Hensley, Ken

Ken Hensley was born August 24, 1945 in Plumstead in southeast London in the family of a navy officer who gave his children a strict religious education in the Victorian spirit ^[2] . At the age of ten with his whole family (parents, three brothers and a sister), he moved to Stephenage . Here, at the age of eleven, he began to master the guitar, using the tutorial of Bert Whedon.

Ken Hensley gave his very first concert at the Mentmore Pen Factory in September 1960. Then he was a member of the local bands The Blue Notes, Ken And The Cousins, as well as Kit And The Saracens, from which members the Jimmy Brown Sound was formed in 1963. The last group made notes, but they have not survived to our time ^[3] .

In 1965, having lost interest in soul music, which The Jimmy Brown Sound specialized in, Ken Hensley turned to a heavier sound. Together with Mick Taylor, he became a member of The Gods , where he wrote most of the songs, sang and played the organ Hammond B3 ^[3] . After the breakup of the group, several of its members (including Hensley) transferred to Cliff Bennett in Toe Fat ^[1] . In parallel, the musician played in the project Head Machine ( Orgasm album) ^[4] , and at that time he mainly played the guitar ^[5] .

Uriah Heep

At the end of 1969, Ken Hensley accepted Paul Newton's offer to join Spice , a band looking for a keyboard player. Soon, the composition changed its name to Uriah Heep . Hensley became the main author of the group. He brought to the studio basic ideas, song structures; then the compositions were arranged by all members of the group: the output was the collective work of Uriah Heep ^[6] . “Basically, I composed on the guitar because we toured a lot and in those days there were no portable keyboards that could be used for this purpose,” the musician said. Each time, words first appeared; later, often at a hotel, Ken sketched a tune ^[6] .

Hensley developed a peculiar, purely individual style of play:

In his own way, Hensley learned to play the slide guitar (using the so-called “normal” mood), and when Mick Taylor showed him how to play the “open” chord correctly, he could not relearn.

Participation in Uriah Heep brought world-renowned multi-instrumentalist and author Ken Hensley, despite critics' rejection, which in the early years was almost unanimous. Only many years later, experts recognized the outstanding authorial and performing skills of the musician. Hensley called his favorite period in the group’s history the time he worked on the Demons and Wizards album, when all the musicians were very united ^[7] .

The collapse of the Uriah Heep, according to Hensley, was predetermined by the death of Gary Thane . “Gary was the best musician in the group, and when he died, it became clear to me: this is the beginning of the end. And although John Wetton, who replaced him, was a great bass player, singer and arranger, it was still different ... the chemical reaction was completely different, ”he said. Despite the fact that they were not close friends with Thane, his death was a shock for Hensley: “... Just because when you are young you seem invulnerable and death looks very distant ... I knew that Gary had problems, especially with heroin, but could not have expected his death ” ^[6] . However, according to Hensley, this did not change his own bad habits.

In 1980, Ken Hensley left the group. This was preceded by a long conflict, the beginning of which was begun in the mid-70s by David Byron's alcoholism.

Byron was given a trial period of two months, but during this time the situation only worsened. In the end, the vocalist was replaced, but “it turned out that this was the end of the group”: after recording four albums with an updated line-up, Ken Hensley left the band in 1980. At this point, he was, by his own admission, a drug addict. “There is nothing wrong with money, success and women ... But I’m a keen nature, for whom minor hobbies can turn into a serious addiction” ^[7] , - he remarked about this. One of the reasons for moving to the USA was the desire to gather strength and get rid of drug (primarily cocaine ) dependence. “The life of a young musician in a serious rock band is such that it is even difficult to describe; my identity in Uriah Heep completely disappeared ... I was completely lost, had no idea who I was ” ^[6] ,” the musician admitted in a 2007 interview.

