Ken Hensley RIP

I’m off to listen to some Uriah Heep and toast Mr Hensley. :frowning: RIP. What a year…

1 Like

UH were always a bit unfashionable - but I always thought they were great. First 4 albums, especially Salisbury and Look At Yourself, were terrific and have aged well. I saw them live a couple of times in the early 70’s and they were fantastic - led by the virtuosity of Ken. His organ drove the songs along and his slide guitar playing was inventive.

1 Like

Yes, never as cool as other similar bands at the time. To my ears they were often more interesting than the blues repetition of Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin of the same era. They did lose their way after the early albums but they weren’t alone - it was the seventies and most hard rock bands burned out. The Ken Hensley organ opening and solo 2 minutes into Gypsy hooked me as a youngster and still does 50 years later! Along with Jon Lord, he defined heavy rock keyboard. He was also a great songwriter. Pretty good for a guitar player. Ah well.

3 Likes

He made a very positive contribution to Blackfoot when he joined in the 80s, Siogo is a superb album, probably my favourite from Blackfoot.

An unusual combination, but credit to whoever decided, let’s get Ken in the band and credit to Ken for deciding joining a Southern Rock band was the way to go.

And one penned by Ken.

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.