![]() He recorded with The Les Humphries Singers – whose “Sing Sang Song” was the German entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1975 – in addition to Rebel, Zar, Gunhill, the Hensley Lawton Band, the Lawton Dunning Project and his own John Lawton Band. ![]() Lawton also sang at Roger Glover’s Butterfly Ball live at the Royal Albert Hall in 1975, alongside David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes and Ian Gillan. And Lawton filled in for Uriah Heep singer Bernie Shaw in 1995 after the latter was forced to miss two week’s worth of shows with a throat problem. They broke up a year later, but reunited in 2015 for some live shows and a new album, Too Late To Hate. It is for this reason Heep were coined the Beach Boys of Heavy Metal, and their influence is there for all to see in other bands including the likes of Sweet and Queen. It’s a good way to work, I think.”Īfter departing Uriah Heep, Lawton recorded a solo album, Heartbeat, in 1980, before rejoining Lucifer’s Friend for 1982’s Mean Machine. Furthermore, Uriah Heep have been responsible for the most elevated and intelligent use of vocals in a heavy metal context amongst the major bands inventing the genre in the 1970s. And if I need help, Mick and the guys are the first ones to step up and say, “Yeah, we’ll come and do this for you.” We can’t argue about that at all. “I always say, ‘Once you join the Heep family, you never leave, regardless.’ And I’m always there for them if they need help. Lawton parted ways with Uriah Heep in September 1979, but remained on good terms with his former bandmates. “It only probably happened in the first couple of months really of joining the band where the press were kind of like, “John Lawton who? And Lucifer’s Friend who?” And so I didn’t think too much about the fact that I was replacing somebody like David Byron. “After I got the phone call from Ken, I basically had to go out and buy the album, The Best of Uriah Heep, to familiarize myself with the music. “I didn’t know enough about Uriah Heep before I joined,” Lawton told Jeff Cramer. The Yorkshireman’s blues voice presented Heep with a raft of new possibilities, and he would record three studio albums with the band: Firefly, Innocent Victim, and Fallen Angel. Lawton joined Uriah Heep in 1976, having made his name in Germany as the frontman of cult rockers Lucifer’s Friend. 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. In the late 1970s the band had massive success in Germany, where the " Lady in Black" single was a big hit.“We would appreciate that the family’s privacy is respected during this difficult time.” 7 in 1975), while of the fifteen Billboard 200 Uriah Heep albums, Demons and Wizards was the most successful (No. Twelve of the band's studio albums have made it to the UK Albums Chart ( Return to Fantasy reached No. Uriah Heep have released twenty-four studio albums of original material, twenty live albums and forty-one compilation albums (including two greatest hits albums). They also maintain a significant following and perform at arena-sized venues in the Balkans, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Finland and Scandinavia. The band has sold over 40 million albums worldwide with over four million sales in the U.S, where its best-known songs include " Gypsy", " Easy Livin'", " The Wizard", " Sweet Lorraine", and " Stealin'". If my math is correct, thats 39 years ago. Lead singer David Byron,with the band Uriah Heep, on stage, circa 1973-1975. Mick Box has been the lead guitarist of Uriah Heep since the bands founding in 1969. Uriah Heep were part of the early 1970s rock scene, and have been referred to as pioneers of the hard rock, heavy metal and progressive rock genres. Uriah Heep, posed group portrait L-R Mick Box, Trevor Bolder, John Lawton. Notable former members of the band are vocalists David Byron, John Lawton, John Sloman and Peter Goalby, bassists Gary Thain, Trevor Bolder, John Wetton, Bob Daisley, Paul Newton, and John Jowitt, drummers Nigel Olsson, Iain Clark, Lee Kerslake and Chris Slade, and keyboardists Ken Hensley and John Sinclair. They have experienced numerous lineup changes throughout their 53-year career, leaving Box as the only remaining original member. Their current lineup consists of guitarist Mick Box, keyboardist Phil Lanzon, lead vocalist Bernie Shaw, drummer Russell Gilbrook, and bassist Dave Rimmer. Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969.
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