Coordinates	29°25′″N98°30′″N
Name	John Deacon
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	John Richard Deacon
Born	August 19, 1951 Oadby, LeicestershireEngland
Genre	Rock, hard rock, pop
Occupation	Musician, songwriter
Instrument	Bass, guitar, piano, keyboards, drums, synthesizers, vocals
Years active	1965–1997
Associated acts	Queen
Notable instruments	Fender Precision BassMusic Man StingRay }}

John Richard Deacon (born 19 August 1951) is a retired English multi-instrumentalist, best known as the bassist for the rock band Queen. Of the four members of the band, he was the last to join and also the youngest, being only 19 years old when he was recruited by the other members of the band. Deacon wrote a number of Queen's hit singles, including "You're My Best Friend", "Spread Your Wings", "Back Chat", "I Want to Break Free", and the band's biggest selling single in the United States, "Another One Bites the Dust", as well as a number of album tracks. He also played rhythm and acoustic guitars on several albums as well as occasional keyboards, synthesiser and programming. He occasionally provided backing vocals during live shows.

Following The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992, Deacon's sole performance with the remaining members of Queen was a one-off rendition of "The Show Must Go On" in 1997 with Mercury's friend Elton John (who had sung the track with the band at Mercury's tribute). He contributed to the final Queen song, "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)" – released that year on the ''Queen Rocks'' compilation – after which he retired from the music industry. He chose not to participate with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor in the Queen + Paul Rodgers collaboration, but did give them his support. Deacon was also absent from Queen's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Early life

John Deacon grew up in Oadby with father Arthur, mother Lilian and younger sister Julie. His father worked for the Norwich Union insurance company, but died of a heart attack in 1962, when John was eleven. Deacon was known to friends as 'Deaks' and attended Linden Junior School in Leicester, and Gartree High School and Beauchamp Grammar School in Oadby and achieved 8 GCE O level and 3 A level passes, all at grade A.

Career

It was in Leicester that he formed his first band, ''The Opposition'', in 1965 at the age of fourteen. He played rhythm guitar, bought with money borrowed from one of the other band members. He became the bassist after the original bassist was fired for not being of the same quality as the rest of the band. As well as a dedicated musician, Deacon also was the band's archivist, taking clippings from newspapers of even the advertisements featuring The Opposition. After being in the band for four years, Deacon played his final concert with the band (then called The Art) in August 1969. He left as he had been accepted to study at Chelsea College.

Although he left his bass and amplifier at home in Oadby after less than a year in London where he went on to achieve a First Class Honours Degree in electronics at Chelsea College, now part of King's College London, he decided he wanted to join a band. By this time Queen had already been formed by Brian May, Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, and Deacon even saw them in October 1970. In early 1971 he was introduced to Taylor and May by a friend at a disco who told him that they were in a band that had just lost its bassist. A couple of days later he auditioned in a lecture room at Imperial College London and became the last member of Queen to join the band. Since the band's last bassist drew attention away from Mercury, Deacon was selected for his musical talent, his quiet demeanour and his electrical skills. A persistent legend claims Deacon was the seventh bassist auditioned. According to various sources, prior bassists with the band included Mike Grose, Barry Mitchell and Doug Ewood.

On Queen's first album he was credited as "Deacon John". Not long after its release, he requested that he be referred to by his proper name.

Deacon's first writing credit did not come until Queen's third album, ''Sheer Heart Attack''. It was on the song "Stone Cold Crazy", but it was also credited to the other band members. The first song Deacon wrote on his own was "Misfire" from the same album, a Caribbean-themed song that garnered little attention. He would achieve much greater success with his second song, "You're My Best Friend", which was featured on the group's fourth album, ''A Night at the Opera'', and went on to be an international hit.

Personal life

He was the 'quiet' member of the band, and the others said that he was in charge of most of the finances. His last public appearance with the band was at an AIDS charity event in 1997, and his last direct involvement with Queen was with the recording of "No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young)".

He lives in Putney in South West London with his wife Veronica Tetzlaff. Married since 18 January 1975, she was already two months pregnant with their first child when they got married. The two have six children: Robert (18 July 1975), Michael (3 February 1978), Laura (25 June 1979), Joshua (13 December 1983), Luke (5 December 1992), and Cameron (7 November 1993).

According to ''The Sunday Times'' Rich List, Deacon is worth £50 million as of 2009.

As a trained electronics engineer, he often used to build equipment for the band. His most famous creation is the "Deacy Amp", used by Deacon and May.

As a performer

Deacon played guitar in addition to bass, taking over rhythm parts in many albums, as well as several acoustic performances. Some of the guitar work on ''Hot Space'' (the clean Fender Telecaster single-coil sound) is his work. He would occasionally play synthesizers on his own compositions and often composed at the piano, playing an electric one on his top ten hit "You're My Best Friend". He can also be seen playing the grand piano in the music video to "Spread Your Wings", although on the actual recording the piano was played by Mercury.

