Queen guitarist Brian May recovering from minor stroke

Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Sir Brian May of the legendary rock group Queen said his recently announced "health hiccup" was a minor stroke, but he's recovering well and able to play guitar.

"It was in some doubt because that little health hiccup that I mentioned happened about a week ago," May, 77, said in a video posted Wednesday on his personal website called Brian's Soapbox.

He said doctors called it a "minor stroke that affected his left arm."

"All of a sudden, out of the blue, I didn't have any control over this arm," May said. "So it was a little scary."

May said a "very exciting" ambulance ride to Frimley Hospital in Surrey, England, and the doctors who treated him have helped him recover quickly with some precautions in place.

"I'm not allowed to go out," he said. "I'm not allowed to drive, not allowed to get on a plane, not allowed to raise the heart rate too high."

May said he didn't publicly announce his minor stroke diagnosis last week because he didn't want sympathy for his condition or his inbox to be "cluttered' by well-wishers.

It's not the first health scare for May, who had a heart attack while gardening in 2020.

"Shear Heart Attack, eh?" he said at the time. "Well, I think I always worried a little bit about that album title."

Shear Heart Attack is the title of Queen's third album that they recorded in 1974.

King Charles III knighted May in Buckingham Palace on March 14, 2023.

May also earned a doctorate in astrophysics from Imperial College in London in 2007.

May was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 as a founding member of Queen.