{"id":159997,"date":"2025-09-21T20:50:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T20:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/159997\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T20:50:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T20:50:15","slug":"uriah-heep-the-70s-rock-giants-who-tore-themselves-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/159997\/","title":{"rendered":"Uriah Heep, the 70s rock giants who tore themselves apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peers of Led Zeppelin<\/a> and Black Sabbath<\/a>, Uriah Heep<\/a> were part of the first wave of British hard rock bands \u2013 and for a moment it looked like they could become as successful as those bands. But drugs, alcoholism and in-fighting meant they failed to deliveron their initial promise. In 2012, Classic Rock looked back on the rise and fall of a band who were never as big as they could have been. <\/p>\n

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\"Classic\n<\/p>\n

August 14, 1975, and Uriah Heep are about to take the stage at Philadelphia\u2019s Spectrum arena. The British band have the wind behind them thanks to the transatlantic success of their eighth album, Return To Fantasy, and 25,000 people have crammed into the sold-out venue to see them play tonight.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For the past six years Heep have grafted hard to become one of the biggest rock bands around. Their bombastic, multi-layered mix of hard rock and prog has turned them into a true people\u2019s band: loved by record buyers and concert-goers, hated by critics. Return To Fantasy, artistically an improvement on its pedestrian predecessor Wonderworld, has given them their first UK Top 10 album.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

To outsiders, Uriah Heep are at the top of their game. The reality, however, is that the five-piece are patching over a series of enormous cracks. Behind the scenes, toxic personality clashes are tearing the band apart \u2013 a situation not helped by alcohol and drug problems. Bassist Gary Thain had been fired at the start of the year due to a debilitating heroin addiction; within months he would die of drug-induced respiratory failure. His replacement is John Wetton, formerly of Family and King Crimson.<\/p>\n

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\"The\n<\/p>\n

Classic Rock issue 171 cover (Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

Right now the band have an even bigger problem: David Bryon. Their charismatic singer is in the grip of alcoholism, which is affecting his performances on stage and his life off stage. And, here in Philadelphia, matters are about to reach a head.<\/p>\n

Bryon has spent the afternoon knocking back his favourite Chivas Regal whisky; by showtime he\u2019s a mess. Such is his inebriation that at one point in the show he staggers into a microphone stand, cutting his lip. Realising that he\u2019s bleeding, and mistaking the cheers in the arena for laughter, a mortified Byron turns on the audience, telling the whole damned lot of them to \u201cfuck off\u201d. The announcement astonishes everybody, on stage and off.<\/p>\n

Nearly 40 years on, Heep\u2019s usually irrepressible guitarist Mick Box<\/a> is still embarrassed by the memory. \u201cI was tuning my guitar at the time and couldn\u2019t bring myself to turn around and face the audience,\u201d he says with a sigh.<\/p>\n

Sign up below to get the latest from Classic Rock, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

\u201cI was embarrassed for David and for us,\u201d says keyboard player Ken Hensley. \u201cWhen your lead singer curses out an entire audience what do you do? He was pissing my career down the toilet as well as his own. I made my feelings clear a few shows later by walking out on the tour. Looking back, I should have been more mature instead of simply disappearing. But I was angry and it was a knee-jerk reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was down to the band\u2019s manager, Gerry Bron, to pick up the pieces. Bron cut short a holiday in Barbados and flew back to London to sweet-talk Hensley into returning to the tour. For Bryon, however, the writing was on the wall. \u201cIn order for Ken to stay in the band, we agreed that David would have to leave,\u201d Bron says today.<\/p>\n

Byron was unaware of the axe that hovered above his head at the time, but the increasingly remote attitude of his bandmates in the wake of the Philadelphia debacle only made him feel increasingly persecuted and isolated. Within 12 months Byron was out of the band. He played his final show with Heep on June 25, 1976 in Bilbao, Spain, although not before kicking in the plate glass front door of the venue. \u201cI think even David had resigned himself to being sacked by then,\u201d Box later observed.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

But by then it was too late. For Byron, and for Uriah Heep, things would never be quite the same again.<\/p>\n

