| Spike Edney | |
| Background information | |
|---|---|
| Born | UK |
| Date | 11 December 1951 |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instruments | Keyboards, bass, guitar, trombone |
| Associated acts | Queen SAS Band The Cross |
| Musician | |
Philip 'Spike' Edney (born 11 December 1951) is a British musician who has appeared as part of numerous bands and performed with Duran Duran.
Biography[]
Philip's most notable collaboration has been with Queen since 1984, to the extent that he has sometimes been described as the fifth member of Queen. In the mid 1970s, he recorded and toured with The Tymes and Ben E. King, playing keyboards, bass, guitar and trombone. In the late 1970s, he was musical director for Edwin Starr. During the early 80s he worked with the Boomtown Rats, Dexys Midnight Runners, Bucks Fizz, Haircut 100, the Rolling Stones and Duran Duran during the band's Secret Caravan Club Tour in 1988.
His work with Queen included mostly keyboards (his main instrument), plus rhythm guitar and backing vocals. He accompanied the band on their tours since 1984, and 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.
In 1994, he formed the SAS Band (Spike's All Stars), a group with a 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.
As the late Freddie Mercury was 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. During the 2005/2006 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.
Selected discography[]
Albums:[]
- Queen: A Kind of Magic (1986)
- Queen: Live Magic (1986)
- The Cross: Shove It (1987)
- The Cross: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (1990)
- The Cross: Blue Rock (1991)
- Lucio Battisti: Cosa succederà alla ragazza (1992)
- Queen: Live at Wembley '86 (1992)
- The Brian May Band: Live at the Brixton Academy (1994)
- SAS Band: SAS Band (1997)
- Brian May: Another World (1998; keyboards on "Slow Down")
- Queen + Paul Rodgers: Return of the Champions (CD/DVD, 2005)
- Queen + Paul Rodgers: Live in Ukraine (CD/DVD, 2009)
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)
- Queen + Adam Lambert: Live in Japan Summer Sonic (CD/DVD/Blu-ray, 2014)