Deep Purple

Deep Purple is a British rock band that was formed in 1968 and is considered one of the most influential in hard rock of the 70s. Music critics call the band one of the founders of hard rock. Over 100 million copies of their albums have been sold worldwide.

History of Deep Purple
The founding date of “Deep Purple” is 1968. The founder of the band was the drummer Chris Curtis, who until recently played in the band “The Searchers”. Soon the guy accidentally met keyboardist John Lord, with whom he was able to quickly establish a relationship.

Chris suggested that the band be called “Roundabout”, which literally meant “roundabout”. Soon talented guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who lived in Germany at that time, joined the band.

Strange as it may seem, but Curtis, who had founded the band, decided to leave the band. According to one version, it was drug-related. As a result, Lord took matters into his own hands, not wanting to break up the band.

When the musicians began giving their first concerts, they decided to change the band’s name to – “Deep Purple” (“dark purple”). The author of the new name was Ritchie Blackmore.

Composition .
During the existence of Deep Purple, its composition has repeatedly changed. Fourteen musicians managed to take part in it. An interesting fact is that the only member since the founding of the group remains only drummer Ian Pace.

The first performances of “Deep Purple” took place in Denmark. The lead singer was Rod Evans, keyboard player – John Lord, drummer – Ian Pace, and guitarists – Ritchie Blackmore and Nick Simper. Curiously enough, their work went unnoticed in Great Britain, while in the USA they already had a large army of fans.

At the same time Blackmore and Lord met Ian Gillan, who impressed them with his vocal abilities. As a result, they offered Ian to come to their audition. The singer agreed, but he did not come alone, but together with the bassist Roger Glover, with whom he closely cooperated.

Soon it became clear to Lord and Blackmore that they were dealing with professionals, and as a result, Gillan and Glover were taken to Deep Purple. It is worth noting that Rod Evans and Nick Simper did not yet know that rehearsals were already taking place without their participation. Their departure from the team was only a matter of time.

As a result, Rod and Nick were paid monetary compensation, and were entitled to annual album royalties of £15,000. It is important to note that Nick decided to sue his colleagues, claiming £10,000 but forfeiting his royalties. Such an act turned out to be very strange.

Deep Purple’s most famous hits were created when it had Ian Gillan, John Lord, Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover and Ian Pace as members. Everything was going well until 1973, when things started to go wrong between the guys. In the middle of that year, Gillan and Glover announced their departure.

As a consequence, David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes took their place. The following records, however, were notably less successful. Not satisfied with the situation, Ritchie left the band in the spring of 1975. He was replaced by the guitarist Tommy Bolin, who was on drugs.

In 1976 the managers of Deep Purple announced the disbandment of the group. A few months after the band broke up, Tommy Bolin died of a heroin overdose. In 1984, Gillan aimed at recreating the old band. The classic line-up of the British went on a world tour and recorded two records.

The disc “Perfect Strangers” became very popular, gaining platinum status. Later, the discord between Blackmore and Gillan began again, as a result of which the latter had to leave the band. Ritchie called Joe Lynn Turner to replace the lead singer of Deep Purple, but the other musicians protested.

This led to the fact that Joe was forced to leave the band. Immediately after that Gillan rejoined the band, which displeased Blackmore, who announced his departure. As a result, he was replaced by Joe Satriani. Nevertheless, Deep Purple did not manage to record a single album with such a line-up.

Meanwhile, in 1997, Ritchie Blackmore, together with his wife Candace Knight, formed the band “Blackmore’s Night”. By that time, the musicians of Deep Purple had retired Satriani, inviting American guitarist Steve Morse.

The rockers played with this lineup until 2002, when John Lord decided to leave the guys. In his place Don Airy joined Deep Purple. In 2011 it became known about Lorde’s illness, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. John died on July 16, 2012.