Deep Purple

Deep Purple is an English rock band formed in Hertford, Hertfordshire. In 1967, Chris Curtis, former drummer of The Searchers, had the unusual idea of ​​bringing together several very talented musicians in a group called Roundabout. They would take turns playing around the drummer, like on a carousel. After the idea was bought by producer Tony Edwards, the first musician to agree to the idea was keyboardist Jon Lord, Curtis's colleague in The Flowerpot Men, where bassist Nick Simper also played.

It was the late 60s, and Curtis was neck-deep in the spirit of the times. One day, Lord entered the apartment and found the walls covered in aluminum foil. His roommate had redecorated the house to change the atmosphere. On, off, on the road: Curtis disappeared. The group found a guitarist – Ritchie Blackmore – who knew a drummer – Ian Paice – who brought a colleague from The Maze – the vocalist Rod Evans. With Curtis's departure, the idea of ​​rotating members ended, and the band needed a name change. In February 1968, after racking their brains over a list of names that included the pompous Orpheus, they finally chose the title of Blackmore's grandmother's favorite song: Deep Purple.

The first album, Shades of Deep Purple, was released in September 1968. Packed with cover versions (including progressive versions of "Help" by The Beatles and "Hey Joe" by Jimi Hendrix), the album broke into the US charts with a song by Joe South: "Hush," the band's first single. In December of that year, when their second album (The Book of Taliesyn) had already been released, they embarked on their first American tour, supporting Cream. On this tour, in addition to visiting the mansion of Hugh Hefner, creator of Playboy magazine, the group also discovered that another reason for their success in the New World came from the band's name – the same as a drug then very popular in California. The second album also featured cover versions, such as "River Deep, Mountain High" (a hit sung by Tina Turner), "We Can Work It Out" (The Beatles), and "Kentucky Woman" (Neil Diamond). The song "Wring That Neck" (called "Hard Road" in the United States, due to the violence of its name) survived in the group's setlist after the first lineup disbanded the following year. It was the vehicle for some of the most inspired exchanges of solos between Blackmore and Lord. 

In 1969, Blackmore and Lord were unhappy with the band's sound. Both wanted to experiment more with volume and electricity, but felt Evans' voice wouldn't keep up with the changes. The band's third album, titled Deep Purple, reflects the tension of a band with its feet firmly planted in 1960s British rock and its head in something yet to be created. At the invitation of drummer Mick Underwood, on June 24th, Blackmore and Lord went to see a performance by Episode Six, whose vocalist (Ian Gillan) Blackmore's former bandmate had spoken highly of. The two Deep Purple members even went on stage for a jam session. This marked the beginning of the most tense and creatively decisive month in Deep Purple's entire career. 

Blackmore, Lord, and Paice arranged an audition with Ian Gillan. He brought his friend Roger Glover, also bassist for Episode Six. Together, the five recorded the single "Hallelujah" on June 7th. With both approved, Deep Purple began a double life. During the day, the second lineup (Phase II) rehearsed at the Hanwell Community Centre; at night, the first (Phase I) continued performing as if nothing was happening. Evans and Simper didn't know what was about to happen until the eve of Phase II's stage debut on July 10th. The situation was so chaotic that, on June 10th, 1969, Episode Six and Deep Purple performed at dances in Cambridge. Deep Purple played 11 shows between the selection of the new members and the debut of the new phase; Episode Six, eight. But Gillan and Glover still played four more shows to fulfill their contract with E6 until July 26th, interspersed with the first three shows of Phase II. 

The projects that were already underway, however, continued. The third album had just been released in England when the new lineup, with its bolder sound, debuted. Jon Lord was also finalizing his Concerto for Group & Orchestra, which would be performed at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on September 24th. On that day, in addition to showcasing the new type of composition conceived by Lord (uniting the languages ​​of classical music and rock), the English public of all social classes were introduced to "Child in Time," composed during Hanwell. The composition shows everything that the new lineup brought that was new compared to the previous one: changes in rhythm, powerful solos, banshee screams. The new Deep Purple was electric and explosive, and this would become very clear on the first album of the new lineup - In Rock, released in April 1970. The English public was able to hear the new album track by track via the BBC during the several months leading up to its release. They even heard unreleased tracks, such as Jam Stew, and an early version of Speed ​​King called Kneel and Pray, with completely different and much more malicious lyrics than the one known and sung to this day.

