Philip "Spike" Edney (born 11 December 1951) is an English musician who has performed with a number of bands since the 1970s, most notably with

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

in their live concerts since 1984.

Career

Queen

Edney's association with Queen began in 1984 during The Works tour, replacing

Fred Mandel Frederick Lawrence Mandel is a Canadian session musician, keyboard player and guitarist. Career Born in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Mandel started playing the piano at four and picked up the guitar aged eight. Growing up in an Orthodox Jewish h ...

. Edney's collaboration with Queen included mostly keyboards (his main instrument), plus rhythm guitar and backing vocals. After the death of Queen's lead singer and main pianist

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter who achieved global fame as the lead vocalist and pianist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. Regarded as one of the gre ...

in 1991, Edney took over his role on piano during the

Queen + Paul Rodgers Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * ...

2005, 2006, and 2008 tours, playing all piano parts on a Korg Triton keyboard, in addition to all other keyboard parts. He returned as keyboardist for the

Queen + Adam Lambert Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * ...

tours in 2012, 2014, and the 2015–2020 tour schedule. He has also been the keyboardist for the London production of ''

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song by the British rock band Queen from their 1977 album '' News of the World'', written by guitarist Brian May. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA it p ...

'' since it opened in 2002. Edney was also the musical director of the official Queen tribute band, the Queen Extravaganza. Edney can be seen on Queen's '' Live at Wembley Stadium'' and '' Hungarian Rhapsody'' concert films, playing rhythm guitar on " Hammer to Fall," and piano on both "

Crazy Little Thing Called Love "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Written by Freddie Mercury in 1979, the track is included on their 1980 album '' The Game'', and also appears on the band's compilation album '' Greatest Hits'' in 198 ...

" and " Tutti Frutti." He can also be seen playing in the background during Queen's 1985 Live Aid performance at Wembley Stadium. He would later comment that once Queen got on stage, the "lazy afternoon feeling..." "...changed instantly into a proper gig".

Other work

During the mid-1970s, Edney recorded and toured with the Tymes and Ben E. King. As well as keyboards he also plays bass, guitar, trombone and contributes backing vocals. In the late 1970s, he was musical director for

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and, during the early 1980s, worked with

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, the Boomtown Rats,

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, Bucks Fizz, Haircut One Hundred and

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. He also appeared with Peter Green on his comeback tour.

SAS Band

Edney formed SAS Band (Spike's All Stars) in 1994, playing their first gig at The Gosport Festival (near Edney's hometown of

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). The original band featured

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on drums, Neil Murray on bass and Jamie Moses on guitar. The band has constantly fluctuating personnel, including musicians from Queen,

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, Free,

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, Toto, and

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, and solo artists including

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, Roy Wood,

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, Kiki Dee, and Paul Young. Others that have appeared with the band include Suggs,

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and

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Equipment

During tours with Queen in the mid 1980s, Edney played a Gibson Les Paul Junior as his main guitar for the rhythm parts of " Hammer to Fall". During the Queen + Paul Rogers tours he used a Korg Triton, and during the Queen + Adam Lambert tours he used a Korg M3 before settling for a Korg Kronos.

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 Sir Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysics, astrophysicist. He achieved global fame as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen ...

Band: '' Live at the Brixton Academy'' (1994) * SAS Band: ''SAS Band'' (1997) * Brian May: '' Another World'' (1998; keyboards on " Slow Down") * SAS Band: ''The Show'' (2001) *

: '' Return of the Champions'' (CD/DVD, 2005) * Queen + Paul Rodgers: '' Live in Ukraine'' (CD/DVD, 2009) *Queen: Hungarian Rhapsody (2012) *

: Live in Japan (2016) * Queen: '' Bohemian Rhapsody: The Original Soundtrack'' (2018) *Queen + Adam Lambert: Live Around The World (2020)

Videos

* Queen: '' Live in Rio'' (VHS/DVD, 1985/2013) *Queen: We Are The Champions: Final Live in Japan (1992) * Queen: '' Live at Wembley Stadium'' (VHS/DVD, 1990/2003/2011) * Queen: ''

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness was a benefit concert held on Easter Monday, 20 April 1992, at Wembley Stadium in London, England, for an audience of 72,000. The concert was produced for television by Ray Burdis, direc ...

'' (VHS/DVD, 1992/2002/2013) * The Brian May Band: '' Live at the Brixton Academy'' (VHS, 1994) * '' 46664 – The Event'' (DVD, 2004) * ''

Live Aid Live Aid was a two-venue benefit concert and music-based fundraising initiative held on Saturday, 13 July 1985. The event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a m ...

'' (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: Hungarian Rhapsody (2012) * Queen + Adam Lambert: Live in Japan (2016) *Queen + Béjart: Ballet For Life (2019) *Queen + Adam Lambert: Live Around The World (2020)

References

External links

*
SAS Band websiteSpike Edney interviewed on RadioLIVE, New Zealand, following Sacha Baron Cohen to play Freddie Mercury announcement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edney, Spike 1951 births Living people English pop keyboardists English rock guitarists English rock keyboardists English rock musicians English rock pianists English session musicians Musicians from the London Borough of Hackney Musicians from Portsmouth Queen + Adam Lambert members Queen + Paul Rodgers members The Cross (band) members Peter Green Splinter Group members