Uriah Heep

Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969. The band has seen numerous lineup changes throughout its 51-year career, with guitarist Mick Box being the only remaining original member. Notable former members of the band included vocalist David Byron, keyboardist and vocalist Ken Hensley, drummer Lee Kerslake, and bassist Gary Thain. The group has released twenty-four studio albums, twenty live albums, and forty-one compilations. Twelve of the band’s studio albums have made it to the UK Albums Charts, with Demons & Wizards being the most successful. The band’s name was taken from a well-known character from Charles Dicken’s novel David Copperfield.

Their 1970 debut album, …Very ‘Eavy …Very 'Umble, introduced Hensley’s heavy organ and Box’s guitar-driven sound, with Byron’s theatrical, dynamic vocals soaring above thunderous sonic backgrounds, although acoustic and jazz elements also featured in the mix. The album was generally panned by the mainstream critical press upon its release, although it has since been acknowledged as an early classic of the heavy metal genre. The band’s second album, Salisbury, was more squarely in the progressive rock genre, with its 16-minute title track featuring a 24-piece orchestra. One of the album’s tracks, “Lady in Black”, described as, “…a stylishly arranged tune that builds from a folk-style acoustic tune into a throbbing rocker full of ghostly harmonies and crunching guitar riffs,” became a hit in Germany and many parts of Europe. Produced by Gerry Bron, the second album was significant for Ken Hensley’s instant rise to the position of the main songwriter.

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. Among the stand-outs were the title track, “Tears In My Eyes” and “July Morning”, an epic many Heep fans regard as equal to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and Deep Purple’s “Child in Time”. The band’s magnum opus, Demon’s & Wizards, was released in 1972. While its title and Roger Dean’s sleeve artwork both suggested that the band was romantically working medieval myth into their songs—and surely songs like “Rainbow Demon” and “The Spell” did have thematic links with fantasy, a more straightforward, hard-rocking approach was also apparent. Two singles were released from the album: “The Wizard” and “Easy Livin”.

Six months later, in November 1972, Uriah Heep’s fifth studio album The Magician’s Birthday came out, with “Sweet Lorraine” released as an American single. The songs were darker and more gothic with the title track (a multi-part fantasy epic featuring Hensley–Byron vocal duel and Box’s extensive guitar solo in the middle) being one of the album’s highlight. After releasing five more albums (Sweet Freedom, Wonderworld, Return to Fantasy and High and Mighty), the band released Firefly in 1977 with new lead vocalist John Lawton. The band’s popularity declined into the ‘80s and '90s, but the band maintains a significant following and performs at arena-sized venues in the Balkans, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, and Scandinavia. They have sold over 45 million albums worldwide with over 4 million sales in the U.S.