Rainbow
Ronnie James Dio and Ritchie Blackmore in Norway, 1977
Background information
Also known as	Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow Blackmore's Rainbow
Origin	England
Genres	Hard rock, heavy metal
Years active	1975–1984 1994–1997
Labels	Polydor, BMG
Associated acts	Deep Purple, Elf, Black Sabbath, Dio, Michael Schenker Group, Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force, Blackmore's Night
Past members
See: Band members

Rainbow (also known as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow or Blackmore's Rainbow) were an English rock band, controlled by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore from 1975 to 1984 and 1994 to 1997. They were originally established with American rock band Elf's members, though over the years Rainbow went through many line-up changes with no two studio albums featuring the same line-up. In addition to lead singers Ronnie James Dio, Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner and Doogie White, the project consisted of numerous backing musicians. The band started out combining mystical lyric themes with neo-classical metal, but went in a more streamlined commercial style following Dio's departure from the group.^[1]

Rainbow were ranked #90 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.^[2]

History[link]

Early years[link]

Ronnie James Dio, the lead vocalist from 1975-79. In addition to writing the music with Ritchie Blackmore, Dio wrote all of the band's lyrics.

In 1974, Ritchie Blackmore publicly disliked the funk/soul (or as Blackmore called it, "shoeshine music") elements being introduced to Deep Purple by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes, as well as the disappointing Stormbringer album where his favourite musical style wasn't adequately captured. Blackmore originally intended to release a solo single, the Steve Hammond-penned "Black Sheep of the Family", with "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" on the B-side. He recorded these during a studio session in Tampa Bay, Florida on 12 December 1974 with singer/lyricist Ronnie James Dio, drummer Gary Driscoll of the blues-rock band Elf, former Procol Harum keyboardist Matthew Fisher, and cellist Hugh McDowell of ELO. Satisfied with the two tracks, Blackmore decided to make a solo album, replacing the keyboardist and bassist with Elf members Micky Lee Soule and Craig Gruber, respectively. The full album was recorded in Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany in about 3 weeks in February 1975. Though it was originally thought to be a solo album, the record was billed as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Blackmore decided to leave Deep Purple and form his own band Rainbow. The name of the band was inspired by the Rainbow Bar and Grill in Hollywood that catered to rock stars, groupies and rock enthusiasts.^[3]

Rainbow's debut album, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, was released in 1975 and featured the minor hit "Man on the Silver Mountain". This first line-up never performed live. Blackmore and Dio did promotional work for the album.

Rainbow's music was partly inspired by classical music since Blackmore started playing cello to help him construct interesting chord progressions,^[5][6] and Dio wrote lyrics about medieval themes. Dio possessed a versatile vocal range capable of singing both hard rock and lighter ballads. Although Dio never played a musical instrument on any Rainbow album, he is credited with writing and arranging the music with Blackmore, in addition to writing all the lyrics himself.^[7][8][9]

Blackmore fired everybody except Dio shortly after the album was recorded, due to Gary Driscoll's R&B style of drumming and the funky bass playing of Craig Gruber. Micky Lee Soule quit due to Blackmore's decisions, and Blackmore recruited Cozy Powell, Jeff Beck's drummer, bassist Jimmy Bain, and American keyboard player Tony Carey. This line-up went on to record the next album Rising. This line-up also commenced the first world tour for the band, with the first US dates in late 1975. Album art was designed by famed fantasy artist Ken Kelly, who had drawn Tarzan and Conan the Barbarian.^[10][11]

By the time of the European dates in the summer of 1976, Rainbow's reputation as a blistering live act was already established. Blackmore subsequently decided that Bain was substandard and fired him in January 1977. The same fate befell Tony Carey shortly after. Blackmore, however, had difficulty finding replacements he liked. On keyboards, after auditioning several high profile artists, including Vanilla Fudge's Mark Stein, Procol Harum's Matthew Fisher and ex-Curved Air and Roxy Music man Eddie Jobson, Blackmore finally selected Canadian David Stone, from the little-known band Symphonic Slam. For a bass player, Blackmore originally chose Mark Clarke, formerly of Jon Hiseman's Colosseum, Uriah Heep and Tempest, but once in the studio for the next album, Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, Blackmore disliked Clarke's fingerstyle method of playing so much that he fired Clarke on the spot and played bass himself on all but four songs: the album's title track, "Gates of Babylon", "Kill the King", and "Sensitive to Light". Former Widowmaker bassist, Australian Bob Daisley was hired to record these tracks, completing the band's next line-up.

