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全世界無產階級和被壓迫的民族聯合起來！
"Quánshìjiè wúchǎnjiējí hé bèi yāpò de mínzú liánhé qǐlai!"
《國際歌》
Map of the CCP Soviets comprising the Chinese Soviet Republic and the route of the Long March
Government
Chairman of the Central Executive Committee
Historical era
 o 
Proclaimation
7 November 1931
 o 
22 September 1937
Preceded by
Succeeded by
The Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR), also known as the Soviet Republic of China or the China Soviet Republic, is often referred to in historical sources as the Jiangxi Soviet (after its largest component territory, the ). It was established in November 1931 by future
leader , General
and others, and it lasted until 1937.
territories included the , , , Hunan-Western Hubei, , Shaanxi-Gansu, Szechuan-Shensi, Hubei-Henan-Anhui,
Soviets. Mao Zedong was both CSR he led the state and its government. Mao's tenure as head of a "small state within a state" gave him experience i this experience helped him accomplish the
reunification of China during the late 1940s. The CSR was eventually destroyed by the
in a series of 1934 . Following the
of December 1936, the Communists and Kuomintang formed an uneasy
to resist Japanese pressure, which led to the Communists recognizing at least for the moment Chiang Kai-shek as China's leader and the official dissolution of the Soviet Republic on 22 September 1937.
On November 7, 1931 (the anniversary of the 1917 Russian ) a National Soviet People's Delegates Conference was held in
(瑞金), Jiangxi province. Ruijin was the national capital, and the Republic had received assistance from the
to host the gathering. The Chinese Soviet Republic (Chinese: "中華蘇維埃共和國") was born, although most of China was still controlled an opening ceremony was held for the new country, and Mao Zedong and other communists attended the military parade. Because the CSR had its own national bank, printed its own money and collected its own taxes, this is considered the beginning of the .[]
With Mao Zedong as both head of state (中央執行委員會主席, "Chairman of the Central Executive Committee") and head of government (人民委員會主席, "Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars"), the CSR gradually expanded. At its peak it covered over 30,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi)—a large part of two provinces (with
in )—and had a population of three million. Its economy was more stable than most of the areas controlled by Chinese warlords. In addition to the militia and guerilla soldiers, the well-armed
had reached more than 140,000 soldiers by the early 1930s. The Chinese Red Army had modern communications technology (telephones, telegraph and radio, which the warlords' armies lacked), and transmitted wireless coded messages while breaking nationalist codes. At the time, only 's army could match the communist forces.[]
The Kuomintang, led by Chiang Kai-shek, felt threatened by the CSR.[] It induced the Chinese warlords to have the
besiege the CSR, launching what Chiang and his fellow nationalists called encirclement campaigns. The communists responded with what they called counter-encirclement campaigns. Chiang Kai-shek's first, second and third encirclement campaigns were defeated by the Chinese Red Army, led by Mao. However, after the third counter-encirclement campaign Mao was replaced by , a Chinese communist returning from the Soviet Union. The Chinese Red Army was commanded by a three-man committee, which included Wang Ming's associates
military advisor),
and . The CSR then began a rapid decline, due to its extreme left-wing governance and incompetent military command. The new leadership could not rid itself of Mao's influence (which continued during the ), which temporarily protected the communists. However, due to the dominance of the new communist leadership after the fourth counter-encirclement campaign, the Red Army was nearly halved. Most of its equipment was lost during Chiang' this began in 1933 and was orchestrated by Chiang's German advisers, who advocated encircling the CSR with fortified blockhouses. T in an effort to break the blockade the Red Army besieged the forts many times, suffering heavy casualties and only limited success. As a result, the CSR shrank significantly due to the Chinese Red Army's manpower and material losses.
State structure[]
This section does not
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The communists appeared doomed when attacked by the nationalists. However, Zhou Enlai had planted more than a dozen
in Chiang Kai-shek's inner circle, including his general headquarters at . One of Zhou's most important agents,
(莫雄), however, his contributions saved the
and the Chinese Red Army.
With recommendations from Chiang Kai-shek's secretary-general Yang Yongtai (楊永泰) (who was unaware of Mo's communist activities), Mo rose in Chiang Kai-shek's regime and became an important member in his general headquarters during the early 1930s. In January 1934, Chiang Kai-shek appointed him administrator and commander-in-chief of the Fourth Special District in northern Jiangxi. Mo used his position to plant more than a dozen communist agents in Chiang's general headquarters, including Liu Yafo (劉亞佛) (who introduced the Communist Party of China), Xiang Yunian (項與年) (his communist handler, whom he hired as his secretary) and Lu Zhiying (盧志英) (acting head of the spy ring, under the command of Zhou Enlai).
After successfully besieging the Ruijin area (the CSR capital) and occupying most of the CSR itself, Chiang was confident that he could defeat the communists in a final decisive strike. In late September 1934 he distributed his top-secret "Iron Bucket Plan" to general headquarters at
(the summer substitute for Nanchang), which detailed the final push to annihilate the communist forces. Chiang planned 30 blockade lines supported by 30
fences (most electrified) in a 150-kilometre (93 mi) radius around Ruijin to starve the communists. In addition, more than 1,000 trucks were to be mobilized in a rapid-reaction force to prevent a communist breakout. Realizing the certainty of communist annihilation, Mo Xiong (莫雄) handed the several-kilogram document to Xiang Yunian (項與年) the same night—risking his life and those of his family.
With help from Liu Yafo (劉亞佛) and Lu Zhiying (盧志英), communist agents copied the intelligence into four dictionaries and Xiang Yunian (項與年) was tasked with bringing it to the CSR. The trip was hazardous, since the nationalist forces arrested and executed anyone attempting to cross the blockade. Xiang Yunian (項與年) hid in the mountains, knocking out four of his teeth with a rock and causing his face to swell. Disguised as a beggar, he tore off the covers of the four dictionaries and covered them with spoiled food at the bottom of his bag. Crossing several blockade lines, he reached Ruijin on October 7, 1934. The intelligence provided by Mo Xiong (莫雄) convinced the communists in the CSR to abandon their base and retreat before Chiang could reinforce his blockade lines with barbed-wire fences. They mobilized trucks and troops, saving themselves from annihilation.
