Queen’s lead guitarist Brian May is recovering after having a “minor stroke” last week, which caused him to temporarily lose control of his arm.
In a video on his website, the 77-year-old said he was taken to the hospital after noticing stroke symptoms, but he’s getting better now, thanks to his healthcare team.
“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 because that little health hiccup that I mentioned happened about a week ago and what they called it was a minor stroke,” he said. “And all of the sudden, out of the blue, I didn’t have any control over this arm. So it was a little scary, I’d have to say, I had the most fantastic care and attention from the hospital where I went. Blue lights flashing, the lot, very exciting. I might post a video if you’d like.”
May added that he’s been told to take it easy to recover fully. “I didn’t want to say anything at the time because I didn’t want anything surrounding it. I really don’t want sympathy, please don’t do that because it will clutter up my inbox and I hate that,” he explained.
“So the good news is I’m OK, just doing what I’m told, which is basically nothing. I’m grounded. I’m not allowed to go out. Well, I’m not allowed to drive, I’m not allowed to get on a plane, I’m not allowed to get the heart rate too high. Not allowed to have planes flying over, which will stress me. But I’m good.”
The guitarist has had a few health issues over the past few years. In 2020, he was admitted to hospital in March after shredding his buttock muscles during a gardening stint. The incident triggered a small heart attack and the discovery of three blocked arteries that left May “very near death.”
May was readmitted to the hospital for an MRI scan, which discovered a severely compressed sciatic nerve – the consequence of a 50-year stint as a guitarist.
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