Highlights

Mostly, Deacon's compositions varied from pop rock to funk. He has been responsible for some of Queen's biggest hits such as "You're My Best Friend" (from ''A Night at the Opera''), "Another One Bites the Dust" (from ''The Game'') and "I Want to Break Free" (from ''The Works''). He also co-wrote "Friends Will Be Friends" with Mercury and developed the chord arrangement for "The Miracle" with Mercury. Both went on the ''Greatest Hits II'' album. He also wrote two other popular songs, ("Spread Your Wings" and "Back Chat"), and created the riff for "Under Pressure".

As a bass guitarist, Deacon's notable works include "Another One Bites the Dust", "Father to Son", "Liar", "Dragon Attack", "Brighton Rock", "The March of the Black Queen", "You're My Best Friend", "The Millionaire Waltz", "We Are the Champions", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Body Language", and "Under Pressure". As a guitarist, he did some rhythm-playing in songs like "Staying Power" (both live and in the studio) and "Back Chat", as well as lead parts in "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Misfire" and Spanish acoustic fills in "Who Needs You". He also played double bass, notably on May's 1975 song "'39". May had asked him to play upright bass as a joke but a couple of days later he found Deacon in the studio with the instrument, and he had already learned to play it.

Deacon's contributions in keyboards were mostly just background chords; his most notable work is in his composition "You're My Best Friend", which was the first song he wrote on the electric piano. Deacon also played triangle in live versions of "Killer Queen" (it hung off his microphone) and some piano (notably on "Another One Bites the Dust"). He can also be seen playing the drums on the video for "One Vision". This is perhaps a visual trick, although he did play drums on certain tracks on "Hot Space".

Style

Deacon used the bass as a lead and rhythm instrument. Some of his basslines, such as "The Millionaire Waltz", "I'm Going Slightly Mad" and "You're My Best Friend", granted his technique an affinity with Motown's lead style basslines. Some of Queen's songs, such as "Dragon Attack", "Another One Bites the Dust", "Body Language", and "A Kind of Magic", feature the bass as the main instrument. When performing with Queen, Deacon delivered a highly technical style, with numerous runs, walking basslines and tight quick note changes. Deacon mainly used his fingers, though sometimes he did use a pick. He generally did not play with a floating thumb and occasionally played with his thumb itself. His basslines are notable on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Liar", "Brighton Rock", "Under Pressure", "'39", "You're My Best Friend", "I Want to Break Free", and "One Year of Love".

A trademark of Deacon's playing are his bass runs. In a 1975 review of ''Sheer Heart Attack'', the reviewer wrote: "Only at the end would a new initiate to Queen recognise John Deacon's unmistakable trademark: the bass runs under the fade are a fast and facile as any to be heard. The least well known musician in Queen is one of his rock generation's most able."

Singer

Deacon is the only member of Queen never to sing any lead vocals on any of their tracks. He even admitted in interviews that he was incapable of competing with the three strong vocalists in the group. Deacon is not credited as a vocalist on any Queen album.

In live shows, Deacon did not receive his own microphone until the band's first headlining tour in support of their "Sheer Heart Attack" album. Despite this promising development, the main purpose of this was to play one note on the triangle in "Killer Queen". Before this, he had sung backing vocals during "Liar" into Mercury's microphone. There have been occasions where his microphone was turned up to a point where his voice can be heard, such as a 1977 Earls Court bootleg, where his voice was clearly heard on "Somebody to Love" and "In The Lap of the Gods Revisited". He is also credited as backing vocalist on the closing credits of the band's first live video, "Queen at the Rainbow" (shot live in November 1974 and released on The Box of Tricks).

Despite this, Deacon is almost always shown to be singing in Queen's music videos, such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "You're My Best Friend", "Somebody To Love", "Tie Your Mother Down", and "Don't Stop Me Now", among others.

Gear

Deacon's first bass was an Eko, and he later acquired a Rickenbacker 4001, which was used for his audition for Queen, the very first concerts and the recording sessions at De Lane Lea in 1971. When the band began recording at Trident, he had problems with it and acquired a Fender Precision 1962 model with the silver 1964 transition logo and sunburst finish, which became his main instrument for the last concerts in 1972 and all 1973–1975 tours. As a backup he had another one of the same model, but with the black 1967 transition logo. Before the beginning of the 'Night at the Opera' sessions he stripped the paint from both, left them with a natural finish and switched them; from then on the black logo one would be his main guitar for most tours and recordings.

In early 1977, Deacon got two new basses: a Fender Precision Fretless, which he used for "'39" (emulating the double bass he used in the original recording) and "My Melancholy Blues" on stage, and a Music Man StingRay which he used as main for the "Day at the Races" tour and some videos. From the 'News of the World' tour up until 'The Works' tour in 1985, the Music Man would remain for just specific numbers ("Sheer Heart Attack", "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Back Chat"), and used sometimes in the studio as well. The fretless type kept being used for "'39" and "My Melancholy Blues" live until the end of the decade.

