Costadinos Contostavlos^[1] (born 11 June 1987) better known by his stage name Dappy, is a British singer-songwriter, rapper, and actor. He is best known for being the lead singer of the Camden-based Grime/hip hop/R&B trio N-Dubz, with his cousin Tulisa and their friend Fazer. He is known for his slightly unusual dress sense and his love for what he describes as "eye-catching headwear". His trademark is wearing a selection of woolly chullos (sometimes referred to as "Dappy hats"), turning up one of or both the ear-flaps of the hat.

Early life[link]

Born and raised in Camden Town, North London, Dappy grew up with his parents, Byron Contostavlos and Zoi Agorou and older brother Spiros. His father had been a member of the group Mungo Jerry. Byron died on 12 April 2007.

When Costadinos was younger, he attended Richard Cobden Primary school, then St Aloysius secondary, a Roman Catholic boys-only school in Islington, attending for a year before being expelled for truancy. In N-Dubz's book Against All Odds: From Street Life to Chart Life, Dappy says that he doesn't remember the school "because I wasn't there often". He then attended Bishop Douglass school when he was around twelve years old, where he got into fights "almost everyday", which "...always started if someone had been making fun of me or something stupid".

Dappy eventually dropped out of education when he was 15, but he returned later to study at college and received an A* in English and a B in GCSE Music.^[2][3]

However, realising they shared so much in common, Dappy and Fazer (who he had first met at karate lessons when he was 9, before becoming best friends with him at school) started making beats together and coming up with lyrics, later asking Dappy's cousin, Tulisa, to join the band and started to perform in and around Camden Town from the age of thirteen. At the time they were called the Lickle Rinsers Crew and went under the management of Dappy's father Byron, who had found success with 1970s pop band Mungo Jerry, and to Dappy was the "inspiration behind the band". Byron worked at a local barbers shop, putting all the money he had into equipment and resources for the band at their studio. However, Byron died on 12 April 2007 after a heart-attack^[2] and N-Dubz wrote the song "Papa (Can You Hear Me?)", which was played at his funeral and became the group's second biggest hit at #19, and at #17 in the download charts. Dappy later described his dad's death as "the lowest point in our lives, we had no money, no manager, no driver, no accountant, but most of all I had no father - B was everything to me and it hurts so much to think that he never got to see what we have achieved now, but I know he's looking down on us and he'd be really proud".^[2]

Dappy had the words "RIP Dad" tattooed on his neck and doesn't like to say his dad's name, instead referring to him as "B" or "Uncle B", which was also the name of N-Dubz's debut album. Before Byron died, he said he'd like their album to be called Against All Odds but after his death, the group called their debut album Uncle B in tribute, with their second album being called Against All Odds.

Career[link]

N-Dubz (2000-2011)[link]

Dappy appeared on the television show Never Mind the Buzzcocks on 29 November 2007, on Phill Jupitus' team, and wore a trademark "Dappy hat", also giving one to Simon Amstell to wear as part of the gag. Despite vowing he would not return to the show he appeared for a second time on the guest team on 4 December 2008 and for a third time, on Phill's team, which was broadcast on 18 November 2009. He is known to be a good friend of Chris Moyles and also gets on well with Tinchy Stryder after releasing a single together, called "Number 1", although in the past they have said to have fallen out many times over credits for the song etc.^[4] They responded by telling the crowd after their performance at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in May 2009, "and remember, don't believe what the media say 'cos it ain't true". Dappy has made cameo appearances on K.I.G's "Head, Shoulders, Kneez and Toez" music video, Gracious K's "Migraine Skank" music video, and Chipmunk's "Chip Diddy Chip" music video, as one of Chipmunk's school friends.

