Merv "Spam" Spence is a Northern Irish musician and producer, best known for his work with

Wishbone Ash Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular albums included ''Wishbone Ash'' (1970), ''Pilgrimage'' (1971), '' Argus'' (1972), ''Wishbone Four'' (1973), ''There's the Rub'' (1974), and '' ...

and

Trapeze A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or flying, an ...

Musical career

Spence moved to

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

from Ireland in the late 1970s, and began playing with bands such as ''The Jury'' and ''Big Daisy''.

Trapeze

During Spence's time in local bands, he was spotted by

Mel Galley Melville John Galley (8 March 1948 – 1 July 2008) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for his work with Whitesnake, Trapeze, Finders Keepers and Phenomena. Galley was born in Cannock, Staffordshire, England. While a ...

, who promptly offered Spence the bassist and vocalist position in

, which had been left vacant since

Peter Goalby Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

had left to join Uriah Heep. Spence briefly toured with the band, and during his tenure recorded one album's worth of material, which – due to Galley's departure to replace

Bernie Marsden Bernard John Marsden (born 7 May 1951) is an English rock and blues guitarist. He is primarily known for his work with Whitesnake, having written or co-written with David Coverdale many of the group's hit songs, such as "Fool for Your Loving", ...

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entit ...

– remains unreleased. Several of the songs from these sessions however (Demos exist in bootleg form), would form a very small part of Tom Galley's

Phenomena A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfried W ...

project, which Spence would later join to sing and play bass on the 1992 album "Innervision" (billed as "O'Ryan") Spence later went on to buy the rights to the project, cashing in (and dining out) with a 'best of' compilation which featured a very small percentage of his work tagged onto the work of the real members of the project.

Wishbone Ash

Following the break-up of Trapeze, Spence was offered an audition for Wishbone Ash while he was pitching demo material to various outlets. On the strength of his

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of stud ...

and enthusiasm, Spence became a member of the band. Spence would perform on one album by the band, 1985's '' Raw to the Bone''.

Post-Wishbone Ash

Spence left Wishbone Ash in 1986 "to pursue family matters". He has since released two solo albums under the name "O'Ryan" (his mother's maiden name), 1993's ''Something Strong'' and 1995's ''Initiate''. Spence secured a job lecturing music industry topics at Walsall College of Arts and Technology in the mid 1990s while hitting hard times musically.

Discography

Solo

* '' Something Strong'' (1993; as "O'Ryan") * '' Emer May'' (1995; as "O'Ryan") * '' Initiate'' (1995; as "O'Ryan")

with Wishbone Ash

* '' Raw to the Bone'' (1985) * '' 40th Anniversary Concert: Live In London'' (2010)

with Face Face

* ''Childhood Dreams'' (1994) * ''Bridge to Nowhere'' (2006)

with Purple Cross

* ''Eyes of the Mirror'' (2000)

with Phenomena

* Phenomena III - Inner Vision (1992, as "O'Ryan") *''The Complete Works'' (2006)

with Big Daisy

* ''Big Daisy'' (2012)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Mervyn 1956 births Living people people from Larne Male singers from Northern Ireland Songwriters from Northern Ireland Rock singers from Northern Ireland Rock guitarists from Northern Ireland Male bass guitarists Wishbone Ash members Bass guitarists from Northern Ireland