On February 1, 1932 the
was established, with
as president. The CSR Central Mint issued three types of currency: a paper bill, a copper coin and a silver .
One-yuan bill, with Lenin's image in the centre
The Central Mint briefly issued both paper bills and copper coins. Neither circulated for long, primarily because the currency could not be used in the rest of China. The paper bill had "Chinese Soviet Republic National Bank" (中華蘇維埃共和國國家銀行) printed on the bill in
and a picture of .
Copper coins[]
Like the paper bill, copper coins issued by the Central Mint also had "Chinese Soviet Republic" (中華蘇維埃共和國) engraved in traditional Chinese. Since coins last longer than paper bills, these coins were issued (and circulated) in a much greater quantity. However, these coins are rarer copper was needed for ammunition, and these copper coins were recalled and replaced by silver .
Silver dollars[]
The predominant currency produced by the Central Mint was the silver dollar. Unlike the bills and copper coins, the silver dollars had
they were a copy of silver dollars produced by other mints in China (including the popular coin with the head of
and the eagle silver dollar of the ). This, and the fact that the coin was made of silver, enabled them to be circulated in the rest of C thus, it was the currency of choice.
When the Chinese Red Army's First Front began its
in October 1934, the communist bank was part of
fourteen bank employees, over a hundred coolies and a company of soldiers escorted them with the money and mint machinery. An important duty of the bank was, when the Chinese Red Army stayed in a location for longer than a day, to have the local populace exchange communist paper bills and copper coins for currency used in the nationalist-controlled regions to avoid prosecution by the nationalists after the communists left. After the
it was decided that carrying the entire bank on the march was impractical, and on January 29, 1935 at Tucheng (土城) the bank employees burned all communist paper bills and destroyed the mint machinery. By the end of the Long March in October 1935, only eight of the original fourteen the other six had died along the way.
Taxation[]
In November 1931, the National Tax Bureau was founded. In 2002, the original building was renovated for the public.
Postage stamps[]
The Directorate General of Chinese Soviet Posts was founded in Ruijin on May 1, 1932. The first stamps were designed by Huang Yaguang and printed
by the Printing House of the Ministry of Finance in Ruijin. White paper or newspaper was used. They were , and denominated in the Chinese Soviet silver-dollar . They are fairly rare, and sought after by collectors. There are also many forgeries and bogus issues imitating early stamps from the communist areas.
Collapse and the Long March[]
On October 10, 1934 the three-man communist leadership issued on October 16 the Chinese Red Army begun what was later known as the Long March, leaving the CSR. Seventeen days after the main communist force left its base, the nationalists realized they had escaped when they reached the abandoned city of Ruijin on November 5. The original destination was ' the final destination () was not chosen until later, after the rise of Mao Zedong. To avoid panic, the goal was kept secret from most people (including Mao Zedong); the public was told that a portion of the Chinese Red Army would be engaged in mobile warfare with the nationalist forces, and this part of the army was renamed the “Field Army”.
By fall 1934, the communists faced annihilation, and the situation had convinced Mao Zedong and his supporters that the communists should abandon their bases in the CSR. However, the leadership refused to accept the prospect of failure and still hoped to defeat the nationalist forces. The three-man committee devised a diversionary plan and a regrouping after a temporary retreat. After the regrouping a counterattack would be launched with the earlier diversion forces, driving the nationalists out of the CSR.
The first movement of the retreating diversion were led by . Fang (and his deputy, Xun Weizhou) were the first to break through Kuomintang lines in June, followed by
in August. These movements surprised the Kuomintang, who were numerically superior to the communists and did not expect an attack on their fortified perimeter. However, Fang Zhimin's force was crushed after its initial success and Xun Weizhou was killed in action. Nearly every commander was wounded and captured alive (including Fang Zhimin), and all were executed by the nationalists. The only exception was , who escaped. Xiao Ke fared no better, although his forces initially broke through and reached He Long's communist base in Hubei. Even with their combined forces they could not challenge the nationalist forces, and did not return until the establishment of the
15 years later.
The failure of the diversionary force resulted in their loss of contact with the CSR. The communist leadership failed to coordinate its next move, still believing that a temporary retreat near (or within) the CSR would allow them to recover and counterattack.
Main retreating force[]
The portion of the First Front Red Army engaged in mobile warfare was actually the bulk of the communist force making a general retreat, and was much diminished from its peak of more than 140,000 men. With most of its equipment lost, many Chinese Red Army soldiers were forced to arm themselves with ancient weaponry. According to the Statistical Chart of Field Army Personnel, Weaponry, Ammunition, and Supply completed by the Chinese Red Army on October 8, 1934 (two days before the Long March began), the Long March forces consisted of:
Combat formations
Five combat , totaling 72,313 men:
First Corps (the largest, with 19,880 men)
Third Corps
Fifth Corps
Eighth Corps (the newest and smallest, with 10,922 men)
Ninth Corps
Central Committee First Column
Central Committee Second Column
The corps and columns had a total of 86,859 men.
The Statistical Chart of Field Army Personnel, Weaponry, Ammunition, and Supply (in the People's Liberation Army Archives) provided weapons and provisions for the Long March. The weapons included:
: 39 total
: 1 (ori added later)
: 33,244 total (with 1,858,156 rounds of ammunition); of these a total of 29,016 were distributed to the five corps, including:
Other weapons included:
Other weapons were also deployed which were not counted. These included:
Muzzle-loading and smooth-bore muskets
and : Later in the Long March, spears were more useful as canes.
and : Later in the Long March, poles were useful as building material and for stretchers.
