By Jack Davis September 5, 2024 at 8:13am
Brian May, the guitarist for the band Queen, has announced that he recently suffered a stroke.
May is 77, according to the BBC.
“I’m here to bring you, first of all, some good news, I think,” May said in a video posted to his website on Wednesday.
May said, 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.”
Queen guitarist Brian May reveals he suffered stroke, lost control of his arm: ‘I don’t want sympathy’ https://t.co/BR5US8vuqo pic.twitter.com/fni6Z97PPz
— New York Post (@nypost) September 4, 2024
He continued, a “little health hiccup that I mentioned happened about a week ago.
“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,” he said.
Do you like the music of Queen?
May said he had “the most fantastic care and attention from Frimley Hospital where I went blue lights flashing, the lot. Very exciting! I might post you a video if you like.”
May said he held off releasing the news to control the reaction he would get.
“I didn’t want to say anything at the time because I didn’t want anything surrounding, you know. I really don’t want sympathy. Please don’t do that cause it’ll clutter up my inbox, and I hate that.
“So, good news is I’m OK. Just doing what I’m told, which is basically nothing,” he said.
“I’m grounded. I’m not allowed to go out,” he said, looking about him as he spoke outdoors.
“Well, I’m not allowed to drive, not allowed to get on a plane, not allowed to raise the heart rate too high,” he said.
As a plane flew overhead, he joked that he was, “not allowed to have planes flying over, which will stress me. But I’m good.”
As noted by CNN, May was a founding member of Queen, who wrote hits such as “We Will Rock You” and “Who Wants to Live Forever.”
Queen – Who Wants to Live Forever?
The perfect song, and so fitting for Freddie.#Queen #FreddieMercury 🎉 pic.twitter.com/nVPLu0PZHs— (♡ τᎯરεκ ♥)⌒。+♬゛ (@axlrose995) September 5, 2024
In May 2020, May suffered a heart attack and later said that he nearly died afterward due to complications.