We lived there because the bedroom was really big maybe it was a living room, I don’t know. So he had his room, that it was also mine. I used to share a bedroom with Greg Lake, there was a big room there, everybody would hop in, in one or two. So, they used to come over on Sundays when we were all off, like Robert Fripp from King Crimson who were good friends with Greg Lake. We used to live at 44 Dukes Avenue in Chiswick, London. Ken Hensley’s friend was Mick Taylor (guitar) and when Mick Taylor left, I joined up with The Gods, because he went with John Mayall. They loved us a lot because we were different.”, “We were loud, rude and obnoxious.” “I lived with Lee Kerslake and his mum and dad, Eric and Doris, in Bournemouth”, Konas continued, “and I played a lot at the Bournemouth Pavilion, where Pink Floyd and everybody played. We were very popular in the clubs in London and all those areas: Manchester, Birmingham. Then, we got a house gig on Wednesdays, you know, Wednesday nights. When I joined The Gods we ended up of course playing there as an opening act for Peter Frampton, The Herd, and all these other bands. “I played quite a few gigs there with one of my bands who were The Mark Barry Band. “I played probably in 1966 already for John Gee, who was the manager of The Marquee Club”, recalled Joe Konas. The Gods: Joe Konas, Lee Kerslake, Ken Hensley and Greg Lake.Īfter replacing Newton with future ELP frontman Greg Lake (ex-Unit Four, the Time Checks, the Shame, the Shy Limb), The Gods secured a residency at London’s The Marquee, as the successors to The Rolling Stones. Hensley wrote the B-side (credited as “Hennersley”) and The Gods were listed as Thor, Hermes, Olympus, and Mars. ![]() In 1966, The Gods opened for Ginger Baker‘s Cream in London and a single (“Come On Down To My Boat Baby” b/w “Garage Man”) was recorded for Polydor Records in early 1967. But London was the place to be and, as soon as I left home I hooked up with the guys that formed the earliest incarnation of The Gods, Mick Taylor, Tony Munroe, Brian Glasscock and his brother John.” “I went to school there and met my first ‘jamming buddies’ there. “I was living in a town called Stevenage, to which my father had been re-assigned”, Hensley recalled on his childhood as one of five children to William Hensley (the general manager of an engineering company) and Evelyn, who ran an employment agency. The latter mainly because the band already had a guitar talent in Mick Taylor. Mick Taylor (guitar) and the Glascock brothers Brian (drums) and John (bass/vocals) were the original Gods, along with Hensley who wrote most of the material, sang and played the Hammond B3 organ. The Juniors featured Malcolm Collins (vocals) and Alan Shacklock (guitar) but also three schoolmates from Hatfield that had been playing together as The Strangers since 1962. The Gods were formed in 1965 when Hensley joined up with a trio from The Juniors, a band which had released a single (“There’s a Pretty Girl” b/w “Pocket Size”) in 1964. ![]() The Gods perform in 1966, with Mick Taylor (centre) and Ken Hensley behind the keyboards. In 1963, the latter band evolved into The Jimmy Brown Sound, a Stevenage based R&B outfit which recorded some now lost songs and almost got to back American soul singer Ben E. He did his first gig in September of 1960, going on to play with The Blue Notes, Ken and the Cousins and Kit and the Saracens. In 1955, his family moved to Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and Hensley learned to play guitar from a Bert Weedon manual at the age of 12. Kenneth William David Hensley was born in Plumstead, London on August 24th of 1945. Hensley’s “My Book of Answers” is set for release in March of 2021. In addition to making several solo albums and performing with John Lawton and John Wetton, Hensley also recorded with Weed, Blackfoot, W.A.S.P., Cinderella, Ayreon and Therion. Hensley was working on a new solo album at the time of his death, less than two months after the death of Lee Kerslake, the drummer that he played with in The Gods, Toe Fat, Head Machine and Uriah Heep. Ken wrote some amazing songs in his tenure with the band, and they will remain a musical legacy that will be in people’s hearts forever.” According to a statement, Hensley’s death took place after a “very short illness.” Uriah Heep guitarist Mick Box was “in deep shock at the news” and added that his “sincere condolences go to his family and wife Monica.
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