[Cover photo credit to by Richard Gray © Duck Productions Ltd]
Brian May’s tribute version of Buddy Holly’s Rock ‘n’ Roll classic “Maybe Baby” has been made available for downloading and streaming, accompanied by a new fan-art based video highlighting his career in Queen and solo work. The artwork is part of the “Bri-Art Collection” which will appear in a book as a companion to the re-release of Another World. 100% of profits from the book will be donated to Brian May’s charity, the Save Me Trust.
May’s version of the track is on the second disc of bonus tracks on the April 22nd deluxe reissue of his second solo album, 1998’s Another World. The second release in his Gold Series, it contains the remastered original album alongside Another Disc, which contains previously unreleased remixes, rarities, live tracks and cover versions.
May explains:
I’ve never done a Buddy Holly song, and I did ‘Maybe Baby’. That song more than probably any other, is the reason that I’m here doing this, playing guitar and being a rock star and being a very fortunate person.
“Maybe Baby” features guest vocals by Brian’s “friend” T.E. Conway, his one-time alter ego who appeared at the Queen Christmas Convention at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire in 1998. The song, credited to Holly’s group the Crickets, entered the UK and US charts in March 1958, and it had a profound effect on May, who was then just ten years old.
He recalls:
I heard Buddy Holly make that incredible sound on his guitar, that clang, singing that beautiful song, hearing those wonderful harmonies of the Crickets, and it completely motivated me. I just thought, ‘That’s what I want to do. I want to be able to make music that does that to people, makes them feel this kind of yearning, makes them feel this joy and passion.’
