The most complete biography of Deep Purple. Rock Encyclopedia

60s of XX century became especially important for rock music, because it was at this time that such bands as Rolling Stones The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd. And took a special place deep purple - legendary rock band"dark lilac tones." She has taken a special place on the stage. The most important thing to say about Deep Purple is that their discography is too diverse to be unambiguous. The path of the musicians was winding and covered with thorns, which were very difficult to overcome.

general information

What is known about the Deep Purple team today? The band's discography is full of surprises, so each album deserves special attention due to its special uniqueness. Many remember the band precisely because of the guitar solos of Ritchie Blackmore and the organ parts of Jon Lord, and they think that this is where the potential of Deep Purple ends. Music gives this a complete refutation, because even after the departure of the leaders, the team did not break up and recorded several discs. Together, the group was able to achieve resounding success on the world stage and earn the status of "the cult rock band of all time."

From "Carousel" to "dark purple"

The history of the formation of the collective contains a chain of some unexplained events without which there would be no Deep Purple. The discography does not contain records of the founder of the group. The explanation for this is this: in 1966, drummer Chris Curtis wanted to create a band called "Roundabout" (Roundabout), in which the members would change each other, resembling a carousel. He later met the organist Jon Lord, who had good playing experience and was also incredibly talented.

At Lord's invitation, Ritchie Blackmore, an experienced guitarist who came from Germany, joined the band. Chris Curtis himself soon disappeared, thereby putting an end to his musical career, and leaving the band members to themselves. Only 2 years later, the musicians were able to release their first album. That was the start of Deep Purple's career. The complete discography dates back to 1968.

Discography for all times

Here are the first songs:

Shades of Deep Purple (1968). The group was then managed by Jon Lord. With his submission, drummer Ian Pace, vocalist Rod Evans and bass guitarist Nick Simper were invited to the band.
The Book of Taliesyn (1968). The composition of the group remained unchanged. The title of the album comes from "The Book of Taliesin".
Deep Purple (April) (1969). It was difficult to call this record weak, but she never managed to achieve success in her homeland. It was low popularity that contributed to the split, which is why Evans and Simper were fired from the group.
Deep Purple In Rock (1970). The group was rehabilitated, and the famous drummer of that time, Mick Underwood, helped her in this. With Ritchie Blackmore, they were old friends. On the advice of Underwood, the "dark purple" sounded " high voice”, Ian Gillan became the new vocalist. Bass player Roger Glover also joined them. The success of the album was overwhelming, Deep Purple entered the ranks of the popular rock bands of the time.
Fireball (1971). Throughout 1971, the group gave many concerts in different cities, their concerts became in demand.
Machine Head (1972). The musicians were inspired to create this album by a trip to Switzerland.
Who Do We Think We Are (1973). The last album of the 70s, recorded by the "golden composition".
Burn (1974). As a result of the discord, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left the band. It was not easy to replace such skillful musicians, but soon David Coverdale became the new vocalist, and Glenn Hughes took the place of the bass player. This composition was recorded a new album.
Stormbringer (1974). After the recording of Burn and before the band's reunion in 1984, only two albums were recorded.
Come Taste The Band (1975). Tommy Bolin, who replaced Ritchie Blackmore, participated in the recording of this disc. These albums did not bring the group the former popularity, and in 1976 the band announced the breakup. But only in order to be reborn again in 1984 with a "golden line-up": Gillan and Glover returned to the group.
Perfect Strangers (1984). The new album of the revived Deep Purple was enthusiastically received by fans.
The House of Blue Light (1987). After recording a new triumphal record, Ian Gillan left the group again. Then Ritchie Blackmore invited Joe Lynn Turner, the famous vocalist.
Slaves & Masters (1990). The album was recorded by a new line-up, with Joe Lynn Turner.
The Battle Rages On… (1993). The record was recorded for the band's 25th anniversary. The recording was attended by Ian Gillan, who by that time again decided to return to the team.
Purpendicular (1996). The still popular group now performed with a new line-up. Having lost interest in the team, Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple, and Steve Morse came in his place.
Abandon (1998). Last album recorded with Jon Lord. In 2002, he decided to perform solo and left the group.

The new generation of Deep Purple

Collections of the 2000s:

Bananas (2003). The departed Lord was replaced on keyboards by Don Airey, who also plays current composition groups. Bananas is the first album recorded with his participation. The record was warmly received by the public, the only thing that fans did not like was the name of the album. Alas, Jon Lord successfully soloed with his work for only 10 years. Unfortunately, oncology put an end to his life and work. However, what he did over the years lives on in Deep Purple. Discography in early XXI century was replenished with two albums, invariably popular.
Rapture of the Deep (2005) and Now What?! (2013). This anniversary album was released for the band's 45th anniversary. Today, Deep Purple tours constantly, and in 2017 they organized a three-year world tour, which should end in 2020.
Infinite (2017). The last, 20th album in a row is called "Infinity".

After "infinity" what remains Deep Purple? The discography includes 20 studio albums. And yet, even the members of the group themselves do not know what will happen next. In any case, they intend to move only forward, to infinity.