Provisions included:
Winter clothing: 83,100 sets
Horses: 338
Herbal medicines: 35,700 kg
: 17,413 kg
Currency: 1.642 million CSR dollars
The Chinese Soviet Republic continued to exist formally, since the communists still controlled some areas such as the .
was, for a time, the capital until the communist government was moved to Yan'an. The Chinese Soviet Republic was dissolved on 22 September 1937 when the Chinese Communist Party issued, in the , its manifesto on unity with the K the
was only a few weeks old. The Chinese Communist Party remained in de facto control of Yan'an, which was its stronghold for the remainder of the war with Japan.
, an English-language report on the Jiangxi Soviet
Communist Party of China News (). . Communist Party of China News (in Chinese). Communist Party of China 2012.
. Cultural China. cultural-china.com.
The Postage Stamp Catalogue of the Chinese People's Revolutionary Period, published by Chinese Postage Stamp Museum.
Lyman P. Van Slyke, The Chinese Communist movement: a report of the United States War Department, july 1945, Stanford University Press, 1968, p. 44.
of The People's Republic of China (Liberated Area) Nai-Chiang Yang, 1998, 7th edition
has original text related to this article:
Wikimedia Commons has media related to .
from FOTW website
(explanatory caption in )
(Jinmen Crisis)
2005–present
: Hidden categories:From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brian Harold May
(born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, astrophysicist, and photographer. He is best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band . He uses a home-built electric guitar called the . His compositions for the band include "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", and "".
May was a co-founder of
with lead singer
and drummer , having previously performed with Taylor in the band , which he had joined while he was at university. Within five years of their formation in 1970 and the recruitment of bass player
completing the lineup, Queen had become established as one of the biggest rock bands in the world with the success of the album
and its single "". From the mid-1970s until the early 1990s, Queen were an almost constant presence in the UK charts and played some of the biggest venues in the world, most notably giving an acclaimed performance at
in 1985. As a member of Queen, May became regarded as a virtuoso musician and he was identified with a distinctive sound created through his layered guitar work.
Following the death of Mercury in 1991, Queen were put on hiatus for several years but were eventually reconvened by May and Taylor for further performances featuring other vocalists. In 2005, a
poll saw May voted the 7th greatest guitarist of all time. He was ranked at No. 26 on
magazine's list of the "". In 2012, May was ranked the 2nd greatest guitarist of all time by a
magazine readers poll.
May was appointed a
(CBE) in 2005 for "services to the music industry and for charity work". May was awarded a
in 2007 and was
from 2008 to 2013. He was a "science team collaborator" with NASA's
Pluto mission. He is also a co-founder of the awareness campaign, . Asteroid
was named after him. May is also an animal rights activist, campaigning against the hunting of foxes and the culling of badgers in the UK.
Brian Harold May was born in , Middlesex on 19 July 1947, the only child of Ruth and Harold May, who worked as a
at the . His mother was , while his father was . May attended the local , then a
school. During this time, he formed his first band, named 1984 after 's , with vocalist and bassist .
At Hampton Grammar School, he attained ten
in Physics, Mathematics, and Applied Mathematics. He studied Mathematics and Physics at , graduating with a
in 1968 with honours. In 2007, May was awarded a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London for work started in 1971 and completed in 2007.
May formed the band Smile in 1968. The group included
as the lead singer and bassist, and later, drummer , who also went on to play for . The band lasted for only two years, from 1968 to 1970, as Staffell departed in 1970, leaving the band with a catalogue of nine songs. Smile would reunite for several songs on 22 December 1992. Taylor's band
were headliners, and he brought May and Staffell on to play "Earth" and "If I Were a Carpenter". May also performed several other songs that night.
May (right) on stage with Queen in 1979.
In Queen's three-part vocal harmonies, May was generally the lower-range backing vocalist. On some of his songs, he sings the lead vocals, most notably the first verse of "", the final verse of "", the
on "" and "Flash's Theme", and full lead vocals on "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "" and "Sail Away Sweet Sister".[]
Throughout Queen's career, May frequently wrote songs for the band and has composed many worldwide hits such as "", "", "", "", "" and "" as well as writing significant hit songs "", "", "", "", "", "", "" and "". Typically, either Mercury or May wrote the most songs on every Queen album.[]
After the famous
concert in 1985, Mercury rang his band members and proposed writing a song together. The result was "", which was basically May on music (the Magic Years documentary shows how he came up with the opening section and the basic guitar riff) and the lyrics were co-written by all four band members.
For their 1989 release album, , the band had decided that all of the tracks would be credited to the entire band, no matter who had been the main writer. Still, interviews and musical analyses tend to help identify the input of each member on each track. May composed "" for that album, as well as "" (based on his personal problems with the British press). For the rest of the album he did not contribute so much creatively, although he helped in building the basis of "Party" and "Was It All Worth It" (both being predominantly Mercury's pieces) and created the guitar riff of "Chinese Torture".[]
Queen's subsequent album was , on which May's contributions increased, although more in arrangements than actual w for the
he did some of the arrangement for the heavy solo, then he added vocal harmonies to "" and composed the solo of "", a song for which the four of them decided the keyboard parts together. He changed the tempo and key of Mercury's song "The Hitman" and took it under his wing, even singing guide vocal in the demo. May also co-wrote some of the guitar lines in "".[]
Two songs that May had composed for his first solo album, "" and "", eventually ended up in the Queen project. His other composition was "", a group effort in which he was the coordinator and primary composer, but in which they all had input, Deacon and Taylor with the famous chord sequence. In recent years, he has supervised the remastering of Queen albums and various DVD and greatest hits releases. In 2004, he announced that he and drummer Roger Taylor were going on tour for the first time in 18 years as "Queen", along with / vocalist . Billed as "", the band played throughout 2005 and 2006 in South Africa, Europe, Aruba, Japan, and North America and released a new album with Paul Rodgers in 2008, entitled The Cosmos Rocks. This album was supported by a major tour. Paul Rodgers then left the band
in May 2009 and it wasn't until 2011 that another vocalist, , was recruited. They subsequently went on a , a
and, most recently, . They also played the
on New Year's Eve 2014 and New Year's Day 2015.