During late 1977, at the beginnings of "News of the World" tour in the US, Deacon tried another Fender P-Bass, a sunburst 1954 model with the original single-coil pickup, but eventually gave it up and returned to the black logo '67 model. The old Fender kept being used occasionally as a backup, in the recordings of "Coming Soon" (1979) and in the video of "Back Chat" (1982).

In 1980, Kramer made him a custom bass, which he used as a backup for some tours and in videos (e.g. "Play the Game", "Las Palabras De Amor"). Next year, Fender gave him a special prototype model which he used for recording "Under Pressure" for "Hot Space" and performing it during the 1981–1985 period.

A new Fender P-Bass came to his hands: a red Elite 1, which he used for mimed performances, some videos and recordings (e.g. "One Vision"), part of the Leiden 1986 gig, the entire Marbella and Knebworth 1986 gigs and "Radio Ga Ga" at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. In 1986, Deacon got a Warwick Buzzard, used for some videos and mimed performances, but not on recordings. Before the Magic Tour, he refurbished and spray-painted his Precision bass black and continued using it as his main instrument for several gigs (e.g. The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness, "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)").

For other instruments, Deacon mostly used Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars; his main was a custom Tele which he used on stage. In the recordings of "Misfire" he demonstrated he too could play guitar harmonies. For acoustic he mostly used Martin D-18 and Ovation. The piano he played in "Another One Bites the Dust" was a Bösendorfer, and in "You're My Best Friend", a Hohner Pianet N often confused with Wurlitzer (though May has stated that it was a Fender Rhodes). For synths, he used Oberheim OB-X, Roland Jupiter 8 and Yamaha DX7.

Leaving Queen

After playing live with Queen twice more — at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness on 20 April 1992, and at the opening of the Bejart Ballet in Paris on 17 January 1997, performing only "The Show Must Go On" with Elton John on lead vocals — he made the decision to retire from music, re-appearing only briefly by joining his ex-band mates in October 1997 for the recording of the final Queen song "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)", included in the ''Queen Rocks'' album released a month later.

Deacon has reportedly spoken out about the May/Taylor/Robbie Williams cover of "We Are the Champions", recorded for ''A Knight's Tale''. In an interview with ''The Sun'' about the collaboration he said, "It is one of the greatest songs ever written but I think they've ruined it". "I don't want to be nasty but let's just say Robbie Williams is no Freddie Mercury. Freddie can never be replaced – and certainly not by him".

He chose not to be present at Queen's induction into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, or join in the collaboration with Paul Rodgers. On the Queen + Paul Rodgers collaboration album ''The Cosmos Rocks'' which featured new material from the trio, he was listed in the Thanks Notes on the CD.

Discography

Queen songs John Deacon wrote that were released as singles:

"You're My Best Friend" from ''A Night at the Opera''

"Spread Your Wings" from ''News of the World''

"Another One Bites the Dust" and "Need Your Loving Tonight" from ''The Game''

"Back Chat" from ''Hot Space''

"I Want to Break Free" from ''The Works''

"Friends Will Be Friends", "Pain Is So Close to Pleasure" (both cowritten with Freddie Mercury) and "One Year of Love" from ''A Kind of Magic''

" The Miracle" from The Miracle (cowritten with Freddie Mercury.)

Selected Queen album tracks:

"Misfire" from ''Sheer Heart Attack''

"You and I" from ''A Day at the Races''

"Who Needs You" from ''News of the World''

"If You Can't Beat Them" and "In Only Seven Days" from ''Jazz''

"Execution Of Flash" and "Arboria" from ''Flash Gordon''

"Cool Cat" from Hot Space (co-written with Freddie Mercury)

"Rain Must Fall" from ''The Miracle''

"My Life Has Been Saved" (two versions, the first in 1989 as a non-album single B-side, then re-recorded between 1993 and 1995 for the 1995 album ''Made in Heaven'')

Selected solo efforts:

Jive Junior And Man Friday: "Picking Up Sounds" (7" single, 1983)

The Immortals: "No Turning Back" (single from ''Biggles: Adventures in Time'' soundtrack) (1986)

Collaborations

1975: All four members of Queen helped produce a session with the soul band Trax. Nothing was ever released.

1983: "Picking Up Sounds" by Man Friday and Jive Junior – co-wrote, produced and played bass guitar on this single.

1984: "It's An Illusion" by Roger Taylor – bass guitar on this track from the album ''Strange Frontier''.

1984: "I Cry For You" by Roger Taylor – bass guitar on the remixed version of this song, on the single ''Strange Frontier''.

1985: "Too Young" by Elton John – bass guitar on this song from the LP ''Ice On Fire''.

1985: Strawberry Switchblade – produced self-titled first album.

1986: "Angeline" by Elton John – bass guitar on this song from the LP ''Leather Jackets''.

1986: "This Is Your Time" by Errol Brown – co-wrote and bass guitar on this track, which was never released.

1987: "I Dream Of Christmas" by Anita Dobson – bass guitar on this track from the album ''Talkin' Of Love''.

