Gary Thain
Gary Thain (born May 15, 1948 in Christchurch , New Zealand , † December 8, 1975 in London , England ) was a rock musician. He gained particular fame as the bass player in the band Uriah Heep .
Life
Gary Thain attended the Xavier College Catholic School in his native city. At the age of 13 he won a singing competition there. At the age of 14 he founded the band The Strangers , in which he played bass. Other members included his brother Arthur Thain (lead guitar), Graeme Ching (singer and rhythm guitar) and Dave Beattie (drums), who was later replaced by Peter Dawkins. The band released three singles, including the first song, I'd Never Be Blue , written and published by Thain . When the Strangers broke up, he got into the 'Secrets', with which he released a single. In the same year (1966) this band split up again when Thain and Paul Muggleston, also a former member of The Strangers , reunited with Peter Dawkins and Dave Chapman to form a new band - Me and the Others . After touring in Scotland and Wales, they accepted an engagement in Germany for some time.
When this band broke up, Thain and Dawinks founded the psychedelic group New Nadir with Ed Carter , which performed primarily in Germany, France and Switzerland. New Nadir recorded an album in 1968, which was not released until 2009. After New Nadir broke up , Thain joined the Keef Hartley Band , whose music consisted of blues- oriented songwriting and jazzy arrangements. The Keef Hartley Band made six albums with Thain. Thain's melodic and yet rhythmically funky bass playing, trained on Motown bassist James Jamerson , was a focal point of Hartley's music. With the band Thain performed at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 on the second day in front of the band Santana . This appearance was not officially recorded. Thain also emerged as a co-author and arranger of material for the Keef Hartley Band . He can also be heard as a singer on the only track You Say You're Together Now composed by himself . The song was released on The 72nd Brave in 1972 .
Uriah Heep
After the album The 72nd Brave Hartley broke up his band. At the same time Thain received an offer from Uriah Heep , which he promptly accepted. When Thain joined Uriah Heep , the band was on tour in the United States . He replaced the ex- Colosseum bassist Mark Clarke . Thain's first appearance with Uriah Heep was on February 1, 1972 in Los Angeles. The band at that time consisted of David Byron , Mick Box , Ken Hensley and Lee Kerslake . Four months later, Thain was in the studio with Uriah Heep for the first time . The resulting album Demons and Wizards meant the band's breakthrough in America. Four more albums followed, on which he also partly participated in the writing of the song material, including Sweet Lorraine and the Ballade Circus , as well as the song Sunshine , which was only available as the B-side of the single Stealin ' for a long time .
Thain played over 370 concerts with Uriah Heep . Thain suffered an electric shock while performing in Dallas , Texas on September 15, 1974, from which he did not recover. Since the accident he has suffered from cardiac arrhythmias and his longstanding drug addiction, which he had previously had, worsened in the aftermath. Eventually he had to leave the band due to his unstable condition in January 1975. Gary Thain died on December 8, 1975 at his home in Norwood Green, London under circumstances that were never completely clarified. An accident was given as the official cause of death. Since he died at the age of 27, he is a member of Club 27 . At Uriah Heep he was replaced by John Wetton .
literature
- Sonja Wagner: Gary Thain, master of the deep tones , Novum Verlag, Vienna, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-85022-529-8 .
Discography
Singles
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Albums
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Web links
- Gary Thain on rentrock.nl (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.uriah-heep.com/newa/heepstory5.php
- ↑ Thain's biography on garythain.com (English)
- ↑ Article about Thain on musikansich.de
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Thain, Gary |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | New Zealand rock musician and member of Uriah Heep |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 15, 1948 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Christchurch , New Zealand |
| DATE OF DEATH | 8th December 1975 |
| Place of death | London , England , UK |