May in 1981 with the
During 1983, several members of Queen explored side projects. On 21 and 22 April in Los Angeles, May was in the studio with , with no intentions o the result of those days was a mini album entitled '', which originally wasn't going to be released.
May contributed to former
guitarist 's album , playing guitar on the track "Cassandra" and providing guitar and vocals for "Slot Machine," which was co-written by May. Although produced in 1986, the album was not issued as a commercial release until 2000. May worked with his second wife
on her first album, in which she sang vocals to the
theme tune. In this form, the tune became the song "". May produced the song, which reached No. 4 in the
in August 1986. In 1989, May contributed guitar solos to the song "When Death Calls" on 's 14th album , and the
track "Blow The House Down" from the album .
After the tragic break-up of any band, it feels impossible to continue but I was really glad that Brian did launch a solo career. He had such a lot of music in him and a great deal more to give
In the aftermath of the November 1991 death of , May chose to deal with his grief by committing himself as fully as possible to work, first by finishing his solo album, , and then touring worldwide to promote it. He frequently remarked in press interviews that this was the only form of self-prescribed therapy he could think of. According to
lead singer , "It was undoubtedly an enormous and terrible blow to lose someone he was so close to. Personally, I know it ripped the heart out of Brian, but having said that, he was in great spirits after the album was finished."
In late 1992,
was officially formed. An earlier version of the band was loosely formed for 19 October 1991, the date of the band's last concert of reunion, when May took part in the Guitar Legends guitar festival in , Spain. The line-up for his performance was May on vocals and lead guitar,
on drums and percussion,
on keyboards, and ,
on backing vocals. The original line-up was May on vocals and lead guitar, Powell on drums and percussion,
on guitar,
on bass, and Ryder, Stockley and Thompson on backing vocals. This version of the band lasted only during the South American support tour (supporting
and ) on only five dates.[]
Afterwards, May made significant changes, feeling the group never quite gelled. May brought guitarist
on board to replace Mike Caswell. The other change made was in the backing vocals department, when Ryder, Stockley and Thompson were replaced with
and . On 23 February 1993, this new line-up of The Brian May Band began its world tour in the US, both supporting
and headlining a few dates. The tour would take them through North America, Europe (support act: Valentine) and Japan. After the tour ended on 18 December 1993, May returned to the studio with fellow surviving Queen band members
to work on tracks that became , the final Queen studio album. The band took Mercury's solo album demos and last recordings, which he managed to perform in the studio after the album
was finished, and completed them with their additions both musically and vocally. Work on the album after Mercury's death originally began in 1992 by Deacon and May, but was left until a later date, due to other commitments.
In 1995, May began working towards a new solo album of covers tentatively named Heroes, in addition to working on various film and television projects and other collaborations. May subsequently changed the approach from covers to focus on those collaborations and on new material. The songs included , and featured mainly , Cozy Powell, Neil Murray and Jamie Moses. On 5 April 1998, Cozy Powell was killed in a car accident on the
near , England. This caused a huge, unexpected disruption to the upcoming tour for The Brian May Band, with a new drummer being needed at short notice.
was brought on to help May finish recording drums and to join the band for the early stage promotional tour of five dates in Europe before the world tour. Following the early promotional tour,
replaced Steve Ferrone for the full 1998 world tour.
The 1998 tour saw the brief introduction of a 'support act' known as T. E. Conway. Conway (Brian May in a wig and colourful suit playing the part of a
crooner) would play a number of 1950s
standards prior to May's 'arrival'. A bonus T. E. Conway EP entitled Retro Rock Special was attached to some pressings of the Another World album. The Conway character was retired at the end of the tour.
May performing in Chile, 2008
From his last solo release in 1998, May has been performing as a solo artist, as part of an ensemble, and infrequently as Queen with . On 22 October 2000, Brian May made a guest appearance at the
25th Anniversary show at
along with
(former Mot?rhead guitarist) for the encore song "". As part of the
celebrations in June 2002, May performed a
of "" from the roof of , with the performance appearing on the 30th Anniversary DVD edition of A Night at the Opera. In 2004 May played guitar on the song "Someone to Die For" on the
. In the Queen's birthday honours list of 2005, he was made a
"for services to the music industry and for charity work". In the same year he played the guitar in the song Il mare... of the Italian singer , in his album , and he took part in the concert at the
held in May 2004, with the other guests of the Italian bluesman.
May was a celebrity guest at the
reunion concert at
in 2007. May and Genesis frontman
had worked together on two previous occasions, at
Rock Gala in 1988 and the
in 2002, when Collins had played drums with Queen. In 2011 he contributed to a feature about Collins for , praising him as "a great guy and an amazing drummer".
May worked extensively with stage actress and singer , after he cast her in the musical . He produced and arranged her debut studio album
(2010), a follow-up to her extended play
(2008), as well as appearing with Ellis at many public performances – playing guitar alongside her. He also contributed a guitar solo to 's
album in exchange for the use of drummer . Along with , Brian May released a historical book in 2009 entitled . The book is an annotated collection of stereoscopic photographs taken by the
photographer
and it is sold with a focussing stereoscope. May became an enthusiast of stereoscope photographs as a child, and first encountered the work of Williams during the late 1960s. In 2003, May announced a search to identify the actual location of the Scenes in Our Village images. In 2004 May reported that he had identified the location as the village of
in Oxfordshire.[]
On 20 May 2009, May and Queen bandmate Roger Taylor performed "We Are the Champions" live on the season finale of
with winner
and runner-up
providing a vocal duet. In November 2009, May appeared with Taylor on , with Queen mentoring the contestants, then later performing "Bohemian Rhapsody". In April 2010, May founded the "Save Me" 2010 project to work against any proposed repeal of the British fox-hunting ban, and also to promote animal rights in Britain. In February 2011, it was announced that May would tour with , playing 12 dates across the UK in May 2011. On 1 March 2013 May and Ellis played a free thirty-minute acoustic set at
to launch Tiger Track, a three-week tiger conservation event.[]
On 18 April 2011,
confirmed that May would play guitar on her track "" from her latest album , released on 23 May 2011. In June 2011, May performed with
on , celebrating the 50th anniversary of 's first spaceflight.
