The band was formed in 1969 and released its first LP (the wonderfully titled … Very ‘Eavy …Very ‘Umble) but didn’t really hit pay dirt until Demons and Wizards, which made them (in somebody’s words, not mine) “one of the Big 4 of Hard Rock” along with Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and the Donny Osmond Experience. What does Uriah Heep play? Well, you can call it progressive rock or art rock or hard rock (which I prefer), and it’s heavy on the organ and lots of impressive vocal harmonies and some very cool guitar, over which the flexi-voiced David Byron made like an opera star. I suppose it’s considered Uriah Heep’s best LP for a reason, but I really believed it was one of those albums listened to only by unwashed 32-year-old dungeons and dragons fanatics who smoke schwagg nonstop while sprawled out on the ratty bean bag chair in their parents’ basement, where they still live. So imagine my amazement when I listened to Demons and Wizards and actually like it-a whole lot. If so, they didn’t make much of an impression upon me and I couldn’t have listened to the 8-track much, although it wasn’t so bad my brother and I ran it over with his gold Dodge Duster, which was the fate we reserved for albums we considered too completely stinko to live. So I’ve always kept well away from Uriah Heep, for fear that the band might be catching, although listening to their tunes now many of them sound strangely familiar, and earlier this morning I was struck with the phantom memory of buying their greatest hits (on 8-track!) in my early youth at a mall outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, so perhaps I have heard some of them before. Oh, and the Heep’s lead singer David Byron sometimes sang like a girl, which I find off-putting, which is a friendly way of putting it. All that Middle Ages and Middle Earth bullpucky bores me more than reality television, unlike say the decadent and decaying Roman Empire, where you could drink until you puked and never had any trouble getting a good orgy up. Oh, and I know they’re obsessed by-as the title of 1972’s Demons and Wizards amply demonstrates-Fisher Kings and swords and sorcery and gallant knights charging on snorting steeds to the rescue of virginal damsels in dewy merkins in peril of having their maidenheads stolen by evil princes, which is why I never bothered to listen to them in the first place. What else did I know about Uriah Heep? Well, I know (and like) “Easy Livin’,” the band’s only U.S. He was beaten to death outside a Chicago bar in 1972. Take Bobby Ramirez, the drummer for Edgar Winter’s White Trash. One of the few things I know about them-and the only thing about them that interested me until very recently-was that bassist Gary Thain was electrocuted on stage at the Moody Coliseum in Dallas, Texas on Septemand had to be carried off stage, “stiff as a board.” I love macabre stuff like that, and can fill you in on every horrible rock death ever. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License additional terms may apply.I’m a bad person. The current lineup is: Mick Box (guitar, vocals), Trevor Bolder (bass, vocals) passed away in 2013 and was replaced by Davey Rimmer, Phil Lanzon (keyboards, vocals), Bernie Shaw (lead vocals), and Russell Gilbrook (drums, vocals). Uriah Heep remains active, its lineup staying steady from 1986 to 2007, when drummer Lee Kerslake left for health reasons, and was replaced by Russell Gilbrook. Sometimes jokingly referred to as “The Beach Boys of heavy metal” for their melodic songs, and trademark multi-part harmony backing vocals, although their music draws on diverse influences including psychedelia, gothic sound, progressive rock, hard rock, early heavy metal, jazz, and even country on occasion. Their distinctive progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion has always featured a massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and (in the early years) David Byron’s operatic vocals. The band rapidly grew to become a seminal classic hard rock act of the 1970s and beyond. Uriah Heep is a British rock band, officially formed in 1969 in London, England, when record producer Gerry Bron invited keyboardist Ken Hensley (previously a member of The Gods and Toe Fat) to join Spice, members of whom included soon-to-become Heep stalwarts David Byron (vocals) and Mick Box (guitar).
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