Product Description

As the lead guitarist of Queen, Brian May is one of rock's most recognisable stars. Brian May: the definitive biography charts his life from his childhood, through his years studying astro physics and teaching, his success with Queen, his more recent projects and his volatile relationship with actress Anita Dobson. Bestselling writer Laura Jackson examines closely the many aspects of the musician's life revealing his true story for the first time. The book reveal's Queen's struggles to gain success and life at the top, throwing some of the most notorious and wildly salacious parties in the business. It charts the camaraderie and conflicts within Queen as well as Brian's difficult years throughout the disintegration of his first marriage, the death of his father and the profound professional and emotional effects of Freddie Mercury's illness and death. The book is packed with nearly 70 first-hand exclusive interviews with some of his closest friends, colleagues and fellow musicians. These include school and college friends, early band members and colleagues in the scientific world. Interviewees include, Tony Iommi, Joe Elliott, Raul Rodgers, Cliff Richard and Spike Edney.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46705 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
'Laura Jackson is the queen of biographers.' DAILY EXPRESS 'When it comes to getting to the rich and famous, Laura Jackson is second to none.' SKY TV

About the Author
Laura Jackson is a highly regarded biographer. Brian May: the definitive biography is her thirteenth book. Others include Queen: the definitive biography, Kiefer Sutherland, Bono andJon Bon Jovi. Laura lives in Scotland.

Customer Reviews

Define Definitive
I awaited the publication of this book with much interest, believing from its title that it was going to be a high-quality release. How wrong I was. How can a book that calls itself The Definitive Biography be less than 250 pages long in hardback form?

This book contains many errors, little in the way of new information and omits many relevant details of Brian's life and work. All the usual signposts of Queen's history are here; frankly anyone who's read any reasonable Queen biography could cobble that together. On a personal level, there's almost as much in here about Freddie as there is about Brian. This seems particularly pointless since there have been several books about Freddie and next to none about Brian. As someone who handled most of Queen's interviews and never refused to answer a question, you'd think that the material for a proper, full-length book would be available. After all, Brian has lived many years longer than Freddie did.

Interview segments are taken out of context and parts of interviews a decade apart are conjoined to bring the author's choice of narrative across.

As in common with many Queen biographies, it has considerable detail on Queen's early history, up to the release and success of Bohemian Rhapsody. The next ten years then pass in a handful of chapters and suddenly we're reading about Live Aid. Thus paying only lip service to what may actually be the most interesting personal period in Queen's history.

Laura Jackson also clearly knows nothing about guitars. Whilst this is entirely understandable, a bit more research could have made this a far more appealing book to the legions of wannabe rock guitarists who revere Brian. As it is Ms Jackson omits to mention the Star Licks video (Brian was the first ever star licking), the Guitar Greats BBC Radio show, the comment from Eric Clapton early in Queen's career that Brian was something special, the proto two-handed tapping that Brian used on It's Late before Van Halen had an album out. These things are significant, because they tell us about the imagination and talent of the man, as well as the respect he received from his peers.

The dust jacket of the hardback details Ms Jackson's numerous other books on celebrities, half of which are called The Definitive Biography. In the case of this book, this is surely an issue for Trades Description. Disappointing.

Poor book for a great man
This is a very so-so biography of a man who deserves better. To be honest this is more or less a rehash of the authors earlier book on Queen- with a little more detail on Brian added. For the most part there are quotes from people who know the subject vaguely (Cliff Richard!) and very little insight from close friends or indeed from the man himself. As a fan of Brian May it's just about worth reading but it could have been so much better. Let's hope that Brian writes his autobiography one of these days.

Passable Queen Biography, Not a Brian May Biography.
One gets the feeling that this book has been written by large cut-and-pastes from a Queen biography. The middle section of the book deals almost exclusively with Queen with very little Brian-specific information. There is almost no discussion of the Red Special or how Brian achieves his distinctive sound, no discussion other than "he uses a sixpence" about Brian's unique guitar technique or writing style and everything after Freddie's death (some 17 or so years) is dealt with in two short chapters.

Put it this way, if you've heard the name Greg Fryer, or you know that Brian has been known to wears clogs then you shouldn't bother with this book, as you probably already know more than is contained within.