Neil Fairclough, touring bass guitarist with Queen and Adam Lambert, is to join The Music Place for a special tuition course this summer.
Neil, who previously taught at the Altrincham-based music school from 1999 to 2014, has since been touring the world with his childhood heroes and musical icons.
He will be back on tour in North America this autumn.
But before then he will be taking a six-week of specialist bass tuition at The Music Place.
He said: “It’s great to have an opportunity to teach again one to one and enthuse about what music brings to people’s lives. There’s always something reciprocal with teaching, you get out just as much as you put in.”
Neil became a Queen fan at the age of 10 when he discovered the albums A Day at the Races and Live Killers thanks to his older sister, Lois.
Music then became a big part of his life and Queen was the first band he became obsessed with.
At the age of 14 he took up the bass, went on to music college and played in bands – including his own line-up, Pocket Central – all over the country.
Whilst teaching at The Music Place, Neil and some other staff members started meeting for a drink after work to chat about all things musical and more specifically, Queen.
Little did he know that a few weeks later, as part of Radio 2’s Weekend Wogan house band, he would get to play with his childhood idol, Brian May.
“It was mind blowing, I couldn’t believe it!” said Neil. “I was more than just a musical thing, it was everything that was so important to me as a child. Brian was lovely, a total dude!”
After the broadcast Brian invited Neil and some of the band to play with them at Proms in the Park in Hyde Park in 2010, and more gigs followed after that.
Neil went on to tour with the band for 12 years, across Europe, North and South America and Australasia. Notable performances included New Year’s Eve 2014 Big Ben Bash, opening the Oscars in 2019 and opening the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee concert in 2022.
“It’s been the most magical time of my life touring with Brian, Roger, Adam, Tyler, Spike and Rufus playing these iconic songs live. The highlight always being the joy that Queen’s music brings to audiences around the world.”
