Queen’s Brian May on writing for Freddie Mercury: “He was always very encouraging”

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Queen guitarist Brian May is opening up about his working relationship with the band’s late frontman, Freddie Mercury, in a new interview with Guitar World.

May was talking about how insecure he often felt when people first heard a new song from him, noting “it’s always nerve-racking for me, no matter who it is.”

But he said that wasn’t necessarily the case with Mercury. 

“Freddie was always great. I used to sing stuff to him, and he was always very encouraging,” he said. “Of course, I was generally writing for him. I was conscious that I had to write something that would work for him, not just for me. And generally, he would take hold of it very quickly.”

He added, “[Freddie] was always very upfront; he had an amazing amount of drive, optimism and energy. He was very helpful with my insecurities, and he kind of chose me as his guitarist in the early days.”

Talking about the encouragement he’d get from Mercury, May shared, “He always said, ‘You can do anything anyone can do, Brian. You can do this for me.'”

“That sounds like I’m making him out as big-headed, but he wasn’t,” May says, “it was just this enthusiasm of, ‘We can do this together. We can be the best thing in the world.’”

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