1988: "Roulette" by Minako Honda – co-wrote this song (in fact "No Turning Back" remake with other lyrics) from the album ''Cancel''. John did not participate in the Minako Honda recording, although his bandmate May wrote and produced two songs for this album.

1988: "How Can I Go On" by Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballe – bass guitar on this single from the album ''Barcelona''.

1988: Stutter Rap (No Sleep Til Bedtime) by `Morris Minor and the Majors John makes an appearance, wearing a blue wig and playing guitar.

1989: "Who Wants to Live Forever" by Ian & Belinda – bass on this charity record, produced by Brian May, also featuring May and Roger Taylor.

1992: "Nothin' But Blue" by Brian May – plays bass on this track from ''Back To The Light''.

1992: "Somewhere In Time" by Cozy Powell – plays bass on this instrumental version of "Nothin' But Blue" from Cozy Powell's album ''The Drums Are Back''.

1994: "Bushfire" by Steve Gregory – plays bass on this track from the eponymous album.

1997: "That's The Way God Planned It" by SAS Band – plays bass on this track from their début (and only studio) album. Roger Taylor sings a verse as well on this cover track, originally recorded by Billy Preston.

Quotations about Deacon

"When I was five years old my hero was John Deacon, who used to do the most incredible upper-register work and those melodic, tight groove parts." – Richie Edwards "Grossly underrated. His bass parts are like little stories, yet he never gets in anyone's way. With all the guitars and vocals going on, he finds the spaces and plays basically what he wants. He's loose, fluid, and quite busy at times, but I can't find one song where he stepped on the vocal or guitar parts." – Danny Miranda

References

Sources

Mark Hodkinson (2004). ''The Early Years: Queen''. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-012-2

Mark Blake (Editor) (2005). ''MOJO Classic Queen Special Edition''. EMAP Metro Limited.

External links

Queen official site – info on John Deacon – and all about his history in Queen

Category:1951 births Category:Alumni of King's College London Category:English rock bass guitarists Category:Rhythm guitarists Category:English songwriters Category:English male singers Category:English Roman Catholics Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Oadby Category:Queen (band) members

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Coordinates	29°25′″N98°30′″N
Name	Brian May
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Brian Harold May
Born	July 19, 1947Hampton, London, England, UK
Occupation	Musician, songwriter, producer, astrophysicist, author, contributor (''The Sky at Night'')
Instrument	Guitar, vocals, piano
Genre	Rock
Years active	1965–present
Associated acts	Smile, Queen, Phenomena, G3, Queen + Paul Rodgers, Kerry Ellis
Label	Hollywood, Parlophone
Website	brianmay.com
Notable instruments	}}

Brian Harold May, CBE (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter 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", "We Will Rock You", and "Fat Bottomed Girls".

He was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for "services to the music industry". May earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College in 2007 and is currently the Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University. May lives in Surrey.

In 2005, a Planet Rock poll saw May voted the 7th greatest guitarist of all time. He was ranked at #39 on the ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Early life

Brian May, the only child of Harold and Ruth May, was born in Hampton, London and attended Hampton Grammar School (now Hampton School). 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. He left Hampton Grammar School with ten GCE Ordinary Levels and three Advanced Levels in Physics, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics.

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, even to the point where he has prohibited smoking indoors at his more recent concerts.

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.

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

May is now married to former ''Eastenders'' actress Anita Dobson, whom he met in 1986, and who gained fame in the 1980s for providing vocals to the theme tune to the aforementioned soap, entitled "Anyone Can Fall in Love". May himself produced the song, which reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1986. According to ''The Sunday Times'' Rich List he is worth £85 million .

Career

Smile

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 Staffel 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". May also performed several other songs that night.

Queen

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.

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.

Solo work and The Brian May Band

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.

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.

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 Brian May (Lead Vocals and Lead Guitar), Cozy Powell (Drums and Percussion), Mike Caswell (Guitar), Neil Murray (Bass), Maggie Ryder (Backing vocals), Miriam Stockley (Backing vocals) and Chris 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. In Spain, a Catalan band called Sweet Sister supported the tour.

Afterwards, May made significant changes, feeling the group never quite gelled. Most significantly, May brought guitarist Jamie Moses on board to replace Mike Caswell. May considered Moses a perfect fit to the band. The other change made was in the backing vocal department. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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 of his second album from covers to focus on those collaborations and on new material. The songs recorded for that album, ''Another World'', would feature mainly Spike Edney, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray and Jamie Moses, who had become his core support/collaborative team.

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 the need for a new drummer on short notice. Steve Ferrone was brought on to help May finish recording drums for the title track "Another World" and to join the band for the early stage promotional tour of five dates in Europe before the world tour.

The line up was then May (Lead Vocals & Lead Guitar), Edney (Keyboards), Murray (Bass), Moses (Guitar), Ferrone (Drums & Percussion), Susie Webb (Backing vocals) and Zoe Nicholas (Backing vocals). Following the early promo tour, Eric Singer replaced Steve Ferrone for the full 1998 world tour.

