Brian May's Real Name: Brian Harold May

Quick answer: Brian May's full name is Brian Harold May. He was born on July 19, 1947, in Hampton, Middlesex, England. He was knighted in 2023, so he is now formally Sir Brian May (Britannica; Queen Online).

The Red Special

May's father, Harold, was a draughtsman and electronics engineer. Together they built the Red Special guitar starting in 1963, using wood from an old fireplace mantel. May has played it on nearly every Queen record, using an old sixpence coin in place of a pick.

Queen

At Imperial College London, where he studied physics and mathematics, May formed the band Smile with drummer Roger Taylor. In 1970 they joined singer Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara) to form Queen, and bassist John Deacon joined in 1971. May wrote many of the band's hits:

• "We Will Rock You" (1977)
• "Fat Bottomed Girls" (1978)
• "Hammer to Fall" (1984)
• "Who Wants to Live Forever" (1986)
• "The Show Must Go On" (1991)

Queen was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 (Rock Hall). After Mercury's death in 1991, May and Taylor kept Queen going, first with Paul Rodgers and since 2011 with singer Adam Lambert.

Dr. Brian May, astrophysicist

May had started a PhD in astrophysics in the early 1970s but set it aside for Queen. He completed it at Imperial College in 2007, with a thesis on radial velocities in the zodiacal dust cloud. He has worked with NASA's New Horizons and OSIRIS-REx missions on stereoscopic images, and he co-founded Asteroid Day. An asteroid, 52665 Brianmay, is named after him.

Activism and honors

May campaigns on animal welfare, including against the UK badger cull, through his Save Me Trust. He was made a CBE in 2005 and a Knight Bachelor in the 2023 New Year Honours, for services to music and charity (UK Government). He married actress Anita Dobson in 2000.