Uriah Heep are an English
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band formed in London in 1969. Their current lineup consists of guitarist
Mick Box
Michael Frederick Box (born 9 June 1947) is an English musician who is the lead guitarist of rock group Uriah Heep, having previously been a member of The Stalkers and Spice, both with original Uriah Heep vocalist David Byron.Larkin, Colin (20 ...
, keyboardist Phil Lanzon, lead vocalist
Bernie Shaw
Bernard Shaw (born 15 June 1956) is a Canadian-English singer, and since 1986, the lead vocalist of British rock band Uriah Heep.
Career
At the beginning of 1970 Shaw dreamed of becoming a rock guitarist. He bought himself a Gibson SG Spec ...
, drummer
Russell Gilbrook, and bassist Dave Rimmer. They have experienced numerous lineup changes throughout their -year career, leaving Box as the only remaining original member. Notable former members of the band are vocalists
David Byron
David Garrick (29 January 1947 – 28 February 1985), better known by his stage name David Byron, was a British singer, who was best known in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist with the rock band Uriah Heep. Byron possessed a powerful oper ...
,
John Lawton,
John Sloman
John Anthony David Sloman (born 26 April 1957) is best known as the lead vocalist for Welsh band Lone Star during 1977/78 and classic rockers Uriah Heep from 1979 to 1981.
Biography
Sloman's first band of note was local Cardiff act Trapp ...
and
Peter Goalby, bassists
Gary Thain
Gary Mervin Thain (May 15, 1948 – December 8, 1975) was a New Zealand bassist, best known for his work with British rock band Uriah Heep.
Biography
Thain was born in Christchurch. He had two older brothers, Colin and Arthur. He recorded in ...
,
Trevor Bolder
Trevor Bolder (9 June 1950 – 21 May 2013) was an English rock musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his long association with Uriah Heep and his tenure with the Spiders from Mars, the backing band for David Bowie, a ...
,
John Wetton
John Kenneth Wetton (12 June 1949 – 31 January 2017) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. Known for his dexterous bass playing and booming baritone voice, Wetton first gained fame in the early 1970s.
Wetton was the singer and p ...
,
Bob Daisley
Robert John Daisley (born 13 February 1950) is a retired Australian bass guitarist. He has collaborated on several occasions with Ozzy Osbourne, for whom he contributed bass, backing vocals, co-production and songwriting. He has also worked wi ...
,
Paul Newton, and
John Jowitt
John Jowitt is a British bass guitarist known for his work with several British neo-progressive rock bands, such as Ark, IQ, Arena, Jadis and Frost*, as well as substituting for Trevor Bolder in Uriah Heep in 2013. He has been awarded the Briti ...
, drummers
Nigel Olsson
Nigel Olsson (born 10 February 1949) is an English rock drummer and singer best known for his long-time affiliation with Elton John. A dynamic drummer and backing vocalist, Olsson helped establish the Elton John sound as a member of the Elton J ...
,
Iain Clark,
Lee Kerslake
Lee Gary Kerslake (16 April 1947– 19 September 2020) was an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Uriah Heep and for his work with Ozzy Osbourne in the early 1980s.
Biography Early life a ...
and
Chris Slade
Chris Slade (born Christopher Slade Rees; 30 October 1946) is a Welsh musician, best known for playing for the Australian rock band AC/DC. He drummed for the band from 1989 to 1994, performing on their 1990 album '' The Razors Edge'' along with ...
, and keyboardists
Ken Hensley
Kenneth William David Hensley (24 August 1945 – 4 November 2020) was an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, best known for his work with Uriah Heep during the 1970s.
He wrote or co-wrote the majority of Uriah ...
and
John Sinclair.
Uriah Heep were part of the early 1970s rock scene, and have been referred to as pioneers of the
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
,
heavy metal and
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
genres. The band has sold over 40 million albums worldwide with over four million sales in the U.S, where its best-known songs include "
Gypsy
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
", "
Easy Livin'", "
The Wizard
Wizard, the wizard, or wizards may refer to:
* Wizard (fantasy), a fictional practitioner of magic
* Wizard (supernatural), a practitioner of magic
Art, entertainment and media Fictional characters
* Wizard (Archie Comics), a comic book supe ...
", "
Sweet Lorraine
"Sweet Lorraine" is a popular song with music by Cliff Burwell and words by Mitchell Parish that was published in 1928 and has become a jazz standard. It is written in F major and has an AABA structure.
A version by Teddy Wilson charted in Oct ...
", and "
Stealin'". They also maintain a significant following and perform at arena-sized venues in the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
and
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
.
Uriah Heep have released twenty-four studio albums of original material, twenty live albums and forty-one compilation albums (including two greatest hits albums). Twelve of the band's studio albums have made it to the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
(''
Return to Fantasy
''Return to Fantasy'' is the eighth studio album by British rock band Uriah Heep, released on 13 June 1975 in the United Kingdom by Bronze Records. It was the first of the two albums to feature John Wetton as the new bass player, who replaced G ...
'' reached No. 7 in 1975), while of the fifteen
''Billboard'' 200 Uriah Heep albums, ''
Demons and Wizards'' was the most successful (No. 23, 1972).
In the late 1970s the band had massive success in Germany, where the "
Lady in Black" single was a big hit.
History
Early days (1967–1971)
![Uriah heep 01041977 33 300](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Uriah_heep_01041977_33_300.jpg)
The band's origins go back to 1967 when 19-year-old guitarist
Mick Box
Michael Frederick Box (born 9 June 1947) is an English musician who is the lead guitarist of rock group Uriah Heep, having previously been a member of The Stalkers and Spice, both with original Uriah Heep vocalist David Byron.Larkin, Colin (20 ...
formed a band in
Brentwood called Hogwash, which began playing in local clubs and pubs. When the band's singer left, drummer Roger Penlington suggested his cousin
David Garrick
David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...
(who knew the band) as a replacement. Box and Garrick formed a songwriting partnership and, having higher musical aspirations than their colleagues, decided to give up their day jobs and go professional. They set up a new band called
Spice
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices a ...
. David Garrick changed his surname to Byron. Drummer Alex Napier (born 1947 in Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland) joined, having answered a music paper ad; bassist
Paul Newton of
the Gods completed the line-up.
Spice avoided playing covers and, according to Box, always strove "...to do something original." Managed initially by Newton's father, the band climbed their way up to
The Marquee
The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed whe ...
level, then got signed by
Gerry Bron
Gerald Lincoln "Gerry" Bron (1 March 1933 – 18 June 2012) was an English record producer and band manager.
Early life and education
Bron was born in Hendon, Middlesex, into a Jewish family, the elder brother of actress Eleanor Bron. Their fat ...
(the Hit Record Productions Ltd.'s boss) who saw the band at the Blues Loft club in
High Wycombe
High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...
. "I thought they were a band I could develop and I took them on that basis," remembered Bron later. He became the band's manager and signed them to
Vertigo Records
Vertigo Records is a record company with United Kingdom origins. It was a subsidiary of the Philips/Phonogram record label, launched in 1969 to specialise in progressive rock and other non-mainstream musical styles. Today, it is operated by Uni ...
, the newly formed
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
label.
The four-piece found themselves booked into the Lansdowne Studios in London, still under the name of Spice. Then the name was changed to that of the well-known character from ''
David Copperfield
''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...
