Legendary Queen guitarist Brian May has revealed that he suffered a stroke last week and lost the use of his left arm temporarily.
May broke the news on social media Wednesday morning (September 4th), calling the scare a “little health hiccup” and reassuring fans that he can still play guitar.
“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,” May said in an Instagram reel while twiddling the fingers on his left hand. “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. It was a little scary, I have to say.”
May said he lost control of his arm “out of the blue” because of the stroke, but praised doctors for their “fantastic care” in getting him quickly on the mend.
“I didn’t want to say anything at the time because I didn’t want anything surrounding, you know … I really don’t want sympathy,” May continued. “Please don’t do that because it’ll clutter up my inbox and I hate that.” he quipped.
The Queen icon added that doctors have advised him to do “basically nothing,” including driving or flying.
“I’m grounded,” he added. “Not allowed to have planes flying over, which will stress me. But I’m good.”
The minor stroke comes after May suffered a heart attack in 2020, resulting in the guitarist getting stints for three blocked arteries. He has since toured with Queen, who most recently completed a five-date tour of Japan in February.
You can see May’s Instagram post below.