| "Too Much Love Will Kill You" | ||||
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| Single by Brian May | ||||
| from the album Back to the Light | ||||
| B-side | "I'm Scared" | |||
| Released | 24 August 1992[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1988–1992 | |||
| Length | 4:26 | |||
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| Brian May singles chronology | ||||
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"Too Much Love Will Kill You" is a song written by British guitarist Brian May of Queen, Frank Musker and Elizabeth Lamers.[2] The song reflected the breakdown of May's first marriage and attraction to his future wife, Anita Dobson.[3] It was first recorded by Queen around 1988 or before, and was intended to be on the band's The Miracle album in 1989, but did not make the cut due to legal disputes following the band's decision that all songs on the album would be written by the group as opposed to individuals.[citation needed]
After Freddie Mercury's death in 1991, May arranged a solo version, which he performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992,[4] and subsequently included on his solo album Back to the Light that same year. When released as a single, it reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, number two in Belgium, and topped the charts in the Netherlands.
Since it was first played publicly at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, a common misconception is that the song was written as a tribute to Freddie Mercury, although it had actually been written several years before he died, and Mercury sang the lead vocal on the Queen version, which was featured on the band's final studio album, Made In Heaven (1995).
- ^ "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 22 August 1992. p. 19. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
- ^ Billboard 21 Jun 1997 Billboard. Retrieved 16 January 2011
- ^ Purvis, Georg (24 August 2012). Queen: Complete Works. Titan Books. pp. 869–871. ISBN 9781781162873. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
- ^ The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert: Too Much Love Will Kill You Ultimate Queen. Retrieved 2 July 2011