Brian May Was Trying To Prove Queen Wasn’t Only About Freddie Mercury, Neil Murray Says

Bass guitarist Neil Murray joined an interview with Rolling Stone, in which he reflected on his time back with Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, and Brian May. He revealed that May was trying to demonstrate that Queen could continue after the tragic passing of  Freddie Mercury.

In his long career, the bassist Neil Murray has worked with numerous musicians and bands. His melodic basslines were mostly what made him different from the other bass players. Working with Whitesnake was one of the cornerstones of his career. Murray recorded ten albums with Whitesnake and helped the band increase their popularity.

Later on, Murray played with Black Sabbath for a short time after his departure from Whitesnake. He toured with them and also recorded in Black Sabbath’s ‘Tyr’ album, which was released in 1990. In 1992, Brian May was looking for a touring band for his first solo experience and Neil Murray started to work with him.

Murray has had a rich career as he collaborated with different musicians. In the conversation, he was asked about how it was to work with Brian May. He looked back to the time when Freddie Mercury passed away and May started to work on his solo records. Neil stated that there were probably some conflicts among Queen members and Brian May wanted to show that Queen was not all about Freddie.

It is interesting that Neil Murray came up with such a claim. He implied that no Queen member wanted to fall behind as they wanted their own domination over the band. It was obvious at the time that Queen was led by Freddie Mercury as he was under the spotlights. However, according to Murray, this situation might have disturbed Brian May. And thus, May determinedly stepped into his solo journey to show his musical competence.

Here are Neil Murray’s words on Brian May:

“I think Brian was partly trying to prove a point, that it just wasn’t down to Freddie. At times, there must have been a lot of friction in Queen. Everyone had a strong personality and wanted their songs recorded. I think some of it is Brian trying to get away from the enormous trauma of Freddie dying, and getting out there and doing something.

At that point, he had no interest in continuing with Queen. He was probably quite divorced from Roger, whereas later on, they realized, ‘We’re stronger together.’ Brian very much didn’t want to rely on another singer. Even if he had someone very strong as a backing vocalist, he wouldn’t condone the idea of anyone doing lead vocals but him.”

Murray also said that May was trying to deal with Mercury’s death, which could be also one of the reasons that he dedicated himself to work. As it turns out, Neil Murray implies that Brian May wanted to prove himself as the lead vocalist and see how it would go.