Born on July 19: Brian May (Queen), the monarch among the Stars

Brian May remains, now and always, the world’s only astrophysicist guitarist

It’s always risky to tackle a living legend. Not that I mean Brian May —who is celebrating his 79th birthday today—any harm. But where to begin this story?

Let’s start by recalling that his first band, formed in 1967, was called Smile and already included Roger Taylor, who would later become Queen’s drummer. Fun fact: Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood, both former members of Radiohead, chose an almost identical name for their latest project in 2020: The Smile. The English singer recently responded by saying he was inspired by a poem by Ted Hughes. Fair enough!

Brian May is the Queen member with the largest fortune. In 2023, his net worth was estimated at approximately $260 million (just under 240 million euros). This comes as no surprise, since he composed most of Queen’s greatest hits, such as “We Will Rock You,” “I Want It All,” “Save Me,” “Who Wants To Live Forever,” “Tie Your Mother Down,” and “I’m Here.”

He regularly tops the rankings of the world’s greatest guitarists—a favorite feature of the American magazine Rolling Stone. There, he ranks alongside Jimi Hendrix, Angus Young (AC/DC), Pete Townshend (The Who), David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), and Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin). In his eyes, Page is, in fact, “one of the great brains of rock music.” He has one additional distinguishing feature, however: he plays most of the time on the Red Special, the nickname he gives to the guitars he builds with his own hands.

Ever since his studies at Imperial College London in 1965, he has confessed to another passion: astrophysics. Queen’s success obviously prevented him from presenting and defending his doctoral dissertation until 2007. We’ll spare you the details and the title of his thesis. Suffice it to say that terms like “radial velocity” and “absorption spectroscopy” are used in it.

Let’s wrap up by listening to some of Brian May’s exemplary solos once again: “Sheer Heart Attack” for its hard rock vibe and “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1975), starting at 2 minutes and 25 seconds.

The former Queen guitarist suffered a minor cardiovascular incident in late 2024 that temporarily paralyzed his left arm. In March 2026, however, he joined the young pop star Benson Boone (55 years his junior) on stage to perform two Queen songs with him. Determined to slow down to protect his health, he gave up grueling world tours for good but continued to delve into Queen’s archives. He recently dusted off “Not For Sale (Polar Bear),” the origins of which date back to 1969 (during the “Smile” era). The song wasn’t finally recorded until 1974 and was only unveiled in the collector’s edition of the album “Queen II,” released in March 2026.

Photo: Brian May with Queen on stage at Forest-National in Brussels (Belgium) on September 21, 1984