Later solo work

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". 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, taking over from Cherie Blair, and installed in 2008. 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.

In November 2009, May appeared on the popular reality TV show ''The X Factor'' with band mate Roger Taylor as 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 fox-hunting ban. In February 2011 it was announced that May will tour with Kerry Ellis, playing 12 dates across the UK in May 2011. On 18 April 2011 Lady Gaga confirmed that May would play the guitar on her track "Yoü and I" from her latest album Born This Way, released on 23 May 2011. 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.

Queen + Paul Rodgers

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.

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. 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. 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". 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. The show in Ukraine was later released on DVD.

Queen and Paul Rodgers officially split up on 12 May 2009. Rodgers does not rule out the possibility of working together again.

Highlights

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. A meticulous arranger, he focuses on multi-part harmonies, often more contrapuntal than parallel—a 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", "Radio Ga Ga"), Hendrix sounding licks ("Liar", "Brighton Rock"), tape-delay ("Brighton Rock", "White Man") and melodic parts ("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 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of all time ("Bohemian Rhapsody" was voted #20 and "Brighton Rock" was voted #41).

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 sound effects with his guitar that were so unusual that many thought a synthesiser was being used; 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.

Other instruments

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 (once per album, on average). 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. 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

Brian May has been referred to as a virtuoso guitarist by many publications and musicians. 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." May has used a range of guitars, most often the "Red Special", which he designed when he was only 16 years old. It was built with wood from an 18th century fireplace. His comments on this instrument, from ''Queen In Their Own Words'' (ed. Mick St. Michael, Omnibus Press, 1992, p. 62) are:

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. He is known to carry coins in his pockets specifically for this purpose.

May's early heroes were Cliff Richard and The Shadows, who he says were "the most metallic thing 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."

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

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. From 1975 onwards, he's 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 Broadcaster 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. 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. 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 built by Queen's former bass guitarist (John Deacon) which, along with the AC30, went a long way in helping to create many of his signature guitar tones. 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

"Keep Yourself Alive" – Vocal bridge with Taylor, rest sung by Mercury (1973)

"Some Day, One Day" (1974)

"She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes)" (1974)

"'39" (1975)

"Good Company" (1975)

"Long Away" (1976)

"All Dead, All Dead" (1977)

"Sleeping on the Sidewalk" (1977)

"Fat Bottomed Girls" – Chorus lead vocals (1978)

"Leaving Home Ain't Easy" (1978)

"Sail Away Sweet Sister" – Mercury sings the bridge (1980)

"Flash" – with Freddie Mercury (1980)

''Put Out the Fire" - lead on falsetto lines.

"Las Palabras de Amor" – Lead harmony vocals on chorus (1982)

"I Go Crazy" – Lead Bridge Vocals (1984)

"Who Wants to Live Forever" – Intro verse, harmony and other lines throughout (1986)

"I Want It All" – with Mercury (1989)

"Lost Opportunity" (1991)

"Mother Love" – Lead vocals on final verse (1995)

"Let Me Live" – Lead vocals on third verse (1995)

"No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)" – with Taylor (1997)

Astrophysics

May studied physics and mathematics at Imperial College 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 London 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) and ''An Investigation of the Motion of Zodiacal Dust Particles (Part I)'' (1973), 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 Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, which was published in October 2006. In October 2007, more than 30 years after he started his research, he completed his PhD thesis in astrophysics, entitled ''A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud'', passed his ''viva voce'', and performed the required corrections. 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, taking over from Cherie Blair, and installed in 2008.

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 ).

May appeared on the 700th episode of The Sky at Night hosted by 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". May replied that "that could be my after dinner comment, thank you very much".

Activist

Brian May has formed a group to promote decent treatment for animals. Though a Conservative Party voter most of his life, he has stated that their policy on fox hunting and the culling of badgers turned him off voting for them. His group, Save Me, is a campaign group 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.

The group's primary concern is to ensure that the Hunting Act 2004 and other laws protecting animals are kept in place.

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.

Stereophotography

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.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

! Year	! Title	! UK	! US
1983	''Star Fleet Project''	35	125
1992	''Back to the Light''	6	159
1998		23	–
2000		–	–

Live albums

! Year	! Title	! UK	! US
1993		20	–

Bibliography

References

External links

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

Five interview clips with Brian May

Brian May's Ph.D 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

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English male singers Category:English rock guitarists Category:English heavy metal guitarists Category:English tenors Category:English pianists Category:English multi-instrumentalists Category:Old Hamptonians Category:Musicians from London Category:Queen (band) members Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Alumni of Imperial College London Category:People associated with Imperial College London Category:Hollywood Records artists Category:People from Hampton, London Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:English vegetarians Category:English astronomers Category:English agnostics Category:People associated with Liverpool John Moores University Category:Lead guitarists Category:Backing vocalists

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Coordinates	29°25′″N98°30′″N
name	Cozy Powell
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Colin Flooks
born	December 29, 1947Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England
died	April 05, 1998Bristol, England
instrument	Drums, percussion
genre	Hard rock, blues-rock, progressive rock, instrumental rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion
occupation	Musician, songwriter, producer
years active	1968–1998
label	Polydor
associated acts	Bedlam, Cozy Powell's Hammer, The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, MSG, Whitesnake, Emerson, Lake & Powell, Blue Murder, Gary Moore, Black Sabbath, The Brian May Band, Peter Green Splinter Group, Thin Lizzy, various others
website	Official web site }}

Colin Flooks (29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998), better known as Cozy Powell, was an English rock drummer who made his name with many major rock bands.