On 26 August, May performed "" and "" with American rock band
at the . On 28 August, May performed "You and I" live with Lady Gaga at the
at the Nokia Theatre, Los Angeles. On 10 October, May made an appearance to celebrate the reunion of British rock band
at an "intimate"
show with support from . A long-time fan of the group, May performed three songs onstage with The Darkness, including Queen's "", at the
on their subsequent "comeback" tour.
on 6 November, Queen received the , which
presented to Brian May. Queen closed the awards ceremony, with
on vocals, performing "The Show Must Go On", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions". The collaboration garnered a positive response from both fans and critics, resulting in speculation about future projects together. Queen + Adam Lambert played two shows at the , London on 11 and 12 July 2012. Both shows sold out within 24 hours of tickets going on open sale. A third London date was added for 14 July. On 30 June, Queen + Lambert performed in , Ukraine at a joint concert with
for the Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation. Queen also performed with Lambert on 3 July 2012 at Moscow's , and on 7 July 2012 at the
in Wroclaw, Poland.
In January 2012, May featured on
frontman 's solo single "", providing "rumbling guitar riffs which culminate in an electrifying solo". The pair also collaborated on a performance of "" for 's .
On 12 August 2012, Queen performed at the
in London. May performed part of the "" solo before being joined by Taylor and solo artist
for a performance of "We Will Rock You". On 16 September 2012, May appeared at the Sunflower Jam charity concert at the , performing alongside bassist
(of ), drummer
(of ), and vocalists
(of ) and .
May donated his guitar talent to the end credits song from the film, , in the song "One Voice", which also features the talents of , , , , , and . It was produced by Dean Falcone, who also wrote the film's score. "One Voice" was released on , 16 April 2016, with profits from the sale of the single going to benefit animal charities.
At the end of 2004, May and Taylor announced that they would reunite and return to touring in 2005, with
(founder and former lead singer of
and ). Brian May's website also stated that Rodgers would be "featured with" Queen as , not replacing the late Freddie Mercury. The retired John Deacon would not be participating.
Between 2005 and 2006 Queen and Paul Rodgers embarked on a , the first leg being Europe and the second, Japan and the US in 2006. On 25 May 2006, Queen received the inaugural
in , Nevada, and May and Taylor were joined on stage with the
to perform a selection of Queen songs. On 15 August 2006, May confirmed through his website and fan club that Queen + Paul Rodgers would begin producing their first studio album beginning in October, to be recorded at a "secret location". The album, titled , was released in Europe on 12 September 2008 and in the United States on 28 October 2008. Following the album the band again embarked on a tour through Europe and parts of the US, opening on
in front of 350,000 Ukrainian fans. The show in Ukraine was later . Queen and Paul Rodgers officially split up on 12 May 2009. Rodgers does not rule out the possibility of working together again.
concert at the , Boston in July 2014
Not long after performing with
during the programme's season finale in 2009, May and Taylor began contemplating the future of Queen after the group's amicable split with frontman Paul Rodgers. Two years later, at the , Queen was presented that year's Global Icon Award, accepted by May. As part of the broadcast, Queen performed a short set with Lambert, receiving an overwhelmingly welcoming response. Speculation regarding a collaboration with Lambert soon arose, with the three formally announcing a short summer tour of Europe in 2012, including three dates at the
in London, as well as shows in Ukraine, Russia and Poland. As with the partnership with Paul Rodgers,
did not participate.
The collaboration was revived in 2013, when the three performed together at the
in Las Vegas on 20 September. Five months later, May, Taylor and Lambert announced a 19-date summer tour of North America on . Due to ticket demand, five dates were soon added. In May 2014, shows in Australia and New Zealand were announced, along with festival performances in South Korea and Japan. The tour was extended to the UK and greater Europe in early 2015. The group performed together in South America in September 2015, including Queen's first performance at the
Festival since 1985.
In 2016, the group embarked across Europe and Asia on the . This included closing the
in England on 12 June where they performed "" as a tribute to the victims of the
in Orlando, Florida earlier that day. On 12 September they performed at the
in Tel-Aviv, Israel for the first time in front of 58,000 people. Though the collaboration remains active, there are currently no plans of recording a studio album, though the three are willing to do so in the future.
He's a class act from head to toe, and it shows in his playing. I can listen to any player and pantomime their sound, but I can't do Brian May. He's just walking on higher ground.
His tone immediately grabbed me. Brian has his own style and sound, so you can always tell his work. Even in 1971 he had incredible finesse, amazing fluidity.
May has been referred to as a virtuoso guitarist by many publications and musicians. He has featured in various music polls of great rock guitarists, and in 2011 was ranked number 26 on
magazine's list of the "". Former
stated, "I thought Queen were really innovative and made some great sounding records.. I like the rockin' stuff. I think Brian May has one of the great guitar tones on the planet, and I really, really love his guitar work." May mainly used the "", which he designed when he was only 16 years old. It was built with wood from an 18th century fireplace. His comments on the guitar:
I like a big neck – thick, flat and wide. I lacquered the fingerboard with Rustin's Plastic Coating. The tremolo is interesting in that the arm's made from an old bicycle saddle bag carrier, the knob at the end's off a knitting needle and the springs are valve springs from an old motorbike.
— Brian May
In addition to using his home-made guitar he prefers to use coins (especially
from the farewell proof set of 1970), instead of a more traditional plastic , on the basis that their rigidity gives him more control in playing. He is known to carry coins in his pockets specifically for this purpose.
