REAL GONE
Ken Hensley, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter for Uriah Heep in the ’70s, left us on November 4.
Ken Hensley, Baron Wolman, Billy Joe Shaver, Rance Allen, and more, we salute you.
THERE WAS NEVER much doubt that Ken Hensley, the main songwriter, keyboard-player and early driving force behind Uriah Heep, who has died after a short illness in Alicante, Spain, would make it. Ken had been in a year or two above us at school in Stevenage when he joined our group in the mid-’60s, and his appetite for hard work, learning his craft and pushing on made him a driving force and natural leader.
He’d been born in south London on August 24, 1945, but the Hensleys moved to fast-growing Stevenage New Town. While at school, Ken was offered terms to turn professional with Luton Town FC, then in the top tier of the Football League, but thought he’d stick to his studies. Turned on to rock’n’roll by Elvis Presley, he’d already been in several local bands when he joined ours in the early mid-’60s and we swiftly morphed in style as he upgraded organ from Farfisa (beat group) to Hammond (soul band).
Then he was gone, speeding through the gears, first with the psych-prog of The Gods (Greg Lake, Mick Taylor), and next joining Toe Fat with Rebel Rousers’ singer Cliff Bennett. In 1970 Hensley joined members of Spice to form Uriah Heep. Their third album, 1971’s
Look At Yourself, established their hard rock/ heavy metal style, with follow-up Demons
And Wizards (1972, Top 25 UK and US) followed in 1973 by Uriah Heep Live and Sweet
Freedom, a UK Top 20 hit. Largely dismissed by the UK music press, they were nonetheless a consistent live draw and had big-selling albums here, in Europe and the US. While with Heep, Hensley also recorded solo albums
Proud Words On A Dusty Shelf (’73) and Eager To Please (’75), but group tensions, some of which sprang from the dominance of his songwriting credits, saw him leave in 1980.
Hensley went on to play with US bands Blackfoot, W.A.S.P., Cinderella and others, record more solo albums, re-record Heep songs, play at conventions with former members, and publish 2007’s biography Blood On The Highway, a title shared with that year’s album. His last work, My Book Of
Answers, is scheduled for release in February.