Hensley said that he felt the greatness of the group only five years after leaving it. This awareness manifested itself even more when he began to read letters that came to the website. “Being a member of the group in that prehistoric era when there was no Internet ... I didn’t think about the fact that certain songs can have a huge impact on individuals,” he admitted later ^[6] . The musician claimed that he was never invited to return to Uriah Heep and believed that "there were good reasons for this: personal or philosophical, and perhaps only related to prejudice." He admitted that “if David and Gary were alive, the reunion would have happened a long time ago,” and probably “<for the group> there would have been no reason to break up." But regarding the prospect of reunification in the current situation, he answered: “I can definitely say only one thing: if they offer, I will definitely say no, because I don’t want to go back ...” ^[6]

Solo career

While still a member of the Uriah Heep, Hensley began a solo career, releasing the album Proud Words On A Dusty Shelf (# 173, US) in 1973 with the participation of colleagues Gary Thane and Lee Kersleyka ^[8] . An annotation written by Hensley and posted on the cover of the record states that this disc is a collection of material that was not included in Demons and Wizards and The Magician's Birthday . But besides this material, the album also contains the previously published Rain song in its original arrangement - one that was rejected by the other members of Uriah Heep: the musicians demanded that the ending of the song be soft and calm, thereby changing the general mood of the work. By incorporating Rain into his solo album, Hensley thus saved his idea for a song. The publication of Proud Words ... did not inspire the warm approval of Ken's colleagues and associates on Uriah Heep. For example, guitarist Mick Box spoke of the album in a very dismissive tone, calling it nothing more than “Brown Turds On A Rusty Elf”. In 1975, the musician released his second solo work Eager To Please ^[1] , in which recordings were attended by bass player Mark Clark ( Mark Clarke ) and drummer Bugs Pemberton ( Bugs Pemberton ).

American Period

Leaving Uriah Heep, Ken Hensley tried to pursue his musical career in the UK. But after an unsuccessful attempt to create his own band Shotgun, he moved to the USA, where he gave several concerts as part of the Ken Hensley Band and released his third solo album Free Spirit in 1980 ^[3] .

Hensley first settled in Denver , then went to St. Louis . He suggested that two or three years would be enough to recover, but it took 12. In St. Louis, he joined St. Louis Music, a musical instrument and instrument manufacturer. “It was great: for the first time in my life there was stability, constant work, which I had not before in my life,” the musician said. It was important for him to keep in touch with the music industry. Hensley worked in the company for about 15 years, traveling on business trips around the world. For the past three years, he has been engaged in the work of the entire export department, since he speaks three languages: in addition to English, Spanish and German ^[6] .

In 1982, Hensley joined Blackfoot and released two studio albums with them. Initially, the group, as he himself recalled, invited him only to add Hammond to the mix; at that moment, the musicians wanted to free themselves from the reputation of "the band of South Rock." Hensley admitted that he did not stylistically fit into the ensemble, but when the group invited him on a tour, “he agreed simply because at that moment he was not busy with anything else ... Not the most satisfactory time in my life, but I have to blame it, not them ” ^[7] , - he remarked.

The news of the death of former Uriah Heep vocalist David Byron in 1985 shocked Ken Hensley. He immediately left the band and only some time later resumed musical activity as a session musician, collaborating, in particular, with groups such as Cinderella and WASP .

Only in 1987–88, Hensley completely got rid of addiction to cocaine. “Faith <in God> helped me take my life in a new direction and gave me strength for a new start. She still nourishes me with strength daily ” ^[6] ,” he said. The musician officially became a member of the Presbyterian church in 1993 in St. Louis. Here he acquired a studio and began to actively participate in the church music program ^[9] .

1994-2002

Ken Hensley's next solo album, From Time To Time, was released in 1994; it includes works written by the musician in 1971–82, and now re-processed, as well as early versions of the “classic” Uriah Heep songs, recorded by him with Free members Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirk, with whom he once rented an apartment for three. Among the musicians whose parts were played on the disc, there were also Boz Burrell ( King Crimson , Bad Company ), Mick Ralphs (Bad Company), Ian Pace ( Deep Purple , Whitesnake ) and Kenny Jones ( The Who ) ^[3] .

In 1999, A Glimpse Of Glory was released, an album composed almost entirely of new songs. In 2000, Ken Hensley gave a joint concert with John Lawton and Paul Newton in a project called the Hensley / Lawton Band. In 2002, he performed with bass player and singer John Wetton , a member of Uriah Heep in 1975–76.

In 2002, Uriah Heep gave several concerts dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the release of The Magician's Birthday . Hensley took part in them as a guest musician, performing several of his classic songs with the group. John Lawton also participated with him. A DVD titled “ The Magician's Birthday Party ” was released based on this presentation.