'',
Uriah Heep (for, according to biographer Kirk Blows, "
Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
' name being everywhere around Christmas '69 due to it being the hundredth anniversary of his death"). According to Dave Ling's 2001 autobiography of the band, ''Wizards and Demons, The Uriah Heep Story'', though the "Uriah Heep" moniker was chosen in December 1969, the band continued to play gigs as "Spice" until
Ken Hensley
Kenneth William David Hensley (24 August 1945 – 4 November 2020) was an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, best known for his work with Uriah Heep during the 1970s.
He wrote or co-wrote the majority of Uriah ...
joined in February 1970. Uriah Heep then decided to widen the sound. "We'd actually recorded half the first album when we decided that keyboards would be good for our sound. I was a big
Vanilla Fudge
Vanilla Fudge is an American rock band known predominantly for their slow extended heavy rock arrangements of contemporary hit songs, such as their hit cover of The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On".
The band's original line–up—vocalist a ...
fan, with their
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
and searing guitar on top, and we had David's high vibrato vocals anyway so that's how we decided to shape it," Box recalled. Gerry Bron brought in session player
Colin Wood
Colin Arthur Wood (born 15 June 1943) is a British musician engaged in the field of jazz and rock music.
Wood was born in Camberwell, South East London, & was moved to Somerset in 1950. He played jazz piano while still at school. In 1962 he went ...
, followed by Hensley, a former colleague of Newton in the Gods, who was then playing guitar in
Toe Fat
Toe Fat were an English rock band, active from June 1969 to 1971, notable for including two future members of Uriah Heep and a future member of Jethro Tull.
Career
Formed in June 1969, the band was fronted by former Rebel Rouser Cliff Ben ...
. "I saw a lot of potential in the group to do something very different," remembered Hensley.
Their 1970 debut album, ''
…Very 'Eavy …Very 'Umble'' (released as ''Uriah Heep'' in the United States), introduced Hensley's heavy organ and the band's guitar-driven sound, with David Byron's theatrical, dynamic vocals soaring above thunderous sonic backgrounds, although
acoustic and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
elements also featured in the mix. The album's title references the signature phrase of the Dickens character ("very 'umble"). Hensley had little to contribute to the debut: Box and Byron wrote most of the material, including "Gypsy", in many ways (according to Blows) "...a marriage of contrasts" that, in time, became their trademark. In a 1989 interview, Mick Box recalled, "The funny thing was we wrote it at the Hanwell Community Centre, and
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...
were rehearsing in the room next door to us. You can imagine the kind of racket we were both making between us."
During the winter of 1970, three-quarters into the recording of the album, drummer Alex Napier was replaced by
Nigel Olsson
Nigel Olsson (born 10 February 1949) is an English rock drummer and singer best known for his long-time affiliation with Elton John. A dynamic drummer and backing vocalist, Olsson helped establish the Elton John sound as a member of the Elton J ...
, recommended to Byron by
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
. The debut was not popular with rock critics (especially in the US, where ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' reviewer Melissa Mills infamously promised to commit suicide "if this band makes it"). In the course of the album's making the writing relationship between Box, Byron and Hensley was beginning to develop. "It was very quick, because we were all into the same things. It was like it was meant to be, there was that kind of chemistry," Mick Box recalled.
When Nigel Olsson returned to Elton John's group in the spring of 1970,
Keith Baker took his place. The band's second album, ''
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
'' (February 1971), was more squarely in the
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
genre, with its 16-minute title track featuring a 24-piece
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
.
One of the album's tracks, "
Lady in Black", described by Donald A. Guarisco as "...a stylishly arranged tune that builds from a folk-styled acoustic tune into a throbbing rocker full of ghostly harmonies and crunching guitar riffs,"
became a hit in Germany upon its re-release in 1977 (earning the band the
Radio Luxemburg Lion award). Produced by Gerry Bron, the second album was significant for Ken Hensley's rise to the position of main songwriter.
In December 1970 Keith Baker left the band
and was replaced by
Iain Clark (from another Vertigo band,
Cressida
Cressida (; also Criseida, Cresseid or Criseyde) is a character who appears in many Medieval and Renaissance retellings of the story of the Trojan War. She is a Trojan woman, the daughter of Calchas, a Greek seer. She falls in love with Troilus, ...
). With him the band toured Germany in late December 1970/January 1971 and made their first US tour in the spring of 1971, supporting
Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night is an American rock band formed in 1967, with founding members consisting of vocalists Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, and Chuck Negron. This lineup was soon augmented by Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards), Joe Schermie (bass), Michael Allsup ...
and
Steppenwolf.
By this time, Gerry Bron's deal with Philips/Vertigo was over, so he set up his own label,
Bronze Records
Bronze Records was an independent English record label founded in 1971 by record producer Gerry Bron on Oxford Street in London, eventually relocating to Chalk Farm.
History
Bron had been producing Uriah Heep for Vertigo Records, and he set up ...
. The third album was recorded in the summer months of 1971, during the band's three visits to Lansdowne. "It was the point in time when the band really found a solid musical direction," said Bron later.
The third album, ''
Look at Yourself'', released in October 1971, marked the solidification of disparate ideas that had been a prominent feature of ''Salisbury'' and presented the unified sound and direction. "
July Morning
July Morning is an annual Bulgarian festival, celebrated on the night before and the first day of July. The festival is unique to Bulgaria but it is not universally observed in the country.
In the days before the first day of July, people f ...
" has often been cited as the standout track. "I think that 'July Morning' is one of the best examples of the way the band was developing at that point in time. It introduced a lot of dynamics, a lot of light and shade into our sound," Ken Hensley said.
The album peaked at No. 39 in the UK.
Success (1972–1976)
By the end of 1971 it became clear, according to Hensley, that he, Byron and Box had become the tightly knit nucleus of the band. Feeling marginalised and having recently been badly shaken up when he was involved in an accident in Germany in one of the band's cars, first bassist Paul Newton left, in November of '71, and was briefly replaced by Mark Clarke. Newton recalled in a 2000 interview on Uriah Heep's website his departure: "Well, as you know, my father managed the band in the early days, with the Gods and Spice. He bought a lot of the gear and so on. When we became Uriah Heep and Ken joined the band – and Ken is the first to admit it – he had very definite ideas about what he wanted to do in a band. I suppose in some ways it was like the band was a vehicle which Ken needed and used to put his own ideas together. And there's nothing wrong with that as such. I mean, let's face it, the fact that what we did was successful was great for me too. But after a while you're bound to get some in-fighting in a situation like that. There were other problems too, because Gerry Bron was now the manager and my father was trying to get back some money from him - get some of his money back on the equipment and so on. There was a lot of unhappiness on all sorts of levels and everybody was unhappy in a lot of ways. I actually wanted to leave the band for quite a while before I actually left but I didn't. Anyway, with the heavy work schedules and the pressures and so on, I ended up collapsing on stage one night and the other members of the band decided I should go. It was funny because I didn't want to go and there was a lot of animosity but at the same time it was a tremendous relief".
During that same November, Iain Clark was replaced by
Lee Kerslake
Lee Gary Kerslake (16 April 1947– 19 September 2020) was an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Uriah Heep and for his work with Ozzy Osbourne in the early 1980s.
Biography Early life a ...
, once of the Gods.
