Queen guitarist Brian May and Broadway legend Kerry Ellis are finally re-teaming for their second album release 'Golden Days', six years on from their first full-length output. It's a compilation of original and re-arranged tracks, including a tribute to a cause close to their hearts.
Brian May re-teams with Kerry Ellis
The album features five original songs - two of which were written by Brian and three which were a collaborative effort between Brian and Kerry - as well as new arrangements of classic tunes like 'Amazing Grace', The Wailin' Jennys' 'Once Voice' and the Academy Award winning 'Born Free' from the film of the same name as an ode to their Wildlife Conservation work.
May had been due to play a string of dates with Kerry Ellis.
Brian May has cancelled his Christmas Candlelight Tour dates with West End star Kerry Ellis.
The Queen guitarist was scheduled to perform 11 dates across the UK, but has been forced to pull out due to a ‘persistent illness’, which he says is ‘destroying my energy and my will’.
Brian May has cancelled his Christmas Candlelight Tour
The Queen singer gets an asteroid for his 70th birthday.
Freddie Mercury would have been 70-years-old today, and to mark his birthday, the International Astronomical Union has decided to name an asteroid after him. His Queen co-member Brian May was on hand to celebrate the new proposal as part of the Freddie For A Day party in Montreux, Switzerland; the same town where his statue stands overlooking Lake Geneva.
Freddie Mercury gets an asteroid named after him
Brian May announced the exciting news in a video message released at the Freddie For A Day 70th birthday party at Montreux Casino, which benefits the AIDS charity Mercury Phoenix Trust. He briefly outlined everything that is known about this particular celestial body and read out the citation from the certificate issued by the IAU. Plus, there's a short video of the asteroid in action at the end.
'The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Centre, which operates out of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, has deemed it their duty and their pleasure to name an asteroid after Freddie', said Brian May. 'It's out in the main asteroid belt beyond the orbit of Mars and inside the orbit of Jupiter. It's about 3.5km across, it has an albedo of about point 3 which means it only reflects about one third of the light which falls upon it.'
Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury was coincidentally first discovered in 1991, the year of his death. According to May, it can be seen from Earth, but only with an especially powerful telescope. 'From the Earth it shines at the fourteenth magnitude which means you have to have a pretty decent telescope to see it', he adds. 'It's just a dot of light but it's a very special dot of light.'
May also read out the commemorative certificate's citation for Freddie. 'Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara 1946-1991) was a distinguished British songwriter and the lead singer for the legendary rock group Queen', it read. 'His incredible vocal range and distinctive sound and performance style made him one of the most well-known icons of rock music and he is regarded as one of the greatest rock singers of all time.'
Incidentally, Brian May himself is an astrophysicist having finally obtained his PhD at the Imperial College London in 2007. He'd initially abandoned his PhD in the 70s as Queen became huge. He actually also had an asteroid named after him, Asteroid 52665 Brianmay, in 2008 (as suggested by Sir Patrick Moore because of the initials in the provisional 1998 BM30 designation) and went on to co-founder Asteroid Day which takes place on June 30th.
'Freddie Mercury sang, 'I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky' - and now that is even more true than ever before', said Joel Parker of the Southwest Research Institute. 'When an asteroid is initially discovered it is given a 'provisional designation' until enough measurements have been made that its orbit is accurately determined. At that point, it is given a number and is eligible to get a name as well. In this case, the asteroid in question was discovered in 1991 and was given the provisional designation '1991 FM3'. It has been observed and its position and orbit measured over 1,100 times, and it was given the number 17473.'
Like May's asteroid, the proposal to name the rock after Freddie was partly due to the 'FM' in the initial designation. It's been quite the commemorative month for Freddie though; only last week did English Heritage unveil a blue plaque on his modest semi-detached childhood home in the London suburb of Feltham.
Crowds of Queen fans gathered as the National Heritage plaque was unveiled in Feltham on Thursday morning.
A blue plaque commemorating the first house that the iconic Queen frontman Freddie Mercury lived in when his family arrived in Britain has been unveiled in Feltham, West London.
Mercury – birth name Farrokh Bulsara – lived in the pebble-dash semi at 22 Gladstone Avenue from the age of 17, when his family emigrated from Zanzibar in the autumn of 1964. While he was living there, he met his future Queen band-mates Brian May and Roger Taylor.
