Greg Ridley
Background information
Birth name	Gregory Ridley
Born	October 23, 1947
Origin	Carlisle, Cumbria, England
Died	November 19, 2003 (aged 56)
Genre(s)	Rock R&B Hard Rock
Occupation(s)	Guitarist
Instrument(s)	Bass Guitar
Associated acts	Humble Pie Spooky Tooth

Greg Ridley (born 23 October 1947 in Carlisle, Cumbria, England – died 19 November 2003 in Alicanti, Spain) was, during the first half of the 1970s, one of the more visible bassists in England, and a founding member of the successful rock band Humble Pie.

Career

Born in Carlisle, England in 1947, he became part of British rock & roll's 3rd wave, reaching his teens just as the music's first wave was cresting.

He first entered music using the name Dino, part of a local band called "Dino & the Danubes", and then moved through some other outfits such as the "Ramrods", playing guitar and bass, before he and his longtime school friend Mike Harrison formed the V.I.P.s, an American blues-based band, in 1964. They actually got to record, and subsequently went through several membership and name changes, adding guitarist Luther Grosvenor and American keyboard player Gary Wright, before settling on Spooky Tooth in 1968. He was on the group's debut LP, It's All About Spooky Tooth and Spooky Two, the follow-up, recorded for Island Records, and the band and Ridley had a strong underground following coming off of that debut.

Ridley seemed headed for big things when fate intervened in the early hours of 1969. He was approached by Steve Marriott, late of the band the Small Faces - who had quit that group in the waning hours of 1968 -- and recruited into the lineup of the latter's new band, called Humble Pie. Co-founded with Peter Frampton, late a teen idol and flashy guitarist as a member of The Herd, with former Small Faces acolyte Jerry Shirley on drums, the bands first album As Safe As Yesterday Is and their hastily released second album Town and Country in 1969 immediately commanded attention in England, their original sound, an eccentric but energetic mix of folk, rock, and blues, though a little bit softer than what they came to specialize in, coupled with the names of those involved, made them instant stars in England. A contract with A&M Records, and a retooling of their sound into a harder brand of music, coupled with some extensive touring of the United States, soon led them to became a top concert attraction, embraced by millions of American teenagers. A&M helped matters by issuing the double-LP Performance: Performance Rockin' The Fillmore, which caused their popularity to balloon. The latter, ironically, was Frampton's swan song -- he preferred a slightly more melodic platform -- but the band's fortunes only rose with the addition of Dave "Clem" Clempson on guitar.

Ridley was at the centre of the Pie's sound as their bassist, generating a powerful sound and also anchoring their music, fulfilling a role similar to that of John Entwistle in The Who, and he and drummer Jerry Shirley comprised one of the better rhythm sections in hard rock during this period.

The LP Smokin' marked their critical peak, while the double-LP Eat It represented their commercial peak, just missing the Top Ten, in 1972 and 1973, respectively. After that, their numbers reached a plateau and slowly declined.

The band continued until 1977, playing out its string until the remaining members all decided to pursue other interests. Ridley left music for a decade after the breakup of the band, after finishing a never-released album with Marriott and a few abortive attempts at finding new gigs with Mike Patto and Ollie Halsall's group Boxer, among others.

Ridley participated in a concert 2001, organized in memory of Steve Marriott following the latter's death in a house fire in 1991, and participated in some of the latter-day Humble Pie activity generated by Shirley's reactivation of the group.

Death

Ridley died November 19, 2003 in Alicanti, Spain of pneumonia and resulting complications aged 56.

Notes

External Links

• [1] Official Website
• [2] more information on Humble Pie / Greg Ridley
• [3] Greg Ridley interview
• [4] Humble Pie Unofficial Site