Read yesterday evening that the great Lee Kerslake, drummer with Uriah Heep, past away from prostate cancer. Saw him countless times down the years keeping the beat for the Heep.
https://www.loudersound.com/news/uriah-heep-and-ozzy-osbourne-drummer-lee-kerslake-dead-at-73
Well I certainly did not see Uriah Heep "countless" times but I did catch them once way back in the day at The Shrine Auditorium in L.A., I'm guessing 1976. That was the original band with David Byron singing and Mick Box on guitar. Lee was a great, powerhouse drummer. RIP Lee Kerslake. FYI Byron passed away MANY years ago (30 years or more) from alcoholism. He just could not quit.
was sad he passed. his work with ozzy was insane
I recently enjoyed some YouTube video interviews with Lee and Bob talking about their time with Ozzy. That first Ozzy band with Randy, Lee and Bob was a monster group. Lee helped write No Bone Movies from the first album and definitely Flying High Again and Over the Mountain on the second time (he claimed a big part of those two and probably some others from the second album).
Ozzy, Bob, and Randy wrote the first album together (minus No Bone that included Lee) and then all four co-wrote the second album.
Those two albums sound closer to 1978 than they do 1985. Ozzy mostly abandoned that raw bass/guitar/drum sound and embraced the '80s after these two albums. IMO, he never captured that magic again in songwriting either as he didn't have the same team writing with him.
What a great career he had. RIP Lee.
