Ken Hensley

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ken Hensley, 1977

Kenneth William David "Ken" Hensley (born August 24, 1945 in London , Great Britain ; † November 4, 2020 in Agost , Spain ) was a British keyboardist , guitarist and singer . Until he left in 1980 he was the driving force behind the progressive hard rock band Uriah Heep .

biography

Ken Hensley, 2009

In the 1960s, Ken Hensley mainly played guitar. In 1965 he founded The Gods with the later Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor and therefore switched to the Hammond organ . The band recorded two LPs and then mutated through the groups Toe Fat and Spice to Uriah Heep.

Hensley shaped the timbre of Uriah Heep significantly through his compositions and his keyboards . For example, the hit Lady in Black came from him and was sung by him. During his time at Heep, he recorded two unsuccessful solo albums: Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf (1973) and Eager to Please (1975). After the death of bassist Gary Thain and the kicking of singer David Byron from Uriah Heep, Hensley also left the group in 1980.

After another solo album ( Free Spirit, 1980) he went to the USA . From 1982 to 1985 he was a member of the successful US group Blackfoot . Hensley recorded the keyboard parts on The Headless Children , the 1989 album by the group WASP . He can also be heard on Cinderella's 1990 album Heartbreak Station , where he played piano on four songs. Not much was heard from Hensley until the mid-1990s. He lived in Missouri and was involved in a few musicals, but otherwise had largely withdrawn from the music business.

Since 1994 Hensley has been musically active again, released some solo albums and occasionally appeared with his former Uriah Heep colleague John Lawton . In 2007 he produced the CD Blood on the Highway together with the singers Jørn Lande , John Lawton, Glenn Hughes and Eve Gallagher . In April 2007 he produced the album for the Hamburg band Maks and the Minors Movin 'Out in Alicante , which was released in autumn 2007.

In January 2008 a new version of Lady in Black was published in Switzerland . It is a duet between the Swiss musician Daniel Kandlbauer and Ken Hensley. The single was in the Swiss charts for four weeks and reached number 38. In May 2011, Hensley released the album Faster with his band Live Fire . In addition to new Hensley pieces, a version of Circle of Hands with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra is also included.

On November 4, 2020, Hensley died at the age of 75 after a brief illness.

Discography

Ken Hensley, 2011

Solo albums

  • Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf (1973)
  • Eager to Please (1975)
  • Free Spirit (1980)
  • The Best of Ken Hensley (1990)
  • From Time to Time (1994)
  • A Glimpse of Glory (1999)
  • Ken Hensley Anthology (2000)
  • Running Blind (2002)
  • The Last Dance (2003)
  • The Wizard's Diary - Volume 1 (2004)
  • Cold Autumn Sunday (2005)
  • Elements - Anthology 1968 to 2005 (2006)
  • Inside the Mystery (2006)
  • Live Fire (DVD) (2007)
  • Blood on the Highway, Part 1: When Too Many Dreams Come True (2007)
  • Love… And Other Mysteries (2012)
  • Live Tales (2013)
  • Trouble (2013)
  • Rare & Timeless (2018)

With The Gods

  • Genesis (1968)
  • To Samuel a Son (1970)
  • The Gods Featuring Ken Hensley (1976)

With head machine

  • Head Machine (1968; David Paramount produced his own songs on this album)
  • Orgasm (1970)

With toe fat

  • Toe Fat (1970)

With weed

  • Weed ...! (1971)

With Uriah Heep

With Blackfoot

  • Siogo (1983)
  • Vertical Smiles (1984)
  • KBFH presents Blackfoot Live 1983 (1998)

With The Hensley Lawton Band

  • The Return (2001)
  • Salisbury Live (2001)

With John Wetton

  • More than Conquerors (2002)
  • One Way or Another (2002)

With Therion

  • Gothic Kabbalah (2007)

With Toni Rowland

  • Unfolding (2008)

With Live Fire

  • Faster (2011)
  • Trouble (2013)
  • Live!! (2013)

Web links

Commons : Ken Hensley  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Facebook post on Hensley's death. November 5, 2020, accessed on November 5, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Ken Hensley - Rare & Timeless. Retrieved April 10, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Hensley, Ken
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hensley, Kenneth William David (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British keyboardist, guitarist and singer
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH London , UK
DATE OF DEATH 4th November 2020