In June, after returning from America, Deep Purple started recording a new single, Hallelujah. By this time, Ritchie Blackmore (thanks to drummer Mick Underwood, familiar from The Outlaws) had discovered (virtually unknown in Britain, but of interest to specialists) Episode Six, performing pop rock in the spirit of The Beach Boys, but having unusually strong vocalist. Ritchie Blackmore brought Jon Lord to their concert, and he was also amazed at the power and expressiveness of Ian Gillan's voice (Ian Gillan). The latter agreed to go to Deep Purple, but - to demonstrate his own compositions - he brought Episode bassist to the studio with him Six by Roger Glover, with whom he has already formed a strong duo.

Ian Gillan recalled that when he met Deep Purple, he was struck primarily by the intelligence of Jon Lord, from whom he expected much worse. Roger Glover (who always dressed and behaved very simply), on the contrary, was frightened by the gloominess of the Deep Purple members, who “… wore black and looked very mysterious.” Roger Glover took part in the recording of Hallelujah, to his amazement, immediately received an invitation to join the line-up, and accepted it the next day after much hesitation.

It is noteworthy that while the single was being recorded, Rod Evans and Nick Simper did not know that their fate was sealed. The other three secretly rehearsed with the new vocalist and bassist during the day at London's Hanwell Community, and played shows in the evenings with Rod Evans and Nick Simper. “It was a normal modus operandi for Deep Purple,” Roger Glover later recalled. - Here it was accepted as follows: if a problem arises, the main thing is to keep everyone silent about it, relying on management. It was assumed that if you are a professional, then you should part with elementary human decency in advance. I was very ashamed of what they did to Nick Simper and Rod Evans."

Your last concert old composition Deep Purple gave in Cardiff on 4 July 1969. Rod Evans and Nick Simper were given a three-month salary, and were also allowed to take amplifiers and equipment with them. Nick Simper sued another £10,000 through the courts, but forfeited the right to further deductions. Rod Evans was satisfied with little and as a result, over the next eight years, received annually 15 thousand pounds from the sale of old records, and later in 1972 founded the Captain Beyond team. Between the managers of Episode Six and Deep Purple, a conflict arose, settled out of court, through compensation in the amount of 3 thousand pounds.

Remaining virtually unknown in Britain, Deep Purple gradually lost commercial potential in America as well. To everyone's surprise, Jon Lord proposed a new, highly attractive idea to the band's management.

Jon Lord: "The idea of creating a work that could be performed by a rock band with a symphony orchestra, I came up with The Artwoods. Dave Brubeck's album Brubeck Plays Bernstein Plays Brubeck prompted me to do it." Ritchie Blackmore was all for it. Shortly after the arrival of Ian Paice and Roger Glover, Tony Edwards suddenly asked me: “Remember, you told me about your idea? I hope it was serious? Well, here it is: I rented Albert -Hall and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) - on September 24. "I came - first horrified, then wildly delighted. There were about three months left to work, and I immediately started it"

The publishers of Deep Purple brought in composer Malcolm Arnold (Malcolm Arnold), an Oscar winner: he had to carry out overall supervision of the progress of the work, and then stand at the conductor's stand. Malcolm Arnold's unconditional support for the project, which many considered dubious, ultimately ensured success. The group's management found sponsors in the face of The Daily Express and the British Lion Films film company, which filmed this event. Ian Gillan and Roger Glover were nervous: after three months after joining the group, they were taken to the most prestigious concert venue countries.

“John was very patient with us,” recalled Roger Glover. - None of us understood musical notation, so our papers were full of remarks, like: “you wait for that stupid melody, then you look at Malcolm Arnold and count to four.”

The album "Concerto For Group and Orchestra" (performed by Deep Purple and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), recorded in concert at the Royal Albert Hall on September 24, 1969, was released (in the US) three months later. He provided the group with a buzz in the press (which was required) and hit the British charts. But gloom reigned among the musicians. The sudden fame that hit Jon Lord "a-author" infuriated Ritchie Blackmore. Ian Gillan in this sense was in solidarity with the latter.

“Promoters tormented us with questions like: Where is the orchestra? he recalled. “One even said: I don’t guarantee you a symphony, but I can invite a brass band.” Moreover, Jon Lord himself realized that the appearance of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover opens up opportunities for the band in a completely different area. By this time central figure the ensemble included Ritchie Blackmore, who developed a peculiar method of playing with "random noise" (by manipulating the amplifier) and urging his colleagues to follow the path of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. It became clear that the juicy, rich sound of Roger Glover "a becomes the" anchor "of the new sound, and that the dramatic, extravagant vocals of Ian Gillan "a perfectly fit the new radical development path proposed by Ritchie Blackmore".

The group worked out a new style in the course of continuous concert activity: the Tetragrammaton company (which financed films and experienced one failure after another) by this time was on the verge of bankruptcy (its debts by February 1970 amounted to more than two million dollars). At total absence financial support from across the ocean, Deep Purple were forced to rely only on earnings from concerts.