New Zealander
Gary Thain
Gary Mervin Thain (May 15, 1948 – December 8, 1975) was a New Zealand bassist, best known for his work with British rock band Uriah Heep.
Biography
Thain was born in Christchurch. He had two older brothers, Colin and Arthur. He recorded in ...
, a then member of
Keef Hartley
Keith "Keef" Hartley (8 April 1944 – 26 November 2011)
was an English drummer and bandleader. He fronted his own band ...
Band, joined Uriah Heep as a permanent member in February 1972 halfway through another American tour, replacing Mark Clarke who was exhausted and nearing a mental breakdown. "Gary just had a style about him, it was incredible because every bass player in the world that I've ever known has always loved his style, with those melodic bass lines," Box later said. Thus the "classic" Uriah Heep formed and, according to biographer K. Blows, "Everything just clicked into place."
The result of this newly found chemistry was the album ''
Demons and Wizards'', which reached No. 20 in the UK and No. 23 in the US in June 1972. While its title and
Roger Dean's sleeve both suggested that the band was romantically working medieval myth into their songs—and surely songs like "Rainbow Demon" and "The Wizard" (co-written by Mark Clarke, during his short stay) did have thematic links with fantasy world—a more straightforward,
hard-rocking approach was also apparent.
To discard any possible insinuations concerning any kind of concept behind it, Hensley's note on the sleeve declared the album was "...just a collection of our songs that we had a good time recording." Both critics and the band's aficionados hold the album in high regard,
which, according to AllMusic, "...solidified Uriah Heep's reputation as a master of gothic-inflected heavy metal."
Ken Hensley remembered:
![Lee-Kerslake](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Lee-Kerslake.jpg)
Two singles were released from the album: "The Wizard" and "Easy Livin' ", the second (a defiant rocker, according to Blows, "...tailor-made for Byron's extrovert showmanship") peaked at No. 39 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Six months later, in November 1972, Uriah Heep's fifth studio album ''
The Magician's Birthday'' (No. 28 UK, No. 31 US)
came out, with "
Sweet Lorraine
"Sweet Lorraine" is a popular song with music by Cliff Burwell and words by Mitchell Parish that was published in 1928 and has become a jazz standard. It is written in F major and has an AABA structure.
A version by Teddy Wilson charted in Oct ...
" released as an American single and the title track (a multi-part fantasy epic featuring Hensley–Byron vocal duel and Box's extensive guitar solo in the middle) being the album's highlight. "Uriah Heep used to have an image, now they have personality," wrote
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
in 1973.
Much of it stemmed from the flamboyant Byron. "David was the communication point, the focal point of the whole group's stage presentation. He had so much charisma, so much ability," admitted Hensley many years later. But Hensley too developed into a sophisticated instrumentalist and stage persona, whose writing and keyboard flair ignited the rest of the band.
A lavishly packaged (an eight-page booklet plus) double album ''
Uriah Heep Live
''Uriah Heep Live'' is a double live album by British rock group Uriah Heep (band), Uriah Heep, released in April 1973 in the US by Mercury Records, and in May 1973 in the UK by Bronze Records. It was the band's first live album. The album was ...
'' followed, recorded at the
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
Town Hall in January 1973. Having completed another Japanese tour, the band (due to tax problems) went abroad to record to Chateau d'Herouville in France. It was there that the solid, but rather mainstream-sounding, ''
Sweet Freedom'' (No. 18 UK, No. 33 US) was created with "
Stealin'" released as a single. Having gained worldwide recognition, the band quit the fantasy world in lyrics and made an obvious stab at versatility by adding funk ("Dreamer") and an acoustic number along the lines of contemporary singer/songwriters ("Circus") elements to the palette.
Ken Hensley meanwhile had been gradually recording his own, mellower material; his solo debut ''Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf'' was released the same year.
''
Wonderworld'' (June 1974), recorded in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
's
Musicland Studios
Musicland Studios was a recording studio located in Munich, Germany. It was established by Italian record producer, songwriter and performer Giorgio Moroder in the early 1970s. in January, disappointed fans and band members alike. "Recording abroad disrupted the band's normal method of operation and that had a big negative effect on the group. Our communication was falling apart, we were arguing over stuff like royalties and we were getting involved in matters beyond music," Hensley said. Box remembered weeks spent in the studio as "dramatic" for all the wrong reasons. "David was drunk for most of the time, Kenny was having an emotional time of it and I was constantly trying to help them so it was difficult for me too. There was also a little bit of friction because (artistic) Kenny didn't like all the attention that (flamboyant) David was getting." Gary Thain was in even more serious trouble. According to Blows, "A strenuous touring schedule, compounded by the bassist's heavy drug dependency (inherent even before joining Heep) was taking its toll, though matters came to a head while on tour during September," when the bassist received a serious electric shock on stage in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
during a gig at
Southern Methodist University
, mottoeng = "The truth will make you free"
, established =
, type = Private research university
, accreditation = SACS
, academic_affiliations =
, religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church
, president = R. Gerald Turner
, prov ...
’s
Moody Coliseum
Moody Coliseum is a 7,000-seat multi-purpose arena in University Park, Texas (an inner suburb of Dallas). The arena opened in 1956. It is home to the Southern Methodist University Mustangs basketball teams and volleyball team. It was also home ...
on 15 September 1974. The rest of the US tour was then canceled and their UK dates rescheduled to October. Soon after going out of hospital, Thain, in ''
Sounds
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
'', openly accused manager Gerry Bron of having turned Uriah Heep into a mere "financial thing" and was fired two months after the group's final gig of 1974 at New Theatre in
Oxford, England
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...
on 14 December. A year later, on 8 December 1975, Gary Thain was found dead in his
Norwood Green
Norwood Green is a place in the London Borough of Ealing in London, England, that forms the southern part of Southall. It is a suburban development centred west of Charing Cross and ENE of Heathrow Airport.
Its origin coincides with the 12th ...
home, having overdosed on
heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...
.
John Wetton
John Kenneth Wetton (12 June 1949 – 31 January 2017) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. Known for his dexterous bass playing and booming baritone voice, Wetton first gained fame in the early 1970s.
Wetton was the singer and p ...
(ex-
Family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
and
King Crimson
King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...
) joined the band in March 1975 and with him ''
Return to Fantasy
''Return to Fantasy'' is the eighth studio album by British rock band Uriah Heep, released on 13 June 1975 in the United Kingdom by Bronze Records. It was the first of the two albums to feature John Wetton as the new bass player, who replaced G ...
'' (June 1975) was recorded; representing a revitalised Uriah Heep, it soared up to No. 7 in the UK. "It was a relief to have someone solid and reliable, and he had a load of ideas too," Box remembered.
The following "Year-long world tour" (according to a headline in ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
''), was marred by a new accident. Mick Box fell off stage in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
on 2 August 1975, breaking the radial bone in his right arm (but he persevered through both the set and the tour, receiving three injections a night). On 26 March 1976 at
Roy Wilkins Auditorium
Roy Wilkins Auditorium (nicknamed The Roy) is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in St. Paul, Minnesota. Designed by the renowned municipal architect Clarence W. Wigington, it was built in 1932 as an arena extension to the existing ''St. Paul Audi ...
in
St. Paul, Minnesota, John Wetton had an accident of his own when he (like his predecessor, Thain) received an electric shock on stage.