2003 - Present

2003 was marked by the release of The Last Dance - the new album by Ken Hensley, by which time had moved to Spain . The work on the disc was attended by Spanish fellow musicians Angel Diaz, Tommy and Ovidio Lopez, who (according to Hensley) is “among the five best European guitarists” ^[6] , Javer De Marco and others. The release of the album was preceded by Hensley's large-scale tour in Russia ^{[~ 1]}

In 2004, Ken Hensley came to Moscow to record an album called The Wizard's Diary , where he performed as usual as a guitarist, singer, also playing the familiar Hammond B3, Moog synthesizer and other keyboard instruments. Hensley performed classical songs of the Uriah Heep era, re-arranged: “ The Wizard ”, “Illusion”, “Rain”, “Sweet Freedom”, “ Lady In Black ”, “Free Me”, “ July Morning ” and others. Only Russian musicians took part in the recording (to whom Ken himself gave a very high rating) - drummer Andrei Shatunovsky , bass player Alexei Ostashev , pianist Vadim Nazarov , guitarist Igor Kozhin . To participate in the creation of the album, Ken Hensley's invitation was accepted by the staff of the Russian Presidential Symphony Orchestra, the musicians of which made and performed orchestral arrangements of his works, which the maestro also highly praised. ^[10] .

In 2006, Ken Hensley’s autobiographical book, “When Too Many Dreams Come True - The Ken Hensley Story”, was released, in which the author tells of various personalities who, in his own words, “actually represent one person - myself.” Currently, the book has withstood several reprints and has been translated into Bulgarian and Russian.

In 2007, Hensley's solo album Blood On The Highway was released , in which, in addition to the author, Jorn Lande , John Lawton, Yves Halacher, Glen Hughes performed, and Alicante Symphony Orchestra, an unprofessional orchestra of young musicians, participated in the recording ^[11] .

“Blood on the freeway” is a rock opera, which tells about a musician who becomes a rock star, about what he gained, and most importantly - lost. Ken Hensley said that the plot of the record is largely autobiographical ^[12] , and its idea belonged to the head of the label, who proposed putting the musician’s literary autobiography ^[11] . He compared the process of creating songs with the writing of a screenplay: “There is a plot, and in each specific song I seem to grab a particle of this plot, this is a topic within a common theme” ^[6] . With the album material, Ken Hensley went on tour at the head of The Viking All Stars, all of whom are Norwegians (vocalist - Icelander ) ^[6] . He called his team Live Fire.

In 2009, Ken Hensley attended the Seliger 2009 All-Russian Youth Educational Forum ^[13] , and in April 2010 he toured the cities of Russia with a series of recitals, during which, accompanying himself on the guitar and keyboards, he sang like old songs, and the new ones included in the album Love ... And Other Mysteries , the release of which was scheduled for 2010, but was postponed until 2012 due to the crisis. On November 9, 2010, another musician concert was held in Moscow.

In September-October 2010, Ken and his Live Fire band held a studio session in Riga ( Latvia ) to record a new album released in May 2011 via Edel Records. They worked (as Hensley wrote in his diary) "... with great inspiration, energy and pleasure" ^[14] :

The musician called 2010 very fruitful for himself and noted that he now has a “great manager”, “a fantastic group”, a new recorded CD-album and many great projects in the plans for 2011 ^[16] . New manager Steve Weltman is currently working with Ken Hensley.

In 2013, Ken Hensley with an updated cast of Live Fire released his new album Trouble . Two live albums were also released: Live , recorded during the Live Fire tour in Germany and Switzerland at the end of 2012, and Live Tales , recorded during the solo performances of the musician. In August 2013, Ken Hensley took part in a concert organized in honor of Domodedovo City Day.

Ken is currently touring a lot. He very much likes to come to Russia , Ukraine , Belarus , Bulgaria , Georgia , which he half-jokingly declares in his song “I want to return” from the album Trouble :

During the autumn-winter tour (November 17 - December 17, 2014), Hensley gave 23 concerts in different cities of Russia ^[17] .

September 25, 2016 performed in the city of Vladivostok at a concert dedicated to the celebration of "Tiger Day."

On July 7, 2018, the musician performed at the Heroes of World Rock festival in Novokuznetsk, held in honor of the 400th anniversary of the city.

