Brian May

Brian May playing on his guitar, the Red Special

The hero that I have chosen to write about is Brian May. Although he is not one of the more well-known heroes like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., he has revolutionized the music industry and has made a positive difference in my life.

Brian May is a guitarist who played for the famous band, Queen. Born in Hampton, Middlesex on July 1947, May’s interest in music began early. His first instruments were the ukulele and piano. Then at seven, May received his first guitar. Soon, May and his father began working on a custom guitar. Two years later, it was finished. Later known as the Red Special, it was May's trademark.

Brian’s career in music began in secondary school when he formed his first group, the instrument band "1984". The band started to play around London and even opened a 1967 show at the Olympia Theatre that involved musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, and Pink-Floyd. However, May left the group in 1968 while he was in college.

Later in college, he met with Roger Taylor, who later became Queen’s drummer, and Tim Staffel, a bassist/vocalist from “1984”. With these three, the band “Smile” was created. After finishing college with honors in physics and math, May decided to devote himself to the band after they signed on with Mercury Records. Although the band showed great promise, they were only able to release one single and some unreleased tracks due to Staffel leaving the band. Fortunately, Staffel's friend joined the band to replace him. His name was Freddie Mercury and he would be the future singer for Queen. With a new band member, they changed the name of the band to “Queen”, and they decided to create a new kind of music: heavy rock mixed with ballads.

Now that Queen was established, the band was only missing one thing: a bassist. After going through many bassists, John Deacon became their permanent member. Thanks to the addition of John Deacon, Queen got a recording contract with EMI/Elektra. May finally found a steady group to stay in and, over the years, Queen released many songs after their debut in 1973. By the mid 70s, Queen had become one of the world’s biggest acts.

One thing that separated Queen from many other groups was that all the members contributed and made songs. However, the band decided to share all the songs' credits equally. May wrote some of Queen's most famous hits, such as “We Will Rock You” and “Now I’m Here”.

After Queen separated due to the tragic death of Freddy Mercury, May still produced some music, however, one thing that he did and that made him my hero was that he continued his education and eventually received his PhD in astrophysics. Even after being extremely successful as a musician, May continued on and accomplished more great things.

Brian May receiving his PhD

Even now, Brian May is still contributing in astrophysics through books. His whole career as a revolutionary musician is fascinating to me, and the fact that he did not give up after multiple band breakups is also inspiring. During his whole life, May made sure that every day was packed full and did not let anything stop him. Like Brian May, I also want to make the most of my life and, hopefully, accomplish many things like him.