Greg Ridley

English rock bassist (1947–2003)

Alfred Gregory Ridley (23 October 1947 – 19 November 2003) was an English bassist who was the bassist and a founding member of the rock band Humble Pie and Spooky Tooth.

Ridley was born in Carlisle, Cumberland, England. Early in his career he played under the name Dino as guitarist for "Dino & the Danubes" before joining bands such as the Ramrods. Ridley and Mike Harrison formed The VIPs in 1963, playing blues based music. The band added guitarist Luther Grosvenor and organist/pianist Keith Emerson, who stayed for a brief period of time before leaving and forming The Nice. Subsequently, the VIPs changed their name to Art, for the album Supernatural Fairy Tales and then, with the addition of American keyboardist Gary Wright, to Spooky Tooth in 1968. Spooky Tooth signed to Island and recorded two albums It's All About (1968) and Spooky Two (1969). In January 1969 Ridley was approached by Steve Marriott from the Small Faces, Earlier that year, he had also become involved with a Humble Pie project initiated by Jerry Shirley's reactivation of the group. and the enlisting of another former Humble Pie guitarist and vocalist Bobby Tench. This resulted in the album Back on Track, released by Sanctuary in 2002 and a short tour of Germany with Company of Snakes during the early part of 2003. The project was cut short when Ridley became ill.

On 19 November 2003, Ridley died in Alicante, Spain, of pneumonia and resulting complications. He was 56. His funeral was paid for by a concert organised by harmonica player Dave Hunt.