Dare To Dream (2011-)[link]

It was announced on Friday, June 17, 2011, that N-Dubz had left their American record deal, amidst rumours that the band had split.^[5][6][7] These rumours began circulating again in August 2011, however, Dappy insisted the band had not split, but were simply taking a break.^[8] As such, during the band's hiatus period, all three members decided on embarking upon solo careers. Prior to the band's split, Dappy signed a contract with Takeover Entertainment Ltd, which, confirmed that if the band ever split or went on hiatus, would mean he would continue as a solo artist. His first taste of solo stardom came as a guest artist on label-mate Tinchy Stryder's single, "Spaceship", which was released in June 2011. Whilst deciding upon his debut solo single, Dappy was contacted by Def Jam, asking him what he would like done with the demos of a track N-Dubz had recorded whilst under the label, which remained unreleased. As such, Dappy decided to re-record the track, "No Regrets", and release it as his debut solo effort. Featuring a cameo appearance from band-mate Fazer, "No Regrets" took the charts by storm, peaking at #1 in the UK and Scotland, and at #8 in Ireland.

Following the success of "No Regrets", Dappy claimed during an interview that: "With my solo stuff, I really want to earn the respect of an older audience. I don't think there's any shame in trying to write music that will be recognised by people I admire. Bono. I have big goals. I want to have two #1 singles back-to-back as a solo artist."^[9] Dappy soon succeeded, gaining praise from Queen guitarist, Brian May, who was "impressed" with "No Regrets". As such, Dappy invited May for a guest stint on his second single, which co-incidentally was entitled "Rockstar". "Rockstar" was released on February 26, 2012. On February 29, 2012, Dappy revealed that the title of his album will be Dare to Dream, claiming that the album "is motivational music for people who believe they can't do nothing, a battle we have with our own mind."^[10] Subsequently, he revealed that the album's third single will also be entitled "Dare to Dream", and if "Rockstar" peaks at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, he will enlist Barbadian singer Rihanna and British superstar Adele, who will both have vocal sections on the single. He claimed that Rihanna contacted him after she was impressed with a demo tape she had heard of his music.^[10] Dappy confirmed in September 2011, before the release of "Rockstar" and "Dare to Dream", that the album's final single will be a collaboration with The Wanted, which will be released towards the end of 2012.^[11]

Criticism and controversy[link]

In mid 2007, Dappy released "Love for My Slum" with fellow UK rap artist Baker Trouble, which was number one on Channel U (now Channel AKA) for several weeks and was a big hit in the underground urban scene. However, it didn't do as well with the media and was heavily criticized for a scene in which Dappy is standing outside a block of expensive luxury flats with a "rich kid" who is trying to look like a gangster. The Independent wrote, "His lyrics combine jealousy with anger: 'You got too much to lose / You're in a great position... You wouldn't last a minute where I'm from / You'd go missing / So appreciate what you got / 'cos I'm still wishing.' And then he grabs the rich kid by his coat, pulls him toward him, and punches him in the face. The silent boy falls instantly to the pavement ... Do scenes like these suggest that music videos are encouraging their viewers to indulge in criminality?".^[12] Other papers put that he was "idolising thuggery". When asked in interviews about the single, following these comments he said "these people need to listen to the lyrics, they are about showing appreciation to what you've got".^[13]

During December 2008, Dappy pleaded guilty to two accounts of assault at Chelmsford Magistrates Court, Essex after reportedly spitting in a girl's face while drunk on a night out. Dappy pleaded guilty to the offences and for each count received four weeks' imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, to run concurrently and 100 hours community service. He was also ordered to pay £50 compensation to the girl and her friend and £300 costs.^[14]

On 29 January 2009, Contostavlos was arrested and bailed after he was accused of making death threats with a gun. He denied the allegation. His home in Camden was raided following the incident, by police looking for a firearm. Three days later (31 January) he was then hauled off a BA flight from Edinburgh to London by police after it touched down, with fellow N-Dubz performer Fazer, after appearing to be acting disorderly. A source said: "They were swearing at kids on the plane, being foul and threatening passengers. Cabin crew called ahead to the police, who were waiting when the plane landed. They were taken away by armed officers."^[15]