After the release and extensive world tour in 1977–78, Blackmore decided that he wanted to take the band in a new commercial direction away from the "sword and sorcery" theme.^[12] Dio did not agree with this change and left Rainbow.

Commercial success[link]

Graham Bonnet, the lead vocalist on Down to Earth, in 2008. With Bonnet, Rainbow reached UK chart success with "Since You Been Gone".

Blackmore attempted to replace Dio with Ian Gillan, but Gillan turned him down. After a series of auditions, former vocalist/guitarist of The Marbles, Graham Bonnet was recruited instead. Powell stayed, but Daisley and Stone were both fired, the latter being replaced by keyboardist Don Airey. At first the band auditioned bass players, but at Cozy Powell's suggestion Blackmore hired then-former Deep Purple member Roger Glover as a producer, bassist and lyricist.^[13] The first album from the new line-up, Down to Earth, featured the band's first major singles chart successes, "All Night Long" and the Russ Ballard-penned "Since You Been Gone". In 1980, the band headlined the inaugural 'Monsters of Rock' festival at Castle Donington in England. However, this was Powell's last Rainbow gig, as he had already given his notice to quit, disliking Blackmore's increasingly pop rock direction. Bonnet was fired the night Powell quit due to a drunken performance. Soon after, he would join the Michael Schenker Group. Bonnet was fired from MSG due to similar problems as with Rainbow.

Joe Lynn Turner in 2008. The Turner-fronted "Stone Cold" was Rainbow's only Top 40 hit in the United States.

For the next album, Bonnet and Powell were replaced by Americans Joe Lynn Turner and Bobby Rondinelli, respectively. The title track from the album, Difficult to Cure, was a version of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The album spawned their most successful UK single, "I Surrender" (another Ballard song), which reached No.3. It also contained the guitar piece, "Maybe Next Time". After the supporting tour, Don Airey quit over musical direction and was replaced on keyboards by David Rosenthal.

The band attained significant airplay on Album-oriented rock radio stations in the US with the track "Jealous Lover", reaching #13 on Billboard Magazine's Rock Tracks chart, which tracked AOR airplay. Originally issued as the B-side to "Can't Happen Here", "Jealous Lover" subsequently became the title track to an EP issued in the US that featured very similar cover art to "Difficult to Cure".

Rainbow's next full length studio album was Straight Between the Eyes. The album was more cohesive than Difficult to Cure, and had more success in the United States. The band, however, was alienating some of its earlier fans with its more AOR sound.^[1] The single, "Stone Cold", was a ballad that had some chart success (#1 on Billboard Magazine's Rock Tracks chart) and the video of which received heavy airplay on MTV. The successful supporting tour skipped the UK completely and focused on the American market. A date in San Antonio, Texas on this tour was filmed, and the resulting "Live Between the Eyes" also received repeated showings on MTV.

Bent Out of Shape saw drummer Rondinelli fired in favour of former Balance drummer Chuck Burgi. The album featured the single "Street of Dreams". According to Blackmore's biography on his official web site, the song's video was banned by MTV for its supposedly controversial hypnotic video clip.^[14] However, Dr. Thomas Radecki of the National Coalition on Television Violence criticised MTV for airing the video, which would contradict Blackmore's claim.^[15] The resulting tour saw Rainbow return to the UK, and also to Japan in March 1984 where the band performed "Difficult to Cure" with a full orchestra. The concert was also filmed.

Dissolution and temporary revival[link]

Ritchie Blackmore, the bandleader and lead guitarist, signing autographs in 1997.

A then-Rainbow's management Thames Talent made a resounding offer to reform Deep Purple MKII. By April 1984, Rainbow were disbanded. A then-final Rainbow album, Finyl Vinyl, was pieced together from live tracks and B-sides of singles. The album contained the instrumental "Weiss Heim", widely available for the first time. In 1993, Blackmore left Deep Purple permanently due to "creative differences" with other members, and reformed a new Rainbow with all-new members featuring Scottish singer Doogie White. The band released Stranger in Us All in 1995, and embarked on a lengthy world tour.

The tour proved very successful, and a show in Germany was professionally filmed by Rockpalast. It has never officially been released, but has been heavily bootlegged (and considered by many collectors to be the best Rainbow bootleg of the era). The live shows featured frequent changes in set lists, and musical improvisations that proved popular with bootleggers and many shows are still traded over a decade later.