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\"Uriah\n<\/p>\n

Uriah Heep in the early 1970s: (from left) Gary Thain, Mick Box, Lee Kerslake, Ken Hensley, David Byron (Image credit: Fin Costello\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

The Uriah Heep story is one of both triumph and tragedy. Between 1972 and 1976 they released six albums that established them as one of the key bands of the era, at least two of which \u2013 Demons And Wizards<\/a> and The Magician\u2019s Birthday \u2013 stand as landmarks of 70s rock. But behind the scenes were ego problems, clashes with their manager, and substance problems that result in the premature deaths of two band members.<\/p>\n

Heep\u2019s roots lay with Mick Box and David Byron. The down-to-earth guitarist describes the flamboyant lead singer (born David Garrick) as \u201ca proud peacock of a man\u201d. Together they had been members of The Stalkers and then Spice. It was the latter band who were spotted at a gig in High Wycombe by Gerry Bron, the man who soon afterwards would become their manager, producer and, with the foundation of his Bronze Records in 1971, their label boss.<\/p>\n

Bron is a central figure in the Uriah Heep story \u2013 and a controversial one. Older than his charges, he had already worked with Manfred Mann and Colosseum. Uriah Heep\u2019s success would allow him to expand the Bronze empire and eventually sign the likes of Mot\u00f6rhead<\/a>, The Damned and Girlschool.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid Byron was definitely the band\u2019s leader,\u201d Bron recalls of Heep\u2019s early days. \u201cHe came into the office and charmed everyone, including the secretaries. Four years later this nice guy had changed into a complete bastard, a demon.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Spice prepared to record their debut album, Bron proposed that they change their name to Uriah Heep \u2013 inspired not by the character from Charles Dickens\u2019s 1850 novel David Copperfield, but by an advert placed in the Melody Maker by a potential employee who had adopted the moniker. \u201cIt was in the Situations Wanted section: \u2018Experienced roadie seeks work, please call Uriah Heep\u2026\u2019,\u201d Bron recalls. \u201cI thought, \u2018Bloody hell, what a fantastic name.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Uriah Heep – Gypsy (Official Audio) – YouTube
\n\"Uriah<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Equally pivotal in the Heep story was the addition, around the same time, of keyboard player\/second guitarist Ken Hensley, a man who would prove to be crucial to Heep\u2019s long-term future. The Londoner had previously been a member of blues<\/a>\/prog outfit Toe Fat and was looking for a better platform for his considerable talents. Hensley\u2019s rich Hammond organ embellishments were the perfect foil for Byron\u2019s flamboyant falsetto and the wah-wah-driven guitar attack of Box, all of which was sweetened by multi-part vocal harmonies. More pertinently, Hensley formed an alliance with Gerry Bron that quickly became as important as the Box-Byron coalition. \u201cKen and I were a great team,\u201d Bron says. \u201cI didn\u2019t get on that well with the rest of the band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite being mauled by the press (\u201cIf this band makes it, I\u2019ll have to commit suicide,\u201d said one writer in Rolling Stone magazine), Uriah Heep\u2019s 1970 debut album, Very \u2019Eavy\u2026 Very \u2019Umble, produced by Bron, was a minor success. But it would take them another two albums \u2013 Salisbury and Look At Yourself, both released in 1971 and both again produced by Bron \u2013 for Heep to establish a solid musical direction.<\/p>\n

Everything came together with 1972\u2019s Demons And Wizards. Housed in an eye-catching, Roger Dean-illustrated gatefold sleeve, it is still considered to be the band\u2019s crowning glory. Gloriously baroque songs such as Easy Livin\u2019 <\/a>and The Wizard captured Uriah Heep\u2019s creativity \u2013 the latter even includes the multi-tracked sound of a whistling kettle that had accidentally gone off during a playback.<\/p>\n

A significant part of the record\u2019s artistic success was the presence of a new rhythm section: New Zealand-born bassist Gary Thain added some elegantly melodic bass lines, while drummer Lee Kerslake had an aggressive approach that previously had been lacking. Crucially, both were also useful singers, adding extra depth to the band\u2019s distinctive multi-layered vocal harmonies. Personality-wise, though, they were like chalk and cheese: Kerslake was outspoken and ambitious, while Thain was shy and retiring.<\/p>\n

