Freddie suggested a name change to Queen and bassist John Deacon was recruited before the band’s eponymous debut album of 1973. With the release of A Night at the Opera and the single it spawned – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ – Queen became one of the biggest bands in the world. Through Queen, Brian became regarded as a virtuoso musician and was identified by a distinctive sound created through the layering of guitars. He often used a home-built electric guitar called the Red Special. He also contributed as a songwriter; some of the hits Brian penned for the band include ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘I Want It All’.

Brian topped the list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, as voted for by Total Guitar/Guitar World readers in January 2023. He was cited for ‘timeless riffs that will forever remain as exhilarating as the first time we ever heard them’. In 2001 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Queen and in 2018 the band received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Away from music, Brian has a PhD in astrophysics, which enabled him to serve as a science team collaborator with NASA’s ‘New Horizons’ Pluto mission, while he is also an ardent animal rights campaigner through his Save Me Trust organisation.