Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally formed as a psychedelic rock and progressive rock band, they shifted to a heavier sound with their 1970 album Deep Purple in Rock. Deep Purple have been referred to as being part of the "unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-'70s", alongside Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Listed in the 1975 Guinness Book of World Records as "the globe's loudest band" for a 1972 concert at London's Rainbow Theatre, they have sold over 100 million records worldwide. Deep Purple have also generated several successful spinoff bands, including Rainbow, Whitesnake, and Gillan.
Deep Purple were founded by vocalist Rod Evans, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, bassist Nick Simper, keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice. After three studio albums, the "Mark I" line-up came to an end in 1969 when Evans and Simper were dismissed from the band and replaced by Ian Gillan and Roger Glover respectively, forming the classic "Mark II" line-up of Deep Purple. Following the orchestral collaboration Concerto for Group and Orchestra, the Mark II line-up recorded four studio albums – Deep Purple in Rock, Fireball, Machine Head, and Who Do We Think We Are – and a live album – Made in Japan – that cemented their popularity and played a key role in shaping the emerging genres of hard rock and heavy metal. Gillan and Glover both left the band in 1973 and were replaced by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes respectively. The "Mark III" line-up recorded two studio albums – Burn and Stormbringer – before Blackmore parted ways with the band in 1975 due to musical differences. He was replaced by Tommy Bolin, though after just one studio album with the "Mark IV" line-up – Come Taste the Band – Deep Purple disbanded in July 1976 and Bolin died from a drug overdose five months later.
The "Mark II" line-up reunited in 1984, and recorded two studio albums – Perfect Strangers and The House of Blue Light – before Gillan was fired from Deep Purple in 1989, due to creative and personal differences within the band. He was replaced by Joe Lynn Turner, who appeared on one album with Deep Purple – Slaves and Masters – before his dismissal from the band in 1992. After Gillan returned for their next album, The Battle Rages On..., Blackmore left Deep Purple once again in 1993, and was replaced temporarily by Joe Satriani and then permanently by Steve Morse. The "Mark VII" line-up lasted for nearly a decade, during which the band recorded two studio albums – Purpendicular and Abandon – before Lord retired from Deep Purple in 2002 and was replaced by Don Airey, leaving Paice as the only remaining original member. The "Mark VIII" line-up of Paice, Gillan, Glover, Morse and Airey was the longest line-up in the band's history, spanning twenty years and six studio albums. Their first line-up change in twenty years took place in 2022, when Morse left Deep Purple after twenty-eight years as their guitarist and was replaced by Simon McBride.
Deep Purple were ranked number 22 on VH1's Greatest Artists of Hard Rock programme, and a poll on radio station Planet Rock ranked them fifth among the "most influential bands ever". The band received the Legend Award at the 2008 World Music Awards. Deep Purple were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
History
Beginnings (1967–1968)
In 1967, former Searchers drummer Chris Curtis contacted London businessman Tony Edwards, in the hope he would manage a new group he was assembling, to be called Roundabout. Curtis' vision was a "supergroup" where the band members would 'get on' and 'get 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 composed Hire-Edwards-Coletta Enterprises.The first recruit to the band was classically trained Hammond organ player Jon Lord, Curtis' flatmate, who had most notably played with the Artwoods. Lord was then performing in a backing band for the vocal group The Flower Pot Men, along with bassist Nick Simper and drummer Carlo Little. 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. 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.
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 & the Savages, and Neil Christian & the Crusaders, the latter band prompting Blackmore's move to Germany. Curtis' 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 Blackmore to return from Hamburg a second time. Lord and Blackmore began the recruitment of additional members, retaining Tony Edwards as their manager. Lord convinced Nick Simper to join on bass, but Blackmore insisted they leave Carlo Little behind in favour of drummer Bobby Woodman. Woodman was the former drummer for Vince Taylor's Play-Boys. 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. The band would live, write and rehearse at the house; it was fully kitted out with the latest Marshall amplification and, at Lord's request, a Hammond C3 organ. According to Simper, "dozens" of singers were auditioned 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. Both Paice and Evans won their respective jobs, and the line-up was complete.
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. 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, while other names suggested included "Orpheus" and "Sugarlump".
Mark I (1968–1969)
In May 1968, the band moved into Pye Studios in London's Marble Arch to record their debut album, Shades of Deep Purple, which was released in America in July by Tetragrammaton Records, and in Britain in September by EMI Records. Vanilla Fudge was a notable influence on the band, with Blackmore claiming that the group started out wanting to be a "Vanilla Fudge clone". The group had success in North America with a cover of Joe South's "Hush", and by September 1968, the song had reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and No. 2 in the Canadian RPM chart, pushing the Shades LP up to No. 24 on Billboards pop albums chart. The following month, Deep Purple were booked to support Cream on the US leg of their Goodbye tour.The band's second album, The Book of Taliesyn, was recorded quickly and released in North America in October 1968 to coincide with the tour. The album included Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman", which cracked the Top 40 in both the US and Canada, though sales for the album were not as strong. The Book of Taliesyn would not be released in the band's home country until the following year and, like its predecessor, it failed to have much impact on the UK Albums Chart. During the late 1968 US tour, the band made several high-profile television appearances, including Playboy After Dark and even The Dating Game.
Early in 1969, the band released the non-album single "Emmaretta", named after Emmaretta Marks, at that time a cast member of the musical Hair, whom Evans was trying to seduce. By March of that year, the band had completed recording for their third album, Deep Purple. The album included the track "April", which featured strings and woodwind, showcasing Lord's classical antecedents such as Bach and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Deep Purple's North American record label, Tetragrammaton, delayed production of the Deep Purple album until after the band's 1969 American tour ended. This, as well as lackluster promotion by the nearly broke label, caused the album to sell poorly, finishing well out of the Billboard Top 100. Soon after Deep Purple was finally released in late June 1969, Tetragrammaton went out of business, leaving the band with no money and an uncertain future. Tetragrammaton's assets were eventually assumed by Warner Bros. Records, who would release Deep Purple's records in the US throughout the 1970s.
During the 1969 American tour, Lord and Blackmore met with Paice to discuss their desire to progress the heavy rock side of the band further. Having decided that Evans and Simper would not fit well with the style they envisioned, both were replaced that summer. Paice stated, "A change had to come. If they hadn't left, the band would have totally disintegrated." Both Simper and Blackmore noted that Rod Evans already had one foot out of the door. Simper said that Evans had met a girl in Hollywood and had eyes on being an actor, while Blackmore explained, "Rod just wanted to go to America and live in America." Evans and Simper would go on to co-form the bands Captain Beyond and Warhorse respectively.