Gary Thain 1948 - 1975

This is the fifth installment in a series of profiles on some of Rock And Roll's most influential bass players.

Gary Thain was born in Christchurch, New Zealand on May 15, 1948. He started performing at the very early age of 13 when he entered a high school talent contest and won singing the Pete Seeger folk song Where Have All The Flowers Gone. The official start to Gary's career was with the New Zealand band "The Strangers". The group released three singles in their short time together. One of the singles was a Gary Thain penned song titled I'll Never Be Blue. He was 16.

At age 17 Gary moved to Australia and joined the band The Secrets. They released one single in 1966. Soon after this release The Secrets broke up. After this break up Gary played for a number of other small bands touring the UK and Europe until 1968 when he joined the Keef Hartley Band. He recorded six albums with the band.

In 1972 Gary was contacted by Ken Hensley of Uriah Heep and asked if he would be interested in taking over bass duties due the departing of bassist Mark Clarke. He agreed. Up until this time most of Gary's musical background had been in jazz and blues which ended up complimenting Heep's progressive/space genre very well.

The first album that Gary recorded with Uriah Heep was the 1972 release Demons and Wizards, just 4 months after joining Heep. The Magician's Birthday followed the same year which included two songs co-written by Gary (Spider Woman and Sweet Lorraine). 1972 was a very successful year for Heep and Gary alike. Throughout the remaining of '72 and '73 Heep toured almost nonstop resulting in the release of the double album Uriah Heep Live 1973. The success of Uriah Heep continued with the 1973 studio album Sweet Freedom which included the song Circus, another Thain co-written piece.

1974 brought an end to Gary's recording with Uriah Heep with the release of Wonderworld which he was credited with co-writing half the songs on the album. On stage in Dallas, Texas on September 15, 1974 Gary received an electrical shock while playing the song July Morning. His health never really recovered and he had to leave Uriah Heep in January 1975.

On December 8, 1975 Gary passed away from continuing heath problems partially due to the shock he received in Dallas and years of drug use. He was 27 years old.