In November 1975 ''The Best of Uriah Heep'' compilation was released, preceded by two solo albums: Byron's debut ''
Take No Prisoners
The phrase no quarter was generally used during military conflict to imply combatants would not be taken prisoner, but killed.
According to some modern American dictionaries, a person who is given no quarter is "not treated kindly" or "treated ...
'' and Hensley's second, ''Eager to Please''.
''
High and Mighty'' followed in June 1976. It was considered lightweight; even Box stated: "less of the 'eavy and more of the 'umble" (making pointed reference to
Uriah Heep's self-description as "'umble" in Dickens' ''David Copperfield'').
The matter of production here became the point of major contention. With Bron committed to non-musical projects (including his air-taxi service) the band decided to produce the album themselves. The manager later insisted the result was Heep's worst album, while Hensley accused the manager of deliberately ignoring the band's interests.
The album, though, was launched in the most lavish manner (with journalists and business people being flown off to the top of a Swiss mountain for a reception). However, it was not matched with the quality of live concerts, which were increasingly chaotic due to Byron's inconsistency on stage.
"He'd always got drunk after the show but it had never got to the point where it would jeopardize the show itself. The performance had always been first and foremost with David. It was when the show started to come second that the problems began," Hensley remembered. "The distance between David and the rest had grown to unworkable proportions," according to Blows. "It's a tragedy to say it but David was one of those classic people who could not face up to the fact that things were wrong and he looked for solace in a bottle," commented Bron. In July 1976, after the final show of a Spanish tour, Byron was sacked. Soon bassist John Wetton announced he was quitting. Obviously he was not comfortable in the band, nor were his colleagues with him. Hensley later explained, "When he joined, we thought that we could replace a great bass player (Thain) with another great bass player, but we ignored the personality factor, which is crucial. It was like grafting on a new piece of skin but it just didn't work—the body rejected it."
Post-David Byron period (1977–1981)
![Uriah heep 01041977 01 300](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Uriah_heep_01041977_01_300.jpg)
Uriah Heep recruited bassist
Trevor Bolder
Trevor Bolder (9 June 1950 – 21 May 2013) was an English rock musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his long association with Uriah Heep and his tenure with the Spiders from Mars, the backing band for David Bowie, a ...
(ex-
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
,
Mick Ronson
Michael Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session music ...
), and after having auditioned
David Coverdale
David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of Whitesnake, a hard rock band he founded in 1978. Before Whitesnake, Coverdale was the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976, after wh ...
(
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...
,
Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entit ...
),
Ian Hunter and
Gary Holton
Gary Frederick Holton (22 September 1953 – 25 October 1985) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and actor from London. He was the frontman of the band Heavy Metal Kids (1972–1977), worked with Casino Steel (1981–1984), and played ...
(
Heavy Metal Kids
Heavy Metal Kids are a British rock band.
History Early years (1973–1985)
Heavy Metal Kids were formed in 1972 by the merger of two previous bands: Heaven and Biggles. They took their name from a gang of street kids, featured in the nove ...
), brought in
John Lawton, formerly of
Lucifer's Friend
Lucifer's Friend was a German rock band, formed in Hamburg in 1970 by guitarist Peter Hesslein, singer John Lawton, bassist Dieter Horns, keyboardist Peter Hecht, and drummer Joachim Reitenbach. The group was an early practitioner of heavy met ...
and the
Les Humphries Singers
The Les Humphries Singers was a 1970s pop group formed in Hamburg, Germany in 1969 by the English-born Les Humphries. The group had several chart hits in Germany and in other European countries.
The Les Humphries Singers dissolved at the end ...
, with whom they turned totally away from fantasy-oriented lyrics and multi-part compositions back towards a more straightforward hard rock sound typical of the era. Box later said, "Image-wise he wasn't quite what we were looking for, but his pipes were perfect and so we went for the music end of it." Hensley agreed: "He had a voice that I thought would give a new dimension."
''
Firefly
The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...
'' was released in February 1977, displaying "renewed effervescence and energy in unveiling what was clearly a new beginning for Heep" (per. K. Blows), "a new vigour and confidence" (according to a Record Mirror review)
and also the new singer's abilities: the latter (according to AllMusic), although lacking the multi-octave range of David Byron, "…boasted an impressive and emotionally rich hard rock voice that instantly jelled with the Uriah Heep sound."
The band then toured the US supporting
Kiss
A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
.
Paul Stanley
Paul Stanley (born Stanley Bert Eisen; January 20, 1952) is an American musician who is the co-founder, frontman, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss. He is the writer or co-writer of many of the band's most popular ...
later recalled, "They were incredibly professional, and so consistent that their worst nights were excellent and their best were tremendous."
''
Innocent Victim
''Innocent Victim'' is the 11th studio album by British hard rock band Uriah Heep (band), Uriah Heep, released in November 1977 by Bronze Records in the UK and Warner Bros. Records in the US.
Although it did not chart in the US or UK, ''Innoce ...
'', released in November 1977, "had a slight edge on ''Firefly''" according to Box, but still in retrospect this "...blend of sharp, short rockers and pop-friendly ballads" looked like "an attempt to court the American AOR market."
The single "Free Me" (whose "acoustic style and accent on harmonies brought the group dangerously close to
Eagles
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
territory," according to AllMusic)
became an international hit. In Germany the album sold over a million copies and became Uriah Heep's most successful, which coincided with the success of the re-released "
Lady in Black." For some time during this period, there were three Uriah Heep singles sitting together in the German Top 20, these being "Wise Man" (from ''Firefly''), "Lady in Black" and "Free Me".
In the end of 1978, ''
Fallen Angel
In the Abrahamic religions, fallen angels are angels who were expelled from heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" never appears in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven"Mehdi Azaiez, Gabriel Said R ...
'' came out, having completed a hat-trick of studio albums to feature a consistent lineup (only the second time in their career that they had done so). "Too poppy" for Mick Box's liking (but still, "too eccentric to fit the bill of an AOR record," according to Allmusic),
it was well received at the time (''Sounds'' gave it 4 stars) but failed to chart. Meanwhile, the relative stability of the Lawton period belied the behind the scenes unrest having to do with Ken Hensley's earning much more than his colleagues. "Everything he wrote, he had to use… And if you insist in using everything you end up with substandard albums," disgruntled Box opined. The major rift, though, developed between Hensley and Lawton. As K. Blows writes, "the combination of constant friction between the two (resulting in the nearest thing to violence the group had seen) and the constant presence of Lawton's wife on the road finally led to the vocalist getting the chop, shortly after playing the Bilzen Festival in Belgium in August 1979."
Ex-
Lone Star John Sloman
John Anthony David Sloman (born 26 April 1957) is best known as the lead vocalist for Welsh band Lone Star during 1977/78 and classic rockers Uriah Heep from 1979 to 1981.
Biography
Sloman's first band of note was local Cardiff act Trapp ...
was brought in, a younger singer who played keyboards and guitar and was, in the words of Box, "...an all rounder." But almost instantly, Lee Kerslake departed, after a row with Bron, whom the drummer accused of favouritism towards Hensley's material. Several tracks of the next album had to be re-recorded with a new drummer,
Chris Slade
Chris Slade (born Christopher Slade Rees; 30 October 1946) is a Welsh musician, best known for playing for the Australian rock band AC/DC. He drummed for the band from 1989 to 1994, performing on their 1990 album '' The Razors Edge'' along with ...
