Brian May has suffered a stroke, which temporarily halted him from being able to play the guitar.
The former lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen revealed the shocking news in a video he uploaded to his website and his Instagram account.
Newsweek emailed a spokesperson May for comment on Wednesday.
“I’m here to bring you first of all some good news. I think good news is that I can play guitar after the events of the last few days and I say this because it was in some doubt because that little health hiccup that I mentioned happened about a week ago,” he said in the video.
“And what they called it was a minor stroke and all of a sudden—out of the blue—I didn’t have any control over this arm so was a little scary. I have to say I had the most fantastic care and attention from Frimley Hospital where I went blue lights flashing, the lot. Very exciting!”
Sir Brian May attends the “Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration” in July. In a video May uploaded to his website and Instagram account, the guitarist said he’d had a stroke.
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/GETTY
May explained that he didn’t say anything at the time of the stroke because he didn’t want any sympathy and didn’t want messages cluttering up his inbox, which he says he hates.
He added: “So, good news is I’m okay. Just doing what I’m told which is basically nothing. I’m grounded, I’m not allowed to go out—well, I’m not allowed to drive, not allowed to get on a plane, not allowed to raise the heart rate too high, not allowed to have planes flying over, which will stress me. But I’m good.”
The musician—who is also an animal rights activist—shared the news while discussing his documentary, Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers and Me, which details the musician’s decade-long campaign to end the U.K. badger cull.
“Um, the other news is our documentary has been very much in our minds and we had some great reactions from farmers particularly—also from wildlife people of course, because we’re very much in that corner still,” May continued in the video.
“But the documentary was really about the farmers, as people discovered to their surprise, I think, and it’s no surprise to me that we are not at odds at all with the farmers.
“We are at odds with the people who have been feeding them the wrong information. Which, excuse me, is the whole deal really and we’ve been attacked very strongly from some quarters, and you have to look very carefully because the people who are shouting the most of course are the people who feel most threatened.”
When the guitarist shared the video on Instagram, he said in the caption that his documentary has “plenty of bombshells” as well as “plenty of great new insights” which he hopes will give farmers new ammunition in their fight against bovine tuberculosis (bTB), which is an infectious disease of cattle. Badgers can carry and transmit bovine tuberculosis to cattle, but they are not the primary cause of the disease.
“Every criticism that’s been leveled at us is answerable. And to shorten the film from 4 hours to an hour, a lot had to be left out or simplified,” May wrote.
“For anyone who’s interested to know more or discuss constructively, we WILL be founding ‘Save Me TB Management’—hopefully running informal workshops to make interested farmers aware of their available options to break out of the interminable misery that current TB policies have brought. Anybody who’s happy with the present situation, of course, won’t need to join us !!! Best wishes to all.”
People took to the comments to share their well wishes as well as congratulate him on the documentary.
“So glad that you are well and recovering fully. [two heart emojis] and congratulations on how the documentary was received. Praying for your continued healing and for further success on your fight against badger culling,” one person wrote.
“Brian, I don’t want to clutter up your inbox, so-to-speak, but I do want to say that I’m very happy to hear that you’re doing so well! Strokes, large or small, as you know, are serious business and I hope you will heed your doc’s orders in every way, as frustrating as they may be! We want you to stay healthy for a long, lonnnnng time to come!!! I’ll be keeping you in heart and prayer, now and throughout the days to come, dear Dr. Sir Brian May, CBE!!! Simply put, you are greatly loved, Brian!!!” said another.
A third person added: “Thanks for the update… Sending every best wish for a full recovery and hoping you’ll be off restrictions soon. I know it’s not in your nature to be idle for very long… Allow yourself to rest and recover. Keeping you in my prayers. Xx, Jane.”
Update 09/04/24, 03:40 a.m. ET: This article was updated with further context and information.
