A new bassist named Mark Clarke replaced Paul Newton, but lasted just three months before Gary Thain took over. During 1971, the line-up was altered again when Lee Kerslake, another former member of The Gods, replaced Clarke following the recording of "Look At Yourself", which reached #39 in the U.K. The band were near the forefront of a richly embossed, fastidious style of music later to be called Progressive Rock. "Salisbury" was a drastic change from their first effort, with many lengthy, meandering solos and a 16-minute title track embellished by a 26-piece orchestra. When Olson left to join Elton John, the Heep auditioned numerous drummers before offering the job to Keith Baker, who was on hand to help record the album "Salisbury" before deciding that the tour schedule was too rigorous for his liking and was replaced by Ian Clarke. Finding a permanent drummer was to remain one of the band's problems throughout their early years. Hensley's talents lay not just in producing innovative keyboard and mellotron sounds, he could write as well, though his contribution to the first album was limited.įollowing the release of Uriah Heep's first L.P., "Very 'eavy, Very 'umble", a seemingly never ending string of personnel changes started when Alex Napier was replaced by Nigel Olsson. The group had actually recorded half of the first album when Ken Hensley, who had played keyboards with Paul Newton in a band called The Gods, was brought in. Gerry Bron suggested Uriah Heep, based on the 'orrible little character from Charles Dickens' novel, David Copperfield then the introduction of keyboards to the band. The next couple of months brought about several significant changes firstly a change of name. The band soon found themselves booked into Lansdowne Studios in London, still under the name of Spice and still as a four piece unit. The man to provide that step was Gerry Bron, a management/production magnate, who upon being contacted, went down to see the band at the Blues Loft in High Wycombe and was sufficiently impressed to sign the four to his Hit Record Productions Ltd (who had a deal with Philips Records), for the purposes of recording. The quartet gradually climbed their way up in the local scene under the guidance of Paul Newton's father, but by late 1969, it was time to take a giant step upwards. About this time, Garrick started to use the name David Byron and the band recorded a one-shot single called "What About The Music" for United Artists Records. The group worked out of London and mixed the standards of the day with original Hard Rock and Jazz numbers. When The Stalkers eventually split up, Box and Garrick formed Spice, with Paul Newton on bass and Alex Napier on drums. David had joined the others on stage a few times and was soon a permanent member. When their singer left, drummer Roger Penlington suggested that his cousin David Garrick come down to the auditions. The roots of Uriah Heep extend back to the 1960s in Walthamstow, England, when Mick Box formed a local band by the name of The Stalkers, a semi-pro group playing on the local circuit. A technically brilliant Heavy Rock band who were not very successful on the commercial radio market, they may be most noted for staying in existence, despite over forty personnel changes and two deaths along the way. Although most critics have seldom had anything positive to say about Uriah Heep, the band has sold millions of records and have charted five albums in the U.S.
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