(of the
Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Manfred Mann's Earth Band are an English rock band formed by South African musician Manfred Mann (musician), Manfred Mann. Their hits include covers of Bruce Springsteen's "For You (Bruce Springsteen song), For You", "Blinded by the Light" an ...
). ''
Conquest
Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms.
Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...
'' LP was released in February 1980 (worldwide except the United States, where it was never released) and received 5 stars from Record Mirror, but, according to Box, "was a difficult album to record" and represented "a confused Heep," even "a mess" (in the words of Trevor Bolder).
The band went on the 10th Anniversary Tour with
Girlschool
Girlschool are a British rock band that formed in the new wave of British heavy metal scene in 1978. Frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead, they are the longest-running all-female rock band, still active after more than 40 yea ...
as support and attracted respectable crowds. Hensley was very unhappy, primarily with Sloman, and he explained why:
A meeting at the manager's office concerning the songwriting dissent was the last straw and, in September 1980, Hensley quit. Gregg Dechert, a Canadian who had worked with Sloman in Pulsar, came in and the band went on a 23-date tour of the UK. After that Sloman left, citing musical differences for a reason.
He would later go on to work with
UFO
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
,
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...
and
Robert Palmer. Hensley's acrimonious departure left the group in a state of collapse. Box and Bolder visited David Byron with attractive propositions. "We couldn't believe it when he said he didn't want to know," the guitarist remembered. Bolder, who by that time, "...had had enough of Gerry Bron and the management," decided to join
Wishbone Ash
Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular albums included ''Wishbone Ash'' (1970), ''Pilgrimage'' (1971), '' Argus'' (1972), ''Wishbone Four'' (1973), ''There's the Rub'' (1974), and '' ...
. When Dechert left, Uriah Heep were down to just Mick Box with the name and contract.
Peter Goalby-era (1982–1986)
Box remembered, "I locked myself in my flat for two days and drank myself senseless in complete self-pity. But I somehow managed to pull myself together and consider my options."
First he rang Lee Kerslake (who in the meanwhile had co-founded
Blizzard of Ozz
''Blizzard of Ozz'' is the debut solo studio album by English singer Ozzy Osbourne, released on 12 September 1980 in the UK and on 27 March 1981 in the US. The album was Osbourne's first release following his firing from Black Sabbath in 1979. ...
with
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...
) and the drummer brought along with him bassist
Bob Daisley
Robert John Daisley (born 13 February 1950) is a retired Australian bass guitarist. He has collaborated on several occasions with Ozzy Osbourne, for whom he contributed bass, backing vocals, co-production and songwriting. He has also worked wi ...
. Then
John Sinclair came in whom Box knew from the times he was a member of
Heavy Metal Kids
Heavy Metal Kids are a British rock band.
History Early years (1973–1985)
Heavy Metal Kids were formed in 1972 by the merger of two previous bands: Heaven and Biggles. They took their name from a gang of street kids, featured in the nove ...
and who currently played with a Los Angeles band called Lion. The band's new vocalist became
Peter Goalby of
Trapeze
A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or flying, an ...
fame. The latter had once auditioned for Uriah Heep and failed, ironically Hensley being the only band member who had supported him as a choice. "With us all contributing to the writing we forged our new direction," Box recalled.
Produced by Ashley Howe, the ''
Abominog
''Abominog'' is the 14th studio album by British rock band Uriah Heep, released in March 1982 by Bronze Records in the United Kingdom, and in September 1982 by Mercury Records in the United States. It was their first album without keyboardist K ...
'' album (according to Blows) was, "…important…in the way it pulled Heep out of the Seventies and thrust them into the Eighties with determination muscle," even if it sounded a bit too American.
Released in March 1982 (and preceded in February by the ''Abominog Junior'' EP), it won favour with the critics. Sounds gave it a five star review, the newly established rock magazine ''
Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...
'' declared it "the most mature and perhaps best album of their career" and in retrospect it is still seen as "one of the most consistent and engaging albums in the group's lengthy catalog."
The album did relatively well in the American charts (No. 56) after its US release in September 1982 and the band successfully performed at the
Castle Donington
Castle Donington is a market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, on the edge of the National Forest and close to East Midlands Airport.
History
The name 'Donington' means 'farm/settlement connected with Dunna'. Another suggest ...
Monsters of Rock
Monsters of Rock was an annual hard rock and heavy metal music festival held in Castle Donington, England, from 1980 to 1996, taking place every year except 1989 and 1993. It later branched into other locations such as the Netherlands, Poland, ...
event a few weeks prior to this, on 21 August.
''
Head First
Head First or Headfirst may refer to:
Music
* ''Head First'' (The Babys album) (1979)
* ''Head First'' (Badfinger album) (recorded 1974, released 2000)
* ''Head First'' (Goldfrapp album) (2010), or its title track
* ''Head First'' (Uriah Hee ...
'' (May 1983), produced again by Ashley Howe (who, according to Goalby, became "like the sixth member of the band"),
followed much in the same vein, pursuing (according to AllMusic) "...a similar combination of heavy metal firepower and AOR sleekness."
Not long before its release Daisley left the band to return to Ozzy Osbourne and Trevor Bolder re-joined Uriah Heep.
Both albums, ''Abominog'' and ''Head First'', updated the band's sound and generated a brief, newfound interest in Uriah Heep among younger heavy metal fans.
Uriah Heep toured the US supporting
Rush,
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...
and
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), a ...
, whose vocalist
Joe Elliott
Joseph Thomas "Joe" Elliott (born 1 August 1959) is an English–Irish rock singer, best known as the lead singer and one of the founding members of the hard rock band Def Leppard. He has also been the lead singer of the David Bowie tribute ba ...
remembered: "They were the best band that we've ever toured with either as a headline or support, because there was no ego, no pretentious kind of stuff. They were good in as much that we learnt a lot from them."
By this time Gerry Bron was Uriah Heep manager no longer (they were looked after by Neil Warnock in Europe and Blue Oyster Cult's management team in the US) and then, finally, Bronze Records collapsed under the weight of debts, which, according to Box, "...cost Heep a lot of money."
Massive Asian and South American tours followed before the band returned to the studio with producer Tony Platt and a new deal with CBS's Portrait label secured by new manager Harry Maloney. Meanwhile,
David Byron
David Garrick (29 January 1947 – 28 February 1985), better known by his stage name David Byron, was a British singer, who was best known in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist with the rock band Uriah Heep. Byron possessed a powerful oper ...
died of a heart attack and liver disease on 28 February 1985 at the age of 38.
''
Equator
The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...
'' (March 1985) sold poorly, due to the fact that "CBS just did a terrible job getting it into the shops," as Box saw it.
On the other hand, what Kirk Blows described as "a solid piece of product that had the potential to do extremely well" was regarded less favourably by later reviewers. Jason Anderson, for one, argues that with this "lackluster" album, high only "in high-schmaltz rating," the band squandered the chance that Portrait gave it.
Totally exhausted and having serious voice problems, Goalby left in November 1985 after an Australian tour. "I loved and believed in Uriah Heep but it kicked the shit out of me in the end," were his parting words.
Then John Sinclair quit, deciding to join Ozzy Osbourne, and keyboardist Phil Lanzon (Grand Prix,
Sad Café
Sad Café are an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1976, who achieved their peak of popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known for the UK top 40 singles "Every Day Hurts", "Strange Little Girl", " My Oh My" and "I ...
