Bernie Shaw
Encyclopedia
Bernie Shaw is a Canadian singer, and since 1986, the lead vocalist for the British rock group Uriah Heep
. He was born in Victoria
, British Columbia
.
. He bought himself a Gibson
SG Special and started practising. When the local band Cold Sweat was looking for a second guitarist in 1974, Shaw auditioned but the bass player advised him to buy a vocal gear set and come back the next week. Shaw followed up this advice, and when he auditioned as a singer the band hired him as their new vocalist. The interest in rock music was changing and Cold Sweat changed their name to Buckshot. With this name they toured for some months. In the summer of 1977 the band quit due to lack of success.
His next band was Legend. This formation came from Saskatoon
. Shaw played nine months with them before he flew back to Victoria
. Also in this year Shaw played with Phil Lanzon
(formerly of Romance) in the group Paris.
In December 1978, Paris signed a record deal with RCA
and changed their name to Grand Prix. Shaw sang on the album Grand Prix which was released in 1980. When Shaw returned from his sister's wedding in October 1981 he learned he had been replaced by Robin McAuley
. Talk started of a 30 something year reunion for Grand Prix following Uriah Heep
s acclaimed performance at Childline Rocks (June 1, 2009); several ex-members have spoken for the first time since the unscheduled departure of Shaw, And all decided it was the right move to enlist McAuley as vocalist due to his far superior voice.
In December 1981 Shaw joined Praying Mantis
, a band formed in 1978. Other band members were Tino Troy (guitar), Chris Troy (bass), Dave Potts (drums) and John Bavin (keyboards). The band was managed by Deep Purple
manager John Coletta
but they still had problems getting a record deal. Shaw did not record an album with Praying Mantis but did appear on the EP
Turn The Tables, recorded in 1982. Praying Mantis primarily played live in various venues, including the Reading Festival. In 1993 a bootleg was going around called "live + singles" which contained six songs performed at the Reading Festival and other fragments and singles.
From December 1983 to the middle of 1984 Shaw played in Clive Burr's Escape, a band started by ex-Iron Maiden
drummer Clive Burr
. Praying Mantis members Chris and Tino Troy were also in the group. Shortly after Shaw joined, the band went on as Escape.
In July 1984 the band again chose a new name, Stratus. Like Praying Mantis, Stratus played melodic hard rock
. The album Throwing Shapes was recorded at the Frankfurter Dreamboat studio with Tino Troy on guitar, Alan Nelson on keyboards, Chris Troy on bass, and Clive Burr on drums. It was released in the summer of 1984. In 1993 the CD version Reborn Classics was released. As a bonus track on this bootleg the Soundhouse Tapes are added. Stratus also had one song as a movie soundtrack. The song "Run For Your Life" is used in Class of Nuke 'Em High
(1986, USA).
When Stratus gigged at the London Marquee Club
one of the visitors was Uriah Heep guitarist Mick Box
. Uriah Heep's singer, Steff Fontaine, had just been fired, and Box was looking for a singer who could reach the high notes. Box asked Shaw to audition for Uriah Heep and then hired him as the band's new front man.
Shaw’s first album with Heep was Live in Moscow. In 1995 Shaw had serious throat problems and it looked for a while as if Shaw would have to quit his singing career. For concerts in Austria and South Africa former Heep vocalist John Lawton
was deputized. Shaw recovered after minor surgery. He is now the band's longest-serving vocalist.
At the end of 1995 Shaw started a hobby band in Victoria
, Canada
, called In Transit. The band does cover versions of Van Halen, .38 Special, Dan Reed Network, Stage Dolls, Foreigner, Ritchie Sambora, and a few Uriah Heep songs.
In August and September 1997 Shaw was in the Canadian Rock Ridge studios to sing on the album of his friend Kevin Williams, whom he knew from In Transit. It was a tribute album to Williams' wife who died of cancer around Christmas 1996. The CD was released in private by Kevin Williams for the Canadian market only. Bernie Shaw, as, in fact, all the current Uriah Heep's members, collaborated in 2001 with Romanian heavy-metal legends Iris, on a track called "Lady in Black" which had great success in Romania during that year.
Uriah Heep (band)
Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and regarded as a seminal classic hard rock act of the 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and David Byron's operatic vocals...
. He was born in Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
.
Career
At the beginning of 1970 Shaw dreamed of becoming a rock guitaristGuitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
. He bought himself a Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
SG Special and started practising. When the local band Cold Sweat was looking for a second guitarist in 1974, Shaw auditioned but the bass player advised him to buy a vocal gear set and come back the next week. Shaw followed up this advice, and when he auditioned as a singer the band hired him as their new vocalist. The interest in rock music was changing and Cold Sweat changed their name to Buckshot. With this name they toured for some months. In the summer of 1977 the band quit due to lack of success.
His next band was Legend. This formation came from Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....
