
Brian May, 1947
Public figure · July 19, 1947
Brian May
aka Brian Harold May

Brian May, 1947
Public figure · July 19, 1947
aka Brian Harold May
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Brian May is 78 years old, born July 19, 1947 in Hampton · Cancer.
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Brian May is a British musician, astrophysicist, and animal welfare activist born in 1947. He achieved global fame as lead guitarist and backing vocalist of Queen, co-founded with Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, writing hits including "We Will Rock You", "I Want It All", and "The Show Must Go On". May is regarded as a virtuoso guitarist—ranked seventh-greatest of all time in a 2005 Planet Rock poll—known for his distinctive layered sound created on his home-built Red Special guitar. A Cancer with life-path 11, he balances artistic mastery with scientific pursuit: he earned a PhD in astrophysics in 2007 and collaborated with NASA on the New Horizons and OSIRIS-REx missions [F5, birth].
★ FEATURE
Brian May is a British musician, astrophysicist, and animal welfare activist born on 19 July 1947. He co-founded Queen with singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor, joining after performing with Taylor in the progressive rock band Smile. Bass guitarist John Deacon completed the line-up in 1971, and the band achieved historic success with the album A Night at the Opera and its single "Bohemian Rhapsody". From the mid-1970s until 1986, Queen performed at some of the world's biggest venues, including an acclaimed set at Live Aid in 1985.
May wrote numerous hits for the band, including "We Will Rock You", "I Want It All", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "Now I'm Here", "Headlong", "Flash", "Hammer to Fall", "Save Me", "Who Wants to Live Forever", and "The Show Must Go On". After Mercury died in 1991, Queen entered a general hiatus, with May returning for the 1992 tribute concert and co-writing the 1997 single "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)". May and Taylor eventually reconvened Queen with other vocalists.
As a guitarist, May is regarded as a virtuoso with a distinctive sound created through layered guitar work on his home-built electric guitar, the Red Special. In 2005, a Planet Rock poll voted him the seventh-greatest guitarist of all time; he was ranked No. 33 on Rolling Stone's 2023 list of 250 greatest guitarists, and in 2012, Guitar World readers voted him the second-greatest guitarist. May was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Queen in 2001, and the band received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.
Beyond music, May earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London in 2007 and served as Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University from 2008 to 2013. He was a science team collaborator with NASA's New Horizons Pluto mission and co-founded the awareness campaign Asteroid Day; asteroid 52665 Brianmay was named after him. In 2023, May contributed to NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, which achieved the agency's first successful collection and delivery of samples from an asteroid, Bennu. He is also an animal welfare activist, campaigning against fox hunting and badger culling in the UK. May was appointed a CBE in 2005 for services to music and charity, and knighted by King Charles III in the 2023 New Year Honours. A Cancer with life-path 11, May embodies the sign's intuitive depth paired with numerological idealism [birth, F1].
★ ORIGIN
May performed with drummer Roger Taylor in the progressive rock band Smile while at university before Mercury joined to form Queen in 1970.
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LIFE-PATH NUMBER
Master Number — The Visionary
11 carries the qualities of 2 amplified. Highly intuitive, often associated with thought leaders and trend-setters in their fields.
★ ALL LIFE-PATH 11 CELEBS →★ ASTROLOGY
By Chinese zodiac — san-he trine for best matches, opposing pair for the most friction-prone.
Compare Brian May side-by-side at /compare/<a>-vs-<b>.
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