Happy 75: Ian GIllan of Deep Purple

 Today we celebrate a spectacular birthday - particularly in the hard rock department. Deep Purple's Ian Gillan has turned 75 today.


Before Purple, There Was Episode Six

Many do not recognize that Gillan's career was not all about Deep Purple. He has been in bands before and during Deep Purple. One of the most notorious bands of his pre-Purple days was a band called Episode Six, which also featured future Purple bass player Roger Glover. In 1969, the core of Deep Purple: guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, drummer Ian Paice, and keyboardist Jon Lord decided that they would much rather go with a hard rock sound in the following decade. Therefore, original vocalist Rod Evans (responsible for singing on their cover of Joe South's Hush) was let go. His friend, Nick Simper, also quit as well. 

Gilan then brought along Roger Clover and the three remaining members of Episode Six elected to split the band.

Purple Days

Gillan's first studio debut for Purple was their 1970 record In Rock. The photo below is the cover of the album. Notice that the band's faces are carved - "in rock," akin to the presidential carvings along Mt. Rushmore.
Deep Purple in Rock.jpg

The album included the anti-Cold War progressive hit, Sweet Child in Time, and was commercial successful in the US. 1971's Fireball built on the success with hits such as Highway Star. Their 1972 LP, Machine Head, included their signature song, Smoke on The Water.

Gillan's last LP with Purple during this time was 1973's Who do we Think we Are?, which featured My Woman From Tokyo. Gillan (and Glover) left the band shortly afterwards to be replaced by future Whitesnake vocalist, David Coverdale, and bass player/additional vocalist, Glen Hughes. Deep Purple disbanded in 1976 undergoing a seven-year hiatus.

Other endavours

During his time off, Gillan managed to remain musically active. In 1982-83 he sang lead vocals in Black Sabbath. Prior to that, Gillan formed Gillan/Ian Gillan Band, which later featured Iron Maiden's Janick Gers. The band's time was short - between 1978 and 1982; however, they did make a massive impact in the British rock scene by the early 80s.

Resuming with Purple

Gillan rejoined his four original Purple bandmates - Blackmore, Glover, Lord, and Paice, and they recorded 1984's Perfect Strangers - an album which signified a commercial rebound and led to comeback tours. Except for a brief period in the late 1980s/early 90s when Gillan was replaced by Joe Lynn Turner, Gillan has remained with Purple to this very day.

WhoCares

Following the 1989 Rock Aid America performance, Gillan has been fond of Armenia since the early 90s. Purple had attained much popularity there. This eventually led to Gillan starting the short-lived band WhoCares, a supergroup featuring Purple's own Jon Lord, Sabbath's Tony Iomi, and bass player Jason Newstead of Metalica fame. The money from the band's performances went towards rebuilding a musical school in Gyumri, Armenia after a 1988 earthquake burned it down. 

A word on his voice

In closing, I'd like to give a comment or two about Gillan's voice. GIllan has maintained a rather high-pitched, raspy voice and became noteable for falsettos - most noteably Child in Time. He has made an influence on many later hard rockers icluding Jon Bon Jovi and Axl Rose, and to a lesser extent, AC/DC's Brian Johnston. 

In regards to former Yugoslav rock, which I've blogged a lot about in this blog, he is most reminiscent of Bijelo Dugme's (White Button's) Zeljko Bebec (remember, pronounce the "Z" like the "s" in "risotto"). 

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