Queen's Brian May hasn't been able to escape drama this year.

While on tour in Australia this past February, he nearly came to blows with an obnoxious paparazzi. When the pandemic arrived, May spoke opening about his completely-relatable quarantine depression. In the spring, he was hospitalized after sustaining a tear to his gluteus maximus in a gardening accident.

Then a few weeks later, he was back in the hospital with a heart attack. In August, May's home was threatened by brush fires — a rarity in England's damp climate.

May tells The Times that fallout from his heart attack has proved difficult to overcome.

"I've had complications due to the drugs I'm on, one of which was a stomach explosion that nearly killed me," he said, before noting that he had few reasons to think he was a candidate for a heart attack before the episode.

"The heart attack was a symbol of an arterial disease, but I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't have high cholesterol and I was exercising through the tour, so why did it happen? At least I now have a heart that is working far better than it was."

May had stents implanted in three congested arteries. In his initial revelation about the procedure he explained that he was actually "very near death" due to the blockages.

Queen drummer Roger Taylor suggested in a July interview that even if there wasn't a pandemic, the band probably would have had to cancel tour dates this year anyway due to May's health.

This Friday, Queen + Adam Lambert will release their first album together, Live Around the World, a compilation of tour highlights from the past six years.

Photo: Getty Images

Mark Madden

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