burns Double Six on "Long Away" (1976) and "Under Pressure" (1981).
• Fender Telecaster on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (1979). It was used for the video (but not the recordings) of "Back Chat" (1982).
• Gibson Firebird on "Hammer to Fall" and "Tear It Up" (album versions only, not on stage).
• Ibanez JS on "Nothing But Blue" (1991).
• Parker Fly on "Mother Love" (1993–1995).

For acoustic, he favoured Ovation, Martin, Tōkai Hummingbird, Godin and Guild. On a couple of videos he also used some different electric guitars: a Stratocaster copy on "Play the Game" (1980) and a Washburn RR2V on "Princes of the Universe" (1986).

In 1984 Guild released the first official Red Special replica for mass production, and made some prototypes specifically for May. However the solid body construction (the original RS has hollow cavities in the body) and the pick-ups (DiMarzio) that were not an exact replica of the Burns TriSonic did not make May happy, so the production stopped after just 300 guitars. In 1993 Guild made a second replica of the RS, made in just 1000 copies, of which May has some and used as a backup. At the moment, he uses the two guitars made by Greg Fryer—the luthier who restored the Old Lady in 1998—as backup. They are almost identical to the original, except for the Fryer logo on the headstock (May's original one has a sixpence).

In the studio, May used Yamaha DX7 synths for the opening sequence of "One Vision" and the backgrounds of "Who Wants to Live Forever" (also on stage), "Scandal" and "The Show Must Go On". He mostly used Freddie Mercury's 1972 Steinway piano and reportedly now owns the instrument in question. May was keen on using some toys as instruments as well. He used a Yamaha plastic piano in "Teo Torriatte", a "genuine George Formby Ukulele-Banjo" in "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" and in "Good Company", and a toy mini koto in "The Prophet's Song".

May has used Vox AC30 amplifiers almost exclusively since a meeting with his long time hero Rory Gallagher at a gig in London during the late '60s/early '70s.^[60] His choice is the model AC30TBX, the top-boost version with Blue Alnico speakers, and he runs the amp at full volume on the Normal channel.^[61] He also customises his amps by removing the circuitry for the Brilliant and Vib-trem channels (leaving only the circuitry for the Normal), and this alters the tone slightly, with a gain addition of 6–7 dB. He always used a treble booster which, along with the AC30 and his custom 'Deacy Amp' transistor amp, as built by Queen bass player John Deacon, went a long way in helping to create many of his signature guitar tones.^[62] He used the Dallas Rangemaster for the first Queen albums, up to A Day at the Races. Effects guru Pete Cornish built for him the TB-83 (32 dB of gain) that was used for all the remaining Queen albums. He switched in 2000 to the Fryer's booster, which actually gives less boost than the TB-83.

Live, he uses banks of Vox AC30 amplifiers keeping some amps with only guitar and others with all effects such as delay, flanger and chorus. He has a rack of 14 AC30s, which are grouped as Normal, Chorus, Delay 1, Delay 2. On his pedal board, May has a custom switch unit made by Cornish and subsequently modified by Fryer that allows him to choose which amps are active. He uses a BOSS pedal from the '70s, the Chorus Ensemble CE-1, which can be heard in "In The Lap of The Gods" (Live at Wembley '86) or "Hammer to Fall" (slow version played live with P. Rodgers). Next in the chain, he uses a Foxx Foot Phaser ("We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions", "Keep Yourself Alive", etc.), and two delay machines to play his trademark solo in "Brighton Rock".

May's lead vocals in Queen[link]

Personal life[link]

From 1974 to 1988, May was married to Chrissie Mullen, who is the mother of his three children: Jimmy, who was born on 15 June 1978; Louisa, who was born on 22 May 1981 and Emily Ruth, who was born on 17 February 1987. Chrissie and Brian separated in 1988. Their separation and eventual divorce was highly publicised by British tabloid newspapers following reports that he had an affair with EastEnders actress Anita Dobson, whom he met in 1986, and who gained fame in the 1980s as Angie Watts. After many years together they married on 18 December 2000.