The full potential of the new line-up was realized at the end of 1969, when Deep Purple began recording a new album. As soon as the group gathered in the studio, Ritchie Blackmore categorically stated: only the most exciting and dramatic will be included in the new album. The requirement, with which everyone agreed, became the leitmotif of the work. Work on the album Deep Purple - "In Rock" lasted from September 1969 to April 1970. The release of the album was delayed for several months, until the bankrupt Tetragrammaton was bought out by Warner Brothers, which automatically inherited the Deep Purple contract.

Meanwhile, Warner Brothers. released "Live in Concert" in the US - a recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra - and called the band to America to perform at the Hollywood Bowl. After a few more gigs in California, Arizona and Texas on August 9, Deep Purple found themselves in yet another conflict: this time on stage at the Plumpton National Jazz Festival. Ritchie Blackmore, not wanting to give up his time on the program to Yes's latecomers, staged a mini-arson attack on the stage and caused a fire, which resulted in the band being fined and getting virtually nothing for their performance. The rest of August and the beginning of September the band spent on tour in Scandinavia.

"In Rock" was released in September 1970, was a huge success on both sides of the ocean, was immediately declared a "classic" and lasted more than a year in the first album "thirty" in Britain. True, the management did not find any hint of a single in the material presented, and the group was sent to the studio urgently to come up with something. Created almost spontaneously, Black Night provided the band with their first big hit on the charts, climbing to number 2 in Britain, and became their hallmark for many years to come.

In December 1970, a rock opera was released, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber (Andrew Lloyd Webber) to a libretto by Tim Rice - "Jesus Christ Superstar (Jesus Christ Superstar)" which became a world classic. The title role in this work was performed by Ian Gillan. In 1973, the movie muvie "Jesus Christ Superstar (Video - "Jesus Christ Superstar")" was released, which differed from the original arrangements and vocals by Ted Neeley as Jesus ("Jesus"). Ian Gillan at that time was working with might and main in Deep Purple, and never became a cinematic Christ.

In early 1971, the band began work on the next album, while not stopping concerts, because of which the recording stretched for six months and was completed in June. During the tour, Roger Glover's health worsened. Subsequently, it turned out that his stomach problems were psychologically motivated: this was the first symptom of severe touring stress, which soon struck all members of the team.

"Fireball" was released in July in the UK (climbing to the top of the charts here) and in October in the US. The group held an American tour, and the British part of the tour ended grand show in London's Albert Hall, where the invited parents of the musicians were placed in the royal box. By this time, Ritchie Blackmore, having given free rein to his own eccentricity, had become a "state within a state" in Deep Purple. "If Ritchie Blackmore wants to play a 150-bar solo, he'll play it and nobody can stop him," Ian Gillan told Melody Maker in September 1971.

The American tour, which began in October 1971, was canceled due to Ian Gillan's illness (he contracted hepatitis). Two months later, the vocalist reunited with the rest of the members in Montreux, Switzerland to work on the new album "Machine Head". Deep Purple agreed with The Rolling Stones on the use of their mobile studio Mobile, which was supposed to be located near the concert hall "Casino" On the day of the group's arrival, during the performance of Frank Zappa (Frank Zappa) and The Mothers of Invention (where the Deep Purple members also went), a fire broke out , caused by a rocket sent by someone from the audience into the ceiling.The building burned down, and the group rented an empty Grand Hotel, where they completed work on the record.In fresh footsteps, one of the band's most famous songs, Smoke On The Water, was created.

Claude Nobs, director of the Montreux festival, mentioned in the song Smoke On The Water (“Funky Claude was running in and out…” - According to legend, Ian Gillan sketched the lyrics on a napkin while looking out of the window at the surface of the lake shrouded in smoke, and the title suggested Roger Glover, who had these 4 words as if they were in a dream.(Machine Head was released in March 1972, climbed to number 1 in Britain and sold 3 million copies in the US, where the single Smoke On The Water entered top five on Billboard.

In July 1972, Deep Purple flew to Rome to record their next studio album (subsequently titled Who Do We Think We Are?). All members of the group were morally and psychologically exhausted, the work took place in a nervous atmosphere - also because of the aggravated contradictions between Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Gillan.

On August 9, studio work was interrupted and Deep Purple headed to Japan. Recordings of concerts held here are included in "Made In Japan": released in December 1972, in retrospect it is considered one of the best live albums of all time, along with "Live At Leeds" ( The Who) and "Get Yer Ya-ya's Out" (The Rolling Stones).

"The idea of a live album is to make all the instruments sound as natural as possible while being energetically fed from the audience, which is able to draw something from the band that it could never have been able to create in the studio," said Ritchie Blackmore. "In 1972, Deep Purple went on tour five times in America, and the sixth tour was interrupted due to Ritchie Blackmore's illness. By the end of the year, Deep Purple were declared the most popular band in the world in terms of total circulation of records, beating Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones .

During the autumn American tour tired and disappointed with the state of affairs in the group, Ian Gillan decided to leave, which he announced in a letter to the London management. Tony Edwards and John Coletta persuaded the vocalist to wait, and he (now in Germany, at the same studio of The Rolling Stones Mobile) together with the band completed work on the album. By this time, he was no longer talking to Ritchie Blackmore and traveled separately from the rest of the participants, avoiding air travel.

