Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in 1969 by producer Gerry Bron and featured vocalist David Byron, multi-instrumentalist Ken Hensley, guitarists Mick Box and Paul Newton, with Nigel Olsson on drums. Over the course of the bands' career there have been a number of line-up changes and different musical styles. The bands' influences include prog, hard rock and jazz and they were said to be the forerunners of the progressive metal scene.
The bands' debut album very 'eavy… very 'umble, released in 1970, has subsequently been recognized as a proto-type heavy metal album. The album was released in the US as Uriah Heep although the band didn't have huge success in the States, they did have chart success in 1972 with the singles "Easy Livin'" from the Demons and Wizards album and "Sweet Lorraine" from The Magician's Birthday which went gold in the US and made the top 50 in the charts.
Despite their heavy metal debut their subsequent output was decidedly prog rock, however a change of vocalist in 1976 saw the arrival of John Lawton, and the band re-adopted the heavy rock sound for their 1977 album Firefly.
With the exception of a brief break in the early eighties when they temporarily disbanded, the band have maintained a steady diet of touring and album releases. Uriah Heep are popular in Europe, where they still play to packed stadiums. The album Wake The Sleeper, released in 2008, was the band's first studio album of original material since 1998's Sonic Origami. The album garnered strong reviews and Heep followed it up with 2011's effort, Into The Wild.
