“All of a sudden out of the blue I didn’t have any control of this arm”: Brian May recovering after suffering “minor stroke”

Brian May has confirmed he is doing “okay” after he recently suffered a minor stroke.

The legendary Queen electric guitar player quietly dropped the news of his recent health scare in a post on social media. In the video, May said his ability to play guitar was initially “in some doubt”, but he has since been able to pick up his Red Special.

“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 says in the clip.

“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,’” May continues.

“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.

“I didn’t want to say anything at the time because I didn’t want anything surrounding [me]. I really don’t want sympathy. Please don’t do that because it will clutter up my inbox. The good news is I’m okay, just doing what I’m told, which is basically nothing.”

At the time of writing, May isn’t scheduled to go on the road with Queen + Adam Lambert before the end of the year, having seemingly already finished his concert commitments for 2024.

And it’s been a relatively busy year for May. After completing the Rhapsody Tour in February, May has been racking up his cameo credits with a number of high-profile guest appearances.

Over the past few months, May joined Jean-Michel Jarre for a “challenging” virtuosic collaboration, and linked up with The Offspring to perform Queen’s Stone Cold Crazy.

In guitar news, May also surprise-announced he’d joined the Gibson family, and confirmed that Gibson-built Red Special guitars could become a reality.

Visit Brian May’s Instagram account for updates.