The second album of Phase II was Fireball, which maintains the electricity but ventures down a more experimental path. It even includes a country song ("Anyone's Daughter"), alongside long instrumentals like those in "Fools" and rock songs closer to those on the previous album, such as "Strange Kind of Woman". The live performances from the 1971 tour, available only on bootleg recordings, show a more mature and daring band. It was on this tour that Ian Gillan began to engage in duels between his voice and Blackmore's guitar, for example. 

Conquering the World 

The next step in Deep Purple's experimentation would be to record a studio album under the same conditions as a live performance. All together, in the same environment, creating and recording together like in the long instrumental jams they did on stage. They already had some songs almost ready: "Highway Star" began to be created inside a bus, when a journalist asked how they created their music. Blackmore said, "like this," and started playing a lively riff. Gillan joined in the fun and started improvising lyrics: "We're on the road, we're on the road, we're a rock'n'roll ba-and!". In September, the first version of what would become Highway Star was already being tested on stage and on the German TV show Beat Club. It's from this performance that the Highway Star video comes, in which Blackmore wears a wizard's hat and Gillan mumbles words about Mickey Mouse and Steve McQuinn. "Lazy" is another song that began to be tested on stage before going to the studio.

In December 1971, they had found the perfect place to create and record this album: Montreux, Switzerland, home to a famous jazz festival that still takes place today. The best place to record would be the city's grand casino, which traditionally hosted musical performances. The casino wasn't yet open to Deep Purple when they arrived – one last performance, by Frank Zappa, was still to close the season. The group then went to see the show. Zappa was always an innovator in rock, and in that particular performance he was using a state-of-the-art synthesizer. In the middle of the show, someone set fire to the casino. The music stopped. Zappa shouted: "FIRE! Arthur Brown himself!" and instructed those present to calmly leave the casino. In interviews, Roger Glover recounts that everyone was indeed calm – enough so that he himself could still take a look at the synthesizer before leaving the building. Meanwhile, Claude Nobs, who still organizes the Montreux Jazz Festival, was running around trying to get some spectators out of the casino.

The group was moved to the Grand Hotel in Montreux. In winter, it was empty, cold, and all the furniture was stored away. They parked the Rolling Stones' mobile recording unit outside, pulled some wires, comfortably set up their instruments in the hotel corridors, and began rehearsing. The result is that to this day, all Deep Purple shows contain at least four of the seven songs from the album Machine Head. 

1972 was a very busy year, and it saw Deep Purple's first trip to Japan, where they recorded their most famous live album, Made in Japan. In Italy, the group was also preparing to record Who Do We Think We Are. However, the band's demanding work schedule took its toll. On several occasions, members of the group fell ill. Randy California even replaced Blackmore at one show, and Roger Glover replaced Gillan at another. Relationships between the members – and especially between Gillan and Blackmore – were also strained. In December, Gillan submitted his resignation, announcing he would leave the group at the end of June 1973, giving the managers and colleagues six months to decide what to do with the band. 

Time of Changes 

On June 29, 1973, during the band's second trip to Japan, and after an impeccable show in which Jon Lord included "Happy Birthday" for Paice in his keyboard solo (it was the drummer's birthday), Ian Gillan returned to the stage and announced that it would be Deep Purple's last show. During the show, there was no other sign of fatigue. In retrospect, Gillan's silence when singing the line "no matter what we get out of this" in "Smoke on the Water" could have indicated that everything he could get out of it was already over. Glover also left the band, dedicating himself to production in the artistic department of Purple Records – the band's record label.

The first new member recruited for Deep Purple, shortly after the end of Phase II, was bassist Glenn Hughes, who sang and played bass in Trapeze. His dual ability impressed Blackmore and Lord, but he wouldn't be left alone on vocals. Deep Purple's plan was to find the voice of Paul Rodgers from Free. After an initial contact, he asked for time to think and decided to continue with his band. While the search for a new vocalist continued, Blackmore and Hughes got to know each other and played together. What would become the blues song "Mistreated," without lyrics, was composed during this time. 

