Uriah Heep

Updated: September 22, 2026

Formed: 1969
Origin: London, England
Nationality: British
Members: Mick Box, Bernie Shaw, Phil Lanzon, Russell Gilbrook, Dave Rimmer
Original Members: Mick Box, David Byron, Ken Hensley, Paul Newton, Alex Napier
Occupation: Musicians
Genres: Hard rock, progressive rock, heavy metal

Biography & Career:
Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969, and one of the small handful of acts that turned hard rock, Hammond organ and heavy vocal harmonies into something genuinely their own. The group grew out of an earlier outfit called Spice, and the original members who made the 1970 debut were guitarist Mick Box, singer David Byron, keyboardist Ken Hensley, bassist Paul Newton and drummer Alex Napier. Box is the last one still standing on that stage: Byron died in 1985, Hensley and long-serving drummer Lee Kerslake both passed away in 2020.

The early 1970s were the golden run. Between 1970 and 1973 the group released a string of records that mixed fantasy lyrics, huge choral backing vocals, Hensley's organ and Box's wah-drenched guitar, and the formula sold. More than 40 million records have moved worldwide, and in Germany, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia the following has never really faded. Critics were famously unkind at the time, one of them promising to kill himself if the band ever made it big, which only added to the legend once they did.

Twenty-five studio albums sit in the Uriah Heep discography, spread across five and a half decades, plus roughly twenty live records. The line between the best albums and the merely good ones tends to get drawn around that 1970s peak, but later chapters hold up too, from the 1980s reinvention with a new singer to the 1995 comeback record that reconnected the group with European audiences, and on to the most recent release in 2023. The top songs still built into every setlist come almost entirely from the Byron years, which says something about how deep that early catalogue runs.

The current band members are Box, vocalist Bernie Shaw and keyboardist Phil Lanzon, both aboard since 1986, drummer Russell Gilbrook since 2007 and bassist Dave Rimmer since 2013 — a lineup that has now lasted longer than the classic one ever did. The Magician's Farewell Tour is the long goodbye, running through 2026 with legs in Scandinavia, a Caribbean rock cruise, a UK festival slot and an October to November run taking in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Greece. Box, now 78, missed the Scandinavian dates through illness, with Sam Wood deputising, but returned in February. A Uriah Heep concert on this tour is likely to be the last chance to see it done by the people who started it.

Uriah Heep Albums:
Very 'Eavy... Very 'Umble
Salisbury
Look at Yourself
Demons and Wizards
The Magician's Birthday
Sweet Freedom
Firefly
Abominog
Sea of Light
Chaos & Colour

Uriah Heep Best Songs:
Easy Livin'
Lady in Black
July Morning
The Wizard
Gypsy
Stealin'
Sunrise
Look at Yourself
Sweet Lorraine
Free Me