пичаль... R.I.P.
Uriah Heep and Ozzy Osbourne Drummer Lee Kerslake Dead at 73Lee Kerslake, who played drums with Uriah Heep, Ozzy Osbourne and others, has died at the age of 73 after a battle with cancer that began around 2015.
Semi-retired for health reasons since 2007, Kerslake was best known for appearing on Osbourne’s first two solo albums, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary Of a Madman, and for the legal dispute that arose over his contribution to the early ‘80s titles.
"It's with the heaviest of hearts that I share with you that Lee Kerslake, my friend of 55 years and the best drummer I ever played with, lost his battle with cancer at 03:30 this morning," Kerslake's longtime Uriah Heep bandmate Ken Hensley wrote, according to Classic Rock. "He died peacefully, praise The Lord, but he will be terribly missed."
English-born Kerslake’s first notable appointment came with a band called the Gods, with whom he recorded the albums Genesis and To Samuel a Son in 1968 and 1969, and in 1970 he appeared on Orgasm with Head Machine and Toe Fat’s self-titled LP. All these projects featured Hensley, who became part of Heep’s founding lineup. In 1971 Kerslake played on Albert One with National Head Band. “The English scene was always at a boil,” he recalled in 2002. “We were always waiting to get connected in English music, because there was so much cross-talent. Where I was born and bred, there were major musicians Bob Fripp, Greg Lake, John Wetton – and I consider myself somewhere in among that league. There were some fabulous musicians, but the only way we could make it was to go up to London, because it's the heart of the music industry.”
Later in 1971 he reunited with Hensley in Heep, in time to become a member of their classic-era lineup. The drummer’s first studio appearance came on their fourth album, 1972’s Demons and Wizards. “When I was offered it the first time, I turned it down,” he admitted. “And it wasn't [Hensley] that was the deciding factor. It was when I met [band leader] Mick Box. Mick and me got together down at Jubilee Studios. … I set my kit up, he set his guitar up and we just started playing a bit and jamming. About three and a half hours later, when we put our instruments down, we looked at each other and went, ‘Fancy a beer?’”
He added of breakthrough LP Demons and Wizards, “Mick and others said the missing link was, they didn't have the drummer – they didn't have the harmony choral parts quite there … I was the missing part of the key, so to speak. From then on, I wrote music as well. I wrote three songs with Mick on that album, and with David Byron. It seemed to gel when I joined. We all worked with each other.” He played on eight further LPs before being replaced by future AC/DC drummer Chris Slade for 1980’s Conquest.
That same year Kerslake met Osbourne, who’d recently been fired by Black Sabbath, and helped found the band Blizzard of Ozz alongside bassist Bob Daisley and guitarist Randy Rhoads. He recalled receiving a call from an agent in Germany: “He phoned me up and said, ‘I didn't know you're not in Uriah Heep. Do you want to join the band Ozzy Osbourne's trying to put together?’ I said, ‘I don't know. We'll audition each other.’ I auditioned them, and they auditioned me. It was the first time I ever heard Randy Rhoads play. I knew Bob Daisley – I knew how good Bob was. When I heard Randy, I just went, ‘Wow!’ And when he heard me, he jumped about three feet in the air. I hit the drums and they went off like a couple of cannons and hit him in the back! He just jumped for joy. It was great. As much as they were impressed with me, I was certainly impressed with Randy and Bob.”
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