Uriah Heep

Hi Heepsters!

Uriah Heep regret to announce that, due to ongoing health problems, longstanding drummer Lee Kerslake is to leave the band with immediate effect.

During 2006, when Uriah Heep toured in some twenty territories ranging from Indonesia, India and Thailand through to Brazil, Peru, Russia and Bulgaria, concluding with a six week Acoustic Tour through Europe, Lee found the rigors of constant touring increasingly stressful and will now take the opportunity over the next few months to embark on a stringent campaign in order to resolve his health issues.

Comments Heep lead guitarist and founder member Mick Box: "All the band are fully behind Lee in his efforts to become fully match fit again. For me, it is particularly devastating to lose not only someone who I have worked with for some thirty five years, but also one of my closest and oldest friends who I love like a brother. It is, however, in the best interests of both Lee and the band that a change is made now. This is an important time in the history of the band - We have just signed a new worldwide recording contract with Sanctuary Records and are about to commence recording our first new studio album in almost a decade and it is vital that there is consistency between both the recording and the forthcoming eighteen month long world tour to coincide with the album?s release in September".

The band will now start actively auditioning potential drummers and we will keep you informed as events unfold.

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URIAH HEEP http://www.uriah-heep.com
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- Upcoming Uriah Heep live dates!
April 14 - Rockin'70's Festival, Katinkulta, Vuokatti, Finland
July 6 (or 7) - Lovely Days Festival, Saint Polten, Austria
July 14 - Rowlit, Parainen, Finland
July 20 - Meripäivät, Kotka, Finland
July 21 - Open air, Breitenbach, Germany
July 26 - Keitelejazz, Äänekoski (north of Jyvaskyla), Finland
July 27 - Umpitunneli, Tornio (north of Oulu), Finland
All details, tickets info, phone numbers: http://www.uriah-heep.com/newa/livedates.php

- Photos taken by Mick Box during last year's tour in Brazil and Peru (as well as from many other gigs), can be now found here: http://www.uriah-heep.com/Mickpics/groundhogday/indexmp.php .

- Trivia time... a couple of interesting Heep covers at MySpace:
*** "July Morning" by MSFunk (included Tommy Shaw, who later became a member of Styx):
http://www.myspace.com/msfunkster
*** "Footprints In The Snow" by The Airwaves (Sweden):
http://www.myspace.com/formelyswedishwhistler

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MORE HEEP... AND RELATED!
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- Uwe Reuters present his new Uriah Heep Yearbook vol. 10, "What Should Be Done", which will be out in May 2007. The price will be 35,00 Euro for Germany and 40,00 Euro out of Germany. In Vol. 10 there's an exclusive interview with Steff Fontaine, news from John Sloman, more bootleg CD listings, news from the German Heep Cover band Circle of Hands, a comprehensive John Lawton song list before joining The Heep in the mid-70s, and much more in about 230 pages and over 250 pictures. In addition, the limited and numbered edition of the "Holzbox" (wooden box) will be released soon as well. The price for Germany will be 20,00 Euro and out of Germany it'll cost 25,00 Euro. This is the best place to keep your Vol. 2 to Vol. 10 books! For all details please go to http://www.uriahheepbooks.de .

- A new message by Ken Hensley with some updates is now available at the official website: http://www.ken-hensley.com .

- Check out John Lawton's new page at MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/johnlawtonmusic .

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