Early history

Cozy Powell was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England, and started playing drums at age 12 in the school orchestra, thereafter playing along in his spare time to popular singles of the day. The first band he was in, called the Corals, played each week at the youth club in Cirencester. At age 15 he had already worked out an impressive drum solo. The stage name 'Cozy' was borrowed from the jazz drummer Cozy Cole.

Semi-professional

The semi-professional circuit was next, with semi-pro outfit The Sorcerers, a vocal harmony pop band. The late nights and usual on-the-road exploits began to affect his education, and Powell left to take an office job in order to finance the purchase of his first set of Premier drums. The Sorcerers performed in the German club scene of the 1960s. By 1968 the band had returned to England, basing themselves around Birmingham. Powell struck up friendships with fellow musicians like Robert Plant and John Bonham (both at the time unknowns in Listen), future Slade vocalist Noddy Holder, bassist Dave Pegg and a young guitarist called Tony Iommi. The Sorcerers now became Youngblood, and a series of singles were released in late 1968–69. The group then linked up with the Move bassist/singer Ace Kefford to form The Ace Kefford Stand. Powell also began session work. Powell with fellow Sorcerers Dave and Dennis Ball formed Big Bertha.

Isle of Wight 1970 and Jeff Beck

Powell also played with swamp rocker Tony Joe White at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970. During this time the two became good friends, with White being best man at Powell's wedding. Powell then landed the then highly prestigious drumming job with Jeff Beck's group in April 1970. Their first project was to record an album of Motown covers in the USA. This was never finished and remains unreleased. After the recording of two albums, ''Rough and Ready'' (October 1971) and ''Jeff Beck Group'' (July 1972), the band fell apart.

1972–1974

In 1972 Powell drummed for two tracks ("Hey Sandy" and "Martha") on Harvey Andrews' album ''Writer of Songs''. By late 1972 he had joined up with the Ball brothers and singer Frank Aiello to form Bedlam, whose eponymous album was recorded for Chrysalis and released in August 1973. Eventually Powell abandoned Bedlam to record two singles including "Dance with the Devil" which reached #3 in the UK singles chart during January 1974. The song is the only hit for the United States, peaking at #49. The track featured Suzi Quatro on bass. Powell's second hit during 1974 was with "The Man In Black", which reached a respectable #18. Beck's studio producer was Mickie Most and Powell soon found himself drafted into sessions for artists signed to Most's RAK label, including Julie Felix, Hot Chocolate, Donovan and Suzi Quatro. To cash in on his chart success the drummer formed Cozy Powell's Hammer in April 1974. The line-up included Bernie Marsden (guitar), Clive Chamen (bass), Don Airey (keyboards) and Frank Aiello (Bedlam) on vocals. 'Na Na Na' was a UK #10 hit, and another single 'Le Souk' was recorded but never released.

Rainbow

In 1975 he joined Rainbow. Powell and Ritchie Blackmore were the only constants in the band's line-up over the next five years, as Blackmore evolved the sound of the band from a neo-classical hard rock to a more commercial AOR sound. Rainbow's 1979 ''Down to Earth'' LP (from which singles "Since You Been Gone" and "All Night Long" are taken) proved to be the band's most successful album thus far; however, Powell was concerned over the overtly commercial sound. Powell decided to leave Rainbow, although not before they headlined the first ever Monsters of Rock show at Castle Donington, England on 16 August 1980. The festival was Powell's last show with the band.

Post-Rainbow

1980–1989

After Powell left Rainbow he worked with vocalist Graham Bonnet (he too an ex-Rainbow member) on Bonnet's new project called Graham Bonnet & The Hooligans, their most notable single being the UK top 10 single "Night Games" (1981), also on Bonnet's solo ''Line Up'' album. For the rest of the 1980s, Powell assumed short-term journeyman roles with a number of major bands — Michael Schenker Group from 1981 to 1982, and Whitesnake from 1982 to 1985. In 1985 he started recording with Phenomena for their first album, which was released in 1986 when he joined up with Keith Emerson and Greg Lake as a member of Emerson, Lake & Powell.

