About Alexandra Heep

About Alexandra Heep: The internet has allowed allowed Alexandra to maintain a semblance of life when encountering an unexpected, lingering health crisis. The Internet is a lifeline which not only allows her to remain connected to friends, but also survive, via writing.While Alexandra Heep is her pen name, she does not hide behind it. Instead, she used it to brand herself on the Internet and to create opportunities.

Alexandra published her first book, a collection of her best poems, on July 11, 2012. You can buy it at Lulu.com

Support independent publishing: Buy this book on Lulu.


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

J is for John Sloman

John Sloman is my favorite musician. He is mostly known as the lead vocalist of the 1980 lineup of Uriah Heep, appearing on the "Conquest" album. Unfortunately, it's made him more infamous than anything as many fans of the bands hated that album and his vocal interpretations, especially of the classic material during live performances.

However, John Sloman is so much more than a vocalist, he is an all-around musician and song writer with a talent for playing a variety of instruments. His impressive resume did not begin, nor end, with his one year stint in Uriah Heep. In 1977, a mere 19 years old, he was a member of the much accredited band Lone Star. No, this has nothing to do with country music, this Lone Star was a Welsh rock band that featured guitarist Paul Chapman (later a member of UFO). Because of the country band by the same name, it's hard to find info on this Lone Star online.

John Sloman also played keyboards for UFO and Todd Rundgren, did vocals and keyboards for Gary Moore, played with Fast Eddie Clarke and has also pursued several solo projects in addition to doing lots of session work. Most notable efforts include his albums Dark Matter (2004), 13 Storeys, and Reclamation. The first is a hard rock album, while the latter are acoustic projects where he gets to show off all his artistic talents.

As a person, he has a brilliant biting Welsh humor and is also an excellent story writer. He is very intelligent, educated and worldly and appreciates his fans, if they bother to get to know him.

I chose three rocking videos: One with Lone Star, one with Uriah Heep, and one with Gary Moore. During the latter he had the flu, but still dragged himself up on stage to get the job done. I also chose one acoustic video (The Other Side of Love) for those who do not like rock.

Lone Star - From All of Us to All of You (Even though the description says Sloman on vocals, this does not refer to the lead. He is the one on the right who plays the guitar and does backup vocals)


**
Uriah Heep (John on vocals) - Out on the Street


**
Gary Moore (with John Sloman on vocals) - Rockin and Rollin.
Unfortunately, YouTube won't allow embedding on this video, so I had to use this link

**
John Sloman - The Other Side of Love

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

And now... now there were four. Thank you for this I'm A fan as well!

Mac Pike said...

Brought back some memories, nice job!

Carol said...

I've never heard of John Sloman, but thanks for the introduction. It's no wonder you're a fan.

http://carolsnotebook.com