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Brian May, lead guitarist of the rock band Queen, wrote the song "We are the Champions," applying his physics background in the recording studio.
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Freddie Mercury - Full Biography (44:46)
Queen: Days of Our Lives - Full Episode
The story of Queen is an inspiring, sometimes tragic, and honest story of four school friends who conquered the music world, selling an astonishing 300 million records.
Freddie Mercury - Musical Legacy
Lesley-Ann Jones, author of "Mercury," describes Freddie Mercury's personality both on and off stage, as well as his legacy as a musician and the lead singer of Queen. Video courtesy of Simon & Schuster © 2012.
Freddie Mercury - Full Biography
Born in Zanzibar to Indian parents, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury became a rock legend with songs like "Bohemian Rhapsody." Queen's album sales rival the Beatles, with Mercury's four octave range contributing to the band's success.
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Play NowBrian May. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 07:58, May 24, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/brian-may-20970809.
Brian May. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/brian-may-20970809 [Accessed 24 May 2013].
"Brian May." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 24 2013, 07:58 http://www.biography.com/people/brian-may-20970809.
"Brian May," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/brian-may-20970809 [accessed May 24, 2013].
"Brian May," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/brian-may-20970809 (accessed May 24, 2013).
Brian May [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 24] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/brian-may-20970809.
Brian May, http://www.biography.com/people/brian-may-20970809 (last visited May 24, 2013).
Brian May. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/brian-may-20970809. Accessed May 24, 2013.
The hit single "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" was released the same year, receiving critical acclaim. By 1985, the band had reached its peak and was beginning to decline in popularity. Still, Queen managed to release some platinum albums until tragedy struck May and the band in 1991, when leader singer Freddie Mercury died of AIDS. In the wake of Mercury's passing, May and the band established the Mercury Phoenix Trust,
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an AIDS-relief charity.
In 2005, May and former Queen member Roger Taylor reunited for a tour, with Paul Rodgers on vocals. They released a studio album, Cosmo Rocks, in 2008. In 2012, May and Taylor returned to the stage once again, this time with Adam Lambert on vocals.
Personal Life
May has one son, Jimmy, and two daughters, Louisa and Emily, with wife Chrissie Mullen, whom he married in 1974.
Aside from his musical career and family life, May has retained a life-long interest in astrophysics. In 2008, he went back to school to earn his long-awaited Ph.D. May is also an avid collector of stereoscopic photography.
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