Says Cohen's claims against the content of the film are unfounded.
Brian May is painfully truthful about his opinion of Sacha Baron Cohen after the comedian pulled out of the Freddie Mercury biopic over disagreements about the content of the movie. When Cohen suggested that producers wanted something that was essentially a watered down reality, May wasn't happy.
Sacha Baron Cohen branded an a***
'Grimsby' star Sacha Baron Cohen could well have made the perfect Freddie Mercury in the Queen biopic that's currently in the works. However, he decided to walk away from the project once he realised that it wouldn't be as candid as he'd have liked. He opened up about the conflict on The Howard Stern Show, claiming that May was 'not a great movie producer' and only interested to 'protect their legacy as a band'.
Cohen had been in talks to play Mercury, but left the biopic after disagreements on the film’s direction.
Queen guitarist Brian May has hit out at Sacha Baron Cohen, calling him an ‘arse’ over his recent comments about the planned Freddie Mercury biopic. Last month Cohen had said he left the film because the remaining members of Queen wanted to make a family friendly biopic, while the actor wanted something grittier.
Brian May has called Sacha Baron Cohen an ‘arse’.
“Sacha became an arse,” May told the Mail on Sunday. “We had some nice times with Sacha kicking around ideas but he went off and told untruths about what happened. Why would he go away and say that we didn’t want to make a gritty film?"
Actor Ben Whishaw has reportedly stepped in to play legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury after the recent departure of Sacha Baron Cohen. The 33 year-old Skyfall actor has landed the role in the upcoming biopic charting the fame of the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' rocker, The Mail on Sunday claims to have confirmed.
Ben Whishaw Is The Queen Favourite For The Role.
Baron Cohen dropped out over the summer over quarrels with the remaining Queen members regarding the film's plot. Sacha was said to be gunning for a bare-all, gritty portrayal of the singer who died in 1991 whereas the band preferred a more family-friendly storyline that celebrated Queen's music.
Duets featuring two of the greatest pop stars of all time, Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury, are expected to get full releases in the fall.
According to The Times of London, Freddie's former band mates Brian May and Roger Taylor are working on the release of three tracks recorded during a six-hour session at Jackson's home studio in Encino, California in 1983.
Writing on his website, May said: "We will have something for folks to hear in a couple of months' time, hopefully.Great evening with William Orbit working with some Queen/Freddie/Michael Jackson tapes."
Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury collaboration tracks from 1983 will be released in just a couple of months time.
Queen guitarist Brian May has revealed that he's working on and plans to release previously unheard material from Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury and pop star Michael Jackson. The surfacing of the dead icons' collaboration will mark 30 years since they were originally recorded in 1983, but May and pop producer supremo William Orbit have worked together to tweak and remaster the songs - one would assume - for digital age optimisation.
We Will Hear New Jackson Material In A Freddie Mercury Collaboration.
The tracks in question were reportedly recorded three decades ago at Jackson's home studio in Encino, California, before the pair fell out after Jackson decided to bring a llama into the studio. Yup, the duet tracks could well be llama-inspired, after Freddie's manager Jim "Miami" Beach reportedly got a call from the British star, having said; "Mercury rang me and said: 'Miami, dear, can you get over here? You've got to get me out of here; I'm recording with a llama.'"
The two legendary, deceased singers will rise from the dead for this pre-recorded duet series
One may have been dead for over two decades an the other for just short of half a decade, but Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson still have unfinished business with the charts as previously never-before heard duets featuring the pair are due to be released later this year. The legendary Queen frontman and the King of Pop are said to have recorded the handful of songs in California in 1983, with a full album in the pipeline, however they only got as far as recording three songs, having to abandon the project to work on their own material.
Freddie continues to inspire people today with his music
Reports are indicating that the pair teamed up for a one-time recording session in Encino, California in 1983, where they recorded three tracks together. After sitting dormant for three successive decades, it has now been announced that the songs have been re-worked and re-mastered to give us the closest possible thing to what the pair may have had in stall with their duets album. Never ones to let an easy payment on Freddie's behalf go by, Brian May and Roger Taylor have begun working on the recordings and aim to release the completed project in two months as “something for folks to hear” - as quoted in The Times- and have enlisted the help of producer William Orbit to speed up the process.
