The most complete biography of Deep Purple. Rock Encyclopedia

Star Trek Deep Purple:

The peak of Deep Purple's fame came in the seventies of the last century, but it is still loved and appreciated, because the band stood at the origins of modern rock. In the winter of 1968, Jon Lord, organist and jazz fan, Ritchie Blackmore, who had not parted with the guitar since preschool age, and talented drummer Ian Pace came up with a project called Deep Purple.

As a vocalist, they invited Rod Evans, who has a delightful ballad voice, and Nick Simper on bass guitar. In this composition, the team released the disc "The Shades of Deep Purple", which produced the effect of an exploding bomb in the United States - the Americans took the British team with a bang, and he immediately entered the top five. Success pursued the next two albums - The Book of Taliesyn" and "Deep Purple".

The number of fans of the group grew inexorably, the team held two grandiose tours of the cities of the United States. Only here in his native Foggy Albion he was stubbornly ignored. Then Lord, Blackmore and Pace resorted to drastic changes: Deep Purple left Evans and Simper, who, according to their comrades, had reached their limit and did not want to develop further. Their place was taken by bass guitarist and keyboardist Roger Glover and vocalist and lyricist Ian Gillan. In this composition, Deep Purple appeared on the stage of London's Albert Hall along with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Sounded then "Concerto for a rock band and symphony orchestra", written by Jon Lord, rallied around the team of fans of rock and classics. And in 1970, another album saw the light - "Deep Purple in Rock". It was a completely new product: powerful vocals and heavy riffs, high volume and serious drums. Now you will not surprise anyone with this - any "metal" band uses such techniques. But in those years, Deep Purple stirred up the whole world.

Then the team went on a European tour, Lord was invited to write the music for the film, and Gillan was invited to perform the main part in the greatest rock opera of all time - "Jesus Christ Superstar". But after a couple of years, the fighting spirit of the group began to decline. First, Glover and Gillan left the team, then Blackmore left. They were replaced by other artists, and a year later the magnificent Deep Purple ceased to exist.

And only in 1986, Lord, Blackmore, Pace, Gillan and Glover came together again and released the disc "The House of Blue Light", which included the best hits of the group.

"Chris Curtis, with the blessing of London businessman Tony Edwards, started the Roundabout project. In his opinion, it should have been something like a supergroup, only with a regularly changing line-up (hence the "carousel" name). Chris was the first to sign his neighbor's business according to the rented apartment of the keyboardist "The Artwoods" Jon Lord... The second thing Curtis had in mind was the young guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who was not too lazy to fly in to audition from Hamburg. meanwhile, Lord and Blackmore wished to continue the work they had begun and took up the independent solution of the personnel issue. John invited an old acquaintance Nick Simper to the bass, and the microphone and drums were given to people from Maze, Rod Evans and Ian Paice. In parallel, he got up the question of renaming the band, and from several options, the musicians settled on the Blackmore version of "Deep Purple" (that was the name of the guitarist's grandmother's favorite song). Having dealt with the formalities, in May 1968 the quintet went to the studio and in just a couple of days recorded the album "Shades Of Deep Purple". The team did not yet have a clear course, but one of the guidelines for it was the American band "Vanilla Fudge". Although the disc went unnoticed at home, in the US "Deep Purple" managed to attract attention thanks to the composition "Hush", which they removed from the repertoire of Billy Joe Royal.

Based on the current situation, the second full-length was released first overseas, and only the following year "The Book Of Taliesyn" appeared in British stores. The album, like the first-born, had a progressive touch with quotes from the classics, but in places it sounded heavier. Like last time, the main bet was made on covers, and Neil Diamond's composition "Kentucky Woman", included in the "Billboard Top 40" list, became the leader of the program. The third disc with a modest name "Deep Purple" remained underestimated, although in fact on it the team reached the top of their progressive stage of creativity, as evidenced at least by the monumental epic "April" and the most beautiful Donovanovsky cover of "Lalena". Meanwhile, changes were brewing in the team, and under pressure from the rest of the members, Simper and Evans left the lineup.

