What happened to Queen icon Brian May and can he still play guitar?

Iconic Queen guitarist Brian May recently revealed a health scare that left his fans nervous. On Sept. 5, 2024, May took to Instagram to share that a week ago, he suddenly lost control of his arm and went to the hospital for what he described as a “health hiccup.”

It turned out he’d suffered a minor stroke, but the good news is that he has regained the use of his arm and can still play the guitar. May added he didn’t share the news sooner, as he didn’t want sympathy. May is still recovering and is on strict instructions from his physician to relax at home. “Just doing what I’m told, which is basically nothing,” May noted, saying that he’s not allowed to fly, drive, and do anything that will spike his heart rate or stress him out.

This isn’t the first time the iconic guitarist had a health scare. A few years ago, May had an injury while gardening that revealed a more serious condition. 

Brian May had a heart attack a few years ago

In May 2020, Brian May was gardening in his home when he felt pain in his buttocks. “I managed to rip my Gluteus Maximus to shreds in a moment of over-enthusiastic gardening,” he wrote on Instagram. He was recovering from the injury at home, but the pain didn’t subside and he described it as feeling like a screwdriver in his back. He returned to the hospital for tests and learned that he had a compressed sciatic nerve, which, according to the Mayo Clinic, occurs when there’s an overgrowth of bone or a herniated disk. May attributed it to decades of playing the guitar and twisting his back during performances.

Apart from his back pain, May also experienced a tightness in his chest that lasted for 40 minutes. He alerted his physician and later found out he had a mini heart attack. His angiogram results showed he had three blocked arteries, which was a shock to May, as he was health conscious and made it a point to eat healthy and exercise regularly. Furthermore, he didn’t have prior issues with his blood pressure or heart rate.

The solution was to have open heart surgery or have stents implanted, and he opted for the latter. A stent is a small mesh tube inserted into an artery to widen the passage enough for blood to flow. The operation was a success, and May was thankful to have survived what he said was a near-death experience. He advised his fans to get regular medical checkups even if they seem healthy.