“David Byron refused to be helped. On one occasion he slapped me round the face, kicked and screamed at me. We couldn’t take it any more”: The stellar rise and chaotic fall of Uriah Heep, the 70s rock giants who tore themselves apart

Uriah Heep posing for a photograph in 1975.

Peers of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep were part of the first wave of British hard rock bands – and for a moment it looked like they could become as successful as those bands. But drugs, alcoholism and in-fighting meant they failed to deliveron their initial promise. In 2012, Classic Rock looked back on the rise and fall of a band who were never as big as they could have been.