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\"Uriah\n<\/p>\n

Uriah Heep guitarist Mick Box in the early 1970s (Image credit: Fin Costello\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Gary and Lee there was such an incredible chemistry,\u201d says Hensley. \u201cThe lines of communication were open and, with none of the obstructions that came later, the chemistry created by those five people was magical. The egos were there, they just weren\u2019t clashing. Substance abuse was also present but it was minimal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ashley Howe, Gerry Bron\u2019s trusted engineer, had first encountered Uriah Heep in 1969 when he was a 16-year-old working in a studio as a tea boy-cum-tape-operator. He eventually rose through the ranks to take charge of Heep\u2019s High And Mighty sessions, before going on to produce their Abominog and Head First albums during the band\u2019s 80s renaissance.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeep were easy to work with because the talent flowed out of them,\u201d he says. \u201cThat didn\u2019t dwindle with time, but as personality conflicts grew it become harder to draw out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ken Hensley is unflinchingly honest when it comes to his working relationships with his bandmates. \u201cCreatively speaking, Mick was the least influential person in the band,\u201d he says. \u201cHowever, he was a very important part because his style and technique were unique. Lee was the perfect drummer for Heep, but he had a desire to exert a creative influence that sometimes became bit over-the-top. The back-up to fulfil that passion wasn\u2019t there, but in the same way as Mick\u2019s contribution was valuable, so was Lee\u2019s. David Byron was the quintessential showman, on stage 24 hours a day. His interpretation of my lyrics was exemplary \u2013 even now I cannot bring them to life the way he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byron indeed possessed an outstanding voice and a magnetic stage persona. But there was a darker side to his character.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a frontman, David blew anybody off stage \u2013 he could even eat Rod Stewart alive,\u201d Lee Kerslake says today. \u201cThe problem was that he didn\u2019t have an \u2018off\u2019 switch. There was also some shyness, but he disguised it with his outgoing behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Released in May 1972, Demons And Wizards gave Heep a UK Top 20 album \u2013 and opened up a way in to the lucrative US market. Not wanting to let the momentum stall, they decided to put out a follow-up, The Magician\u2019s Birthday, six months later. Or, rather, Gerry Bron did.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe songs just weren\u2019t ready,\u201d says Ken Hensley. \u201cThey wanted to milk the cow as much as they could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Hensley\u2019s reservations, The Magician\u2019s Birthday remains one of Heep\u2019s cornerstone albums. It includes such landmark songs as Sweet Lorraine, the majestic Sunrise and the epic 10-minute title track.<\/p>\n

As well as recording the The Magician\u2019s Birthday they also toured Britain and North America during the same period. But clear factions were starting to form, with Hensley and Bron on one side, and Box, Kerslake and Byron on the other. Meanwhile, Gary Thain was becoming an increasingly isolated figure.<\/p>\n

\u201cGary\u2019s contribution was greater than is recognised,\u201d Bron offers. \u201cBecause he didn\u2019t write songs, he came to believe that his talent was less important than the others. I used to have long chats with him, and he would say: \u2018Gerry, I haven\u2019t got anything [to offer].\u2019 But his gift to the band was his incredible bass playing. However, at the same time he was getting more and more into drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thain was becoming addicted to heroin, a problem he initially managed to keep secret from the rest of the band. The bassist was the only member of Uriah Heep on smack, but some of the others were finding they had their own problems with booze and cocaine.<\/p>\n

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\"Uriah\n<\/p>\n

Uriah Heep\u2019s Ken Hensley in the early 1970s (Image credit: Fin Costello\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of drugs and drink, and that made it harder to be creative,\u201d says Box. \u201cI like a good drink myself, so I was caught in the middle of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must understand how much being strung out on coke changed me,\u201d admits Hensley. \u201cI became a monster to work with. Becoming addicted during
our first US tour was the greatest mistake of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The growing tensions weren\u2019t helped by the fact that Hensley was starting to dominate the songwriting. Five of the eight songs on The Magician\u2019s Birthday were written exclusively by the keyboard player; the remaining three were co-written by Hensley and the others, including the good-versus-evil title track, which featured a symbolic battle between guitars and drums concocted one night after returning to the studio from the pub.<\/p>\n

