RIP Ken Hensley

And in our loudspeakers, forever.

My first "meeting" with Heep happened in 1982, it was a Soviet reissue of "Innocent Victim" LP. Then I had their albums on tapes, later on LPs and, finally, on CDs.

By the way, in my opinion "Sea of Light" '95 and "Sonic Origami" '98 are infinitelly better than everything they recorded in studio without Ken Hensley (I don't talk of live albums, which are good or excellent, because Heep play each concert like there is no tomorrow).

Western records in the USSR till the end of the 80s were available mostly on black market (too expensive). Some titles were made by licence and, if you were lucky you could buy licenced copies from Yugoslavia, East Germany, Poland or Bulgaria. Thus most of us were making tape copies. I remember that in the end of the 80s I had most of UH albums on tapes and was looking for ... "Innocent Victim", until one day a friend of mine told me "You already have it, just take it from your shelf". Soviet reissue didn't have the title on the cover and I didn't know what album I have.  First I had this one

Later I found a better version

It had a pretty good article about UH on the back cover.

I agree, Ken was incredible songwriter and storyteller, one of the greatest melodicists in rock. During the last almost 20 years he often visited Russia, me and my wife always tried not to miss his gigs. They were amazing - Ken was so smart, intelligent, had a good sense of humour and deepest respect to the audience. And he and the band rocked! He loved his music to be played loud. 

Once, it was in 2009, I noticed the announcement that Ken gives autograph session in one of Moscow record stores. It was before his acoustic concert called "Past, Present & Future". I asked him to sign our copies of "The Magician's Birthday" CD and "When Too Many Dreams Come True" book. When I said "Ken, your music is more than only songs for me, it's something personal...", he replied, smiling: "For me too".

A photo from that autograph session:

If interested, there are more Ken's photos in my wife's LJ (she asked Ken's permission to make photos before the concert and Ken said: no problem - photos, videos, do whatever you want).

Since the day I've listened to my first Uriah Heep LP the band became very special for me. The news of Ken's passing shocked me. A personal tragedy, really. 

Thank you for sharing your Ken's pictures. I saw him only once live: that was in London, December 7th, 2001 (The Magician's Birthday Party). A great moment

I watched The Magician's Birthday Party on YouTube last night and it was great to see Ken Hensley back with Uriah Heep again.