Neil Murray

Philip Neil Murray (born August 27, 1950 in Edinburgh , Scotland) is a Scottish rock and pop musician. For years he was the bass player for the rock groups Whitesnake and Black Sabbath .

In 1994 he also founded the SAS Band with Queens live keyboardist Spike Edney , a cover band that performs live all over Europe.

Murray was and is much more successful as a session and studio musician. Since the early 1990s, Murray has mainly worked as a freelance musician. He worked live on stage and partly in the studio for Spike Edney, Brian May , Steve Vai , Joe Satriani , Paul Rodgers , Robert Palmer , Scorpions , Jimmy Barnes , Ian Gillan , Ozzy Osbourne , John Martyn , Bill Bruford , Graham Bonnet , Randy California , Allan Holdsworth , Kerry Ellis , Jeff Beck , Cozy Powell , Bobby Rondinelli , John Sykes, and many others.

Colosseum II

When Jon Hiseman founded Colosseum II, the successor to the jazz rock group Colosseum , in 1975 , Neil Murray was there and played bass on Strange New Flesh , the group's first album.

Whitesnake

Neil Murray was the band's bassist from the beginning of Whitesnake in 1978 to 1987.

Black Sabbath

From 1989-1991 and 1994-1997 he was a member of Cozy Powell in the band Black Sabbath . Cozy Powell brought the bassist Murray into the band. Tony Iommi fired Murray and Powell in 1991 to pave the way for a reunion with former members Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice and founding member Geezer Butler. In 1994 Butler and Rondinelli resigned and were again replaced by Murray and Powell.

Brian May Band

From 1992 to 1998 he was the bass player in the live performances of the Brian May Band. Together with the live Queen keyboardist Spike Edney, Cozy Powell and Jamie Moses Murray formed the band around the Queen guitarist on his first solo tour.

SAS tape

After the first Brian May Band Tour in 1992/1993, Spike Edney founded the SAS Band (Spike's All Star Band). The original line-up with Jamie Moses (guitar, voc.), Neil Murray (bass), Cozy Powell (drums) was taken over by Edney. The SAS Band currently still performs regularly, but with a changing line-up - only Jamie Moses and Chris Thompson are part of the regular formation alongside Edney. Neil Murray does attend every now and then, however.

Peter Green's Splinter Group

From 1997 to 1998, Neil was part of the Splinter Group's line-up with Cozy Powell and Spike Edney. In 1998 he was replaced by Pete Stroud.

Michael Schenker Group

Neil Murray played bass on the Michael Schenker Group's 2008 album In The Midst Of Beauty . In 2009 and 2010, Neil Murray played bass for MSG on the 30th Anniversary Tour .

Queen

In the years since 2000, Neil Murray played in the backing band with the two Queen musicians Brian May and Roger Taylor. There Neil Murray met again with his SAS and Brian May band colleagues Jamie Moses and Spike Edney. They played at the Queen's Jubilee Concert in 2002 at Buckingham Palace, a concert in front of 100,000 people in Amsterdam on the occasion of Queens Day and the Pavarotti and Friends concert by Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, Italy. On November 29, 2003, Queen performed in Cape Town at Nelson Mandela's 46664 concert . In addition to Neil Murray, Taylor and May usually always appear with Spike Edney and Jamie Moses.

We will rock you

In 2002 Murray got the job as bassist and musical director in the rock musical We will Rock You by the two Queen musicians, in which Murray has played since then.

Queen + Paul Rodgers

On October 14th and 16th, 2008 Neil Murray replaced the sick Danny Miranda at two concerts on the Cosmos Rocks Tour of the line-up Queen + Paul Rodgers . Taylor and May Murray originally wanted to sign Queen + Paul Rodgers' Return of the Champions for the 2005/06 tour. In fan circles, however, it was rumored that this failed because Paul Rodgers and Neil Murray had personal differences. In the Queen + Paul Rodgers projects Brian May and Roger Taylor did not appear with their full main band for the first time.

Web links

Interview with Neil Murray 2003

Individual evidence

↑ Review of Strange New Flesh
^ Christian Graf, Burghard Rausch: Rockmusiklexikon. Europe Volume 2 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005 ISBN 3-596-16429-X , page 1408ff
↑ Martin Strong: The Great Rock Discography . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main, 2004 ISBN 3-86150-701-3 , page 1650ff
↑ Martin Strong: The Great Rock Discography . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main, 2004 ISBN 3-86150-701-3 , page 148
↑ Martin Strong: The Great Rock Discography . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main, 2004 ISBN 3-86150-701-3 , page 1240
↑ Homepage of the Michael Schenker Group
↑ Neil Murray replaces Danny Miranda

personal data
SURNAME	Murray, Neil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Murray, Philip Neil (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British rock musician
DATE OF BIRTH	August 27, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH	Edinburgh

[1] Review of Strange New Flesh

[2] Christian Graf, Burghard Rausch: Rockmusiklexikon. Europe Volume 2 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005 ISBN 3-596-16429-X , page 1408ff

[3] Martin Strong: The Great Rock Discography . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main, 2004 ISBN 3-86150-701-3 , page 1650ff

[4] Martin Strong: The Great Rock Discography . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main, 2004 ISBN 3-86150-701-3 , page 148

[5] Martin Strong: The Great Rock Discography . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main, 2004 ISBN 3-86150-701-3 , page 1240

[6] Homepage of the Michael Schenker Group

[7] Neil Murray replaces Danny Miranda


Studio albums	Black Sabbath (1970) • Paranoid (1970) • Master of Reality (1971) • Volume 4 (1972) • Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) • Sabotage (1975) • Technical Ecstasy (1976) • Never Say Die! (1978) • Heaven and Hell (1980) • Mob Rules (1981) • Born Again (1983) • Seventh Star (1986) • The Eternal Idol (1987) • Headless Cross (1989) • Tyr (1990) • Dehumanizer (1992 ) • Cross Purposes (1994) • Forbidden (1995) • 13 (2013)
Live albums	Live at Last (1980) • Live Evil (1982) • Cross Purposes Live (1995) • Reunion (1998) • Black Sabbath - Live at Hammersmith Odeon (2007)
Compilation albums	We Sold Our Soul For Rock & Roll (1976) • The Best of Black Sabbath (2000) • Greatest Hits 1970–1978 (2007) • Black Sabbath: The Dio Years (2007) •
Singles	Black Sabbath (1970) • Evil Woman (1970) • NIB • Paranoid (1970) • The Wizard (1970) • Iron Man (1971) • War Pigs (1971) • Fairies Wear Boots (1971) • Sweat Leaf (1971) • Children of the Grave (1971) • After Forever (1972) • Snowblind (1972) • Tomorrow's Dream (1972) • Supernaut (1973) • Changes (1973) • Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) • Sabbra Cadabra (1974) • Am I Going Insane (1975) • Hole in the Sky (1975) • Symptom of the Universe (1975) • Rock'Roll Doctor (1976) • Never Say Die (1978) • Hard Road (1978) • Dirty Woman (1979) • Neon Knights (1980) • The Young (1980) • Mob Rules (1981) • Turn Up the Night (1982) • Voodoo (1982) • Trashed (1983) • No Stranger to Love (1986) • The Shining (1987) • Headless Cross (1989) • Devil and Daughter (1989) • Feels Good to Me (1990) • TV Crimes (1992) • The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (1994) • Psycho Man (1998) • Selling My Soul (1999) • The Devil Cried (2007) • God is Dead? (2013) • End of the Beginning (2013) • The Loner (2013)