The idea of ​​playing with only four members was considered, but the idea of ​​having two vocalists prevailed. With this idea circulating, Deep Purple's managers kept receiving tapes from new artists. One of them was sent by a 21-year-old, chubby and pimply young man who had been singing since he was 15 and earned a living selling fashionable clothes in a boutique: David Coverdale. His band and Deep Purple had already crossed paths in November 1969, at a show at Bradford University, when Gillan and Glover had just joined Deep Purple. Coverdale's audition took place in August 1973. For six hours, they played Deep Purple material and well-known rock songs like "Long Tall Sally" and "Yesterday". When Coverdale went home, the rest of Deep Purple went out for drinks and decided: it was the chubby guy after all (in the following months, the band's managers would give him some medication to improve his appearance).

On September 9th, the new group locked themselves away for two weeks in Clearwell Castle to compose. Thrilled, Coverdale – whose stage experience was limited to recording demos – wrote four different sets of lyrics for the song that would become "Burn." One of them was called "The Road." On the 23rd, a day after Coverdale turned 22, Phase III was presented to the English press. In November, the album Burn was recorded, again in Montreux, using the same Rolling Stones mobile unit that had been used to record Machine Head. The new team would debut on stage on December 8th in Denmark. It was the debut of Deep Purple's Phase 3. The album wouldn't be released until 1974. 

The sound of the new lineup was marked by Blackmore's greater speed on the guitar and the tension between the two singers. In the studio, the duets were perfect. On stage, Hughes unleashed the full power of his lungs whenever he could, often intimidating Coverdale. The bassist and singer also added a good dash of funky spice to the Deep Purple recipe – which Blackmore initially accepted reluctantly. 

On April 6, 1974, the group performed in California to an audience of 200,000 people – it was the California Jam festival, which would last 12 hours and be headlined by Deep Purple. The show, and particularly Blackmore's bad mood about having to start playing before nightfall with cameras on stage, became famous for being explosive: the guitarist destroyed a working camera with his guitar and, not content with that, blew up an amplifier. The silhouette of the guitarist in front of the burning amplifier is one of the most powerful scenes in all of rock iconography. Thirty years later, Josh White, the event's cinematographer, recalled how he may have been the one to do it: 

The third Deep Purple lineup would end a year after California Jam, on April 7, 1975, a week before Blackmore turned 30. It was the European tour to launch the album Stormbringer. With even more funk influence, the album greatly displeased Blackmore. He already had some ideas in mind, and when he left he already had a new band formed: Rainbow. The group was left with the dilemma of continuing without Blackmore – the creator of all the riffs that made Deep Purple famous – or moving on to something else, taking advantage of the fact that the group was one of the most lucrative in the history of rock. 

They decided to continue, inviting guitarist Tommy Bolin, the first American to join the group. With this lineup (Phase IV), they recorded Come Taste the Band, even more groovy. The tour was complicated, partly due to Bolin and Hughes' drug problems. In several shows, such as the one recorded in Last Concert in Japan, Bolin couldn't play because his arm was numb from drugs. Talented young men in their twenties, entering a money-making machine in the entertainment industry, run the serious risk of losing their sense of proportion. That's what happened at the time.

Bolin had two aggravating factors: insecurity and low self-esteem. All this despite having recorded beautiful solo albums, being considered a guitar genius, and having played with jazz greats like drummer Billy Cobham. Bolin couldn't stand being compared by fans to the charismatic predecessors he had in major rock groups. Deep Purple was the second time he had replaced a great guitarist – previously, he had played in the James Gang. In Deep Purple, he even argued with the audience a few times during performances. 

The End

At the end of the show on March 15, 1976, in Liverpool, David Coverdale confided in Lord: there was no longer any atmosphere to continue with Deep Purple. Lord confided back: there was no longer a Deep Purple to continue. Thus ended, in a climate of confidence, the band formed eight years earlier, which had even appeared in the Guinness Book of Records as the loudest in the world. Eight months later, Bolin would die of an overdose at the Miami Resort Hotel after a performance. And for eight years Deep Purple would remain off the air.

