Lee Kerslake has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 73 years old.
Born in Dorset in 1947, Kerslake’s first band were The Gods, whose members at various times included Mick Taylor, Ken Hensley and Greg Lake. Kerslake played on the band’s two albums, ‘Genesis’ and ‘To Samuel A Son’.
After the band disbanded, Hensley joined Uriah Heep and Kerslake followed suit in 1971. He played on classic Heep albums ‘Demons And Wizards’ and ‘Magician’s Birthday’, and would go on to carve out a long career with the band.
His time with the band was only interrupted by his stint with Ozzy Osbourne, playing drums on the albums ‘Blizzard Of Ozz’ and ‘Diary Of A Madman’. The opportunity came after a chance meeting with Ozzy in the Kings Cross Hotel in Australia in 1980. Lee was a member of Ozzy’s band in 1980 and 1981 during the Randy Rhoads era, performing on the singer’s first two solo albums.
Kerslake and Bob Daisley were fired before “Diary of A Madman” was released and in the process had their names removed from the album. Bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummer Tommy Aldridge are credited in the album’s liner notes and featured in the photo on the inner sleeve.
In 2019, after a long and public fan campaign Ozzy Osbourne sent platinum records for ‘Blizzard of Ozz‘ and ‘Diary of a Madmen’ to Kerslake after he expressed he wanted to own them before he died.
The rock legend wrote in a photo caption on Twitter: “I’m so glad that Lee Kerslake is enjoying his Blizzard and Diary platinum albums. I hope you feel better. Love, Ozzy.”
Kerslake, who along with bassist Bob Daisley, sued Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne for proper royalties on the aforementioned classic albums but eventually lost their case, Consequence of Sound reports.
The drummer told The Metal Voice in a December 2018 interview that the litigation left him “bankrupt.”’ The tracks played by Kerslake and Daisley on both albums were replaced on a reissue (by current METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo and FAITH NO MORE drummer Mike Bordin) after the duo sued Ozzy and Sharon over royalties. Daisley and Kerslake’s original performances were restored in the 2011 reissues of the albums.
In 2007, Kerslake left Uriah Heep due to ill health, and was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014. His final performance with the band came in December 2018, when he briefly joined them onstage in London, adding percussion and backing vocals to ‘Lady In Black’.
In the December 2018 interview, Kerslake told The Metal Voice that his prostate cancer had spread to the rest of his body. “I have now have bone cancer, which is a nasty one, so the doctor gave me about eight months to live,” he said. “But I’ve been fighting all the way. Five years ago, they gave me four years to live, and so that gives you an idea.”
Longtime Uriah Heep bandmate Ken Hensley wrote: It’s with the heaviest of hearts that I share with you that Lee Kerslake, my friend of 55 years and the best drummer I ever played with, lost his battle with cancer at 03:30 this morning. He died peacefully, praise The Lord, but he will be terribly missed.
I know many of you were praying for him not to suffer and I thank you for that and, now that Lee is at peace, our thoughts and prayers should turn to his wife Sue who will need all the support she can get at this time.
Kerslake had been working on an autobiographical documentary as well as a new album called “Eleventeen”.
Sources: nme.com & Blabbermouth.net
