Queen Guitarist Brian May Reveals He Suffered a ‘Scary’ Minor Stroke
Brian May, the guitarist of Queen, has revealed he recently dealt with a “health hiccup.” In a video posted to his website today, the musician detailed how he suffered a minor stroke that caused him to lose control over his arm.
“I’m here to bring you first of all some good news, I think,” May said in the video. “The 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 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 it 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.”
He added that he is now okay and has been told to do “basically nothing.” “I’m grounded. I’m not allowed to go out,” May said, filming the video outdoors with a plane flying overhead. “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 explained that he chose not to reveal the stroke at the time to avoid sympathy. “Please don’t do that because it’ll clutter up my inbox and I hate that,” he noted.”
May previously suffered a heart attack in 2020 that left him “very near death.” It was part of a complicated medical ordeal for the guitarist, who was hospitalized after ripping his gluteus maximus in what he calls a “bizarre gardening accident.” That incident left May in debilitating pain that puzzled his doctors. “No other test were done,” he said in an Instagram post. “Now, a week later, [I was] still in agony. I mean, real agony. I wanted to jump at some point. I could not believe the pain.”
“In the middle of the whole saga of the whole painful backside, I had a small heart attack,” he confirmed. “I say ‘small,’ you know — it’s not something that did me any harm. It was about 40 minutes of pain in the chest and tightness and that feeling in the arms and sweating.” The musician has since returned to touring, although he said at the time that the incident left him “very near death.”
Last year, May was knighted by King Charles III for his contributions to music and charity. The guitarist posted a photo of himself taking the ceremonial sword to his shoulders, writing that he had “no words” to describe the honor.