On 12 January 2010, Contostavlos appeared on the Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 along with Fazer and Tulisa. The show received a text message from a single mother named Chloe Moody in Boston, Lincolnshire complaining that Dappy was "vile" and "a little boy with a silly hat" and that N-Dubz were "losers". Dappy secretly copied Moody's phone number from the studio console and, the following day, tried calling her and sent threatening messages including: "Your [sic] gonna die. U sent a very bad msg towards Ndubz on The Chris Moyels [sic] show yesterday Morning and for that reason u will never be left alone!!! u say sorry I will leave u alone u ****." Moody claimed that she continued to receive messages after declining to apologise, one of which said: "u dum f****** ***head u can call me names over the radio but when I call u direct u chicken out u punk!nana f****** niii, Dappy").^{[16][nb 1]} Dappy's management later apologised on his behalf and offered free tickets to one of his concerts, but he has not apologised to Moody personally.^[17] N-Dubz were subsequently dropped from the Government's anti-bullying "R U Cyber Safe?" campaign. The rapper previously appeared with Schools Secretary Ed Balls to launch pop single "R U Cyber Safe?" in November 2009, and Balls said he was "thrilled to have them on board". After the band was dropped, he commented that "[the] text message was totally unacceptable. There is no excuse. We have no further plans to work with the band."^[18]

Dappy was then shamed again live on GMTV on 28 April 2010 after he was on that day's front pages with CCTV pictures of him taking the illegal drug Mephedrone, in a night club. He apologised, insisting "It's just not a thing to be doing. I've learnt my mistake. I'll never do such things again", going on to say, "I was just a bit tipsy and it just fell into the wrong place at the wrong time."^[19][20]

Just a day later, Dappy was kicked out of Alton Towers theme park hotel in Staffordshire, for allegedly smoking cannabis. Contostavlos and his two other companions suspected to be Kaye Vassell and fellow hip-hop musician Fearless after guests complained about a "funny smell" coming from his room, according to reports. An Alton Towers spokesperson told Sky News: "We can confirm a guest was asked to leave."^[21]

In October 2011, Dappy was arrested on suspicion of assaulting the mother of his two children, Kaye Vassell, and was later released without charge.^[22]

In February 2012, He was arrested and bailed on suspicion of affray, along with a second man after a reported incident involving two women and a group of men at a filling station in Guildford, Surrey.^[23]

Personal life[link]

Dappy is cousin to fellow band member Tulisa. Dappy lives with his girlfriend, Kaye Vassell and their two sons, Gino and Milo. Gino was born in January 2009^[24] and Dappy's second son, Milo, was born on 10 December 2010.^[25]

N-Dubz were forced to reschedule some of their live shows from the Uncle B tour after Dappy was diagnosed with temporary deafness.^[26] He later said the ordeal "was terrible and it has really taught me to take better care of my ears because I wouldn't be the musician I am today if I couldn't hear". However he still "suffers from really bad Tinnitus after ignoring advice not to turn his headphones up" according to his ex-girlfriend and "he can't get to sleep unless there's some loud background noise to drown out the ringing. He will leave the shower running all night, thundering away, so he can sleep".^[27]

It has been claimed that Dappy has an obsessive habit of crashing model planes. There was a rumour Dappy had set up his own Greek kebab shop in London called 'Dapz Bapz', a claim which he later rubbished.^[28]

He revealed that he is a "massive" Arsenal fan when N-Dubz appeared on Live from Studio Five, gushing "it is an honour to sit next to you" to former Arsenal striker Ian Wright who was one of three hosts on the show.^[29]

In September 2011, he revealed that he puts pepper into his toddler's mouth when he swears which received a lot of criticism from parents and critics.^[30]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Singles[link]

As featured artist[link]

References[link]

Footnotes[link]

Sources[link]

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]