Spirit Bios

Unfortunatley, there has been a dispute between Bernice Pearl (Randy's mom), and Ed in regards to the use of the name "Spirit". Ed would like Spirit fans to continue to enjoy the fantastic legacy of music left by Randy and the other Spirit members by giving a younger generation an opportunity to see the band live. Bernice does not agree, and because she controls Randy's estate and hence the use of the name "Spirit", the band no longer performs live.

Ed Cassidy is "Rock 'n Rolls Oldest Performing Drummer" and has been playing and exciting audiences world wide for over 60 years! Founding member of Spirit who's hit songs "Got a Line on You, Nature's Way, Mr. Skin, 1984, Animal Zoo, and Darkeyed Woman, helped shape rock music in the late 60's and early 70's, "Cass" is still playing drums as well as writing a book of memoirs. In addition to recording 15 Spirit albums, Cass has also recorded with such musical greats as Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder and Mason Williams. He has played with jazz musicians like Roland Kirk, Roy Ayers, Dexter Gordon, Les McCann, Zoot and Ray Sims, the Condoli Brothers, Gerry Mulligan and many more over the years.

Mike Nile was vocalist, bassist, and writer for the group Spirit for 9 years. Mike met Randy California and Ed Cassidy in 1978 composing and arranging strings and horns and performing on the Spirit release Potatoland. After recording Spirit's Rapture in the Chambers for IRS records at his recording studio in Malibu, California and Cassidy asked Nile to join the group. Spirit's Tent of Miracles was released in 1990 with Nile penning the title track. Nile produced acts for Alley Records and has recorded established acts like Alice In Chains, Mick Fleetwood, Saga, Dave Mason, Little Feat, Pete Bardens, Walter Egan, and Dean Torrence. Mike lives in Colorado and is a member of the Celtic rock band "The Indulgers", where he writes, sings and plays guitar, mandolin, whistle, bagpipe and accordian.

George Valuck first played keyboards with Spirit in 1979 performing on the Spirit release Potatoland. George toured Europe with Spirit and worked with Randy California on Randy's first solo album Euro-American, and the German record Live in Berlin. George was a front-runner in the electronic music field and a founding member with Nile in the early electronic experimental band The Electronic Music Ensemble.

Michael Carpenter was the most recent addition to the Spirit saga, replacing guitar legend Randy California after his unfortunate death. Carpenter is a veteran rock-blues guitarist hailing from Southern California where he played with Matt Cameron of Soundgarden, and Jake E. Lee of Ozzy Osbourne, among many others. He is also a founding member and lead guitarist of the legendary rock-blues band "The Heat".