Mervyn Spence

{{Short description|Musician and producer from Northern Ireland}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Mervyn Spence

| birth_name = Mervyn Spence

| alias = O'Ryan
Spam
Merv Spence
Bearded Dragon

| background = solo_singer

| image =

| caption =

| birth_place = Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1958}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}}

| instrument = Vocals, bass, guitar

| genre = Hard rock, progressive rock, pop rock, blues rock

| occupation = Singer-songwriter, musician, producer

| years_active = 1980s–present

| label = Parachute music, Emjo Media

| associated_acts = Trapeze, Wishbone Ash, Phenomena, Solo

| website = http://www.mervspence.co.uk

}}

Mervyn "Spam" Spence (born 1958) is a Northern Irish musician and producer, best known for his work with Wishbone Ash and Trapeze.

Musical career

Spence moved to Staffordshire 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, who promptly offered Spence the bassist and vocalist position in Trapeze, which had been left vacant since Peter Goalby 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 in Whitesnake – remains unreleased.{{cite web|url=http://www.wishboneash.co.uk/personnel/9.aspx |title=Mervyn Spence |accessdate=10 November 2008 |publisher=Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash |year=2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212130902/http://www.wishboneash.co.uk/personnel/9.aspx |archivedate=12 February 2008 }} Several of the songs from these sessions however (Demos exist in bootleg form), would form a very small part of Tom Galley's Phenomena 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 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.showmehowtoplay.com/artist/mervyn_spence/bio/?key=P000192685&show_full=1|title=Mervyn Spence|accessdate=10 November 2008|publisher=Allmusic|year=2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107025207/http://www.showmehowtoplay.com/artist/mervyn_spence/bio/?key=P000192685&show_full=1|archive-date=7 November 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}

Spence secured a job lecturing music industry topics at Walsall College of Arts and Technology in the late-1990s early 2000s while hitting hard times musically.