Origin: Larne, County Antrim (Northern Ireland)
O'Ryan
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| Mervyn Spence "O'Ryan" |
Something strong - 1991 (with lyrics)Notes:
- Mervyn "Spam" Spence hails from Larne, Ireland, where he once worked in a hotel. Every Saturday night the hotel had live entertainment, and Spam learned to play the guitar by practicing with the gear left overnight by these musicians. He says that sometimes there wasn't much left when the bands came back on Sunday, because "we were playing around without much experience"!
At 16, Spam left Ireland for Lichfield, England. His first professional engagement was as bass player and lead vocalist with the Wolverhampton band Trapeze. When Trapeze broke up, Spam began writing and recording on his own.
In 1983 he got a call from a friend, saying that Trevor Bolder had left the band, and Wishbone was looking for a bass player to replace him. Would he be interested? He auditioned for Wishbone, and as he tells it: They said, "What are your plans for the next six months?" I said, "Nothing, basically. I'm recording at home, writing." They said,"Do you fancy going to America?" I said,"Yeah, when?" They said,"Next Tuesday"!!
Spence managed to get himself together to make that tour with the band, and he stayed with them until 1986. Then his wife had a baby, and the touring schedule was taking too much time from his family life.
Since leaving Wishbone, Spam has been involved in the "Phenomena" project, which he describes as "basically a group of musicians, international names such as Glen Hughes, Mel Galley, Cozy Powell, and Scott Gorham. The emphasis of the whole project is psychic phenomena. Each track builds up to a story line." He has also founded Parachute records, and released an album called "Something Strong" under his new professional name, O'RYAN. A second O'RYAN album is in the works. Spam's latest project is a musical rendition of the tenth- century Irish legend "Hound of Cuchulain", planned for release as a seven-part TV series with possibly a feature film to follow. -
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