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The guitarist that Brian May said he wished he had met
Formed by Brian May, Roger Taylor and Freddie Mercury in 1970, Queen recruited the bassist John Deacon one year later and then had their classic formation ready to really inspire millions of music lovers around the world. Until Mercury’s death in 1991 at the age of 45, the band released 14 studio albums and became one of the biggest groups in the world.
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The numbers only prove that even more since they are one of the best-selling bands of all time. They have sold an estimated amount of 250 to 300 million records worldwide. Besides their musicianship, the band members, including Brian May, always had a broad musical taste that was shown on their discography.
One of the most respected and influential guitarists from the history of Rock and Roll, May talked a lot over the decades about other artists. He once even mentioned one guitarist that he wished he had met face to face.
The guitarist that Brian May said he wished he had met
Brian started his career when he was still a teenager, his father was an electronics engineer and helped him to build his first guitar when he was only 16. Since he had talent and a unique guitarist that no one else in the world had, he had a combination that made him always have a unique sound that came out of the guitar he baptized as “The Red Special”. He also curiously preferred to play the guitar using a coin instead of a guitar pick. So it gave him a more special tone.
May always praised all the guitarists who inspired him. But he also was paying attention to musicians who appeared over the years. In the 80s he became a fan of the late American Blues guitarist and singer Stevie Ray Vaughan. The British guitarist is active on Instagram and back in 2019 he posted a video of SRV and praised the musician saying that he wished he had met him.
“Ow ow ow !!! Listen to those wonderful juicy notes !! This is a man to stan ! This is the kind of guitar playing that melts me. Stevie Ray Vaughan, lost in a world of his own. He allows his fingers to be a channel for the burning passions inside him.”
He continued:
“Like Jimi Hendrix, he effortlessly makes his guitar sing to us, speak to us of wonders beyond words. Even with both hands behind his back !!!! I so wish I had met SRV. But one of the favourite moments in my life was when one of his friends told me, after he was gone, that he liked my playing. But this man was truly one of guitar playing’s greatest champions. An elemental monster. Check him out, all ye who would bend strings !!!” Brian May said.
Stevie Ray Vaughan was born in Dallas, Texas, United States in 1954 and was seven years younger than Brian May. He was part of many bands in his youth until he released his debut album with Double Trouble in 1983. At that time, Queen was already on the road for 13 years and were one of the biggest bands in the world. They sadly didn’t have the opportunity to be in the same room together. But as May revealed, they admired each other’s work.
After releasing five praised albums and collaborating with many other artists like David Bowie, for example, Vaughan tragically died in a helicopter crash in 1990. He was only 35 and had finally gotten sober. SRV still is remembered as one of the artists who helped to revive the Blues in the 80s. He was crucial to bring back many old legendary artists from that genre to the spotlight again.
His first two albums remain as two of the greatest records released in the 80s. They are “Texas Flood” (1983) and “Couldn’t Stand The Weather” (1984). He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 by John Mayer.