He has stated in interviews that he suffered from severe depression in the late 1980s and early 1990s, even to the point of contemplating suicide,^[63] for reasons having to do with his troubled first marriage, his perceived failure as a husband and a father, his father Harold's death, and Freddie Mercury's illness and eventual death.^[64]

May's father Harold worked as a draughtsman at the Ministry of Aviation and had been a long-time cigarette-smoker. As a result, May dislikes smoking,^[65] even to the point where he has prohibited smoking indoors at his more recent concerts.^[66] His father was disappointed that he abandoned his scientific education to become a rock musician, but after he flew both his parents out to New York to attend Queen's first concert in Madison Square Garden, his father said that he "got it".^[67] According to The Sunday Times Rich List he is worth £85 million as of 2011^[update].^[68]

Astrophysics[link]

May studied physics and mathematics at Imperial College, University of London, graduating with a BSc (Hons) degree and ARCS in physics with Upper Second-Class Honours. He then proceeded to study for a PhD degree, also at the Imperial College departments of Physics and Mathematics, and was part way through this PhD programme, studying reflected light from interplanetary dust and the velocity of dust in the plane of the Solar System. When Queen became successful he abandoned his physics doctorate but did co-author two scientific research papers: MgI Emission in the Night-Sky Spectrum (1972)^[69] and An Investigation of the Motion of Zodiacal Dust Particles (Part I) (1973),^[70] which were based on his observations at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife. He is the co-author of Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe with Sir Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, which was published in October 2006.^[71] In October 2007, more than 30 years after he started his research, he completed his PhD thesis in astrophysics,^[72] entitled A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud,^[73] passed his viva voce, and performed the required corrections.^{[74][75][76][77]} He officially graduated at the postgraduate awards ceremony held in the Royal Albert Hall, on the afternoon of Wednesday 14 May 2008. On 17 November 2007, May was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University,^[21] taking over from Cherie Blair, and installed in 2008.^[22]

Asteroid 52665 Brianmay was named in his honour on 18 June 2008 on the suggestion of Sir Patrick Moore (probably influenced by the asteroid's provisional designation of 1998 BM₃₀).^[53][78] May appeared on the 700th episode of The Sky at Night hosted by Sir Patrick Moore, along with Dr. Chris Lintott, Jon Culshaw, Prof. Brian Cox, and the Astronomer Royal Martin Rees who on leaving the panel told Brian May, who was joining it, "I don't know any scientist who looks as much as like Isaac Newton as you do".^[79] May replied that "that could be my after dinner comment, thank you very much".^[79]

Activist[link]

May filming for the BBC's The One Show in 2011 for an anti badger culling campaign

Brian May has formed a group to promote animal welfare. Though a Conservative Party voter most of his life,^[80] he has stated that their policies on fox hunting and the culling of badgers meant he did not vote for them at the 2010 General Election. His group, Save Me (named after the May-written Queen song), campaigns for the protection of all animals against unnecessary, cruel and degrading treatment; with a particular emphasis on preventing hunting of foxes and the culling of badgers.^[81] The group's primary concern is to ensure that the Hunting Act 2004 and other laws protecting animals are kept in place.^[24] In a September 2010 interview with Stephen Sackur for the BBC’s HARDtalk program, May said that he would rather be remembered for his animal rights work than for his music or science.^[82]

In March 2012, Brian May contributed the foreword to a target paper published by the think tank the Bow Group, urging the Government to reconsider its plans to cull thousands of badgers to control Bovine TB, stating that the findings of Labour's major badger culling trials several years prior were that culling does not work. The paper was authored by Graham Godwin-Pearson with contributions by leading tuberculosis scientists, including Lord Krebs.^[83][84][85]

Stereophotography[link]

May has had a lifelong interest in collecting Victorian stereophotography. In 2009, with co-author Elena Vidal, he published his second book, A Village Lost and Found, on the work of English stereophotography innovator TR Williams.^[86]

Discography[link]

Queen (band) portal

Albums

Studio albums

Live albums

Bibliography[link]

• May, Brian; Moore, Patrick; Lintott, Chris (2006). Bang! The Complete History of the Universe. Carlton. ISBN 1-84442-552-5. 
• May, Brian Harold (2008) (PhD thesis). A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-77705-4. 
• May, Brian; Vidal, Elena (book with stereoscopic viewer). A Village Lost and Found. Frances Lincoln. ISBN 978-0-7112-3039-2. http://www.londonstereo.com/book.html. 