) came in, fitting in immediately into the Box-envisaged scheme of things.
American singer Steff Fontaine, formerly of
Christian metal
Christian metal, also known as white metal, Jesus metal or heavenly metal, is heavy metal music distinguished by its Christian themed song lyrics and the dedication of the band members to Christianity. Christian metal is typically performed by ...
band
Joshua
Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...
, joined in July 1986 but he was criticised for being totally "unprofessional" (he missed, for some reason, a San Francisco gig) and was sacked in September 1986 after just one American tour.
Fontaine's position was offered then to ex-Grand Prix,
Praying Mantis
Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...
and
Stratus
Stratus may refer to:
Weather
*Stratus cloud, a cloud type
**Nimbostratus cloud, a cloud type
**Stratocumulus cloud, a cloud type
**Altostratus cloud, a cloud type
**Altostratus undulatus cloud, a cloud type
**Cirrostratus cloud, a cloud type
Mus ...
vocalist
Bernie Shaw
Bernard Shaw (born 15 June 1956) is a Canadian-English singer, and since 1986, the lead vocalist of British rock band Uriah Heep.
Career
At the beginning of 1970 Shaw dreamed of becoming a rock guitarist. He bought himself a Gibson SG Spec ...
, and that in retrospect was a winning move. Shaw "felt honoured at being invited to join such a legendary band" while for Box "it was like everything falling into place."
New members, ''Raging Silence'' and ''Different World'' (1986–1993)
![Bernie-Shaw](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Bernie-Shaw.jpg)
The lineup remained unchanged from 1986 until 2007 with veteran Mick Box at the helm, Trevor Bolder on bass, Lee Kerslake on drums, vocalist Bernie Shaw and Phil Lanzon on keyboards. Their principal tour circuit has been in Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Japan and Russia. In December 1987 they became the first ever Western rock band to play in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, under
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
's policy of
glasnost
''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...
(Western pop acts
Boney M
Boney M. was a German- Caribbean vocal group that specialized in disco and funk created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group' ...
,
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...
,
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country rock band formed in 1966. The group has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California. Between 1976 and 1981, the band performed and recorded as the Dirt Band.
Constant ...
and
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
had already played shows there in the late 70s during the pre-Gorbachev era). At Moscow's
Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
the band played ten consecutive nights to a total of 180,000 people (following a reception that Bernie Shaw remembered as being "something like Beatlemania"), which was represented in the international press as not just an achievement for Uriah Heep but a major breakthrough for Western music in general.
The concerts were recorded and issued as the ''Live in Moscow'' album, which included three new tracks. Ironically, it was this behind the
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
excursion that did well to re-establish Heep's name back at home. After a series of sell-out dates in Czechoslovakia, East Berlin and Bulgaria the band returned to Britain for the
Reading Festival
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...
in August 1988, and toured the UK with
the Dogs D'Amour
The Dogs D'Amour are an English bluesey hard rock band formed in London in 1983. Over the years the band has had various line-ups, the only constant being vocalist Tyla. Their music has been described as a mixture of the Rolling Stones, the ...
.
''
Raging Silence'', produced by Richard Dodd and released in May 1989, was followed by a return to the Soviet Union, concerts in Poland,
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
, six dates in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and another British tour. "The last two years have been the most enjoyable of all my time in Heep," Trevor Bolder was quoted to say at the time. The band played in the Central TV studios in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
on 29 November 1989 (the film was shown as part of the Independent TV series ''Bedrock'' and a few years later it was repeated in the Cue Music series) and celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a series of compilations and re-issues.
Produced by Trevor Bolder and released early in 1991, ''
Different World'' got a mixed reception from the press (put down in Kerrang!, hailed in
Metal Hammer
''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...
) and sold poorly. "Yet another technically sound but artistically bland recording from Uriah Heep" (according to AllMusic)
failed to chart and marked the end of the band's contract with Legacy Records. Touring incessantly, the band issued some compilations of which ''Rarities from the Bronze Age'' and ''
The Lansdowne Tapes
''The Lansdowne Tapes'' is a compilation album by the British rock band Uriah Heep and released in 1993. The recordings featured on the album date from the time before the change of name to Uriah Heep and during the early sessions that culminat ...
'' (featuring previously unreleased material from the early 1970s) are considered most noteworthy. Still, the first half of the 1990s is regarded even by the Heep fans as "the wilderness years."
''Sea of Light'' and ''Sonic Origami'' (1994–2006)
In late March/early April 1995, the band's former singer, John Lawton, briefly rejoined Uriah Heep for two weeks to tour South Africa and Austria with
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...
, filling in for Bernie Shaw, who was suffering from voice problems at the time.
The album ''
Sea of Light'' (released in April 1995) produced by the band along with
Kalle Trapp was well received and in retrospect is seen as the band's return to form,
the key to success being (according to critic Donald A. Guarisco) the way it "forsook the ill-judged pop metal stylings of albums like ''Equator'' for a return to the gothic-tinged old-school metal style that highlighted classic Uriah Heep albums like ''Look at Yourself''.
Produced by Pip Williams, ''
Sonic Origami'', originally issued in Europe and Japan in the fall of 1998, then, a year later, in the U.S., had "a grand, epic tone throughout" that, according to rock critic Steve Huey, "doesn't always match Uriah Heep's journeyman-sounding prog-tinged hard rock, still being a solid entry in its chosen genre".
The release was followed by a successful European tour, which continued through 1999.
The band released ''The Legend Continues'' DVD and then toured the UK. A reunion gig with Ken Hensley & John Lawton took place in London on 7 December 2001 in the course of the ''Magicians Birthday Party'', which since then became a tradition, even though Hensley never actually joined again.
Earlier in 2001, during the summer, the group embarked on its first US tour in seven years and returned the following year to headline both nights of Classic Rock Productions Classic Rock Festival at the Patriots Theater at the
Trenton War Memorial
Trenton and Mercer County War Memorial-Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Building, known as the Trenton War Memorial, is located in Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. The building was built in 1930 and was added to the National Reg ...
in
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.[Mostly Autumn
Mostly Autumn are an English rock band. The group formed in 1995 and have built their reputation through constant touring, never signing to a major label. They produce music heavily influenced by 1970s progressive rock. According to the BBC, M ...]
,
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
,
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
,
Focus
Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to:
Arts
* Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film
*''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore
* ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...
and
Nektar
Nektar (German for ''nectar'') is an English progressive rock band formed in Hamburg, West Germany in 1969, by guitarist and lead vocalist Roye Albrighton, keyboardist Allan "Taff" Freemon, bassist Derek "Mo" Moore, and drummer Ron Howden.
H ...
. Uriah Heep played an electric show the first night and an all acoustic show the second.
For most of the years that followed Uriah Heep have returned to Britain for a tour or just their annual showcase concert, the ''Magicians Birthday Party'', which in 2003 was held at the now demolished
London Astoria
The London Astoria was a music venue at 157 Charing Cross Road, in London, England.
Originally a warehouse during the 1920s, the building became a cinema and ballroom. It was converted for use as a theatre in the 1970s. After further developme ...
.
