Israeli-Canadian aims to be next Queen guitarist

Torontonian Roy Ziv shreds during auditions for Queen

UPDATED: Roy didn't make it. He received word early on Dec. 8 that he was not the guitarist. Sorry Roy. But what a ride! This should do wonders for your CV and future.

Roy Ziv moved to Toronto from Israel when he was seven. He's now a 20-year-old who hails from Richmond Hill and studies music at Berklee in Boston.

Oh yeah, he might also be the next guitarist for iconic classic rock band Queen.

Last night he may have gotten one step closer to his dream of rock stardom: he performed as a finalist on The Queen Extravaganza contest. The trials were set up by Queen founding member, drummer Roger Taylor – he's also one of the judges – who will send this new "Queen" out as a band after selecting a new crop of musicians to stand in for himself, late vocalist Freddie Mercury; guitarist Brian May and bassist John Deacon.

Ziv was selected to be one of the guitarist finalists and performed for Taylor yesterday to try and win the coveted "Brian May" position and tour with the band next year. Here's his video audition:





Winners are scheduled to be announced later this week. The Canadian Jewish News will have a full feature interview with Ziv in an upcoming edition of the paper.

Kol hakavod, Roy!