Spike Edney

Philip "Spike" Edney (born 11 December 1951 in Portsmouth, England) is an English musician who, since the early 1970s, has performed with a number of bands, most notably with Queen in their live concerts, where his participation started in 1984. In the earlier phase of his career, during the 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 the 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.

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 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 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.

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, Roxy Music, Toto, 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, Bob Geldof and Toyah Willcox.

After the death of Freddie Mercury (who was Queen's main pianist), Edney took over Mercury's role on piano 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. He returned as keyboardist for the Queen + Adam Lambert tours in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016,2017, 2018 and the upcoming 2019 tour.He has also been the keyboardist for the London production of We Will Rock You since it opened in 2002.

Edney is also the musical director of the official Queen tribute band, the Queen Extravaganza.

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)
• Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody: The Original Soundtrack (2018)

Videos:

• Queen: Live in Rio (VHS/DVD, 1985/2013)
• Queen: Live in Budapest (VHS/DVD, 1987/2012)
• 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 – 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)