All the while
Mick Box
Michael Frederick Box (born 9 June 1947) is an English musician who is the lead guitarist of rock group Uriah Heep, having previously been a member of The Stalkers and Spice, both with original Uriah Heep vocalist David Byron.Larkin, Colin (20 ...
acted as a
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
for the band until, on 5 April 2005, they retained Simon Porter as their manager.
''Wake the Sleeper'' and ''Into the Wild'' (2007–2013)
![Heep mbp2001 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Heep_mbp2001_01.jpg)
In early 2007, drummer Lee Kerslake had to leave the group due to ill health. In March of that year the band recruited
Russell Gilbrook as their new drummer and immediately started recording a new studio album entitled ''
Wake the Sleeper
''Wake the Sleeper'' is the 21st studio album by the rock band Uriah Heep, released on 2 June 2008 in Europe and on 26 August 2008 in the United States. The announced September 2007 release was rescheduled (initially to March 2008) as a resul ...
'', where they used double drums in the songs ''Wake the Sleeper'' and ''War Child''. Originally slated for a summer 2007 release,
Universal Music
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...
finally released ''
Wake the Sleeper
''Wake the Sleeper'' is the 21st studio album by the rock band Uriah Heep, released on 2 June 2008 in Europe and on 26 August 2008 in the United States. The announced September 2007 release was rescheduled (initially to March 2008) as a resul ...
'' on 2 June 2008.
In October 2009 Uriah Heep released their 40th Anniversary album ''
Celebration – Forty Years of Rock
''Celebration – Forty Years of Rock'' is a greatest hits album by British rock band Uriah Heep. It mainly features rerecorded classics – which, said bassist Trevor Bolder, "chose themselves, really. The likes of 'Sunrise', 'Gypsy' and ' L ...
'', containing new studio recordings of twelve of their best known tracks, plus two brand new songs.
"This collection underlines again that Uriah Heep are deserving great respect for their past achievements but far more importantly it makes it crystal clear that this is a band with a bright future as well as a glorious history," wrote Chris Kee in his 9/10 review in Powerplay magazine's February 2010 issue.
A United States tour for June/July 2010 was delayed due to immigration problems; the first two dates had to be rescheduled. This resulted in an appearance at B.B. King's in New York City as being the first date of the tour. Then Uriah Heep performed live on the Progressive Rock stage at the inaugural
High Voltage Festival
High Voltage was a music festival, held twice in Victoria Park, London. The event hosted artists from various strands of rock music, including classic rock, progressive rock, and heavy metal. The first festival was held on 24 and 25 July 2010. Th ...
in London's Victoria Park on 25 July 2010. They played their 1972 album ''Demons and Wizards'' in its entirety, being joined by ex-
Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entit ...
man
Micky Moody
Michael Joseph "Micky" Moody (born 30 August 1950) is an English guitarist, and a former member of the rock bands Juicy Lucy and Whitesnake. He was also a founder-member of Snafu. Together with his former Whitesnake colleague Bernie Marsden h ...
on slide guitar.
[High Voltage Day Two. The rest of the bill reviewed](_blank)
www.classicrockmagazine.com
Uriah Heep released their 22nd studio album ''
Into the Wild'' on 15 April 2011 in Europe (3 May in North America) via
Frontiers Records
Frontiers Music – formerly Frontiers Records – is an Italian record label, predominantly producing hard rock. It was founded in 1996 by Serafino Perugino and is based in Naples.
History
In 1996, Serafino Perugino started working in the m ...
.
Bassist Trevor Bolder died on 21 May 2013 after suffering from pancreatic cancer. He was 62 years old. British bassist
John Jowitt
John Jowitt is a British bass guitarist known for his work with several British neo-progressive rock bands, such as Ark, IQ, Arena, Jadis and Frost*, as well as substituting for Trevor Bolder in Uriah Heep in 2013. He has been awarded the Briti ...
(
Ark
Ark or ARK may refer to:
Biblical narratives and religion Hebrew word ''teva''
* Noah's Ark, a massive vessel said to have been built to save the world's animals from a flood
* Ark of bulrushes, the boat of the infant Moses
Hebrew ''aron''
* ...
,
IQ,
Arena
An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...
) came in temporarily, followed by Dave Rimmer.
''Outsider'' and ''Living the Dream'' (2013–2019)
In May 2013, when the band toured The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland, they were again joined by their late 1970s era singer John Lawton who was covering for Bernie Shaw, who required time off for a routine medical procedure. Then both Bernie and John fronted the group for their show in
San Javier, Spain
San Javier () is a small town and municipality in the autonomous community and province of Murcia in southeastern Spain. The municipality is situated at the northern end of Murcia's Mediterranean coastline, the Costa Cálida.
History
There is ...
on 12 July.
Uriah Heep entered the studio in January 2014 to begin recording their 23rd studio album ''
Outsider
Outsider(s) may refer to:
Film
* ''Outsider'' (1997 film), a 1997 Slovene-language film
* ''Outsider'' (2012 film), a Malayalam-language Indian film
* ''Outsiders'' (1980 film), a South Korean film featuring Won Mi-kyung
Literature
* Outside ...
'', which was released in June 2014. The album featured new bass player Dave Rimmer who had been a substitute for Trevor Bolder the previous year.
In March 2015 they went on the "Down Unda Tour" visiting Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Auckland. On 25 September, they announced the release of their greatest hits album ''
Totally Driven'', a collection of re-recordings of classic Heep songs made in 2001, which was released on 12 November. On 15 October that year, the group played alongside Ken Hensley and Lee Kerslake at a special two-hour concert at Crocus City Hall in Moscow.
Swedish singer Stefan Berggren, from Berggren Kerslake Band (BKB), subbed for Bernie Shaw on lead vocals at the
Rosenheim
Rosenheim is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is an independent city located in the centre of the district of Rosenheim (Upper Bavaria), and is also the seat of its administration. It is located on the west bank of the Inn at the confluence of the ...
Festival in Germany on 14 July 2016 and again later that same year for a New Year's Eve festival in
Sibiu
Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...
,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
when Shaw had a family commitment.
2016 also saw the group play a few Japanese dates and the Legends Rock Cruise.
Former bass player
John Wetton
John Kenneth Wetton (12 June 1949 – 31 January 2017) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. Known for his dexterous bass playing and booming baritone voice, Wetton first gained fame in the early 1970s.
Wetton was the singer and p ...
died on 31 January 2017 from colorectal cancer.
On 16 November 2017, it was reported that Uriah Heep would begin recording their 24th studio album, titled ''
Living the Dream'', with producer Jay Ruston. The album was released on 14 September 2018, and the band was set to embark on a world tour in support of it that would take them into 2019.
Upcoming 25th studio album (2020–present)
In a July 2020 interview with Sea of Tranquility, guitarist
Mick Box
Michael Frederick Box (born 9 June 1947) is an English musician who is the lead guitarist of rock group Uriah Heep, having previously been a member of The Stalkers and Spice, both with original Uriah Heep vocalist David Byron.Larkin, Colin (20 ...
and bassist Dave Rimmer confirmed that Uriah Heep were scheduled to begin recording their 25th studio album in early 2021. When asked about a possible release date, Box said, "I think release is all down to the record company, I've gotta be honest. We never get a shout on that. They always seem to have some reason to release it at this time, that time, whatever time." In November 2021, Box revealed that the recording sessions of the new album were finished and "over in
L.A.
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
now being mixed."
