I am one of the "younger" Heepsters I guess (37 at the time). One of the strange facts related to Heep about me is that my birthday is also the day of Gary Thain's death (December 8).

I have a daughter (currently 14) that seems to follow in my musical foot steps.

I was born in (West) Germany and lived there until I was 18. There I got my first taste of Uriah Heep as a young teenager in the early Eighties - thanks to an older brother that liked the early Seventies music of Uriah Heep.

The first Heep song I listened to was "July Morning" and it got me hooked for life.

The way I would describe their early music is: Deep Purple meets Steppenwolf in a Gothic castle.

There was about a 15 year interval that went by without me acquiring any new Heep material. I had long since moved to a remote town in the USA and no one I talked to seemed to have ever heard of Uriah Heep.

In 1998 or so (after moving to a bigger city in another State) I re-discovered their music by purchasing Abominog, not realizing until later that was old by then too.

Just recently in April of 2005 I found Uriah Heep on the Web. Thanks to the Internet, in a few months I have learned more about them and met more "Heepsters" than I had in 20 years.

It has been like a roller coaster ride since then, discovering more material, out-takes, videos, etc.

My favorite songs (besides July Morning) are Circus, I Won't Mind, Sunshine, Sweet Freedom, Look at Yourself, One Day. My favorite album is probably Wonderworld.

Other bands? Well, to be honest Uriah Heep is pretty much the only one I have dedicated myself to finding as much material as I can.

Although they are followed closely by Deep Purple and The Scorpions. For more mellow moods (which are rare) I favor The Moody Blues and Dire Straits.

I tend to chose my music more by songs (prefer Heavy Metal/Gothic material) than by groups - there are many songs I like by many different artists, but I don't buy all their material - Uriah Heep being the sole exception.

Other hobbies - besides music: I love to write and read - pretty much anything and everything, but mostly about Music and Nascar.

I also usually surround myself with cats - I have owned as many as seven at one time.