1989–1998

A stint with Gary Moore followed in 1989. His most well-known association was with Black Sabbath from 1988 to 1991, and again in 1994–1995. Between late 1992 and early 1993, Powell put together an occasional touring band using the old band name 'Cozy Powell's Hammer' featuring himself on drums, Neil Murray on bass, Mario Parga on guitar and Tony Martin on vocals and occasional rhythm guitar/synth module. The band performed throughout Europe and appeared on German television. Powell along with Neil Murray were members of Brian May's band, playing on the ''Back To The Light'' and ''Another World'' albums. Cozy played with May opening for Guns N' Roses on the second American leg of their Use Your Illusion tour in 1993. The duo also served a spell with blues guitarist Peter Green in the mid-nineties. Cozy's last recording session was for Colin Blunstone's ''The Light Inside'', alongside Don Airey, which was released shortly after Cozy's death. Prior to his death in 1998, Cozy had pulled out of a tour with Yngwie Malmsteen due to an injury and was preparing to tour with Brian May. The final solo album by Cozy Powell ''Especially For You'' was released in 1998 after his death, and featured American vocalist John West, Neil Murray, Lonnie Park, Michael Casswell and others.

Motor racing and TV appearances

Powell had a fascination with fast cars and motorbikes, and raced for Hitachi on the UK saloon car circuit for a few months. He made headlines when he appeared on the BBC children's programme ''Record Breakers'' where he set a world record for the most drums played in under one minute, live on television.

Death

Cozy Powell died on 5 April 1998 following a car crash while driving his Saab 9000 at in bad weather on the M4 motorway near Bristol. According to the BBC report, at the time of the crash, Powell's blood-alcohol reading was over the legal limit, he was not wearing a seatbelt, and he was talking to his girlfriend on his mobile phone. The official investigation also found evidence of a slow puncture in a rear tyre. It was suggested that this could well have caused a sudden collapse of the tyre with a consequent loss of control of the car.

He was living at Lambourn in Berkshire at the time and had returned to the studio shortly before his death to record with Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green. By that time, he had been the drummer on at least 66 albums with minor contributions on many other recordings. Many rock drummers have cited him as a major influence.

Equipment information

Drum set-ups through his career included:

1975–80 (with Rainbow)

According to the inside cover of the Rainbow CD "On Stage" (823 656-2 Y-1) and the back cover of the "On Stage" LP (OY-2-1801), Cozy's kit at the time was a Ludwig Red Sparkle that consisted of: 2x 26"x20" Bass Drums, 2x 14"x10" Rack Toms, 2x 16"x16" Floor Toms, 14"x6½" Metal Symphonic Snare. He also used all cymbals by Paiste which consisted of: 24" Ride (Formula 602), 20" Ride, 18" China-Type, 18" Crash-Ride, 18" Crash, 2x 16" Crash, 15" Crash, 6" splash and 15" Hi-Hats. His hardware consisted of: 6x Ludwig Heavyweight Cymbal Stands, Slingerland Hi-Hat Pedal, and 2x Premier 250 Pedals. All of this was played using Ludwig 3S sticks.

Circa 1983 (with Whitesnake)

Yamaha custom in natural wood finish: Two 26" bass drums, two 15" rack toms, and 18" and 20" floor toms. 14"x6" metal snare. Cymbals (Paiste 2002 series): 24" ride, 18" china, 20" crash-ride, 20" crash,18" crash, 6" splash and 15" hi-hats.

1989 (Black Sabbath)

Yamaha 9000 series custom in black and silver: Two 26" bass drums,6"x16", 8"x18", 13"x9", and 14"x10" rack toms, 18" and 20" floor toms. 14"x6" metal snare. Cymbals (Paiste 3000 series): 24" ride, 18" china, 20" crash-ride, 20" crash, 18" crash, 6" splash, 15" hi-hats and a 36" gong.

Posthumous releases

In October 2005 Powell made a "new" appearance on an album. Former Black Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin released a studio album (''Scream''), and on it is a track named "Raising Hell". This was a track that Powell had recorded the drum track for back when he and Tony were in Hammer in 1992, and gave to Tony for "future use". There are apparently as many as 19 additional drum tracks also recorded that could turn up in the future. Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton has also released material recorded during the 1997 ''Baptizm Of Fire'' sessions; this 2006 collection, entitled ''Edge of the World'', was released under the moniker of Tipton, Entwistle & Powell, in memory of John Entwistle and Powell.

New York Drummer Ken Serio played a tribute to Cozy Powell on his highly acclaimed ''Through The Gate'' CD covering several songs from Cozy's instrumental solo albums including the Bernie Marsden penned "El Sid" from Cozy's ''Over The Top'' album.