May's early influences were
and , who he says were "the most metallic thing(s) out at the time." Many years later he gained his opportunity to play on separate occasions with both Cliff Richard and Shadows lead guitarist . He has collaborated with Cliff Richard on a re-recording of the Cliff Richard and The Shadows (then known as The Drifters) 1958 hit "" on the Cliff Richard duets album Two's Company which was released on 6 November 2006.
May always stated that , ,
were the greatest influences on him. On 2 June 2010, on BBC Radio 2, Brian May said, "I wou he is one of the people who inspired me most." On Queen for an Hour 1989 Interview on BBC Radio 1, May listed ,
as his guitar heroes. In a 1991 interview for Guitar World magazine, May referred to
as "my inspiration", and on seeing
stated, "We used to look at those guys and think, "That's the way it should be done." May told
in 2004: "I don't think anyone has epitomised
writing better than
– he's one of the great brains of rock music". May was also influenced by , guitarist of
band , in particular his harmony guitar solo at the end of the band's epic 1971 song "".
While May and his father were building the , May also produced plans to build a second guitar. However, so successful was the Red Special, that May had no need to build another guitar. These plans were eventually given to guitar
Andrew Guyton in around 2004/05, some slight modifications were made and the guitar was built. It was named "The Spade", as the shape of the body resembled the form shown on playing cards. However the guitar also came to be known as "The Guitar That Time Forgot".
Most of May's electric guitar work live and in the studio was done on the , which he built with his father, an electronics engineer, during his teenage years. From 1975 onwards, he has also had some replicas made, some of which were also used for live and recording purposes, others were mainly spares. The most famous replicas were made by John Birch in 1975 (May actually smashed it during a concert in the States in 1982),
BM90 (featured in the promo video of "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" in 1977), Guild (back-up from 1984 to 1993), Fryers (, used both live and in the studio) and Guyton (back-up from 2003 to present). On stage, May used to carry at least one back-up guitar (in case he broke a string) and occasionally would use others for certain songs or parts, such as alternate tunings. Currently, May owns a company which makes guitars whose design is modelled after the original Red Special guitar.
July ;– May 1974:
CBS era (thought to be a 1972)
October ;– May 1975:
Deluxe, and the Stratocaster from the previous tour.
November ;– May 1976: Same two guitars as before, plus a natural finish John Birch replica of the Red Special.
September 1976: Same three as before, plus a Martin D-18 acoustic for "'39".
January ;– August 1979: Just the Birch replica plus an Ovation Pacemaker 12-string acoustic on some numbers ("'39", "Love of My Life", "Dreamer's Ball").
November ;– June 1982: Birch replica (back-up),
("Crazy Little Thing Called Love" 2nd verse, middle-eight and solo), Ovation (acoustic numbers).
July – November 1982: Added a
as second back-up. On 9 August 1982 Brian smashed the Birch guitar, so the Flying V became the only spare.
August – October 1984: The Flying V became a second back-up again as his main spare was the Guild replica. He also used Roger Taylor's Gibson Chet-Atkins Classical Electric.
July ;– August 1986: Gibson Flying V no longer used. The rest remained the same.
In 2012 he received a double-neck replica of the Red Special with the second neck having 12-strings. He used this guitar at a few gigs with
now being able to play the 12-string part from the studio version of Under Pressure live.
He currently has a Guild 12-string to replace his Ovation Pacemaker. Some of the non-RS electric guitars he used in the studio included:
Double Six on "Long Away" (1976) and "Under Pressure" (1981).
Fender Telecaster on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (1979). It was used for the video (but not the recordings) of "Back Chat" (1982).
Gibson Firebird on "Hammer to Fall" and "Tear It Up" (album versions only, not on stage).
on "Nothing But Blue" (1991).
on "Mother Love" ().
For acoustic, he favoured Ovation, Martin,
Hummingbird, Godin and Guild. On a couple of videos he also used some different electric guitars: a Stratocaster copy on "Play the Game" (1980) and a
on "Princes of the Universe" (1986).
released the first official Red Special replica for mass production, and made some prototypes specifically for May. However the solid body construction (the original RS has hollow cavities in the body) and the pick-ups (DiMarzio) that were not an exact replica of the Burns TriSonic did not make May happy, so the production stopped after just 300 guitars. In 1993 Guild made a second replica of the RS, made in just ;copies, of which May has some and used as a back-up. At the moment, he uses the two guitars made by Greg Fryer—the luthier who restored the Old Lady in 1998—as back-up. They are almost identical to the original, except for the Fryer logo on the headstock (May's original one has a sixpence).
In the studio, May used
synths for the opening sequence of "" and the backgrounds of "" (also on stage), "" and . He mostly used Freddie Mercury's 1972 Steinway piano and reportedly now owns the instrument in question. May was keen on using some toys as instruments as well. He used a
plastic piano in "" and a toy mini
in . He also used a "genuine George Formby Ukulele-Banjo" in "" and .
May has used
amplifiers almost exclusively since a meeting with his long-time hero
at a gig in London during the late 1960s/early 1970s. In the mid-1970s he used six of them, with an
delay (with extended delay time) plugged into a separate amplifier, and a second Echoplex plugged
he used a homemade booster, his only effects pedal, which was on all the time. His choice is the model AC30TBX, the top-boost version with Blue Alnico speakers, and he runs the amp at full volume on the Normal channel.
May also customises his amps by removing the circuitry for the Brilliant and Vib-trem channels (leaving only the circuitry for the Normal), and this alters the tone slightly, with a gain addition of 6–7 dB. He always used a
which, along with the AC30 and his custom '' transistor amp, built by Queen bass player John Deacon, went a long way in helping to create many of his signature guitar tones. He used the Dallas Rangemaster for the first Queen albums, up to . Effects guru
built for him the TB-83 (32 dB of gain) that was used for all the remaining Queen albums. He switched in 2000 to the Fryer's booster, which actually gives less boost than the TB-83.