However, Blackmore turned his attention to his long-time musical passion, Renaissance and medieval music. Rainbow were put on hold once again, after playing its final concert in Esbjerg, Denmark in 1997. Blackmore, together with his partner Candice Night as vocalist, then formed the Renaissance-influenced Blackmore's Night. Around the same time as production of Stranger in Us All (1995), they were already gearing up their debut album Shadow of the Moon (1997).^[16]

In late 1997, Cozy Powell approached Ritchie Blackmore to see if he would be interested in reforming the Rising line-up of Rainbow. Due to everyone's prior commitments, this proposed reunion was intended to last for just one tour, and by early 1998, both Dio and Blackmore had almost given the project the green light. However, Powell's death in April 1998 brought about the demise of the long-anticipated reunion. In the following decade many other rumours appeared in various web sources about a future Dio/Blackmore Rainbow project, but both men quickly dispelled these rumours as having no basis in fact. Dio's death from stomach cancer on 16 May 2010 made such a reunion impossible.

Rainbow songs after 1997[link]

Many Rainbow songs have been performed live by former members of the band since the group's split in 1984 and then in 1997, particularly former frontmen, Ronnie James Dio, Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner in recent years. Also, Don Airey often plays 1979-1981 era songs during his solo shows. Blackmore's Night occasionally performs one or two Rainbow songs live.

In 2002–2004 the Hughes Turner Project played a number of Rainbow songs at their concerts. On 9 August 2007 Joe Lynn Turner and Graham Bonnet played a tribute to Rainbow show in Helsinki, Finland. The concert consisted of songs from the 1979-1983 era.

Rainbow fans would be also interested in the White Noise DVD (featuring former Rainbow singer Doogie White) titled "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" (recorded in 2004 and released in 2005). It is the only release by the band White Noise. This was a DVD filmed on their support stint with progressive rock band Uriah Heep. The show consisted of mostly Rainbow songs from their 1995 album Stranger in Us All but featured arrangements of other songs including Mostly Autumn's 'Never the Rainbow'.

In 2009, Joe Lynn Turner, Bobby Rondinelli, Greg Smith and Tony Carey created the touring tribute band Over The Rainbow with Jürgen Blackmore (Ritchie's son) as the guitarist. Over The Rainbow perform songs from every era of the band's history. After the first tour Tony Carey had to bow out for health reasons. There was a very big show planned for OTR, Sweden Rocks. Joe Lynn Turner reached out to Paul Morris, and it was accomplished with rave reviews. OTR then went on in there new line up with Paul Morris on keyboards, and did a USA, European, and Russian tours. All very successful. The band were disbanded at the end of 2010. JR Blackmore has since gone on to record a new CD with JR Blackmore and Paul Morris producing and playing keys on it called "Voices". It has been stated that a world tour is in the works

Band members[link]

Founding members listed in bold.

Lineups[link]

Timeline[link]

 id:Guitars             value:blue        legend:Guitars
 id:Vocals              value:green       legend:Lead vocals
 id:Vocals;Guitars      value:brightgreen legend:Lead vocals, Rhythm Guitar
 id:Bass                value:gray(0.3)   legend:Bass
 id:Bass;Vocals         value:gray(0.65)  legend:Bass, Background Vocals
 id:Drums               value:purple      legend:Drums
 id:Keyboards           value:orange      legend:Keyboards
 id:Keyboards;Vocals    value:yellow      legend:Keyboards, Background Vocals
 id:Lines               value:black       legend:Studio albums

 at:08/04/1975 color:black layer:back
 at:05/17/1976 color:black layer:back
 at:04/09/1978 color:black layer:back
 at:07/28/1979 color:black layer:back
 at:02/03/1981 color:black layer:back
 at:06/10/1982 color:black layer:back
 at:08/24/1983 color:black layer:back
 at:08/21/1995 color:black layer:back

 bar:Blackmore text:"Ritchie Blackmore"

 bar:Dio text:"Ronnie James Dio"
 bar:Bonnet text:"Graham Bonnet"
 bar:Turner text:"Joe Lynn Turner"
 bar:White text:"Doogie White"

 bar:Gruber text:"Craig Gruber"
 bar:Bain text:"Jimmy Bain"
 bar:Clarke text:"Mark Clarke"
 bar:Daisley text:"Bob Daisley"
 bar:Green text:"Jack Green"
 bar:Glover text:"Roger Glover"
 bar:Smith text:"Greg Smith"