\u201cKenny was an absolute genius as a writer,\u201d says Kerslake. \u201cI\u2019d hate anyone to think otherwise. But when he brought in a song the rest of the band tore
it apart, put it back together and made it what it was. He couldn\u2019t have done it without the knowledge and talent of each member of the band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inevitably, Hensley and Bron disagree. \u201cI\u2019ve heard that argument so many times before,\u201d says Bron. \u201cLook, Ken was the captain, and the band the team. But they only ended up resenting him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHad I been in that situation, where one guy writes one hit after another, I certainly wouldn\u2019t have challenged him,\u201d adds Hensley, \u201cI\u2019d have washed his car and made him tea. I\u2019d want him to keep doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uriah Heep – Sweet Lorraine (2017 Remaster) (Official Audio) – YouTube
\n\"Uriah<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Mick Box is adamant that Hensley\u2019s work rate changed the band dynamic. \u201cOnce we had success with some of Ken\u2019s songs, nobody else got a look in,\u201d he says. \u201cBeing suppressed causes a lot of tension.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hensley\u2019s relationship with the rest of the band was further strained as the royalties began to flow in. As chief songwriter, he earned significantly more than the others \u2013 and he wasn\u2019t embarrassed to flaunt it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had a new car, I\u2019d show it off,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I challenge anybody to deal with having nothing then becoming a millionaire overnight. My behaviour then is another thing that I\u2019d go back and change. But of course that\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hensley wasn\u2019t the only one causing resentment within the Heep camp. Lee Kerslake claims that Gerry Bron\u2019s ego had become \u201cbigger than the rest of us put together\u201d. The drummer recalls an incident at a gig in Rome when Bron was overheard talking to the show\u2019s booking agent. \u201cI am Uriah Heep, and what I say goes,\u201d their manager allegedly said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s perfectly true,\u201d Bron says today. \u201cI named the band, I put the whole thing together, and they\u2019d never have made it without me steering them. So that\u2019s not an unreasonable claim.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid the growing problems, engineer Ashley Howe tried to lighten the mood. \u201cGerry routinely fired me during each project, for doing stupid things like winching a cardboard box disguised as a 10-ton weight into the air and dropping it onto Ken Hensley\u2019s head as he was recording. Or putting together something made of candles and an alarm clock to resemble a bomb and hiding it in Ken\u2019s piano \u2013 until Lee Kerslake heard it ticking and threw it through the window. But, as a thank you, once the album was completed he\u2019d pay to send me to wherever I wanted to go on vacation, and re-hire me for the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Uriah\n<\/p>\n

Uriah Heep performing live on TV Midnight Special (Image credit: Gary Null\/NBCU Photo Bank\/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Having recorded their first four albums at Lansdowne Studios in West London, the band decided to record their next two overseas. All now agree that it was a grave error. An increasingly unhinged David Byron ran riot during the recording of 1973\u2019s Sweet Freedom at Chateau D\u2019H\u00e9rouville near Paris, while Wonderworld \u2013 put together during three months of hedonism and bickering at Musicland in Munich \u2013 found both Thain and Byron\u2019s problems worsening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll never forget watching David trying to cross a dual carriageway that separated the hotel and the studio in Munich,\u201d says Box, wincing. \u201cCars were whizzing past him, and I thought: \u2018He\u2019s going to die.\u2019 But he made it without spilling a drop of the champagne cocktails he was carrying in each hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band did try to talk to the singer about his problems, but they were hardly clean-living themselves. \u201cDemanding that he stop would have been hypocritical,\u201d says Lee Kerslake. \u201cBesides which, he\u2019d just go off and sulk. Deep inside I think he knew he was self-destructing, he just couldn\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

