English musician Lee Kerslake, drummer for Ozzy Osbourne and Uriah Heep, has died. He succumbed to prostate cancer after being diagnosed with the illness in 2018. He was given about “eight months” to live but ended up surviving much longer.
The news came by way of a statement by the band on its official Facebook page on Saturday, September 19. In Uriah Heep’s statement, his bandmates shared their own heartfelt sentiments about his life.
“As a person, he was generous to a fault,” wrote Uriah Heep’s Bernie Shaw. “Always smiling and ready to entertain at the drop of a hat. Many a free drink was had after a show when he would get up and play with a local band at the nearest club we could find, and first up if there was someone with a fishing boat willing to take him out for the day.”
The band wrote that Kerslake will “not be forgotten,” which Ozzy Osbourne echoed in his own post.
“It’s been 39 years since I’ve seen Lee but he lives forever on the records he played on for me, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman. Lee Kerslake RIP,” Osbourne shared on his Facebook account
Lee Kerslake’s legacy lives on
Kerslake performed on dozens of albums with Uriah Heep. Also, he acted as a guest backup vocalist and drummer on many occasions.
He was also involved in a supergroup called Living Loud alongside a variety of additional musicians in 2003.
In 2018, a documentary film was began to illustrate Kerslake’s life as well as the things still left on his bucket list to do in life. It was meant to be finished by 2019, but it never came to fruition.
Kerslake’s work will serve as his memorial as it lives on, across Uriah Heep’s work and Ozzy Osbourne’s body of music as well.
[H/T: TMZ]