The album "Who Do We Think We Are" (so named because the Italians, outraged by the level of noise on the farm where the album was recorded, asked the repeated question: "Who do they even take themselves for?") disappointed musicians and critics, although it contained strong things - the "stadium" anthem Woman From Tokyo and the satirical-journalistic Mary LongMary Long, which ridiculed Mary Whitehouse and Lord Longford, two then guardians of morality.

In December, when "Made In Japan" entered the charts, the managers met with Jon Lord and Roger Glover and asked them to do their best to keep the band alive. They convinced Ian Paice and Ritchie Blackmore to stay, who had already conceived their own project, but Ritchie Blackmore set a condition for the management: the indispensable dismissal of Roger Glover. The latter, noticing that his colleagues began to shun him, demanded an explanation from Tony Edwards , and he (in June 1973) admitted that Ritchie Blackmore demanded his departure. An angry Roger Glover immediately filed for resignation.

After the last joint Deep Purple concert in Osaka, Japan, on June 29, 1973, Ritchie Blackmore, passing by Roger Glover on the stairs, only threw over his shoulder: “Nothing personal: business is business.” Roger Glover took this trouble hard and in For the next three months, he did not leave the house, partly because of worsening stomach problems.

Ian Gillan left Deep Purple at the same time as Roger Glover and moved away from music for a while, going into the motorcycle business. He returned to the stage three years later with the Ian Gillan Band. After his recovery, Roger Glover concentrated on producing.

HEAVY METAL PIONEERS - DEEP PURPLE

In the history of heavy music, there are very few bands that can be put on a par with the rock legends that painted the world in dark purple tones.

Their path was tortuous, like the guitar picks of Ritchie Blackmore and the organ parts of Jon Lord.

Each member deserves separate story, but it was together that they became iconic figures of rock.

On the carousel

The history of this glorious band goes back to the distant 1966, when the drummer of one of the Liverpool bands, Chris Curtis, decided to create his own own team Roundabout ("Carousel"). Fate brought him together with John Lord, who was already known in narrow circles and was known as an excellent organist. By the way, it turned out that he has a wonderful guy in mind who simply does miracles with a guitar. This musician turned out to be Ritchie Blackmore, who at the time was playing with the Three Musketeers in Hamburg. He was immediately called from Germany and offered a place in the team.

But suddenly the initiator of the project itself, Chris Curtis, disappears, thereby drawing a fat cross on his career and endangering the nascent group. According to rumors, drugs were involved in his disappearance.

Jon Lord took over. Thanks to him, Ian Pace appeared in the group, striking everyone with his ability to thrash the drums, knocking out incredible fractions from them. The place of the vocalist was then taken by Rod Evans, Pace's comrade former group. Bassist is Nick Simper.

I'm all deep purple

At the suggestion of Blackmore, the group was named, and in this line-up the team recorded three albums, the first of which was released already in 1968. The song "Deep Purple" by Nino Tempo and April Stevens was Ritchie Blackmore's grandmother's favorite song, so the musicians did not philosophize for a long time and took it as the basis for the band's name, without putting any special meaning into it. As it turned out, the brand of the drug LCD, which was sold in the United States at that time, was called in exactly the same way. But vocalist Ian Gillan swears and claims that the band members never used drugs, but preferred whiskey and soda.

Bathed in rock

Success had to wait for several years. The group was popular only in America, but at home it almost did not cause interest in music lovers. This caused a split in the team. Evans and Simper had to be "fired", despite their professionalism and the path they had traveled together.

Not every group could cope with such bad luck, but Mick Underwood, a famous drummer and longtime friend of Ritchie Blackmore, arrived in time to the rescue. It was he who recommended Ian Gillan to him, who "was wonderfully yelling in a high voice." Ian, in turn, brought his friend, bass player Roger Glover.

In June 1970, the new line-up of the group released the album "Deep Purple in Rock", which was a crazy success and finally brought the "dark purple" to the echelon of the most popular rockers of the century. The indisputable success of the disc was the composition "Child in Time". She is still considered one of the best songs groups. This album held the top positions of the charts for a year. The whole next year the team spent on the road, but there was time to record a new disc, Fireball.

Smoke by Deep Purple

A few months later, the musicians went to Switzerland to record next album Machine Head. At first they wanted to do it on the Rolling Stones' mobile studio, in a concert hall, where Frank Zappa's performances ended. During one of the concerts, a fire broke out, which inspired the musicians to new ideas. It is about this fire that the composition “Smoke on the Water” tells, which later became an international hit.

Roger Glover even dreamed of this fire and the smoke spreading over Lake Geneva. He woke up in horror and said the phrase "smoke on the water." It was she who became the name and line from the chorus of the song. Despite the difficult conditions in which the album was created, the disc was clearly a success, becoming a long years business card.

Made in Japan

On the wave of success, the team went on tour to Japan, subsequently releasing an equally successful collection of concert music "Made in Japan", which went platinum.

The Japanese public made an amazing impression on the "dark purple". During the performance of the songs, the Japanese sat almost motionless and listened attentively to the musicians. But after the end of the song, they exploded with applause. Such concerts were unusual for, because they were used to in Europe and America, the audience is constantly shouting something, jumping up from their seats and rushing to the stage.