The magnitude of Byron\u2019s problem became apparent during the Wonderworld sessions. \u201cDavid broke the unwritten rule by singing half-cut with a bottle of Dom P\u00e9rignon,\u201d the drummer recalls. \u201cUntil then nobody drank while we were tracking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI still recall being in Munich where something seemed to be distracting Ken in the studio,\u201d says Bron. \u201cDavid was crawling along the floor, trying to reach his bottle of whisky in the overdub booth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miscommunication and discontent were such that Box and Kerslake went into the studio one day during the sessions and found that Bron and Hensley had flown back to London. \u201cWe hadn\u2019t finished the album but they\u2019d had enough,\u201d fumes Kerslake. \u201cHow dare they leave us there without warning?\u201d<\/p>\n

While certain members of Uriah Heep are quick to paint Bron as the villain of the piece, Ashley Howe defends him: \u201cThey were a bunch of 25-year-olds that loved their rock \u2019n\u2019roll, but Gerry knew how to run a business. There he was, wearing a three-piece suit, trying to control these semi-lunatics. He was the best manager the band could have had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Box, Kerlsake and Hensley all say now that not only was Bron wearing too many different hats when it came to the band \u2013 he now represented them for management, recording, touring, publishing and merchandising \u2013 but his day-to-day commitments
to Bronze Records and the acquisition of an airline, Executive Express, meant he was taking his eye off the ball. Bron himself agrees. \u201cYes, I wasn\u2019t paying enough attention, but that was because they weren\u2019t doing their job,\u201d he says. \u201cI probably had lost interest by the time of Wonderworld because, frankly, they were no longer very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Uriah\n<\/p>\n

Uriah Heep singer David Byron: 1947-1985 (Image credit: Ian Dickson\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

By 1974, with an entourage of 20 people accompanying them on the road in America, Uriah Heep had become a moneymaking machine. \u201cHowever, they were not doing so well that they could just stop \u2013 for whatever reason,\u201d says Bron.<\/p>\n

It was on the tour in support of Wonderworld that Gary Thain\u2019s health began to be a real problem. The unremitting schedule was taking its toll on the heroin-addicted bassist. Stories abound of Thain being carried onto flights on luggage trolleys, or his bandmates having to convince pilots to let him on the plane when he was in no fit condition to travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Gerry was half the manager that he bragged of being, the band should have come off the road and those that needed treatment been sent to rehab,\u201d maintains Kerslake. \u201cBut instead he was so busy with his studio, his record label and his airline that he didn\u2019t consider his real bread-earners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bron responds to the accusations with customary calmness. \u201cListen,\u201d he says, \u201cit\u2019s easy to say these things now but nobody complained at the time. They continued to do what they were doing without any fuss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mick Box vehemently disagrees. \u201cMaking such an important decision on behalf of the band is what management is about, surely?\u201d he fumes.<\/p>\n

On the road, the madness continued. Following a show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, an intoxicated Byron keeled over in his hotel room. Blood gushed from a deep head wound as he lay comatose on the bathroom floor. Had the singer not given his room key to a female fan, he would more than likely have bled to death. According to Bron, when Byron arrived at the hospital the singer couldn\u2019t recall his name, date of birth or where he lived.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when confronted, David was unrepentant,\u201d says Hensley. \u201cHe showed no signs of wanting to change. Clearly, the situation couldn\u2019t continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the road crew\u2019s jobs on the US tour was to give a nightly debrief of each show, phoned in to the Bronze office in London and left on an answering machine. \u201cUsually it was: \u2018All is well, here are the figures\u2026\u2019 and \u2018We\u2019re on the plane to the next gig,\u2019\u201d says Gerry Bron. \u201cBut Byron, who by then was very drunk and taking pills, found out and started leaving his own messages: \u2018You load of fucking wankers\u2019. He knew the girls in the office would have to transcribe his filth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bass player Gary Thain left Uriah Heep in January 1975, after the Wonderworld tour ended. Eleven months later, on December 8, his girlfriend found him dead in the bath in his flat in Norwood Green, south London, having died of respiratory failure from a heroin overdose. He was just 27.<\/p>\n

The news prompted Ken Hensley to go on a cocaine binge. Mick Box doesn\u2019t remember where he was when he learned of Thain\u2019s death, but he says \u201cit would have been on tour somewhere. How did it make me feel? Put it this way: I wasn\u2019t surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n

