Then John Sinclair quit deciding to join Ozzy Osbourne and keyboardist Phil Lanzon (Grand Prix, Sad Café) came in to fit in immediately into the Box-envisaged scheme of things.
American singer Steff Fontaine, formerly of Christian metal band Joshua, joined in July 1986 but he was criticised for being totally "unprofessional" (he missed, for some reason, a San Francisco gig) and was sacked in September 1986 after just one American tour. Fontaine's position was offered then to ex-Grand Prix, Praying Mantis and Stratus vocalist Bernie Shaw, and that in retrospect was a winning move. Shaw "felt honoured at being invited to join such a legendary band" while for Box "it was like everything falling into place."
New members, Raging Silence and Different World (1986–1993)
The lineup remained unchanged from 1986 until 2007, being veteran Mick Box at the helm, Trevor Bolder on bass, Lee Kerslake on drums, vocalist Bernie Shaw and Phil Lanzon on keyboards. Their principal tour circuit has been in Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Japan and Russia. In December 1987 they became the first ever Western rock band to play in the Soviet Union, under Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost (Western pop acts Boney M, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Elton John had already played shows there in the late 70s during the pre-Gorbachev era). At Moscow's Olympic Stadium the band played ten consecutive nights to a total of 180,000 people (following a reception that Bernie Shaw remembered as being "something like Beatlemania"), which was represented in the international press as not just an achievement for Uriah Heep but a major breakthrough for Western music in general. The concerts were recorded and issued as the Live in Moscow album, which included three new tracks. Ironically, it was this behind the Iron Curtain excursion that did well to re-establish Heep's name back at home.
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