Spike Edney

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Philip 'Spike' Edney (born 11 December 1951 in Portsmouth) is an English musician who, since early 1970s, has performed with a number of bands, most notably, Queen, where his participation, starting in 1984, has been so extensive that some writers have described him as the "fifth member of Queen". In the earlier phase of his career, during mid-1970s, he recorded and toured with The Tymes and Ben E. King, playing keyboards, bass, guitar and trombone, subsequently, in the late 1970s, he was musical director for Edwin Starr and, during early 1980s, worked with Duran Duran, the Boomtown Rats, Dexys Midnight Runners, Bucks Fizz, Haircut One Hundred and the Rolling Stones.He also appeared with Peter Green on his comeback tour .

Spike Edney's collaboration with Queen included mostly keyboards (his main instrument), plus rhythm guitar and backing vocals. Accompanying the band on its tours since 1984, he was an obvious choice for Roger Taylor's side-project The Cross as well as for Brian May's Band when they toured in 1993 and 1998.

He can be seeing playing piano and later guitar (during the track "Hammer To Fall"), dressed in a pink top, onstage with Queen on their Queen Live At Wembley 86 DVD.

In 1994, he formed SAS (Spike's All Stars), a band with constantly fluctuating personnel sometimes, but not always, including musicians from Queen, Whitesnake, Free, Roxy Music, Toto, Spandau Ballet and solo artists including Fish, Roy Wood, Leo Sayer, Kiki Dee and Paul Young.[1]

After the death of Freddie Mercury, who was also Queen's primary pianist, he took over Mercury's role as such during Queen + Paul Rodgers 2005, 2006 and 2008 tours, playing all piano parts on a Korg Triton keyboard, in addition to all other keyboard parts.[2] During the 2005–06 tour, he was often referred to as "The Wizard" by Roger Taylor. He has also been the keyboardist for the London production of We Will Rock You since it opened in 2002.[3]

Spike Edney is also the musical director of the official Queen tribute band the Queen Extravaganza, which is currently touring the United Kingdom having previously toured North America.

Selected discography

Albums

Videos:

  • Queen: Live in Rio (VHS/DVD, 1985)
  • Queen: Live in Budapest (VHS/DVD, 1986)
  • The Brian May Band: Live at the Brixton Academy (VHS, 1994)
  • Queen+: The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (DVD, 2002)
  • Queen: Live at Wembley Stadium (DVD, 2003)
  • 46664 – The Event (DVD, 2004)
  • Live Aid (DVD, 2004)
  • Queen + Paul Rodgers: Return of the Champions (CD/DVD, 2005)
  • Queen + Paul Rodgers: Super Live in Japan (DVD, 2006)
  • Queen + Paul Rodgers: Live in Ukraine (CD/DVD, 2009)

References

  1. ↑ Website of SAS
  2. ↑ "Spike Edney brings his band to the Bisley Pavillion in Brookwood, Woking, on Friday, December 7" (Get Surrey, December 2007)
  3. ↑ Goguen, Paul. "Daltrey’s $7,500 Rent-a-Rocker Camp Sells Power Jams to Boomers" (Bloomberg News, 2 February 2011)

External links

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