Uriah Heep

History

Early days (1967–1971)

The band's origins go back to 1967 when 19-year-old guitarist Mick Box formed a band in Brentwood, Essex called Hogwash, which began playing in local clubs and pubs. When the band's singer left, drummer Roger Penlington suggested his cousin David Garrick (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. David Garrick changed his surname to Byron. Drummer Alex Napier joined, having answered a music paper ad; bassist Paul Newton of The Gods (not to be confused with the American rock band of the same name) 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 level, then got signed by Gerry Bron (the Hit Record Productions Ltd.'s boss), who saw the band at the Blues Loft club in High Wycombe. "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, the newly formed Philips 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 Uriah Heep (for, according to biographer Kirk Blows, "Dickens' 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 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 fan, with their Hammond organ 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, followed by Hensley, a former colleague of Newton in the Gods, who was then playing guitar in Toe Fat. "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 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 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, recommended to Byron by Elton John. The debut was not popular with rock critics (especially in the US, where Rolling Stone 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.

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 1971, 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, once of the Gods. New Zealander Gary Thain, a member of the Keef Hartley 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:

Post-David Byron period (1976–1981)

Uriah Heep recruited bassist Trevor Bolder (ex-David Bowie, Mick Ronson), and after having auditioned David Coverdale (Deep Purple, Whitesnake), Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople) and Gary Holton (Heavy Metal Kids), brought in John Lawton, formerly of Lucifer's Friend and the Les Humphries Singers, 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 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. Paul Stanley later recalled: "They were incredibly professional, and so consistent that their worst nights were excellent and their best were tremendous."

Innocent Victim, 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 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 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".

Peter Goalby era (1981–1986)

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 with Ozzy Osbourne) and the drummer brought along with him bassist Bob Daisley. Then John Sinclair came in, whom Box knew from the times he was a member of Heavy Metal Kids, and who currently played with a Los Angeles band called Lion. The band's new vocalist became Trapeze's Peter Goalby. 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 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! 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 Monsters of Rock event a few weeks prior to this, on 21 August.

Head First (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 and Def Leppard, whose vocalist Joe Elliott 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."

New members, Raging Silence and Different World (1986–1993)

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, under Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost (Western pop acts Boney M, Cliff Richard, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Elton John had already played shows there in the late 1970s during the pre-Gorbachev era). At Moscow's Olympic Stadium 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 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 in August 1988 and toured the UK with the Dogs D'Amour.

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, six dates in Brazil 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 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) 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 (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 and 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, 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 and 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 in Trenton, New Jersey, on 5 and 6 October 2002, alongside Mostly Autumn, Asia, Karnataka, Focus and Nektar. 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. All the while Mick Box acted as a manager for the band until, on 5 April 2005, they retained Simon Porter as their manager.

Wake the Sleeper and Into the Wild (2007–2013)

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, where they used double bass drums in the songs Wake the Sleeper and War Child. Originally slated for a summer 2007 release, Universal Music finally released Wake the Sleeper on 2 June 2008.

In October 2009 Uriah Heep released their 40th-anniversary album Celebration – Forty Years of Rock, 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 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 man Micky Moody on slide guitar.

Uriah Heep released their 22nd studio album Into the Wild on 15 April 2011 in Europe (3 May in North America) via Frontiers Records.

Bassist Trevor Bolder died on 21 May 2013 after suffering from pancreatic cancer. He was 62 years old. British bassist John Jowitt (Ark, IQ, Arena) 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 taking time off for a routine medical procedure. Then both Bernie and John fronted the group for their show in San Javier, Spain on 12 July.

Uriah Heep entered the studio in January 2014 to begin recording their 23rd studio album Outsider, 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 Festival in Germany on 14 July 2016 and again later that same year for a New Year's Eve festival in Sibiu, Romania, 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 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 embarked on a world tour in support of it that would take them into 2019.

Chaos and Colour (2020–2024)

In a July 2020 interview with Sea of Tranquility, guitarist Mick Box 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. now being mixed".

Two former Uriah Heep members died in 2020: Lee Kerslake after a long cancer battle on 19 September, and Ken Hensley after a short illness on 4 November. 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 29 June 2021, at the age of 74.

On 27 January 2023, Uriah Heep released its 25th studio album, Chaos & Colour, which was preceded by the two singles "Save Me Tonight" and "Hurricane".

On a spring 2024 U.S. tour with Saxon, keyboardist Lanzon was called away due to family commitments. Adam Wakeman (son of Rick Wakeman) came in to fill in for Lanzon.

Farewell tour (2024–present)

On 19 September 2024, Uriah Heep announced that they would be embarking on a farewell tour, titled The Magician's Farewell, in celebration of their 55th anniversary. The tour started on 19 February 2025 in Birmingham Symphony Hall and is expected to last for two years. Guitarist Mick Box stated that the band "intend[ed] to play as many places as possible."

The tour has been widely marketed as a farewell tour. However, in his monologue in Haapsalu, Estonia, on 30 August 2025, the singer Bernie Shaw said: "I would like to correct a possible misconception about this tour we are on. This is by no means our final tour. The name of this tour is 'The Magicians Farewell', but it is just the name of the tour. Make no mistake; we are not going anywhere. There are still records to be made and concerts to be played." However, Box had previously stated in a 2024 interview with Planet Rock, "and then once we've done that (the tour), we'll still be doing festivals, and weekend work, and stuff like that, but the long, arduous tours, we're not going to do anymore", citing problems with getting equipment and other gear from one venue to another, bus prices, and constant plane cancellations.

During some European shows in early 2026, Box was sidelined from the group due to health issues, with guitarist Sam Wood playing in his stead. These are the first Uriah Heep shows he has missed since the band's formation.

Musical style and influence

Uriah Heep's music has predominantly been described by critics and journalists as hard rock, progressive rock and heavy metal, with influences from acid rock, blues, and folk. Uriah Heep's distinctive features have always included a massive keyboard sound, strong vocal harmonies and (in the early years) David Byron'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 cited as an influence by numerous acts, including Iron Maiden, Queen, Accept, Ghost, Fates Warning, Sodom, Death, Winger, Dio, King Diamond, Avenged Sevenfold, Krokus, Demons & Wizards (who were named after the band's album with the same name), Axel Rudi Pell and Fifth Angel.

Band members

Current members

Mick Box – guitar, backing vocals (1969–present)

Phil Lanzon – keyboards, backing vocals (1986–present)

Bernie Shaw – lead vocals (1986–present)

Russell Gilbrook – drums (2007–present)

Dave Rimmer – bass guitar, backing vocals (2013–present)

Discography

Studio albums