With bassist John Wetton having been brought in to replace Thain, 1975\u2019s Return To Fantasy so successfully corrected the wayward course the band found themselves on after Wonderworld that it became the band\u2019s biggest-selling album to date. Flush with confidence, Heep opted to produce their next album, 1976\u2019s High And Mighty, themselves. Box, who later termed the record \u201cless of the \u2019eavy and more of the \u2019umble\u201d, admits he was more interested in going to the pub than actually creating music.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s what he did, along with Lee,\u201d says Hensley. \u201cJohn Wetton sometimes showed up when he wasn\u2019t busy with Bryan Ferry, which was nice of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Uriah\n<\/p>\n

Uriah Heep in 1976, with new bassist Trevor Bolder (second left) and singer John Lawton (centre) (Image credit: Fin Costello\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

After three albums away from their orbit, during which time Bron installed him as studio manager of the Roundhouse Studios in North London, Ashley Howe re-entered the inner circle to engineer High And Mighty. With supreme understatement, he uses the word \u2018difficult\u2019 to describe those sessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertain people became a bit hard to control, which worsened after a few jars,\u201d he remembers. \u201cBand members became obstreperous. One guy felt it necessary to remind me that I\u2019d begun as the tea boy. I won\u2019t name him, but it wasn\u2019t Mickey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Box recalls Byron being sent to the studio\u2019s basement, where a microphone had been set up to capture the unusual acoustics. \u201cOnly we recorded the part, and because drugs and drunk were being used, poor old David was forgotten about. An hour later somebody pushed up a fader and we heard: \u2018You bunch of cunts. Let
me out of here!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Howe admits to feeling uncomfortable when Bron attended the final playback of High And Mighty. \u201cGerry said that he liked what we had done, but I suspect it was very emotional for him to no longer be involved. It must have been a bit like letting a child go.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact Bron hated High And Mighty. \u201cGerry was never going to like it under any circumstances because his nose was out of joint,\u201d says Hensley. \u201cKicking him out as producer was the wrong decision. We were trying to blame him for everything that was going wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs instrumental as Gerry was in the building up of Uriah Heep, he was equally guilty in bringing it down,\u201d Box has said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s them trying to find excuses for having dropped the ball,\u201d responds Bron now. \u201cI don\u2019t blame them for that. The real reason for Uriah Heep\u2019s downfall is the friction between them, especially David\u2019s jealousy of Ken. It was childish.\u201d<\/p>\n

As much as the prospect terrified them, the band realised that David Byron had to go. The singer was sacked at the end of the band\u2019s Spanish tour in June 1976. A statement issued by Bron shortly afterwards explained that the decision had been made \u201cin the best interests of the group\u201d, and revealing that they had \u201calready secured a replacement singer\u201d.<\/p>\n

Byron informed the NME that he was \u201cabsolutely relieved\u201d by the move, adding: \u201cAll the things that have been tearing me apart have gone.\u201d Referring to Hensley\u2019s domination of the writing process, he went on to tell a Dutch magazine: \u201cWe should have used everyone\u2019s songwriting. That\u2019s why High And Mighty is a bummer to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Box, Kerslake, Hensley and Wetton all appeared on Bryon\u2019s debut solo album Take No Prisoners (recorded before his dismissal), but the singer\u2019s problems prevented him from carrying on alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid refused to be helped,\u201d says Kerslake. \u201cOn one occasion he slapped me round the face, kicked and screamed at me. We couldn\u2019t take it any more. The fear was that he would drag us down with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a revealing indication of Heep\u2019s standing that David Coverdale, Paul Rodgers and Ian Hunter all auditioned to replace Byron, even though each turned the gig down. Hunter claimed to have been offered \u00a35,000 a week \u2013 no small sum in 1976. \u201cI didn\u2019t really like what they did,\u201d he later said. In the end the band settled on former Lucifer\u2019s Friend frontman John Lawton as Bryon\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n

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\"Uriah\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Dick Barnatt\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

Subsequent albums Firefly, Innocent Victim and Fallen Angel kept the group\u2019s name alive, especially in Germany, but a rift between Lawton and Hensley gradually opened. Replacing Lawton with Lone Star\u2019s John Sloman for 1980\u2019s ill-fated Conquest was a disastrous move, and prompted Hensley\u2019s departure from the band.<\/p>\n