Sacha Baron Cohen wanted to make a gritty film about Freddie Mercury's life with Oscar winning director Tom Hooper. Brian May did not.
Sacha Baron Cohen has left the movie biopic of iconic Queen frontman Freddie Mercury after a disagreement over the direction of the project. Cohen - who bears a dramatic resemblance to the singer - had wanted to make a gritty R-rated drama about the star's life, enlisting David Fincher and Tom Hooper to develop the project.
However - as is always the case with approval of Queen projects - the remaining members of the band were concerned about the movie's potential effect on Mercury's legacy and seemingly wanted to make a sugar-coated PG movie.
According to Deadline.com, the living members of Queen, including Brian May, rejected British writer Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) as the writer, as well as both Fincher (The Social Network) and Hooper (The King's Speech) as directors.
Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars and Katy Perry are among the names confirmed for the iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas in September. The two-day festival, set to be held on September 20 and 21, will also feature performances from Elton John, Keith Urban and a special pairing of Queen (with Brian May) and the former American Idol star Adam Lambert.
Last year's festivals played host to No Doubt, Pink, Usher and Swedish House Mafia though it will be remembered for Billie Joe Armstrong's meltdown during Green Day's set. After smashing the band's instruments in protest of his set being cut short, Armstrong left the stage and was admitted to rehab the next day, cancelling his band's tour dates and promotional appearances.
Ben Elton's new BBC1 sitcom 'The Wright Way' has been axed by the corporation after it received a critical mauling on Twitter. Executive Shane Allen confirmed on Tuesday (July 9, 2013) that the show - set in a local council's health and safety department - would not be returning for a second series.
In a strange observation from a top BBC executive, Allen warned that the instant reaction and "crucifying" of new comedies on Twitter made it more difficult for programmes to bed in. Though it's certainly right to allow new shows to develop, it's a little rich for the BBC to be axing shows and blaming social media.
Allen, the former boss of Channel 4 comedy, said he had spoken to Ben Elton about The Wright Way, with the pair coming making a decision "in conjunction." According to The Guardian, he said: "Ben Elton was really bruised by the reception. He felt 'If people aren't loving this I am not going to put myself through it again'."Maybe 10, 15 years ago, you might have gone, 'what did people like about it, what are the characters that worked', but people are quite quick to judge and to crucify these days."
During an interview on the 'Today' programme, Mick Jagger revealed he thought about becoming a teacher, a journalist and a politician before 'The Rolling Stones' were formed.
Mick Jagger considered being a teacher, a politician and a journalist. 'Start Me Up' singer revealed his early career plans during a televised interview. Speaking on the Today programme, The Rolling Stones singer said a career as "a schoolteacher would have been very gratifying". Had the singer gone on to be a teacher he would have kept his families' tradition as both his father and grandfather were teachers.
'Gangnam Style' K-Pop superstar, Psy, has said he'd be up for a musical collaboration with Queen's guitarist Brian May.
Speaking in an interview with Radio 1's Scott Mills, Psy revealed he'd set up a brunch-date with the fuzzy haired guitarist, who played alongside Freddie Mercury in the 70s/80s rock band, Queen.
Describing himself as a "really huge fan" of Queen, Psy revealed he was going to have brunch with May yesterday (11th June).
When asked if the pair were meeting with a view to working together, Psy - real name Park Jae-sang - said "Seems like it. I don't know, I'm just going to eat tomorrow, but I'm super excited. The band was an inspiration to me since I was 14 or 15 until now."
Brian May isn't a fan of the BBC series The Voice, nor does he agree with Tom Jones' participation on the show. He does like badgers though.
Brian May, the man who single handedly killed rock and roll when he climbed to the top of Buckingham Palace to play 'God Save The Queen,' has unleashed a scathing attack on the BBC talent series The Voice. One thing about the show that got the veteran rocker particularly riled up was the presence of Sir Tom Jones, who he feels is much to good for the 'vile' show.
In a statement posted on his website, the guitarist attacks the format of the show in particular, as well as voicing his sheer disappointment towards the fact that Tom Jones is one of the stars of the show. His comments only touch on the show itself and Jone's appearance, failing to mention any of the other panelists; will.i.am, Danny O'Donoghue and Jessie J (who May and Roger Taylor let trample on the grave of Freddie Mercury during the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics). In his online outburst, May writes; "Sorry, hate to be negative but The Voice is the dullest, dumbest, most depressing show on TV," continuing, "it’s the ultimate insult to music and to performers."
