Brian May (composer)

For the English musician and physicist, see Brian May.

Brian May
Born	(1934-07-28)28 July 1934 Adelaide, Australia
Died	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Genres	Film score
Occupation(s)	Composer, conductor
Instruments	Piano, violin
Years active	1957–1997

Brian May (28 July 1934 – 25 April 1997) was an Australian film composer and conductor who was a prominent figure during the Australian New Wave. He is perhaps best known for his scores to Mad Max and Mad Max 2.

Life and career

May was born in Adelaide on 28 July 1934. He trained at the Adelaide Elder Conservatorium as a pianist, violinist and conductor. He joined the 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 of the Australian charts, selling more than 100,000 copies. This type of success was usually reserved for pop groups such as Sherbert and Skyhooks. May also composed the Countdown theme and the Melbourne Show Band launched the highly successful Countdown television series. He left the ABC in 1984 and his interests turned to film music. He composed more than 30 feature film scores, including Gallipoli, 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.

Death and legacy

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.

Filmography

• The True Story of Eskimo Nell (1975)
• Patrick (1978)
• Mad Max (1979)
• Snapshot (1979)
• Thirst (1979)
• Twenty Good Years (1979)
• Harlequin (1980)
• Nightmares (1980)
• Roadgames (1981)
• The Survivor (1981)
• Gallipoli (1981) (additional music)
• Race for the Yankee Zephyr (1981)
• Mad Max 2 (1981)
• Breakfast in Paris (1982)
• Turkey Shoot (1982)
• Kitty and the Bagman (1983)
• A Slice of Life (1983)
• Cloak & Dagger (1984)
• Innocent Prey (1984)
• Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985)
• Frog Dreaming (1986)
• Sky Pirates (1986)
• Death Before Dishonor (1987)
• Steel Dawn (1987)
• Bloodmoon (1990)
• Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
• Dr. Giggles (1992)
• Dead Sleep (1992)
• Hurricane Smith (1992)
• Blind Side (1993)

Awards

Mad Max won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Original Score. May won many other awards, including the Golden Award from the Australian Performing Rights Association.

Year	Ceremony	Project	Category	Result
1979	Australian Film Institute Awards	Mad Max	Best Original Music Score	Won
1981	Australian Film Institute Awards	Roadgames	Best Original Music Score	Nominated
1982	Australian Film Institute Awards	Mad Max 2	Best Original Music Score	Nominated
1986	Australian Film Institute Awards	Frog Dreaming	Best Original Music Score	Nominated

External links

• Brian May at the Internet Movie Database
• Brian May at AllMovie