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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Victoria Scheer

Queen's Brian May opens up about battle with 'strange' condition after having Covid

Legendary Queen guitarist Brian May has opened up about his battle with a "strange" condition he developed after falling ill with Covid-19.

The 74-year-old contracted the virus in December 2021 following a birthday lunch with friends.

Since then, he said he has been suffering from daily "brown-outs" which cause him to suddenly fall asleep.

Speaking on the How Do You Cope podcast, the dad-of-three said: "I have a strange persisting condition, I think from the Covid, which are kind of brown-outs...

"Generally I'm OK I'm not tired all the time, but I'll get to a certain point in the day where something inside my head goes, 'You have to sleep now. You don't care about any of this, go to sleep - who cares'.

Brian May of Queen performs onstage during the iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on September 20, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada (Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

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"It's an almost irresistible call and I just go out like a light. It's really weird."

Brian said he was worried what the post-Covid condition could mean for live performances.

"I just hope it doesn't happen in the middle of a gig, because it's going to be very embarrassing - 'Just hang on for half an hour while I have a nap, guys - then we'll do We Are The Champions'," he said.

"But I feel good, I don't know if it's changed me."

Queen, one of the most successful bands of all time, formed in 1970 and consisted of Brian on lead-guitar, Freddie Mercury as lead vocals and Roger Taylor on drums. They were later joined by bassist John Deacon.

To date, they have sold between 170 million to 300 million records across the world.

Brian and Roger are currently touring with singer Adam Lambert as part of The Rhapsody Tour.

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