Gary Thain got his start in New Zealand playing as a backing musician to various artists when they visited down under. He eventually moved to the U.K. and hooked up with Uriah Heep. Before that point his most well-known gig was with Keef Hartley. His first album with Uriah Heep was Demon's and Wizards, released in 1972. He continued working with Heep through several more albums, but his drug problems began to wear on him and the band. By late 1974, the situation became worse as he had taken up heroin and, to complicate matters worse, took a strong electrical shock onstage. He died the next year