You know Brian May as the frizzy-headed guitar-playing genius in Queen. But he’s also a PhD-in-astrophysics-holding chancellor at Liverpool John Moores University, a family man, and a tireless activist for his favorite causes.
In fact, May is out on the road now — but not with Queen. He’s in South Africa, hoping to raise awareness about the plight of big cats through Pride of Cape Town. Previously, May has fought to save hedgehogs in his native England, started Save Me to promote humane treatment of hunting dogs and badgers, and has also been involved with the Born Free wildlife campaign.
It’s not hard to see why May hasn’t been as active in recording, either as a solo artist or with Queen. His band has continued on with a series of guest singers in place of the late Freddie Mercury, with plans to appear this summer with American Idol finalist Adam Lambert. May also made a one-off appearance recently with space music-pioneers Tangerine Dream.
May hasn’t put out an new original studio solo project, however, since 1998’s Another World — though he’s done some soundtrack work since. Queen hasn’t issued an album since May and fellow band co-founder Roger Taylor
collaborated with Paul Rodgers on 2008’s The Cosmos Rocks. (Their last work with Mercury dates back to 1995, when they fashioned Made in Heaven out of some left over sessions.)
There’s a reason for that.
“I am dedicated to the welfare of animals. These days I spend more time campaigning for animal rights than I do on music,” May said told The Times. “My biggest difficulty is trying to juggle everything in my life. Time is a big problem. My family comes first, and then my devotion to helping animals. I love making music, but I no longer have much time to do that.”
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