Gothic Theatre
Ian Gillan (The Voice Of Deep Purple)
Ian Gillan is the singer who introduced himself to thousands of Deep Purple fans when he joined the band back in 1969. Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, who replaced Rod Evans and Nick Simper, helped pushing the band into an heavier direction, which opened the door to fame and stardom. The band became world famous. The saga started with “Deep Purple in Rock”, which in my opinion is one of the best albums made ever. It’s raw, exciting, complete, and definitely mighty rock ‘n’ rolling. All members of the band were very eager to be something, which is easy to hear. The band became very successful indeed but guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Gillan, who didn’t get along very well, started to cause trouble. The last album by the Mark II incarnation was “Who Do We Think We Are”, which they promoted with a full world tour. The tour came to a halt when Ian had had enough of Ritchie’s behaviour (although the split also was a result of different ideas on which musical paths one should choose, with Gillan/Glover on one side, and Blackmore/Lord/Paice on the other side) and the stagnation of the band (IIHO = in Ian’s humble opinion). He flew home from Japan without a cloud on the horizon. Deep Purple continued with David Coverdale (who worked in an English trouser shop during the days, and sang with local acts during the nights) and Glenn Hughes (who played in a band named Trapeze), and became the biggest selling act of 1974, which resulted in a performance at the Ontario Motor Speedway near Los Angeles, CA in front of 300,000 people on April 6 the same year.
Ian decided to abandon the music business and transformed into Gillan – the business man. During a couple of years he was busy running a hotel, a company devoted to motor bikes and engines, etc. Eventually, Ian realised that he was better off sticking to the microphone instead of the business suit, as his companies went bankrupt and the urge for singing returned bit by bit. He struck back with full power in 1975-76 when he formed the Ian Gillan Band with a couple of friends. The band was into fusion jazz, and the first album, “Child in Time”, marked a true difference musically from Ian’s contributions to Deep Purple earlier. A couple of jazzy albums, “Clear Air Turbulence”, “Scarabus”, and “Live at the Budokan” followed, but after the band had split up Ian cut a long story short by saying that he thought the band had been making good music. All guys except keyboardist Colin Towns got the walking papers and the personnel changed quite dramatically as Gillan, the band, saw the light of day. Ian had returned to his roots, he was rockin’ and rollin’ once again.
They were especially very popular in the U.K. and the Far East, and did actually headline at the Reading Festival in the early 80’s. Due to different reasons, depending on whom you ask, the band split in 1982 and played their final show at Wembley in December. In 1983 Ian joined Black Sabbath and they recorded the “Born Again” album. The band did a world tour, but in 1984 Ian came back to a reunited Deep Purple and they made the highly successful “Perfect Strangers” album. Five years later Ian went on with other projects, since he had been fired from Deep Purple to be replaced by former Rainbow singer, Joe Lynn Turner. Deep Purple was no more. Their new name was Deep Rainbow (not! :^). He continued solo most of the time until 1992, when he once again was a part of Deep Purple. Blackmore quit the band in 1993, with Steve Morse replacing him permanently. The Man In Black’s departure was a good thing for both parts. Steve brought the fresh blood back into the band and one thing’s for sure. The battle is definitely raging on…
“Sweet child. In time you’ll see the line. The line that’s drawn between. Good and bad. See the blind man. Shooting at the world. Bullets flying. Taking toll. If you’ve been bad. And I bet you have. And you’ve not been hit. By flying lead. You’d better close your eyes. You’d better bow your head. Wait for the ricochet.”