Two former Uriah Heep members died in 2020:
Lee Kerslake
Lee Gary Kerslake (16 April 1947– 19 September 2020) was an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Uriah Heep and for his work with Ozzy Osbourne in the early 1980s.
Biography Early life a ...
after a long cancer battle on September 19, and
Ken Hensley
Kenneth William David Hensley (24 August 1945 – 4 November 2020) was an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, best known for his work with Uriah Heep during the 1970s.
He wrote or co-wrote the majority of Uriah ...
after a short illness on November 4. They had both each recorded a solo album earlier that year, posthumously released in early 2021. Another former member of Uriah Heep, vocalist
John Lawton, died on June 29, 2021 at the age of 74.
Musical style and influence
Uriah Heep's music has predominantly been described by critics and journalists as
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
and
heavy metal,
with influences from
acid rock
Acid rock is a loosely defined type of rock music that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage punk movement and helped launch the psychedelic subculture. Named after lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the style is generally defined by heavy, di ...
,
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
, and
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
.
Uriah Heep's distinctive features have always included a massive keyboard sound, strong vocal harmonies and (in the early years)
David Byron
David Garrick (29 January 1947 – 28 February 1985), better known by his stage name David Byron, was a British singer, who was best known in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist with the rock band Uriah Heep. Byron possessed a powerful oper ...
's quasi-operatic vocals.
In a 2018 interview, guitarist Mick Box cited "five-part vocal harmonies, Hammond organ and wah-wah guitar" as the main elements of the band's sound.
Uriah Heep have been acknowledged as an influence by numerous acts, including
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...
,
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
,
Accept
Accept may refer to:
* Acceptance, a person's assent to the reality of a situation etc.
* Accept (band), a German heavy metal band
** ''Accept'' (Accept album), their debut album from 1979
* ''Accept'' (Chicken Shack album), 1970
* ACCEPT (or ...
,
Ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
,
Fates Warning
Fates Warning is an American progressive metal band, formed in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1982 by vocalist John Arch, guitarists Jim Matheos and Victor Arduini, bassist Joe DiBiase, and drummer Steve Zimmerman. There have been numerous lineup ...
,
Sodom,
Death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
,
Dio,
King Diamond
Kim Bendix Petersen (born 14 June 1956), better known by his stage name King Diamond, is a Danish rock musician. As a vocalist, he is known for his powerful and wide-ranging countertenor singing voice, in particular his far-reaching falsetto s ...
,
Krokus,
Demons & Wizards (who were named after the band's
album with the same name),
Axel Rudi Pell
Axel Rudi Pell (born 27 June 1960) is a German heavy metal guitarist.
Career
Pell commenced his musical career with Steeler (1984–88) before leaving in 1988 for a solo career. During this time, he has played with such drummers as Jörg Micha ...
and
Fifth Angel
Fifth Angel is an American heavy metal band from Bellevue, Washington.
Biography
Fifth Angel was formed in the suburbs of Seattle in 1983, specifically, in the Bellevue area. The band's initial lineup consisted of Ted Pilot (vocals), James B ...
.
Band members
Current members
*
Mick Box
Michael Frederick Box (born 9 June 1947) is an English musician who is the lead guitarist of rock group Uriah Heep, having previously been a member of The Stalkers and Spice, both with original Uriah Heep vocalist David Byron.Larkin, Colin (20 ...
– guitar, backing vocals
(1969–present)
*Phil Lanzon – keyboards, co-lead vocals
(1986–present)
*
Bernie Shaw
Bernard Shaw (born 15 June 1956) is a Canadian-English singer, and since 1986, the lead vocalist of British rock band Uriah Heep.
Career
At the beginning of 1970 Shaw dreamed of becoming a rock guitarist. He bought himself a Gibson SG Spec ...
– lead vocals
(1986–present)
*
Russell Gilbrook – drums, percussion
(2007–present)
*Dave Rimmer – bass, backing vocals
(2013–present)
Discography
Studio albums
*''
...Very 'Eavy ...Very 'Umble'' (1970)
*''
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
'' (1971)
*''
Look at Yourself'' (1971)
*''
Demons and Wizards'' (1972)
*''
The Magician's Birthday'' (1972)
*''
Sweet Freedom'' (1973)
*''
Wonderworld'' (1974)
*''
Return to Fantasy
''Return to Fantasy'' is the eighth studio album by British rock band Uriah Heep, released on 13 June 1975 in the United Kingdom by Bronze Records. It was the first of the two albums to feature John Wetton as the new bass player, who replaced G ...
'' (1975)
*''
High and Mighty'' (1976)
*''
Firefly
The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...
'' (1977)
*''
Innocent Victim
''Innocent Victim'' is the 11th studio album by British hard rock band Uriah Heep (band), Uriah Heep, released in November 1977 by Bronze Records in the UK and Warner Bros. Records in the US.
Although it did not chart in the US or UK, ''Innoce ...
'' (1977)
*''
Fallen Angel
In the Abrahamic religions, fallen angels are angels who were expelled from heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" never appears in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven"Mehdi Azaiez, Gabriel Said R ...
'' (1978)
*''
Conquest
Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms.
Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...
'' (1980)
*''
Abominog
''Abominog'' is the 14th studio album by British rock band Uriah Heep, released in March 1982 by Bronze Records in the United Kingdom, and in September 1982 by Mercury Records in the United States. It was their first album without keyboardist K ...
'' (1982)
*''
Head First
Head First or Headfirst may refer to:
Music
* ''Head First'' (The Babys album) (1979)
* ''Head First'' (Badfinger album) (recorded 1974, released 2000)
* ''Head First'' (Goldfrapp album) (2010), or its title track
* ''Head First'' (Uriah Hee ...
'' (1983)
*''
Equator
The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...
'' (1985)
*''
Raging Silence'' (1989)
*''
Different World'' (1991)
*''
Sea of Light'' (1995)
*''
Sonic Origami'' (1998)
*''
Wake the Sleeper
''Wake the Sleeper'' is the 21st studio album by the rock band Uriah Heep, released on 2 June 2008 in Europe and on 26 August 2008 in the United States. The announced September 2007 release was rescheduled (initially to March 2008) as a resul ...
'' (2008)
*''
Into the Wild'' (2011)
*''
Outsider
Outsider(s) may refer to:
Film
* ''Outsider'' (1997 film), a 1997 Slovene-language film
* ''Outsider'' (2012 film), a Malayalam-language Indian film
* ''Outsiders'' (1980 film), a South Korean film featuring Won Mi-kyung
Literature
* Outside ...
'' (2014)
*''
Living the Dream'' (2018)
*''
Chaos & Colour'' (2023)
References
External links
*
*
*
Uriah Heepat
MusicMight
MusicMight (formerly RockDetector) was a rock music website which provides artist and product information through a global website and an ongoing book series. Based in New Zealand, the site was founded by British writer Garry Sharpe-Young, and was ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uriah Heep (Band)
1969 establishments in England
Musical groups established in 1969
Musical groups disestablished in 1980
Musical groups reestablished in 1981
Musical quintets
English progressive rock groups
English heavy metal musical groups
Mercury Records artists
Vertigo Records artists
Bronze Records artists
Warner Records artists
Chrysalis Records artists
English hard rock musical groups
Sanctuary Records artists
Frontiers Records artists
Eagle Records artists
Portrait Records artists