When performing live, he uses banks of Vox AC30 amplifiers keeping some amps with only guitar and others with all effects such as delay, flanger and chorus. He has a rack of 14 AC30s, which are grouped as Normal, Chorus, Delay 1, Delay 2. On his pedal board, May has a custom switch unit made by Cornish and subsequently modified by Fryer that allows him to choose which amps are active. He uses a
pedal from the '70s, the Chorus Ensemble CE-1, which can be heard in "" () or "" (slow version played live with P. Rodgers). Next in the chain, he uses a Foxx Foot Phaser ("We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions", "Keep Yourself Alive", etc.), and two delay machines to play his trademark solo in "Brighton Rock".
The first instrument May learned to play was the , which he played on Queen's song "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" (live and in the studio). For "Good Company", he used a regular baritone ukulele which he had bought in Hawaii on a holiday. Occasionally, May would also record on other string instruments such as harp (one chord per take, then copied and pasted by the engineer to make it sound like a continuous performance) and bass (on some demos and many songs in his solo career, and the Queen + Paul Rodgers album).
As a child, he was also trained on classical piano. Although Freddie Mercury was the band's primary pianist, May would occasionally step in (such as on "", "", ""). From 1979 onwards, he also played synthesisers, organ ("Wedding March", "") and programmed drum-machines for both Queen and outside projects (such as producing other artists and his own solo records).
May is also an accomplished singer. From Queen's
to , May contributed lead vocals to at least one song per album. May co-composed a mini-opera with , Il Colosso, for 's 1996 film, . May performed the opera with , , and . On-screen, it was performed entirely by puppets.
May performing in Frankfurt in 2005.
Brian May began composing in 1968 to 1969, and through the years he has collaborated with other songwriters, including Frank Musker, with whom he wrote "", and with Elizabeth Lamers, whose music won the
for Best Song Musically & Lyrically in 1996. A meticulous arranger, he focuses on multi-part harmonies, often more
than parallel – a relative rarity for rock guitar. Examples are found in Queen's albums A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races, where he arranged a jazz band for guitar mini-orchestra ("Good Company"), a vocal canon ("The Prophet's Song") and guitar and vocal counterpoints ("").
May explored a wide variety of styles in guitar, including
("", "Chinese Torture"),
("", "", "", "", "", "", ""),
("", "", "", "Cyborg", "Rain Must Fall", "Business", "China Belle", "I Was Born To Love You"), slide guitar ("Drowse", "Tie Your Mother Down"),
sounding licks ("", "Brighton Rock"), tape-delay ("Brighton Rock", "White Man") and melodic sequences ("", "", ""). Some of his solos and orchestral parts were composed by , who then asked May to bring them to life ("Bicycle Race", "", "Killer Queen", ""). May also performed notable acoustic works, including the acoustic guitar live version of "" from 1975's A Night at the Opera, the finger-picked solo of "White Queen" and the -influenced "'39".
In January 2007, the readers of
voted May's guitar solos "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Brighton Rock" into the "top 50 Greatest Guitar Solos of all time" ("Bohemian Rhapsody" was voted No. 20 and "Brighton Rock" was voted #41).
Aided by the uniqueness of his guitar – the  – May was often able to create strange and unusual sound effects. For example, he was able to imitate an orchestra in the song ""; in "" he was able to create various sound eff in "" he used his guitar to mimic a trombone, a piccolo and several other instruments for the song's Dixieland jazz band feel. Queen used a "No synthesizers were used on this album" sleeve note on their early albums to make this clear to the listeners. May also used his guitar to create the chime effect in Bohemian Rhapsody.
May in 2015 at
May studied physics and mathematics at , graduating with a BSc (Hons) degree and
in physics with . From 1970 to 1974, he studied for a
degree at Imperial College, studying reflected light from interplanetary dust and the velocity of dust in the plane of the Solar System. When Queen started to have international success in 1974, he abandoned his doctoral studies, but co-authored two
research papers, which were based on his observations at the
In October 2006, May re-registered for his PhD at Imperial College and submitted his thesis in August 2007 (one year earlier than he estimated it would take to complete). As well as writing up the previous work he had done, May had to review the work on zodiacal dust undertaken during the intervening 33 years, which included the discovery of the zodiacal dust bands by 's
satellite. After a , the revised thesis (titled A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud) was approved in September 2007, some 37 years after it had been commenced. He was able to submit his thesis only because of the minimal amount of research on the topic during the intervening years and has described the subject as one that became "trendy" again in the 2000s. His PhD investigated
based at the
in . His research was initially supervised by Jim Ring, Ken Reay and in the latter stages by . He graduated at the awards ceremony of Imperial College held in the
on 14 May 2008.[]
In October 2007, May was appointed a Visiting Researcher in Imperial College and continues his interest in astronomy and involvement with the Imperial Astrophysics Group.
He is co-author, with Sir
and , of Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe and The Cosmic Tourist.
was named in his honour on 18 June 2008 on the suggestion of Sir
(probably influenced by the asteroid's provisional designation of 1998 BM30).
In 2014, May co-founded
astronaut ,
COO Danica Remy and German filmmaker .
is a global awareness campaign where people from around the world come together to learn about asteroids and what we can do to protect our planet.
May appeared on the 700th episode of
hosted by Sir Patrick Moore, along with Chris Lintott, , Prof. , and the
who on departing the panel, told Brian May, who was joining it, "I don't know a scientist who looks as much like
as you do". May was also a guest on the first episode of the third series of the BBC's , on 8 January 2013.
On 17 November 2007, May was appointed Chancellor of , and installed in 2008. He held the post until 2013.
During the
Pluto flyby NASA press conference held on 17 July 2015 at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Brian May was introduced as a science team collaborator. He told the panel "You have inspired the world."
May in 2010
From 1974 to 1988, May was married to Christine Mullen, and they had three children: James (born 15 June 1978), Louisa (born 22 May 1981), and Emily Ruth (born 18 February 1987). They separated in 1988. May had met actress
in 1986, and she inspired him to write the 1989 hit "I Want It All". They married on 18 November 2000.