. Shaw played nine months with them before he flew back to Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
. Also in this year Shaw played with Phil Lanzon
Phil Lanzon
Phil Lanzon is the keyboardist for British progressive rock group Uriah Heep since 1986.Lanzon has worked with diverse performers of distinction in the rock and roll community...
(formerly of Romance) in the group Paris.
In December 1978, Paris signed a record deal with RCA
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
and changed their name to Grand Prix. Shaw sang on the album Grand Prix which was released in 1980. When Shaw returned from his sister's wedding in October 1981 he learned he had been replaced by Robin McAuley
Robin McAuley
Robin McAuley is an Irish rock vocalist known mostly for his work in McAuley Schenker Group and before that Grand Prix recording 2 albums...
. Talk started of a 30 something year reunion for Grand Prix following Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep (band)
Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and regarded as a seminal classic hard rock act of the 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and David Byron's operatic vocals...
s acclaimed performance at Childline Rocks (June 1, 2009); several ex-members have spoken for the first time since the unscheduled departure of Shaw, And all decided it was the right move to enlist McAuley as vocalist due to his far superior voice.
In December 1981 Shaw joined Praying Mantis
Praying Mantis (band)
Praying Mantis are an English rock band. Although a part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene, they pursued a musical direction more melodic and AOR-sounding than their contemporaries.-Career:...
, a band formed in 1978. Other band members were Tino Troy (guitar), Chris Troy (bass), Dave Potts (drums) and John Bavin (keyboards). The band was managed by Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
manager John Coletta
John Coletta
John Coletta was English music manager and music producer. He managed Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow,...
but they still had problems getting a record deal. Shaw did not record an album with Praying Mantis but did appear on the EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Turn The Tables, recorded in 1982. Praying Mantis primarily played live in various venues, including the Reading Festival. In 1993 a bootleg was going around called "live + singles" which contained six songs performed at the Reading Festival and other fragments and singles.
From December 1983 to the middle of 1984 Shaw played in Clive Burr's Escape, a band started by ex-Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
drummer Clive Burr
Clive Burr
Clive Burr is a British drummer, best known as a member of Iron Maiden from 1979 to 1982.-Career:Previously a member of Samson, Burr joined Iron Maiden in 1979...
. Praying Mantis members Chris and Tino Troy were also in the group. Shortly after Shaw joined, the band went on as Escape.
In July 1984 the band again chose a new name, Stratus. Like Praying Mantis, Stratus played melodic hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
. The album Throwing Shapes was recorded at the Frankfurter Dreamboat studio with Tino Troy on guitar, Alan Nelson on keyboards, Chris Troy on bass, and Clive Burr on drums. It was released in the summer of 1984. In 1993 the CD version Reborn Classics was released. As a bonus track on this bootleg the Soundhouse Tapes are added. Stratus also had one song as a movie soundtrack. The song "Run For Your Life" is used in Class of Nuke 'Em High
Class of Nuke 'Em High
Class of Nuke 'Em High, also known as Atomic High School, is a 1986 film made by cult classic B-movie production group Troma Entertainment. It was directed by Richard W. Haines and Lloyd Kaufman under the pseudonym Samuel Weil...
(1986, USA).
When Stratus gigged at the London Marquee Club
Marquee Club
The Marquee was a music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts.It was also the location of the first ever live performance by The Rolling Stones on 12 July 1962....
one of the visitors was Uriah Heep guitarist Mick Box
Mick Box
Michael Frederick Box , better known by his stage name Mick Box, is the lead guitarist of British rock group Uriah Heep, having previously been a member of The Stalkers and Spice, both with original Uriah Heep vocalist David Byron. He is the only member from the band's founding in 1969 who is...
. Uriah Heep's singer, Steff Fontaine, had just been fired, and Box was looking for a singer who could reach the high notes. Box asked Shaw to audition for Uriah Heep and then hired him as the band's new front man.
Shaw’s first album with Heep was Live in Moscow. In 1995 Shaw had serious throat problems and it looked for a while as if Shaw would have to quit his singing career. For concerts in Austria and South Africa former Heep vocalist John Lawton
John Lawton (musician)
John Lawton is a rock and roll and blues vocalist best known for his work with Lucifer's Friend, Uriah Heep and the Les Humphries Singers.-Biography:...
was deputized. Shaw recovered after minor surgery. He is now the band's longest-serving vocalist.
At the end of 1995 Shaw started a hobby band in Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, called In Transit. The band does cover versions of Van Halen, .38 Special, Dan Reed Network, Stage Dolls, Foreigner, Ritchie Sambora, and a few Uriah Heep songs.
In August and September 1997 Shaw was in the Canadian Rock Ridge studios to sing on the album of his friend Kevin Williams, whom he knew from In Transit. It was a tribute album to Williams' wife who died of cancer around Christmas 1996. The CD was released in private by Kevin Williams for the Canadian market only. Bernie Shaw, as, in fact, all the current Uriah Heep's members, collaborated in 2001 with Romanian heavy-metal legends Iris, on a track called "Lady in Black" which had great success in Romania during that year.