During the performances, Ritchie Blackmore was a real showman. His parties were always witty and full of surprises. Other musicians did not lag behind, demonstrating mastery and excellent collective cohesion.

california show

But, as is often the case, relations in the group heated up so much that Ian Gillan and Ritchie Blackmore could hardly get along with each other. As a result, Ian and Roger left the team, and the "dark purple" again left with nothing. Replacing a vocalist of this caliber proved to be a big challenge. However, as you know, a holy place is never empty and the new performer in the group was David Coverdale, who had previously worked as an ordinary salesman in a clothing store. The bass player was filled by Glenn Hughes. In 1974, the renewed group recorded a new album called "Burn".

In order to try out fresh compositions in public, the group decided to participate in famous concert"California Jam" in the vicinity of Los Angeles. He drew an audience of approximately 400 thousand people and in the world of music is considered a unique event. Before sunset, Blackmore refused to go on stage and the local sheriff even threatened to arrest him, but finally the sun went down and the action began. During the performance, Ritchie Blackmore tore the guitar, ruined the camera of the TV channel operator and made such an explosion in the finale that he himself barely survived.

The resurgence of Deep Purple

The following records were successful, but, unfortunately, did not show anything new. The group imperceptibly exhausted itself. Years passed, and fans began to think that the once beloved had become history, but finally, in 1984, the “dark purple” revived in their “golden” composition.

Soon a world tour was organized and in every city along their route, concert tickets were sold out in the blink of an eye. It was not only the old merits, the virtuosity of the participants The groups didn't miss a beat.

Second album new era- "The House of Blue Light" - was released in 1987 and continued the chain of undoubted victories. But after another showdown with Blackmore, Ian Gillan broke away from the group again. This turn of events was in the hands of Richie, because he brought his old friend Joe Lynn Turner to the team. With a new vocalist, the album "Slaves & Masters" was recorded in 1990.

Clash of the Titans

The 25th anniversary of the band was just around the corner, and after a short break, vocalist Ian Gillan returned to his native land, and the anniversary album released in 1993 was symbolically called "The Battle Rages On ..." ("The battle continues").

The battle of characters also did not stop. The buried hatchet was retrieved by Ritchie Blackmore. Despite the ongoing tour, Richie left the team, which by that time had ceased to interest him. The musicians invited Joe Satriani to finalize the concerts with him, and soon Blackmore's place was taken by Steve Morse, a talented American guitarist. The band still held the hard rock banner high, as 1996's Purpendicular and Abandon released two years later proved.

Already in the new millennium, keyboardist Jon Lord announced to the band members that he would like to devote himself to solo projects and left the team. He was replaced by Don Airey, who had previously worked with Richie and Roger in Rainbow. A year later, once again, the updated line-up released the first album in five years, Bananas. Surprisingly, the press and critics responded wonderfully about him, only few people liked the name.

Unfortunately, after 10 years of successful solo work Jon Lord died of cancer.

Old robbers

In the 2000s, the group, despite the advanced age of the participants, continued touring. According to the musicians, for the sake of this the collective should exist, and not at all. for the production of studio albums. The latest collection was the 19th album "Now What?!", released for the 45th anniversary of the "dark purple".

Such an eloquent album title should be followed by the question: "What's next?" Time will tell whether we will see a reunion at least once, and whether the musicians will have time to impress their fans with something else. In the meantime, they are one of the few whose grandfathers go to concerts with their grandchildren and equally get high on music.

When asked: “Where are you going?”, they surprisingly logically answer “Only forward. We do not stand still and are constantly working on ourselves, on a new sound. And we are still nervous before each concert so that goosebumps run up our backs.

DATA

On tour in Australia in 1999, a teleconference was organized on one of the TV programs. The band members performed "Smoke on the Water" in sync with several hundred professional and amateur guitarists.

Interestingly, Ian Pace was a member of all the members of the group, but never became its leader. Closely connected is the personal life of musicians. Keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Pace married twin sisters Vicki and Jackie Gibbs.

Music lovers of the countries of the former Soviet Union, despite the "Iron Curtain", found ways to get acquainted with the work of the group. The Russian language even has an amazing euphemism “deep violet”, that is, “completely indifferent and far from the topic of discussion.”

Updated: April 9, 2019 by: Elena

In just 17 days, ROUNDABOUT played 11 shows. During the first tour, it was decided to rename the group to DEEP PURPLE (there were also disputes regarding the name FIRE). We agreed to change the "name" of the ensemble during rehearsals at the "Divis Hall". On clean slate paper, each wrote down his version. For example, in addition to FIRE, the names ORPHEUS and CONCRETE GODS were offered. And so Ritchie brought out in a sweeping way: DEEP PURPLE (“Dark Purple”). That was the name of the song, recorded by Bing Crosby, but better known in the versions of the singer Billy Ward and the duet April Stevens - Nino Tempo (April Stevens and Nino Tempo), performed respectively in 1957 and 1963. This sugary love ballad, which refers to a dark purple sunset, was very fond of Blackmore's grandmother. In the future, the American meaning of the word "purple" - "purple" was also used in the design of the album covers.