He has stated in interviews that he suffered from severe depression in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to the point of contemplating suicide, for reasons having to do with his troubled first marriage, his perceived failure as a husband and a father, his father Harold's death, and Freddie Mercury's illness and death.
May's father Harold was a long-time heavy cigarette smoker. As a result, May dislikes smoking, even to the point where he has prohibited smoking indoors at his more recent concerts.
According to
of 2017, May is worth ?125 million. He has homes in London and , Surrey.
May is a vegetarian. He is an active
advocate, and was appointed a vice-president of animal welfare charity, the , in September 2012.
May is a long-term champion of woodland as a haven and "corridor" for wildlife, both in Surrey, where he has a house and elsewhere. In 2012, he bought land threatened by building development at Bere Regis, Dorset and, in 2013 and with the enthusiastic support of local villagers, initiated a project to create an area of woodland, now called May's Wood (or "the Brian May Wood").The wood consists of 157 acres, formerly under the plough, planted by May's team of co-workers with 100,000 trees.. May's Wood is said to be flourishing.
May describes himself as .
May filming for the BBC's The One Show in 2011 for an anti–badger culling campaign.
May has formed a group to promote animal welfare. Though a
voter most of his life, he has stated that their policies on
meant he did not vote for them at the . His group,
(named after ), campaigns for the protection of all animals against unnecessary, cruel and with a particular emphasis on preventing hunting of foxes and the culling of badgers. The group's primary concern is to ensure that the
and other laws protecting animals are retained in situ.
In an interview in September 2010 with
for the BBC's
program, May said that he would rather be remembered for his animal rights work than for his music or scientific work. May is a staunch supporter of the , the , the ,
and the Harper Asprey Wildlife Rescue.
In March 2012, May contributed the foreword to a target paper published by the think tank the , urging the government to reconsider its plans to cull thousands of badgers to control , stating that the findings of Labour's major badger culling trials, several years earlier, show that culling does not work. The paper was authored by Graham Godwin-Pearson with contributions by leading
scientists, including .
In 2013, May joined French guitar player
for a charity Danel launched to the benefit of animal rights in France. The guitarists signed guitars and art photos together, and were joined by .
In May 2013, May teamed up with actor
cartoonist , as well as animal rights groups including the RSPCA, to form Team Badger, a "coalition of organisations that have teamed up to fight the planned cull of badgers". With Weebl and Blessed, May recorded a single, "" – a
of Weebl's viral 2003 Flash cartoon , "", and Queen's "", featuring vocals by Blessed. Weebl animated the music video, parodying both Weebl's original animation and a scene from , a film featuring music by Queen, and in which Blessed played Prince Vultan.[] On 1 September 2013, "Save The Badger Badger Badger" charted at No. 79 on the , No. 39 on the UK
chart and No. 1 on the
Rock chart. In June 2013 renowned naturalist
and rock guitarist
joined May to form the supergroup, Artful Badger and Friends, and released a song dedicated to badgers, "Badger Swagger".
Prior to the , it was reported that May was considering standing as an . It was also revealed that May had started a "Common Decency" project "to re-establish common decency in our lives, work and Parliament". May said he wanted to "get rid of the current government" and wished to see a
containing "individuals voting according to their conscience". May was one of several celebrities who endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the 's
at the election. He also endorsed a Conservative Party candidate, , on the grounds of his animal welfare record.
In July 2015, May criticized British prime minister
for giving Members of Parliament a free vote on amending the ban on fox hunting in England and Wales. During a live television interview, he also attacked the pro-hunting organisation the
as "a bunch of lying bastards" for their support for a change to the law. The vote was postponed by the government following the intervention of the 's Westminster MPs, who committed to vote to keep the ban as it existed. May told anti-hunt protesters in a rally outside Parliament that it was "a very, very important day for our democracy" but added "we have not yet won the war, there's no room for complacency".
In September 2015, a new damselfly species of the genus
(Odonata : Zygoptera) from Brazil was named Heteragrion brianmayi in honour of him.
In June 2017, May endorsed
in the . May shared an article on
headlined "Jeremy Corbyn says Fox hunting is 'barbarity' and pledges to keep it banned" and captioned it: "Well, I guess that just about clinches it !! Anyone see any good reason not to prefer the evidently decent Corbyn over the weak and wobbly Mrs May? Bri"
May has had a lifelong interest in collecting Victorian . In 2009, with co-author Elena Vidal, he published his second book, , on the work of English stereophotography innovator . He was awarded The 's Saxby Medal in 2012 for achievement in the field of three-dimensional imaging.
May made a significant technical contribution to the book to accompany the exhibition 'Stereoscopic Photographs of Pablo Picasso by ', held at the
in , UK from February to June 2014. The book provides a cross-section of photographs of Picasso in his studio, at the bullfight at
and in his garden. May's 3D 'Owl viewer' is used to view the photographs in 3D.
The purchase of his first card in 1973 started May on a lifelong and worldwide search for , which are stereoscopic photographs depicting scenes of daily life in Hell. On 10 October 2013 the book Diableries: Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell by Brian May, Denis Pellerin and Paula Fleming was published.
With Queen
"" (1973) vocal bridge with Taylor, rest sung by Mercury
"Some Day, One Day" (1974)
"She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes)" (1974)
"" (1978) chorus vocals
"Leaving Home Ain't Easy" (1978)
"Sail Away Sweet Sister" (1980) Mercury sings the bridge
"" (1980) with Freddie Mercury
"Put Out the Fire" lead on falsetto lines
"" (1982) harmony vocals on chorus
"I Go Crazy" (1984) lead bridge vocals
"" (1986) first verse, harmony and other lines throughout
"" (1989) with Mercury
"Lost Opportunity" (1991)
"" (1995) lead vocals on final verse
"" (1995) lead vocals on third verse
"" (1997) with Taylor
Solo discography
(2000) soundtrack
Collaborations
(with Kerry Ellis) (2013)
(with Kerry Ellis) (2017)
May, Brian Harold (2008).
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