Brian May was born in Adelaide on 28 July 1934. He trained at the Adelaide Elder Conservatorium as a pianist, violinist and conductor. He joined ABC Adelaide in 1957 and was asked to form and conduct the ABC Adelaide Big Band, a full-blown ensemble that was rated as the best of the ABC state-based bands. He moved to Melbourne when he was 35 to arrange and conduct the ABC's Melbourne Show band. The Show Band made its radio debut on the First Network on 13 March 1969. Background music for Australian television had previously been taken from records. May changed this by writing and arranging the themes for television programmes, including Bellbird, Return to Eden, The Last Frontier, A Dangerous Life and Darling of the Gods.
A breakthrough for May was the drama series Rush, set on the 19th-century Victorian goldfields. The theme was composed by Australian George Dreyfus, but May's arrangement of the theme was recorded by the Show Band and quickly reached the top five on the Australian charts, selling more than 100,000 copies. This type of success was usually reserved for pop groups such as Sherbert and Skyhooks. The single was also released in NZ. May also composed the theme to the highly successful Countdown television series launched by the Melbourne Show Band. He left the ABC in 1984 and his interests turned to film music. He composed more than 30 feature film scores, including Frog Dreaming, Cloak and Dagger, Mad Max, Mad Max 2, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Dr. Giggles and one episode of Tales from the Crypt. May preferred to orchestrate his scores himself.
May died in Melbourne on 25 April 1997 at the age of 62. At the time of his death, May left his collection of music manuscripts to Queensland University of Technology. The manuscripts have since been preserved by the National Library of Australia. His will established the Brian May Trust, a charitable testamentary trust, to provide a scholarship to promising Australian film composers to study film-scoring at the University of Southern California (USC). The Trustees have determined that the scholarship will be provided for tuition in film-scoring at the USC's Thornton School of Music in the course known as the 'Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television Graduate Certificate'. The Brian May Trust Scholarship was first awarded for the 2003–2004 academic year. The scholarship later relocated to New York University's Steinhardt School.
SINGLES
''Theme From "Rush" (#5) / Theme From "Seven Little Australians" 1974 Image
''Theme From Upstairs Downstairs (#52) / The Overture From Tommy'' 1975 Polydor
''Greek Wine (Griechischer Wein) / Hungarian Goulash'' 1976 Hammard
A breakthrough for May was the drama series Rush, set on the 19th-century Victorian goldfields. The theme was composed by Australian George Dreyfus, but May's arrangement of the theme was recorded by the Show Band and quickly reached the top five on the Australian charts, selling more than 100,000 copies. This type of success was usually reserved for pop groups such as Sherbert and Skyhooks. The single was also released in NZ. May also composed the theme to the highly successful Countdown television series launched by the Melbourne Show Band. He left the ABC in 1984 and his interests turned to film music. He composed more than 30 feature film scores, including Frog Dreaming, Cloak and Dagger, Mad Max, Mad Max 2, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Dr. Giggles and one episode of Tales from the Crypt. May preferred to orchestrate his scores himself.
May died in Melbourne on 25 April 1997 at the age of 62. At the time of his death, May left his collection of music manuscripts to Queensland University of Technology. The manuscripts have since been preserved by the National Library of Australia. His will established the Brian May Trust, a charitable testamentary trust, to provide a scholarship to promising Australian film composers to study film-scoring at the University of Southern California (USC). The Trustees have determined that the scholarship will be provided for tuition in film-scoring at the USC's Thornton School of Music in the course known as the 'Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television Graduate Certificate'. The Brian May Trust Scholarship was first awarded for the 2003–2004 academic year. The scholarship later relocated to New York University's Steinhardt School.
''Theme From "Rush" (#5) / Theme From "Seven Little Australians" 1974 Image
''Theme From Upstairs Downstairs (#52) / The Overture From Tommy'' 1975 Polydor
''Greek Wine (Griechischer Wein) / Hungarian Goulash'' 1976 Hammard
EPs
'Original T.V. Themes' 1975 Image'Brian May And The ABC Melbourne Show Band' Australian Broadcasting Commission
'Golden Instrumentals - Pop Evergreens' 1973 Australian Broadcasting Commission
'Classics Updated - Big Band Hits' 1973 Australian Broadcasting Commission
'Music Unlimited' 1974 Image
'Hits Of The '70's' 1975 Hammard
'The True Story Of Eskimo Nell' 1975 Festival
'The World Of Musicals' 1975 Hammard
'The Great Big Band Hits of the 40's' 1976 Hammard
'More Hits of the 70's' 1977 Hammard
'Brian May and the ABC Melbourne Showband' 1977 RCA
'Patrick' 1979 Varèse Sarabande
'Mad Max (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)' 1980 Varèse Sarabande
'Harlequin (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)' 1980 Music Movie Productions
'Survivor (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)' 1980 Disco Shop Distribution
'The Day After Halloween (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)' 1981 Citadel
'The Road Warrior (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)' 1982 Varèse Sarabande
'Kitty and the Bagman (Original Australian Soundtrack)' 1982 Festival
'Return To Eden (Original Television Soundtrack)' 1985 Varèse Sarabande
'Death Before Dishonor (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)' 1986 Varèse Sarabande
'Volume One - Original Motion Picture Scores From Australia: The Wild Duck / Frog Dreaming' [with Simon Walker] 1988 Southern Cross Records
'Thirst (Original Soundtrack Recording)' 1989 1M1 Records
'Sky Pirates (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)' 1989 1M1 Records
'Bloodmoon - Original Soundtrack Recording' 1990 1M1 Records
'Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (The Original Instrumental Score)' 1991 Varèse Sarabande
'Harlequin / The Day After Halloween' 1991 One M One
'Race For the Yankee Zephyr/The Survivor' 1991 1M1 Records
'Roadgames/Patrick' 1991 1M1 Records
'Dr. Giggles (Original Motion Picture Score)' 1992 Intrada
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May_%28composer%29
http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May_%28composer%29
http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/
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