During this period, the band members would pursue their own careers and lay the groundwork for the future development of Deep Purple. In order of departure: 

Ian Gillan - After a brief period of seclusion during which he sold motorcycles and tried to own a hotel, he was rescued from the stage by Roger Glover and felt inspired enough to create his own band, the Ian Gillan Band. Playing a kind of jazz-rock style, he continued until the early 1980s. In 1982, he dissolved the band, and the following year recorded an album with Black Sabbath: Born Again.

Roger Glover - Initially, he remained close to Purple Records and was the one who had the most contact with all the branches of the gigantic Deep Purple family tree. Two years later, he managed to bring together on the same stage the best musicians in England (many of them members or ex-members of Deep Purple, or their colleagues in other bands), in the musical Butterfly Ball. It was Ian Gillan's first public appearance after the end of Deep Purple, replacing Ronnie James Dio (who sang in Blackmore's Rainbow and would later join Black Sabbath). He produced other bands, recorded two solo albums and returned to playing bass in Blackmore's Rainbow.

Ritchie Blackmore - With Rainbow, he was one of the most successful hard rock bands of the late 70s and early 80s, shining a spotlight on musicians like Joe Lynn Turner and Don Airey, who years later would join Deep Purple. Roger Glover even played with him.

David Coverdale - After two solo albums, he formed Whitesnake and stormed the FM charts in the 80s. In the band, he played with Jon Lord and Ian Paice. From time to time, he reunites Whitesnake for tours. 

Jon Lord - He had an interesting solo career, mixing his various musical influences (classical, rock and jazz). He composed film scores with Tony Ashton and the two joined Paice for the Paice, Ashton and Lord project. Later, he joined Coverdale in Whitesnake.

Ian Paice - He played with various musicians, including Gary Moore, as well as Paice, Ashton, Lord, and Whitesnake.

Glenn Hughes - He reunited Trapeze, recorded several solo albums, played with Gary Moore and Pat Thrall, struggled with drug addiction, sang in Black Sabbath, and more recently recorded two albums with fellow ex-Deep Purple member Joe Lynn Turner: the Hughes-Turner Project (HTP).

The Fresh Start 

In 1984, the return of Deep Purple with their most successful lineup (Phase II), featuring Gillan, Blackmore, Paice, Glover, and Lord, was announced. The essential album *Perfect Strangers* was released, followed by *Nobody Perfect* (live) and the weak *The House of Blue Light*. Gillan decided to leave the band again, and Joe Lynn Turner, former vocalist of Rainbow, joined in his place. With the new vocalist, the controversial *Slaves & Masters* was released. The year 1993 brought the surprise return of Gillan and the release of *The Battle Rages on...*. Ritchie Blackmore constantly clashed with the rest of the band and left Deep Purple during the tour to reform Rainbow. Guitar hero Joe Satriani joined as a temporary replacement. The albums on which Satriani played with Purple are rare items sought after by collectors, as this lineup never officially recorded anything. Steve Morse, a big fan of the band who had previously played in Dixie Dregs and Kansas, replaced Blackmore.

The band revitalized itself and returned with the excellent Purpendicular, bringing new elements but emphasizing the interplay between guitars and organ that formed the musical basis of Deep Purple's style. The reasonably successful Abandon followed in 1998. Jon Lord decided to leave the road due to age, and Don Airey, a keyboardist who had played in several hard rock bands, including Blackmore's Rainbow, took his place. With Airey, Gillan, Morse, Glover, and Paice, Bananas was released in 2003, and Rapture of the Deep in 2005. 

DEEP PURPLE - FUTPEDIAMUSIC SELECTION

Deep Purple

Futpediamusic Selection

15 Songs To Download

Needed WinRar or Winzip to open the files

Click here:

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Deep Purple Biography | Pega Cifra". www.pegacifra.com.br. Accessed March 2, 2025.