The Freddy Mercury documentary promised to be "the closest we’ll get to the real Freddie Mercury", well at least host Alan Yentob promised that. But did we get our close up? According to Gigwise, we did not.
The Arts Desk said, "[Freddie's] shyness and the protective persona, coupled with vigorous policing by the Queen organisation, meant that film-maker Rhys Thomas couldn't add a great deal to what's already known about Mercury." And The Independent were equally down on the doc, saying it was "rather more like a trip down rock memory lane than an hour of revelation or revisionism". The show wasn’t completely devoid of interesting information about the band, for instance: we found out that Mercury fought "like a kid" with Brian May, and that Queen were stuck in a lift when they found out that 'Bohemian Rhapsody' had reached number one, but beyond that, there was no real depth. Or not the depth we were craving, anyway, unless you count the fact that Mercury was supposed to record a collaboration with Michael Jackson but it fell apart because Jackson kept bringing his pet llama into the recording studio as interesting.
Essentially, the documentary is a pleasant watch for a casual fan, looking to gain an extra insight into Freddy, but for you Queen fanatics out there, it’ll probably be a regurgitation of stuff you already spent hours on the internet reading about.
Sacha Baron Cohen will play Freddie Mercury in a movie set for release in 2014, according to Queen guitarist Brian May. Filming on the biopic is set to begin in the Spring of next year.
After a 'band meeting', May told fans on his official website, "The pieces are all falling into place, though we are now on a slightly later schedule - filming is now scheduled to start in the Spring, with Sacha Baron Cohen playing Freddie." According to Cinema Blend, High Fidelity director Stephen Fears is the frontrunner to helm the movie, though May failed to mention him in his latest post. Comedic actor Cohen - the man behind Borat, Bruno and The Dictator - is certainly a solid choice for the role of Mercury. The actor proved in Tim Burton's 'Sweeney Todd' that he can hold a tune, and has plenty of on-screen presence (he'll need every bit of that to portray the Queen frontman.)
Mercury was the subject of the BBC documentary' The Great Pretender' on Tuesday evening (October 16, 2012). You can read our review of the programme HERE.
Shot in 1986 and only just now remastered for release in the West, this documentary captures Queen in all their glory both on stage and behind the scenes. The film is divided into two parts, opening with a 27-minute exploration of the band in the "magic year" after its triumphant Live Aid performance, during which they recorded an album, scored the adventure movie The Highlander and planned a massive European tour.
Then we cut to their concert in Budapest, their first performance in Hungary, which drew 80,000 fans from throughout the Eastern Bloc. When Freddie Mercury takes the stage, the crowd goes wild, and he holds them in rapturous attention all the way through. He even performs some Hungarian folk music along the way, but they're far more interested in the band's big hits like Radio Gaga and Bohemian Rhapsody, which they sing along with loudly.
Queen rarely gave interviews, so the backstage material in this film is a fascinating glimpse into these musicians, who are all self-effacing and rather cheeky. Mercury even starts flirting with the interviewer, noting that he's not worried about struggling to connect with the foreign crowd. "I always win an audience," he says with a mischievous grin. And during the concert section of the film, we also get to see them getting out and about in Budapest, seeing the sites, meeting locals and generally clowning around.
In an episode of American Idol, contestant Ace Young performed 'We Will Rock You' with Queen. But an interview with guitarist Brian May might have been edited to undermine his performance.
Brain May, the legendary guitarist from the equally legendary rock band Queen, has revealed that he may have been used by producers of 'American Idol' in order to undermine the potential of one of the contestants. In an entry on his personal blog on Thursday, May explained how on Tuesday night's show, his encounter with the contestant Ace Young was entirely misrepresented.
Brian May maintains that his conversation was edited to sound more negative.
As part of the show, a conversation between May and Young was recorded, but according to May, "it was edited in such a way that it looked as if I was purely negative." Furthermore, May suggests that his thoughts and comments were made at a completely different time. As part of the editing process, the section appeared to show the two discussing the new composition of 'We Will Rock You', "after we had played together, which was not the way it happened, making me look like I was against the whole thing."
Brian May re-teams with Kerry Ellis