Since ancient times, the name of the group has been pronounced in different ways, the word "purple" was constantly discussed, for example, on which syllable to emphasize Picasso's last name, or what is the name of the Danish audiophile company JAMO - "Yamo" or "Jamo". The British (and, of course, the members of the group themselves) say "peple", the Americans say "peple". As we can see, the “purple”, generally accepted since the times of the USSR, stands apart, although the Italians also stubbornly call the group DIP PARPL.

By the way, with the word "purple" the group still got some kind of confusion. Six months later, in the United States, it turned out that this term was used to refer to a type of new drug, which was first tested in 1967 at the Monterrey festival (in the famous song “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix, this “drug haze” is sung).
The band's first album, Shades Of Deep Purple, was recorded in record time in just 18 hours at one of London's Rue studios. The band's management spent £1,500 to record the album.

After the group moved to another hotel - the Raffles Hotel, near Paddington station, but soon the managers rented a private house for the musicians on Second Avenue in London for better creative activity. The house had three bedrooms and one living room. Simper and Lord lived in one bedroom, Evans and Paice lived in another, and Blackmore occupied the third with his girlfriend Babs, whom he brought with him from Germany.
There was also the first opportunity to "light up" in front of the general public, the idea was not to the liking of only Blackmore - the group was invited to perform on the popular TV show David Frost. Ritchie left the studio, stating that he didn't like being stuck around all day. Instead, Mick Angus posed with a guitar to the soundtrack. DEEP PURPLE's first home soil gig in the UK was hosted by Ian Hansford and took place on August 3rd at the pub of the Red Lion Hotel in his home town of Warrington, between Liverpool and Manchester.
"We were preceded by THE SWEET - at the time it was called THE SWEETSHOP," recalls Simper. - When we appeared in Warrington, everyone asked: who are these guys? Never heard of DEEP PURPLE. As soon as we stepped onto the stage, we immediately felt as if we were born on it. Lacquered hair, a mountain of equipment and a lot of noise. We played so intensely that you could go deaf. The audience stood as if mesmerized. I think they then realized that they were faced with something previously unknown ... "
This was followed by performances in small clubs in Birmingham, Plymouth and Ramsgate. On August 10, DEEP PURPLE performed at the British "National Jazz Festival" in the city of Sunbury (now the festival is called Redinsky). Among the guests were also THE NICE, TYRRANOSAURUS REX and TEN YEARS AFTER. Due to the fact that Deep Purple was not well known to the English public, the guys were booed, mistaking for an American pop group.
Concert fees ranged from 20 to 40 pounds. In mid-August, the Peplovites were supposed to appear in front of an audience of 4,000 at a stadium in the city of Bern. It was a "team from different groups", where several groups had to warm up the main star - THE SMALL FACES, but already at the performance of the ensemble with the long name DAVE DEE, DOZY, BEEKY, MICK AND TICH, a crowd of fans broke through the fence and entered the stage, the police were forced to was to pacify the disobedient with clubs. This show ended.
Free time from concerts the band decided to retire on the new album The Book Of Taliesyn.
Meanwhile, the Tetragrammaton firm, inspired by the success of the single "Hush" and the rather high position Album Shades Of Deep Purple (24th place in the list of LPs), decided to strengthen its place in the hit parade with a new album. In October it was planned to release the Book of Talisin, and for its promotion the group was invited to the USA.
Accompanied by Colette, Lawrence and Hansford, DEEP PURPLE flew to Los Angeles. The company organized a chic reception. “When we arrived, a whole string of limousines were waiting for us. It was a warm evening, palm trees grew everywhere, - Lord recalls, - everything looked as if we were in Paradise. The very first night they invited us to a party at the Playboy Club Penthouse, where we met with Bill Cosby and Hugh Hafner (Chief Editor of Playboy magazine) and agreed to participate in his show called Playboy After Dark. The next evening, Arti Mogul promised that he would deliver the girls to us, and now the lovely girls drive up to the hotel in cars, take us to a restaurant, and then return with us to the hotel for "gymnastic exercises." We couldn't believe this was actually happening...we were treated like world stars."
However, the company did not make any exception for DEEP PURPLE. And costly entertainment", and the fact that the group was accommodated in the fashionable hotel "Simset Marquee" was the style of the "Tetragrammaton".
“It seemed incredible,” says Lawrence, “they had a chef on duty around the clock in their office, and when you came there in the morning, breakfast was already waiting for you. You could order whatever your heart desires. The gardener came twice a day and changed the flowers. Sometimes the company did just incomprehensible things - they had a contract with the singer Eliza Weimberg. So these figures released five of her singles in one day!
Tetragrammaton collaborator Jeff Wild has managed to fit DEEP PURPLE into supergroup CREAM's final US tour. On October 16 and 17, 1968, DEEP PURPLE performed in front of a 16,000-strong Forum in Los Angeles. CREAM fans received the newcomers very warmly.
"Ritchie would put a long solo in the middle of 'And The Address', using excerpts from Chet Atkins' 'White Christmas' or even the British national anthem," recalls Lawrence. - He was the first guitarist to do this kind of stuff. The musicians from CREAM did not find it funny, but the audience liked it, and the performance of the song "Hush", which was a hit in America, generally delighted them. It was very cool. Maybe too good…”
Satisfied with the success, Ritchie went to the dressing room, sat down to rest: “When CREAM was already playing on stage, the doors to our dressing room opened. At first, I could not believe my own eyes - Jimi Hendrix, my idol, was standing in the door! They talked together for a long time, and then, praising the group for their excellent performance, invited them to his villa in Hollywood. There, Hendrix asked John if he would like to participate in a jam session. And now the group, consisting of Jon Lord - organ, Stephen Stills (Stephen Stills) - bass guitar, Buddy Miles (Buddy Miles) - drums and Dave Mason (Dave Mason) - saxophone, began to play up rock and blues standards. “Jim asked me if I could play him the next day,” Lord recalls. “Of course I did, and in both cases it was a fantastic event.”
