David Byron ✝

David Garrick (29 January 1947 – 28 February 1985), better known by his stage name David Byron, was a British singer, who was best known in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist with the rock band Uriah Heep. Byron possessed a powerful operatic voice and a flamboyant stage presence. David Byron was educated at Independent school (United Kingdom) Forest School, Walthamstow, from 1958–1964, where, as a popular pupil he excelled at sports and was in the school 1st XI football team. From the mid-1960s to early 1970s, he did session work for a company called Avenue Recordings, singing lead and backing vocals (occasionally along with Mick Box on guitar and Paul Newton on bass). These were cover versions of Top 20 hits and were released on EPs and LPs. His first venture into professional music was with an Epping-based semi-pro band called The Stalkers, which also featured Box. Byron and Box then teamed up to form the band Spice (1967–1969), which also featured Newton on bass and Alex Napier on drums. Before settling on the name Spice other names were considered including 'The Play' and a handful of acetates exist of unreleased tracks recorded at the time and credited to 'The Play'. The band gigged extensively locally under the management of Paul Newton's father and they secured a recording deal with United Artists, which issued the band's only single "What About The Music/In Love"; copies of which now fetch around $50 to $100 on the collectors' market.