Band timeline (not including session work)

Text in bold indicates solo work

The Sorcerers (1967–1968)

Youngblood (1968–1969)

The Ace Kefford Stand (1969)

Big Bertha (1969–1970)

The Jeff Beck Group (1970–1972)

Bedlam (1972–1973)

Cozy Powell (1973–1974)

Cozy Powell's Hammer (1974)

Rainbow (1975–1980)

Cozy Powell (1979)

Graham Bonnet & the Hooligans (1980–1981)

Cozy Powell (1981)

Michael Schenker Group (1981–1982)

Cozy Powell (1982–1983)

Whitesnake (1982–1985)

Emerson, Lake & Powell (1985–1986)

Pete York/Cozy Powell (1987)

Black Sabbath (1988–1991)

The Brian May Band (1991–1992)

Cozy Powell (1992)

Cozy Powell's Hammer (1992–1993)

The Brian May Band (1993–1994)

Black Sabbath (1994–1995)

Peter Green Splinter Group (1997)

Tipton, Entwistle and Powell (1997)

Yngwie Malmsteen (1997)

The Brian May Band (1998)

Peter Green Splinter Group (1998)

The Snakes (1998)

Discography

Solo

''Over the Top'' (1979)

''Tilt'' (1981)

''Octopuss'' (1983)

''The Drums Are Back'' (1992)

''The Best of Cozy Powell'' (1997)

''Especially for You'' (1999)

with The Jeff Beck Group

''Rough & Ready'' (1971)

''Jeff Beck Group'' (1972)

with Bedlam

''Bedlam'' (1973)

with Rainbow

''Rising'' (1976)

''On Stage'' (1977)

''Long Live Rock 'n' Roll'' (1978)

''Down to Earth'' (1979)

''Finyl Vinyl'' (1986)

''Live in Germany'' (1990)

''Live in Munich 1977'' (2006)

with The Michael Schenker Group

''MSG'' (1981)

''One Night at Budokan'' (1982)

with Whitesnake

''Slide It In'' (1984)

with Emerson, Lake & Powell

''Emerson, Lake & Powell'' (1986)

''The Sprocket Sessions'' (2003)

''Live in Concert'' (2003)

with Forcefield

''Forcefield'' (1987)

''Forcefield II: The Talisman'' (1988)

''Forcefield III: To Oz and Back'' (1989)

''Forcefield IV: Let the Wild Run Free'' (1991)

''Forcefield: The Instrumentals'' (1992)

with Black Sabbath

''Headless Cross'' (1989)

''TYR'' (1990)

''Forbidden'' (1995)

''The Sabbath Stones'' (1996)

with Brian May

''Back to the Light'' (1993)

''Live at the Brixton Academy'' (1994)

''Another World'' (1998)

''Red Special'' (1998)

Guest appearances and sessions

Ed Welch – ''Clowns'' (1971)

Harvey Andrews – ''A Writer of Songs'' (1972)

Julie Felix – ''Clotho's Web'' (1972)

Donovan – ''Cosmic Wheels'' (1973)

Chick Churchill – ''You and Me'' (1973)

Murray Head – ''Nigel Lived'' (1973)

Tony Ashton and Jon Lord – ''First of the Big Bands'' (1974)

Bob Sargeant – ''The First Starring Role'' (1974)

Peter Sarstedt – ''Every Word You Say'' (1975)

Various – ''Peter & The Wolf'' (1976)

Hot Chocolate – ''Fourteen Greatest Hits'' (1976)

Bernie Marsden – ''And About Time Too'' (1979)

Bernie Marsden – ''Look at Me Now'' (1981)

Graham Bonnet – ''Line-Up'' (1981)

Jon Lord – ''Before I Forget'' (1982)

Robert Plant – ''Pictures at Eleven'' (1982)

Phenomena – ''Phenomena'' (1985)

Roger Daltrey – ''Under a Raging Moon'' (1985)

Boys Don't Cry – ''Who the Am Dam'' (1987)

Sanne Salomonsen – ''Sanne Salomonsen'' (1987)

Warlock – ''Triumph and Agony'' (1987)

Pete York – ''Super Drumming'' (1987)

Cinderella – ''Long Cold Winter'' (1988)

James Darby – ''Southern Region Breakdown'' (1988)

Don Airey – ''K2: Tales of Triumph and Tragedy'' (1988)

Gary Moore – ''After the War'' (1989)

Minute By Minute – ''Timewatch'' (1989)

Ritchie Blackmore – ''The Connoisseur Collection Vol II'' (1991)

Various – ''The Music of Jimi Hendrix'' (1995)

Glenn Tipton – ''Baptizm of Fire'' (1997)

Peter Green Splinter Group – ''Peter Green Splinter Group'' (1997)

S.A.S. Band – ''SAS Band'' (1997)

Yngwie Malmsteen – ''Facing the Animal'' (1997)

Colin Blunstone – ''The Light Inside'' (1998)

Tony Martin – ''Scream'' (2005)

Tipton, Entwistle & Powell – ''Edge of the World'' (2006)

See also

''Cozy Powell Forever'' – tribute album to Cozy Powell

References

Record Collector magazine #203 (July 1996, Cozy Powell interview & discography)

BBC obituary

External links

Official Cozy Powell web site

Bio on Drummerworld.com

Category:1947 births Category:1998 deaths Category:People from Lambourn Category:People from Cirencester Category:English rock drummers Category:English heavy metal drummers Category:Michael Schenker Group members Category:Rainbow members Category:Whitesnake members Category:ELP members Category:The Gary Moore Band members Category:Blue Murder members Category:Black Sabbath members Category:English session musicians Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Road accident deaths in England

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