 bar:Driscoll text:"Gary Driscoll"
 bar:Powell text:"Cozy Powell"
 bar:Rondinelli text:"Bobby Rondinelli"
 bar:Burgi text:"Chuck Burgi"
 bar:OReilly text:"John O'Reilly"
 bar:Micelli text:"John Micelli"

 bar:Soule text:"Micky Lee Soule"
 bar:Carey text:"Tony Carey"
 bar:Stone text:"David Stone"
 bar:Airey text:"Don Airey"
 bar:Rosenthal text:"David Rosenthal"
 bar:Morris text:"Paul Morris"

 width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(12,-6)

 bar:Blackmore from:01/01/1975 till:03/31/1984 color:Guitars
 bar:Blackmore from:08/01/1994 till:end color:Guitars

 bar:Dio from:01/01/1975 till:08/31/1978 color:Vocals
 bar:Bonnet from:03/01/1979 till:08/31/1980 color:Vocals
 bar:Turner from:10/01/1980 till:03/31/1984 color:Vocals;Guitars
 bar:White from:08/01/1994 till:end color:Vocals

 bar:Gruber from:02/20/1975 till:07/31/1975 color:Bass
 bar:Bain from:09/01/1975 till:12/31/1976 color:Bass
 bar:Clarke from:02/01/1977 till:05/31/1977 color:Bass
 bar:Daisley from:08/01/1977 till:08/10/1978 color:Bass;Vocals
 bar:Green from:08/11/1978 till:08/31/1978 color:Bass
 bar:Glover from:03/01/1979 till:03/31/1984 color:Bass;Vocals
 bar:Smith from:08/01/1994 till:end color:Bass;Vocals

 bar:Soule from:02/20/1975 till:07/31/1975 color:Keyboards
 bar:Carey from:09/01/1975 till:05/31/1977 color:Keyboards
 bar:Stone from:08/01/1977 till:08/31/1978 color:Keyboards
 bar:Airey from:03/01/1979 till:09/30/1981 color:Keyboards;Vocals
 bar:Rosenthal from:10/01/1981 till:03/31/1984 color:Keyboards
 bar:Morris from:08/01/1994 till:end color:Keyboards

 bar:Driscoll from:02/20/1975 till:07/31/1975 color:Drums
 bar:Powell from:09/01/1975 till:08/31/1980 color:Drums
 bar:Rondinelli from:10/01/1980 till:06/30/1983 color:Drums
 bar:Burgi from:08/01/1983 till:03/31/1984 color:Drums
 bar:OReilly from:08/01/1994 till:09/15/1995 color:Drums
 bar:Burgi from:09/16/1995 till:12/31/1996 color:Drums
 bar:Micelli from:01/01/1997 till:end color:Drums

Discography[link]

• Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (1975)
• Rising (1976)
• On Stage (1977)
• Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978)
• Down to Earth (1979)
• Difficult to Cure (1981)
• Straight Between the Eyes (1982)
• Bent Out of Shape (1983)
• Finyl Vinyl (1986)
• Stranger in Us All (1995)

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Roy Davies, Rainbow Rising - The Story of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (Helter Skelter, 2002)
• Martin Popoff, Rainbow - English Castle Magic (Metal Blade, 2005)
• Jerry Bloom, Black Knight - Ritchie Blackmore (Omnibus Press, 2006)
• Jerry Bloom, Long Live Rock 'n' Roll Story (Wymer Publishing, 2009)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rainbow (band)

• The Rainbow Fanclan Legacy
• Rainbow (band) at Allmusic

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

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

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

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

Early life[link]

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

Career[link]

Smile[link]

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

Queen[link]

May (right) on stage with Queen in 1979.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Solo work and The Brian May Band[link]

May playing his Red Special

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

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

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

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

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

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

Later solo work[link]

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

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

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

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

2005 Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour

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

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

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

Highlights[link]

Brian May in 1979

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

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

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

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

Other instruments[link]

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

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

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

Musician[link]

May tapping.

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

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

—Brian May^[54]

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

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

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

Equipment[link]

Brian May performing in Frankfurt in 2005

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May's lead vocals in Queen[link]

Personal life[link]

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

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

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

Astrophysics[link]

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

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

Activist[link]

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

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

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

Stereophotography[link]

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

Discography[link]

Queen (band) portal

Albums

Studio albums

Live albums

Bibliography[link]

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

References[link]

External links[link]

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Queen (band) portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Brian May

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