Ken Hensley lives in Spain, in the town of Agost , near the city of Alicante with his wife Monica. They met in the USA, tried to live in England for some time (“because I wanted to be closer to my family”), but “they hated the weather and realized that life in Britain is a little expensive.” It was decided to move to Spain, where, according to Hensley, “good weather, good wines - an ideal place!” - and the cost of living is low, because we live in the middle of the desert with all our animals ” ^[6] . According to the musician, the couple’s house has eight dogs, “from seven to nine cats, depending on what day it is,” as well as chickens, rabbits, cows and horses ^[6] . Hensley works here at Sacramento Studios' own studio, built by Ken in collaboration with Dani Saiz, his business partner; his working day usually lasts from 11 to 16 hours.

В 2007 году Кен и Моника стали приемными родителями, усыновив 12-летнего мальчика по имени Хуанито, брошенного цыганами в трёхлетнем возрасте ^[6] .

Творчество Кена Хенсли оказало значительное влияние на развитие рок-музыки. Визитной карточкой композитора и музыканта стали такие песни, как Free Me , Sympathy , Easy Livin' , Stealin' , The Spell , Lady In Black , Look At Yourself (на двух последних он исполнил ведущую вокальную партию) и July Morning , ставшая неофициальным гимном Болгарии.

Специалисты и коллеги отмечали его мастерство инструменталиста и аранжировщика. «Насколько я могу судить, Кен Хенсли собственноручно написал учебник клавишных для хэви метал» ^[3] , — заявил Блэки Лоулесс ( WASP ).

• The Jimmy Brown Sound (1963—1965) — клавишные
• The Gods (1965—1969) — клавишные, вокал , гитара
• Head Machine (1969) — вокал, гитара, клавишные
• Toe Fat (1969—1970) — гитара, бэк-вокал
• Uriah Heep (1970—1980) — клавишные, вокал, слайд-гитара , акустическая гитара
• Weed (1971) — вокал, клавишные, гитара
• Shotgun (1980) — вокал, клавишные, гитара
• Ken Hensley Band (1981) — вокал, клавишные, гитара
• Blackfoot (1982—1985) — клавишные, бэк-вокал, слайд-гитара
• WASP ( The Headless Children , 1989) — клавишные
• Cinderella ( Heartbreak Station , 1990) — Хаммонд орган в песнях: «Sick for the Cure», «Make Your Own Way», «Love Gone Bad»
• Брюс Кэмерон ( Midnight Daydream , 1999) — клавишные в песнях: «Mind Gardens», «Just like a Spaceman», «She's So Gone»
• Ken Hensley & Visible Faith (1999) — вокал, клавишные, гитара
• The Hensley Lawton Band (2000) — клавишные, гитара, вокал
• Hensley & Wetton (2002) — клавишные, вокал, гитара
• Ken Hensley's Free Spirit (2002) — вокал, клавишные, гитара
• Ayreon (2004) — соло на Хаммонд органе в песне «Loser», альбом The Human Equation
• Ken Hensley & The Viking All-Stars Band (2005) — вокал, клавишные, гитара
• Ken Hensley & Live Fire (2006—) — вокал, клавишные, гитара
• Therion (2006) — соло на Хаммонд органе в композиции «Trul», альбом Gothic Kabbalah
• Je Suis France (2007) — органная мантра в «Hot-Doggin' on a Flip-Flop»
• Тони Роуленд ( Unfolding , 2008) — клавишные, гитара, продюсер
• Б.Т.Р. (2008) — приглашённый музыкант на нескольких концертах
• Шерман Нуар ( Demons & Diamonds , 2009) — бэк-вокал на «Soldier's Song», Хаммонд орган на «Roses in December»
• Sunrize (2011) — турне Rock on the Rocks Tour 2011: принимал участие в качестве гостя

• Markus Ott, Ken Hensley. Uriah Heep — 10 Jahre Rockmusik. — 1980. — ISBN 340460-034-7 .
• Ken Hensley, Matthias Penzel. Blood on the Highway: When Too Many Dreams Come True - The Ken Hensley Story. — 2007. — ISBN 386735-319-0 .

Сольные работы

Uriah Heep

Другие коллективы :

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Sources

• Официальный сайт Кена Хенсли
• Фотоотчет с концерта Кена Хенсли в Москве 01.12.2013
• Творческая встреча в CDK МАИ 11.04.2009. Фото Сергея Белякова
• Отчет с концерта Санкт-Петербург 9 декабря 2009 года
• Отчет и фотографии с концерта в Арт-кафе «ДуровЪ» Москва 8 апреля 2010 года
• Фотоотчет с концерта Владивосток 28 ноября 2010 года