Uriah Heep Bassist Trevor Bolder Dead at 62

Trevor Bolder. Photo: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic/ Art Institute of Portland/ shadowqueen on Flickr

English rock band Uriah Heep’s bassist, Trevor Bolder, passed away at age 62, due to cancer on May 21. Bolder played bass for Heep first between 1976 and 1981, and rejoined after a two-year gap in 1983.

The bassist was part of the most recent Uriah Heep album, Into The Wild, released in 2011. “Trevor was an all-time great ”“ one of the outstanding musicians of his generation, and one of the finest and most influential bass players Britain ever produced,” the band said in a statement. “His long time membership of Uriah Heep brought the band’s music, and Trevor’s virtuosity and enthusiasm, to hundreds of thousands of fans across the world,” the statement adds.

“Trevor was a world class bass player, singer and songwriter ”“ and more importantly a world class friend. He will be sadly missed by family, friends and rock fans all over the world. We are all numb to the core,” says Mick Box, Uriah Heep guitarist and frontman.

Bolder was also part of David Bowie’s backing band, Spiders From Mars, and recorded on five Bowie albums, including The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and Aladdin Sane. “Trevor was a wonderful musician and a major inspiration for whichever band he was working with. But he was foremostly a tremendous guy, a great man,” David Bowie said in a statement on his website.