Philip "Spike" Edney (born 11 December 1951) is an English musician who, since the 1960s, has performed with a number of bands, most notably with Queen in their live concerts, where his participation started in 1984 during Queen's The Works tour. During the mid-1970s, he recorded and toured with The Tymes and Ben E. King. He is primarily known for playing keyboards but also plays bass, guitar, trombone and contributes backing vocals. Subsequently, in the late 1970s, he was musical director for Edwin Starr and, during the early 1980s, worked with

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...

, The Boomtown Rats, Dexys Midnight Runners,

Bucks Fizz Bucks Fizz were a British pop group that achieved success in the 1980s, most notably for winning the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Making Your Mind Up". The group was formed in January 1981 specifically for the contest and comp ...

, Haircut One Hundred and The Rolling Stones. He also appeared with Peter Green on his comeback tour. Edney's collaboration with Queen included mostly

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

(his main instrument), plus rhythm guitar and backing vocals. Accompanying the band on its tours since 1984, replacing Fred Mandel. He was also part of Roger Taylor's side project The Cross as well as Brian May's band when they toured in 1993 and 1998. Edney can be seen on Queen's '' Live at Wembley Stadium'' and ''

Hungarian Rhapsody The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R.106 (french: Rhapsodies hongroises, german: Ungarische Rhapsodien, hu, Magyar rapszódiák), is a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt during 1846–1853, and late ...

'' concert films, playing rhythm guitar on " Hammer to Fall," and piano on both " Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and " Tutti Frutti." He can also be seen playing in the background during Queen's 1985 Live Aid performance at Wembley Stadium.

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 Portsmouth). The original band featured Cozy Powell on drums, Neil Murray on bass and Jamie Moses on guitar. The band has constantly fluctuating personnel, including musicians from Queen, Whitesnake,

Free Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procur ...

, Roxy Music,

Toto Toto may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Pets * Toto (Oz), Toto (''Oz''), a dog in the novel and film ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' * Toto, in Japanese ''The Cat Returns#Plot, The Cat Returns'' Characters of agency * a ...

, and Spandau Ballet, and solo artists including Fish, Roy Wood, Leo Sayer, Kiki Dee, and Paul Young. Others that have appeared with the band include Suggs,

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Rock music in Ireland, Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved ...

and Toyah Willcox.

Other roles with Queen

After the death of

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

(who was Queen's main pianist), Edney took over Mercury's role on piano during

Queen + Paul Rodgers Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

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 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'' since it opened in 2002. Edney was also the musical director of the official Queen tribute band, the

Queen Extravaganza The Queen Extravaganza Tour was a concert tour by official Queen tribute band the Queen Extravaganza. Background The Queen Extravaganza was Queen's official tribute band, developed by the band's original drummer, Roger Taylor. The original band ...

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 before settling on a Korg M3 for Queen + Adam Lambert tours.

Selected discography

Albums

* Queen: '' A Kind of Magic'' (1986) * Queen: ''

Live Magic ''Live Magic'' is the second live album by British rock band Queen. It was recorded at various live shows during ''The Magic Tour'' and was released on 1 December 1986. However, it was not released in the United States until August 1996. It r ...

'' (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 ''Cosa succederà alla ragazza'' (''What will happen to the girl'') is an album by the Italy, Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Battisti. It was released in October 1992 by Columbia Records. The album was Italy's 57th best selling album in 1992. ...

'' (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") * SAS Band: ''The Show'' (2001) *

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

(2012) * Queen + Adam Lambert: 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'' (VHS/DVD, 1992/2002/2013) * The Brian May Band: '' Live at the Brixton Academy'' (VHS, 1994) * ''

46664 46664 was a series of AIDS benefit concerts played in honour of Nelson Mandela by South African and foreign musicians between 2003 and 2008. Origin The second time that Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island was in 1964, and he was the 466th ...

– The Event'' (DVD, 2004) * ''

Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...

'' (DVD, 2004) * Queen + Paul Rodgers: '' Return of the Champions'' (CD/DVD, 2005) * Queen + Paul Rodgers: ''

Super Live in Japan ''Super Live in Japan'' is a DVD by Queen + Paul Rodgers, capturing the performances in Saitama Super Arena in Japan on 27 October 2005 from their world tour, featuring songs from both Queen and Rodgers' catalogues. 15 of these songs became ava ...

'' (DVD, 2006) * Queen + Paul Rodgers: '' Live in Ukraine'' (CD/DVD, 2009) *Queen:

(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 English rock musicians Queen (band) Living people 1951 births Musicians from Portsmouth People from Hackney Central English rock keyboardists English rock pianists English rock guitarists Queen + Adam Lambert members Queen + Paul Rodgers members The Cross (band) members Peter Green Splinter Group members