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (March 2012)

Queen (band) portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Brian May

• Brian May's official homepage
• Brian May World
• Brian Interviews
• Queenpedia – Brian May Complete Song List
• Scientific paper with Brian May as co-author
• Brian May's astronomy book
• Brian May at the Internet Movie Database
• Five interview clips with Brian May
• Brian May's PhD thesis
• Brian May interview with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air, 3 August 2010
• Brian May: the interview, by Rachel Cooke, The Observer, Sunday 5 September 2010

The Cure
The Cure performing in Singapore in 2007. Left to right: Porl Thompson, Jason Cooper (back), Robert Smith, Simon Gallup.
Background information
Origin	Crawley, England
Genres	Gothic rock,[1][2] alternative rock, New Wave, post-punk
Years active	1976–present
Labels	Fiction, Suretone, Geffen, Polydor, Elektra, Asylum, Sire
Associated acts	Malice, Easy Cure, The Glove, Siouxsie and the Banshees
Website	www.thecure.com
Members
Robert Smith Simon Gallup Roger O'Donnell Jason Cooper Reeves Gabrels
Past members
Lol Tolhurst Michael Dempsey Matthieu Hartley Andy Anderson Phil Thornalley Boris Williams Porl Thompson Perry Bamonte

The Cure are an English alternative rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member. The Cure first began releasing music in the late 1970s with its debut album Three Imaginary Boys (1979); this, along with several early singles, placed the band as part of the post-punk and New Wave movements that had sprung up in the wake of the punk rock revolution in the United Kingdom. During the early 1980s, the band's increasingly dark and tormented music helped form the gothic rock genre.^[1][2][3]

After the release of Pornography (1982), the band's future was uncertain and Smith was keen to move past the gloomy reputation his band had acquired. With the 1982 single "Let's Go to Bed" Smith began to place a pop sensibility into the band's music (as well as a unique stage look). The Cure's popularity increased as the decade wore on, especially in the United States where the songs "Just Like Heaven", "Lovesong" and "Friday I'm in Love" entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart. By the start of the 1990s, The Cure were one of the most popular alternative rock bands in the world. The band is estimated to have sold 27 million albums as of 2004.^[4] The Cure have released thirteen studio albums, 10 EPs and over thirty singles during the course of their career. Since 2010, they have been working on a fourteenth studio album.^[5]

History[link]

Formation and early years (1973–1979)[link]

The first incarnation of what became The Cure was The Obelisk, a band formed by students at Notre Dame Middle School in Crawley, Sussex. The band made their public debut in a one-off performance in April 1973, and featured Robert Smith (piano), Michael "Mick" Dempsey (guitar), Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst (percussion), Marc Ceccagno (lead guitar) and Alan Hill (bass guitar).^[6] In January 1976 the band took a more substantial form of what would be when Ceccagno formed Malice with Smith and Dempsey along with two other classmates from St. Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School, with Ceccagno on lead, Smith on guitar, and Dempsey switching to bass. Ceccagno soon left, however, to form a jazz-rock fusion band called Amulet. Increasingly influenced by the emergence of punk rock, Malice's remaining members became known as Easy Cure in January 1977.^[7] By this time, Smith and Dempsey had been joined by Lol Tolhurst from The Obelisk on drums, and new lead guitarist Porl Thompson. Both Malice and Easy Cure auditioned several vocalists before Smith finally assumed the role of Easy Cure's frontman in September 1977.^[8]