The Uriah Heep drummer has passed away at the age of 73 following his struggle with prostate cancer, a year after ending his feud with the Black Sabbath rocker.
- Sep 21, 2020
AceShowbiz - Uriah Heep drummer Lee Kerslake has lost his battle with prostate cancer.
The rocker's former bandmate, Ken Hensley, confirmed the sad news in a statement. He was 73.
"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 wrote on Saturday (19Sep20). "He died peacefully, praise The Lord, but he will be terribly missed."
Uriah Heep founder Mick Box also took to Facebook to call Lee "one of the kindest men on earth."
The guitarist added, "As well as being a brother he was an incredible drummer, singer and songwriter! He had a passion for life bar none and was much loved by the fans, as well as anyone who crossed his path!"
Kerslake also served as Ozzy Osbourne's drummer on the Prince of Darkness' albums "Blizzard of Ozz" and "Diary of a Madman". The pair had a falling out after Kerslake's parts were removed from the records, but they made amends last year (19).
Following his cancer diagnosis, Lee asked Osbourne to send him the platinum records they worked on together - and the Black Sabbath star was more than happy to oblige, tweeting, "I'm so glad that Lee Kerslake is enjoying his Blizzard and Diary platinum albums... I hope you feel better. Love, Ozzy."
Ironically, Ozzy is currently celebrating the 40th anniversary of "Blizzard of Ozz" with a new reissue of the 1980 album.
