Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968.[1] They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock,[2][3] although their musical style has varied throughout their career.[4] Originally formed as a psychedelic rock and progressive rock band, they shifted to a heavier sound with their 1970 album Deep Purple in Rock.[5] Deep Purple, together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, have been referred to as the "unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-seventies".[6] They were listed in the 1975 Guinness Book of World Records as "the globe's loudest band" for a 1972 concert at London's Rainbow Theatre[7][8] and have sold over 100 million albums worldwide.[9][10][11]
This article is about the band. For the song after which they are named, see Deep Purple (song). For their third album, see Deep Purple (album). For other uses, see Deep Purple (disambiguation).
Deep Purple
London, England
- 1968–1976
- 1984–present
Deep Purple have had several line-up changes and were broken up for eight years from 1976 to 1984, with drummer Ian Paice being the band's only constant member. The first four line-ups, which constituted the band's original 1968–1976 run, are officially indicated as Mark I (1968–1969), Mark II (1969–1973), Mark III (1973–1975) and Mark IV (1975–1976).[12][13] Mark I comprised the founding members of Deep Purple, Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Rod Evans (vocals), Jon Lord (keyboards), Paice (drums) and Nick Simper (bass), while Mark II was the most commercially successful line-up, with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover replacing Evans and Simper respectively. Mark III saw David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes replace Gillan and Glover respectively, while Mark IV featured Tommy Bolin replacing Blackmore. The band split in July 1976, and Bolin died from a drug overdose five months later. Deep Purple reformed in 1984 with the Mark II line-up, which remained in place until Joe Lynn Turner replaced Gillan in 1989. Gillan rejoined in 1992, with Blackmore leaving for the second and final time the following year. He was replaced temporarily by Joe Satriani and then permanently by Steve Morse. In 2002, Lord retired and was replaced by Don Airey, which saw Deep Purple settle into its longest running line-up, unchanged for the next twenty years, until Morse announced his departure from the band in 2022. His place was taken by Simon McBride. Paice, Glover, Gillan, Airey and McBride comprise the current line-up of Deep Purple.
Deep Purple were ranked number 22 on VH1's Greatest Artists of Hard Rock programme,[14] and a poll on radio station Planet Rock ranked them 5th among the "most influential bands ever".[15] The band received the Legend Award at the 2008 World Music Awards. Deep Purple (specifically Blackmore, Lord, Paice, Gillan, Glover, Coverdale, Evans, and Hughes) were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
History[edit]
Beginnings (1967–1968)[edit]
In 1967, former Searchers drummer Chris Curtis contacted London businessman Tony Edwards, in the hope he would manage a new group he was putting together, to be called Roundabout. Curtis' vision was a "supergroup" where the band members would get on and off, like a musical roundabout. Impressed with the plan, Edwards agreed to finance the venture with his two business partners John Coletta and Ron Hire, who comprised Hire-Edwards-Coletta Enterprises (HEC).[16]
The first recruit to the band was classically trained Hammond organ player Jon Lord, Curtis's flatmate, who had most notably played with the Artwoods (led by Art Wood, brother of future Faces and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, and including Keef Hartley).[17] Lord was then performing in a backing band for the vocal group The Flower Pot Men (formerly known as the Ivy League), along with bassist Nick Simper and drummer Carlo Little (Simper had previously been in Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, and survived the 1966 car crash that killed Kidd). Lord alerted the two that he had been recruited for the Roundabout project, after which Simper and Little suggested guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, whom Lord had never met.[18] Simper had known Blackmore since the early 1960s when his first band, the Renegades, debuted around the same time as one of Blackmore's early bands, the Dominators.[19]
HEC persuaded Blackmore to travel in from Hamburg to audition for the new group. He was making a name for himself as a studio session guitarist, and had also been a member of the Outlaws, Screaming Lord Sutch, and Neil Christian, the latter artist prompting Blackmore's move to Germany. Curtis's erratic behaviour and lifestyle, fuelled by his use of LSD, caused him to display a sudden lack of interest in the project he had started, forcing HEC to dismiss him from Roundabout. However, HEC was now intrigued with the possibilities Lord and Blackmore brought and persuaded Ritchie to return from Hamburg a second time. Lord and Blackmore began the recruitment of additional members, retaining Tony Edwards as their manager.[20] Lord convinced Nick Simper to join on bass, but Blackmore insisted they leave Carlo Little behind in favour of drummer Bobby Woodman.[18] Woodman was the former drummer for Vince Taylor's Play-Boys (for whom he had played under the name Bobbie Clarke). The band, still calling themselves Roundabout, started rehearsing and writing in Cadogan Gardens in South Kensington.
In March 1968, Lord, Blackmore, Simper and Woodman moved into Deeves Hall, a country house in South Mimms, Hertfordshire.[21][22] The band would live, write and rehearse at the house; it was fully kitted out with the latest Marshall amplification[23] and, at Lord's request, a Hammond C3 organ.[16] According to Simper, "dozens" of singers were auditioned (including Rod Stewart and Woodman's friend Dave Curtiss)[16] until the group heard Rod Evans of club band the Maze, and thought his voice fitted their style well. Tagging along with Evans was his band's drummer Ian Paice. Blackmore had seen an 18-year-old Paice on tour with the Maze in Germany in 1966, and had been impressed by his drumming. The band hastily arranged an audition for Paice, given that Woodman was vocally unhappy with the direction of the band's music.[18] Both Paice and Evans won their respective jobs, and the line-up was complete.[24]
During a brief tour of Denmark and Sweden in April, in which they were still billed as Roundabout, Blackmore suggested a new name: Deep Purple, after his grandmother's favourite song, "Deep Purple" by Peter DeRose.[20][23] The group had resolved to choose a name after everyone had posted one on a board in rehearsal. Second to Deep Purple was "Concrete God", which the band thought was too harsh to take on.[25][26]
Deep Purple are considered to be one of the hardest touring bands in the world.[192][193] They have toured the world since 1968 (with the exception of their 1976–1984 split). In 2007, the band received a special award for selling more than 150,000 tickets in France, with 40 dates in the country in 2007 alone.[194] Also in 2007, Deep Purple's Rapture of the Deep tour was voted number 6 concert tour of the year (in all music genres) by Planet Rock listeners.[195] The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour was voted number 5 and beat Purple's tour by only 1%. Deep Purple released a new live compilation DVD box, Around the World Live, in May 2008. In February 2008, the band made their first-ever appearance at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia[196] at the personal request of Dmitry Medvedev who at the time was a chairman of the state owned Gazprom company, which sponsored the concert,[197] and who was considered a shoo-in for the seat of the Presidency of Russia. Prior to that, Deep Purple has toured Russia several times starting as early as 1996 but has not been considered to have played such a significant venue previously. The band was part of the entertainment for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, the Czech Republic.[198]
