Heart attack left Queen’s Brian May close to death

Brian May revealed that he came ‘‘very near death’’ after suffering a heart attack despite having considered himself to be healthy. The Queen guitarist, 72, was taken to hospital with chest pains and ‘‘that feeling in the arms’’ this month, he said. Doctors told him he would need open heart surgery or stents fitted to hold open blocked arteries. ‘‘I was actually very near death because of this,’’ May added. He had been recovering from another health issue at the time, having developed pain in his buttocks after a ‘‘bizarre gardening accident’’. This was found to have been caused by a compressed nerve in his spine that he blamed on ‘‘50 years of running around with a guitar strap over my left shoulder holding a heavy guitar’’. May said that he had been shocked by the discovery of the blocked arteries, having considered himself to be a ‘‘very healthy guy’’. ‘‘Everyone says, ‘You’ve got great blood pressure, great heart rate.’ I keep fit on my bike, good diet, not too much fat,’’ May said. In a video on Instagram, he said: ‘‘I turned out to have three arteries that were congested and in danger of blocking the supply of blood to my heart.’’