But CREAM also visited Hendrix. Jon Lord claims that at that party the members of CREAM treated them with obvious unkindness. The next day, October 18, everything cleared up. After the concert, in San Diego, where DEEP PURPLE again broke a flurry of applause, the Krimovites delivered an ultimatum to their manager: "Either we - or them."
DEEP PURPLE had to make their way to America on their own. On October 26 and 27, the group performed in San Francisco at the international rock festival, and in November they began their tour of clubs in the western states - California, Washington, Oregon. We also stopped in Canadian Vancouver. In December, they moved deep into America, and the concerts were held as in major cities(Chicago, Detroit), and in the provincial. Kentucky, Michigan, New York - the states rushed past the bus window. The driver was Jeff Wild, and a very unimportant driver. Once, by a miracle, we managed to avoid a head-on collision with a huge truck. Pace, who was sitting next to him, took his bearings in time, jerking the steering wheel towards himself, for Wild lost control, staring at the mountains. During a return visit to Canada, in the city of Edmonton, DEEP PURPLE met their longtime idols with VANILLA FUDGE, whose concert they prefaced there. Performances in America have become a great school for the group. Gradually, they acquired their signature sound. It was the heyday of the hippie movement. “At every step, one could hear conversations and songs about the need for love and peace, life in communes. Everything was so psychedelic, mysterious in both clothes and music,” Paice recalls. - When English bands like us brought with them to this market fatal aggression and dynamism, simplicity and comprehensibility of nes, it came as a surprise to American fans. And often they didn't know how to react to it. Over time, however, they began to like us more and more.
The group worked simply "for wear and tear", sometimes giving two concerts a day. For the last two weeks of the American tour, the musicians lived in New York, performing first with CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL at the Fillmore East, then at the Electric Garden club.
Here is what Jon Lord recalls about his performance at the Fillmore East: “Everyone told us how important it was to do well there. This place is something like a sanctuary, you almost have to take off your shoes before entering there. We took the stage in a somewhat aggressive mood, trying hard not to puzzle ourselves with the thought of how important this is to us. The ice broke when Ritchie came to the front of the stage and played the simple but quick move he usually uses during rehearsals.
By this time, the group's second single with Neil Diamond's "Kentusku Woman" had risen to number 38 on the US charts. DEEP PURPLE recorded another Neil song "Glory Road" as well as Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay". However, the guys were not satisfied with the result. One day from a hotel (DEEP PURPLE lived on Fifth Avenue) they called Diamond in Texas. The Lord told him about the Glory Road problem, and Neal began humming it to John over the phone. John immediately took notes in a notebook. The next day, the musicians again started recording this song, and again something did not stick. As a result, neither she nor Dylan's composition saw the light of day, and the master tape was lost.
For Christmas, friends of the musicians flew to New York, and under New Year members of the group were invited to a party where some millionaire did not like Rod Evans, and he called the singer a "long-haired fagot." In response, Evans splashed the offender in the face from a glass, and a brawl began. The scandal was hushed up not without difficulty. January 3, 1969 DEEP PURPLE returned to England. In their absence, "Tetragrammaton" releases another "forty-five" - "River Deep, Mountain High". Meanwhile, The Book Of Taliesyn could not rise above 58th place in the American charts.
In parallel with the recording of the album, the group performed at concerts, but the highest earnings did not exceed 150 pounds per evening (Newcastle and Brighton). By this time, the English press began to react to the news of the success of DEEP PURPLE in the United States, and in Britain appeared whole line interviews with the musicians of the group. When asked why DP signed with an American record label, they responded like this:
Jon Lord: “We have much more creative and financial freedom than a British company could give us. Besides, an English firm, as a rule, will not waste time and effort until you have a big name.
Ian Paice: “There we were given the opportunity to show ourselves properly. Americans really know how to play records." And here's how DEEP PURPLE's musicians explained that they play most of their concerts overseas, and not in England:
Ian Paice: “The reason is that here we are not offered the amount of money that we want to receive. And in this case, you can “roll” a regular tour program only for reasons of prestige. As far as we are concerned, the dance audience is excluded. There are only a few things in our program that they can dance to, so we have explicitly warned the promoters that we are not a dance group.”
Jon Lord also did not hide his material interest: “When we leave America and give a concert in Britain, we can only earn 150 pounds. In the States, for exactly the same concert, we get about 2,500 pounds.
Soon British newspapers were full of headlines "PURPLE are not going to starve to death over an idea" and "They are losing £2,350 a night working in Britain". In March 1969, Blackmore and Lord married their girlfriends, who, by the way, were sisters (in Armenian, Lorb and Pace became badjanagami ) and on April 1, the group returned to the United States. Concert fees here significantly exceeded the fees in their native England, the shows were held in more spacious halls, and DEEP PURPLE themselves were already known to the American public.
The group was so excited about being welcomed to the US that they toyed with the idea of moving here for more or less a long period until it was revealed that Ian Paice might be drafted into the army and sent to the Vietnam War.

