Over the years, Brian May has built up a reputation as being one of the country's top guitar craftsmen, but the silvery tones of Mr. Mercury tended to overshadow Brian's own delicate voice, which made a memorable appearance in the elegant Queen single, "Who Wants To Live Forever". Roger Taylor meanwhile, was the member with the most ambition outside of the group, having fronted his own band as early as 1966, and carved out a solo career with his 80s group, the Cross, who took Queen's rock sound as the template for their own hard edged approach.

With such a hugely talented group as Queen to work with, it's no wonder that Brian May was something of a late starter when it came to solo work. For a long time, he amused himself "out of school hours" by gusting on other people's records, both as performer and producer.

 His most well known productions must be Anita Dobson's "Talking Of Love", and demonstrating his sense of humor, the 1991 Comic Relief charity single, "The Stonk", by Hale and Pace, and the infamous cover of the legendary "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Comic Strip comedians Bad News. The most collectable Brian May production must be for Japanese Minako Honda's "Golden Days", 7" promos of which are worth around £150.

DIVERSE

A full list of Brian's guest appearances would fill a whole article of its own (and in fact did back in 1997, in RC 220, in which we compiled the great lost Brian May album), but the man with the Red Special guitar has appeared on tracks as diverse as Lonnie Donegan's "Putting On The Style" in 1978, "Self" by 80s girl band Fuzzbox, Holly Johnson's "Love Train" in 1989, "Blow The House Down" by Living In A Box, and tracks by Cozy Powell, Extreme, Judie Tzuke and Carmine Appice's array of axe-wielding greats, "Guitar Zeus" in 1996. May's work on the "Radio Voices" album by Chris Thompson means that this record can now fetch about £60, and his appearance on Meat Loaf's little-known 1987 "Time For Heroes" single, released to benefit the USA Special Olympics charity, has ensured that several issues of this record have reached our Brian solo Top 20.

Although Brian May's solo career proper didn't really begin until around the time of Freddie Mercury's death in 1991, his first major work outside Queen was the enigmatically named Star Fleet Project. Initially a loose jam session with friends at LA's Record Plant studio in April 1983, the group eventually boasted Brian and Eddie Van Halen on guitars, keyboardist Fred Mandell, REO Speedwagon drummer Alan Gratzer and bassist Philip Chen.

 A lengthy jam, later entitled "Bluesbreaker" was recorded, but May marshaled the band into attempting a cover version of the theme tune to the children's sci-fi TV series, Star Fleet - apparently a great favorite of Brian's son Jimmy. The sessions also produced a version of an old May number, "Let Me Out". The three finished tracks were collected on the mini-LP "Star Fleet Project", released in October 1983. While the UK edition of the album is now worth £20, a luxurious Japanese release is now valued at £50.

May decided to complete the 1980s as a full-time member of Queen, with only the odd guest appearance or production job here or there. It wasn't until 1991 that the possibility of another solo project was mooted. That summer, Brian had been approached by advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather to write a song for their new Ford Motor Compay TV campaign. Intrigued by the commission, Brian came up with "Driven By You", which hit the airwaves in July, and was successful enough to warrant a single release. Unfortunately the date was fixed as 25th November 1991, just one day after the tragic death of Freddie. Although May had expressed his doubts as to the timing of the release, the seriously ill Freddie insisted that Brian should go ahead regardless of his condition, quipping that his death would boost sales!

AFTERMATH

With this offbeat encouragement, May threw himself into working on his own solo album in the immediate aftermath of Mercury's death. The follow-up single, "Too Much Love Will Kill You" was emotionally premiered at the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert at Wembley during Easter 1992, and the accompanying album, "Back To The Light", featured guest appearances from the late drummer Cozy Powell and Def Leppard's Joe Elliot. Among the numerous promos for the "Too Much" single came a special bottle of non-alcoholic wine given away at the album launch! It's not clear what this had to do with the song, but expect to pay around £150 for the privilege of owning one...

In between "Back To The Light" and the 1998 follow-up, "Another World", came a multitude of different projects for Brian. He was commissioned to provide the theme tune to the ITV comedy drama series Frank Stubbs Promotes in 1993 entitled "The Business" which has appeared on a handful of CD acetates, while his theme for the second series, "On My Way Up" hasn't been officially aired.