It was all too much for Gerry Bron. \u201cWithout Ken, David Byron or Gary Thain, as far as I was concerned we no longer had a band,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In 1982, Box and then-bassist Trevor Bolder tried to bring Byron back for the Abominog album, but the singer was so far gone that he turned down the idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went to see David at his house, and afterwards we sat in the car, exhausted,\u201d Box recalls. \u201cI said to Trevor: \u2018What just happened there?\u2019 We\u2019d had hope in our hearts [that he would rejoin]. But he was drinking worse than ever, and he ended up trying to convince me to join his band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byron never conquered his demons. On February 28, 1985 he was found dead at his home in Reading. The coroner cited alcohol-related complications as the cause of death.<\/p>\n

Gerry Bron admits that he still thinks about the sacking. \u201cBut what were we supposed to do?\u201d he says. \u201cBring everything to a halt and wait for David to sort himself out? How would we know that he\u2019d done so? More importantly, did he even want to stop?\u201d<\/p>\n

The departure of Byron ended Uriah Heep\u2019s imperial period, though not their career \u2013 they have continued to be a presence on rock\u2019s landscape. Today Mick Box is the sole original member, proudly flying the flag for the band he helped form more than 40 years ago. Between 1986 and 2007 the band \u2013 Box, Kerslake, bassist Trevor Bolder, singer Bernie Shaw and keyboard player Phil Lanzon \u2013 enjoyed a period of stability that they never experienced during their 70s heyday.<\/p>\n

But even then the past occasionally reared its head. In December 2001 Ken Hensley and John Lawton both performed with Heep at London\u2019s Shepherd\u2019s Bush Empire at an event called The Magician\u2019s Birthday. Hensley shudders at the memory.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was bloody awful,\u201d he says. \u201cI wasn\u2019t properly prepared, and I didn\u2019t like some of the jokes they made while rehearsing my songs. I looked across the room, and there should\u2019ve been somebody stood where Bernie Shaw was. It felt very fake. But at least I got to make my peace with Lee again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKen\u2019s comments regarding Bernie are a bit of a cheap shot,\u201d says Box. \u201cAs a band we did everything that we could to make Ken welcome, and humour is a good ice breaker. I am sorry he didn\u2019t see it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerslake left the group on health grounds in 2007. \u201cMy hospital check-up confirmed eight or nine complaints including tinnitus, and arthritis of the arm, elbow and knee,\u201d he says. \u201cAt my age [64] there\u2019s no way I could do another world tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an unexpected move, Hensley and Kerslake are considering working together again. Besides joining Blackfoot, working with W.A.S.P. and Cinderella and releasing solo material, the keyboard player maintained a low profile until the late 1990s. Today he has a new band, Live Fire, and a solo career; a new album, Love\u2026 And Other Mysteries, will be released this spring.<\/p>\n

Mick Box has no plans to slow down. During the past two years, Uriah Heep have followed the sort of itinerary that puts younger bands to shame, playing five tours of America, several Russian treks, and gigs in such far-flung places as South Africa, Georgia and Kazakhstan. The band plan to record their 24th album in the spring.<\/p>\n

The guitarist says he\u2019s saddened by Bron and Hensley\u2019s perceived bitterness but, magnanimously, thanks each on them for their contributions, even as he pushes ever onwards with Uriah Heep.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a loyal and still-growing fan-base that often thanks us for providing the soundtrack to their lives,\u201d Box concludes. \u201cOur catalogue is played at births, weddings, funerals and milestones in between. Night after night we see hundreds and thousands of fans singing along to our songs, old and new, sometimes with tears of joy. That is fulfilment indeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud that we took a fairly flimsy amount of talent and a lot of determination and created something huge,\u201d Ken Hensley says, somewhat modestly. \u201cWith hindsight I realise that the band fell apart for many reasons that were not music-related, which is disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n

This feature originally appeared in Classic Rock issue 171 (April 2012). Ken Hensley, Lee Kerslake and Gerry Bron have passed away since the article was published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peers of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep were part of the first wave of British hard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-159997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}