The English group "Deep Purple" ("Bright Purple") was formed in 1968. Original line-up: Ritchie Blackmore (b. 1945, guitar), Jon Lord (b. 1941, keyboards), Ian Paice (b. 1948, drums), Nick Simper (b. 1945, bass) guitar) and Rod Evans (b. 1947, vocals).
Two former musician from the German-based Roundabout band, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and educated organist Jon Lord returned to their native London in 1968 and there assembled a line-up that was destined to become one of the three legends of hard rock. The triumvirate "Led Zeppelin" - "Black Sabbath" - "Deep Purple" and to this day is considered an unsurpassed phenomenon in the history of world rock music!!! At first, however, "Deep Purple" were focused on a very commercial pump-rock, and that's probably why their first three albums were known only in the US. In the meantime, the "turning" discs "Led Zeppelin-2" (1969) and "Black Sabbath" (1970) were released, announcing the birth of a new style to the world. A powerful wave of enthusiasm and interest in hard rock made Blackmore think about future fate groups. As a result of his reflections, the singer and bassist of the original line-up were replaced (Ian Gillan, vocals, b. 1945 and Roger Glover, bass guitar, b. 1945 - both from the "6th episode" group) and sharply the manner of performance has been changed in the direction of "heavier" sound.

"In the Rock" (1970) - the album that became the third "swallow" of powerful hard rock in world rock music - went on sale in October 1970 and repeated the success of the groups "LZ" and "BS" in the international market. The original concept of the sound, built on the fusion of heavy guitar riffs with "a la baroque" organ parts, lifted "Deep Purple" to the very top of popularity and led to a host of followers and imitators. After "In Rock", the no less powerful and attractive programs "Meteor" (1971) and "Machine Head" (1972) followed, which, in turn, also shocked the world with the originality of the performers' thinking and the unpredictability of the development of musical themes. .
The recession was outlined in the program "Who are we?" (1973): commercial notes appear here for the first time, and the arrangements of the songs are no longer so refined. This was enough for friends Gillan and Glover to leave the group, as, according to Gillan, the creative atmosphere in the group disappeared. Indeed, in 1974, Deep Purple spent even less time working in the studio, traveling a lot, playing football. New musicians - singer David Coverdale (b. 1951) and singing bass guitarist Glenn Hughes (b. 1952) - did not bring any innovative ideas with them, and with the release of the disc "Petrel" it became clear that the former the heights of "Deep Purple" in the updated composition can no longer be reached.
Lead composer Blackmore complained that his opinion was no longer listened to, and as a result, without further claims to copyright (which, by right, in most cases belonged to him), in early 1975 he left the team. He organized a new project "Rainbow". By that time, Gillan began his solo career, and Roger Glover was mainly engaged in producing activities (in those years he led Nazareth). In fact, "Deep Purple" were left without leaders, and critics predicted that this "ship", which was left without a "captain", would soon collapse. And so it happened. American guitarist Tommy Bolin failed to become a worthy replacement for Blackmore; "things" from the 1975 album ("Come Taste The Band"), written by him in collaboration with Coverdale, turned out to be nothing more than a parody of the "old" style of the group, and soon Yon Lord announced the breakup.
For the next eight years, the Deep Purple group did not exist. Successfully worked with "Rainbow" Ritchie Blackmore, performed a little less powerfully with his group Ian Gillan, formed "Whitesnake" David Coverdale. The idea to revive the "Deep Purple" sample of 1970 belongs to Blackmore and Gillan: they came to it independently of each other, and in 1984 the album "Perfect Strangers" was released. More than three million copies were sold and it seemed that they would never part again. However, the next album appeared only two and a half years later ("The House Of Blue Light", 1987), and although it turned out great, a year later Gillan left Deep Purple again and returned to solo activities.
In the USSR, the company "Melody" released two albums "Deep Purple": a collection of the best songs of 1970-1972 and the program disc "House of Blue Light" (1987).
Ian Gillan visited the USSR on tour in the spring of 1990.
Group Producers: Roger Glover, Martin Burch.
Recording studios: Abbey Road (London); Musicland (Munich), etc.
Sound engineers: Martin Burch, Nick Blagona, Angelo Arcuri.
The albums were released under the flags of the firms "EMI", "Harvest", "Purple" and "Polydor".
The new Deep Purple singer in 1990 was Blackmore's "old" Rainbow colleague Joe Lynn Turner.