“I suddenly couldn’t control this left arm, it was quite scary. I had no idea what was going on”: Brian May issues update after suffering ‘minor stroke’

Brian May has opened up on his recent health scare, which briefly left him fearing he’d be unable to play the guitar again.

In September last year, the Queen electric guitar hero revealed he was recovering after suffering a “minor stroke”, and at the time said there was some concern over whether he’d be able to pick up the Red Special again after he lost control of one of his arms.

In the new issue of Guitarist, May issued an update on his health, and said he was “all right now”, even if he did have those initial fears.

“It went through my mind,” May responds, when asked if he thought he might never play the guitar again.

“When I suddenly couldn’t control this left arm, it was quite scary,” he continues. “I had no idea what was going on. I phoned my doctor and she said, ‘Okay, I think you’re having a minor stroke. Dial 999, get in the ambulance and I’ll see you there.’”

However, while the thought of a future without guitar playing momentarily played on his mind, May was never really in any doubt he’d pick up his six-string again as he could still move his digits.

“Even at the worst time, although I couldn’t control where the arm was, I could control my fingers.” explains May. “So I thought, ‘I’m probably not really in danger.’ I’m all right now. I’m just taking it slow.”

It is, of course, a positive update. Although May did his best to allay fan fears at the time, hearing the guitar virtuoso admit he’d lost control of his arm was still alarming.

“I’m here to bring you some good news: the good news is that I can play guitar after the events of the last few days,” he said in the clip last September.

“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.’

“All of a sudden out of the blue I didn’t have any control of this arm, so it’s a little scary. I had the most fantastic care and attention from Frimley Hospital.”

Elsewhere in his Guitarist interview, May recalls the one time he experimented with a Marshall stack – which he says “sounded awful”, only for one Jimi Hendrix to step after him…

Visit Magazines Direct to pick up the latest issue of Guitarist, which also features interviews with Eric Johnson, Rosanne Cash, and Andy Timmons.