Another major project was the soundtrack to the 1996 film, The Adventures Of Pinocchio, for which May provided songs and incidental music. The epic eight-minute "Il Colosso" was penciled in as a single and the US record company sent out unique shaped picture CDs to radio stations. However, the stations' auto changer players couldn't handle the Pinocchio-shaped discs and the entire print run was reportedly destroyed. However, those that sneaked out are now worth £150.

With Brian currently conducting Queen business after the release of "Greatest Hits III", it may be some time before we hear the next installment of the May solo saga. However, history proves you can't keep a good man down...
 
 

Brian May
Top 20 Worldwide Rarities

	Title
1)	COCA COLA PRESENTS BRIAN MAY LIVE (PL BRIM 0101, Australia, CD-R issued for exclusive Coca Cola broadcast, 1996)
2)	THE ALBUM NETWORKS PRESENTS BRIAN MAY (Hollywood, no cat no, US 2-CD-R radio special for Rock 103.5 Chicago in plain p/s, with program log and cue sheets, broadcast 10-13 September 1998)
3)	THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO (FCM 961019, France, picture CD, multi-media press kit with unique p/s, France 1996)
4)	ANOTHER WORLD (EMI 494 973 1, LP, picture disc/white vinyl test pressing, 1998)
5)	DRIVEN BY YOU (EMI B-MAY MPD-1, UK, CD test pressing with slightly different mix, 19998)
6)	THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO: Il Colosso / Kiss Lonely Goodbye (BOD DOGO 1000-006, US, withdrawn promo, shaped picture CD, p/s, 1996
7)	LIVE AT BRIXTON ACADEMY(Toshiba EMI TOLW-3178, Japan 12" laserdisc with p/s and obi, 1993)
8)	ANOTHER WORLD (EMI, UK, 20.5 cm x 14.5 cm promo box with album sleeve, containing video EPK, CD, 4-page press release and 3 promo photographs, 1998, also press pack in special envelope, with album sleeve and release info on the back, contains CD with promotional sticker on reverse, album information and a slide of the album cover with company prints, 1998)
9)	DRIVEN BY YOU (Edited) / Pollarded) / (Special) / (Proper) (EMI RDJ 6304, UK, promo 7", unique p/s, 1991; also UK promo CD, EMI CDR DJ 6304, unique p/s, jewel case, 1991
10)	DRIVEN BY YOU (Holland, CD box with special Ford Escort promotional p/s, jewel case, 1991)
11)	TOO MUCH LOVE WILL KILL YOU (EMI 1 SP 1612, France, 1-sided 12" promo with unique p/s, 1992)
12)	A TIME FOR HEROES (with Meat Loaf, EMI SAMP 2378, Germany, 1-track promo CD, unique p/s, 1987)
13)	A TIME FOR HEROES (7" edit) / (Instrumental) (with Meat Loaf, some with card booklet published by Radio & Records magazine [8801997 PM 102], ORP D60187 D, US 2-track CD, p/s, 1987; also cassette [ORP 012387], and 12" [ORP 030187], in unique p/s
14)	TOO MUCH LOVE WILL KILL YOU (LP Version) / (Live) / (Piano Version) (Hollywood HRPRCD 10343 2, withdrawn promo CD, p/s, 1992
15)	LAST HORIZON (EMI HORIZON 1, UK, 3-track promo CD, no p/s, 1992
16)	IL COLOSSO (no label or cat. no., US, CD-R in unique p/s with press release, 1996)
17)	THE BUSINESS (Radio Edit 4.33) (Hollywood, no cat. no. , US 1-track promo CD-R, with custom title p/s, 1998; also Rock Radio Mix 1-track promo CD-R, with custom title p/s, 1998)
18)	STAR FLEET (7" version) / (Edit) (Capital SPRO 9009, US 12" promo in deluxe stickered plain p/s, 1983)
19)	STAR FLEET PROJECT (Capitol 4-LP 15014, Canada/US, cassette, unique p/s, 1983)
20)	STAR FLEET PROJECT(EMI EMS 4 1013, Japan, 12" mini-LP, p/s with obi and 4-page insert, sample copy, 1983)