News of the sad death of Ken Hensley at 75. As the keyboard player of British group Uriah Heep, he played a big part in their success. Not as familiar as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest or Jethro Tull, they were not too far behind.
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Born Kenneth William David Hensley on August 24, 1945, the keyboard player first attracted the national spotlight as a member of The Gods, who featured future Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, and recorded two albums, 1968’s Genesis and 1969’s To Samuel A Son, for Columbia Records. The group also released the album Orgasm under the pseudonym Head Machine.
Hensley wrote or co-wrote the majority of Uriah Heep's songs until his departure from the band in 1980, including the hit singles Easy Livin’, Stealin’, Lady In Black and Free Me.
He wrote the band’s biggest hit, Easy Livin’ from 1972’s Demons And Wizards album, in just 15 minutes. Though it failed to chart in the UK, the song, a tongue-in-cheek reflection upon outsider perceptions of the band’s lifestyle, became a top 20 hit across mainland Europe, and peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 39. A huge radio hit in America, it pushed the Demons and Wizards album to number 23 on the Billboard 200 album chart.