Blackmore wanted to get Terry Reed to the post of vocalist, but he preferred to pursue a solo career, and then the lead singer of "Episode Six" Ian Gillan was invited to the microphone. Bass player Roger Glover was borrowed from the same ensemble, and thus the famous Mark II was born. The debut of the classic line-up was the performance of the team with a symphony orchestra on the initiative of John (who was the main energizer of the group at that time). An attempt to cross rock with classics caused conflicting responses, and if anyone became famous for this project, it was Lord himself. Other musicians (especially Blackmore) got stuck with the lead of the keyboardist, and at Richie's insistence, the band started playing hard guitar hard rock with powerful organ tabs and aggressive vocal delivery. The change in style brought "Deep Purple" to the forefront of the world scene, and the first swallows of triumph were the album "In Rock" and the single "Black Night" that was not included in it. Confused England took the feature to fourth place in the ranking, but the next time the "ashes" found themselves at the very top of the island chart with the "Fireball" program. The culmination of the group's creative success was the masterpiece album "Machine Head", which, in addition to concert favorites such as "Highway Star", "Space Truckin", "Lazy", gave rise to perhaps the loudest imperishable hard rock "Smoke On The Water". A role model for future generations Rockers also served as a double live album "Made In Japan", but by the time the rather successful studio work "Who Do We Think We Are" was released, relations in the team went wrong.

More than others, Gillan and Blackmore clashed, and in the end the matter ended in the resignation of the vocalist. Glover also left, and all power was concentrated in the hands of the guitarist. Roger was replaced by singing bassist Glenn Hughes, and the main microphone went to David Coverdale, who was found on the ad (at that time a clothing seller). The infusion of fresh energy tinted the music of "Deep Purple" in blues and funk tones, and on the disc "Burn" only the track of the same name fit the style of "In Rock" and "Machine Head". I must say, the newcomers quickly got used to the team, and on the album "Stormbringer" the usual hard rock was strongly pushed aside by funk and soul. Feeling that he was no longer the absolute master of the position in the group, Blackmore left his colleagues and left to create "Rainbow".

The blow was strong, but the desire to make money on the promoted trade mark "DP" turned out to be stronger, and American guitarist Tommy Bolin was invited to replace Richie. For his sake, Coverdale and Hughes even moved up in songwriting, but the album "Come Taste The Band" came out relatively dull. At concerts, the public also did not want to recognize the new guitarist, and during the ill-fated British tour, the decision was made to disband the group. For about ten years, the musicians were engaged in other projects, but in 1984, at the initiative of Gillan, the classic line-up got together again and recorded the Perfect Strangers disc. Yearning for "purple" creativity, fans greedily snapped up the album, as a result of which the record was a good success both in terms of circulation and chart positions. The accompanying world tour was also held at a high level, but during the recording of "The House Of Blue Light" relations between Blackmore and Gillan escalated again. After the second resignation of the soloist, his place went to John. Don Airey, who took over the keyboard baton, tried his best to replace his colleague, but he still did not reach the level of the Lord. One way or another, but the 2003 record was received by fans quite warmly, although "Bananas" got a lot for the pop title and cover. Rapture Of The Deep, released a couple of years later, was similarly received, but then the studio affairs were abandoned for a long time. Only in 2012 "Deep Purple" began work on a new album, and in the spring of next year, produced by the legendary Bob Ezrin "Now What?!" went on sale.

In June, after returning from America, Deep Purple started recording a new single, Hallelujah. By this time, Ritchie Blackmore (thanks to drummer Mick Underwood, a friend of The Outlaws) had discovered (virtually unknown in Britain, but of interest to specialists) Episode Six, who performed pop rock in the spirit of The Beach Boys, but had 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."

The old line-up of Deep Purple gave their last concert in Cardiff on July 4, 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 attracted Oscar-winning composer Malcolm Arnold to collaborate: he was supposed to oversee the overall 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 in the country.

“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, Ritchie Blackmore had become the central figure in the ensemble, developing 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). With a complete lack of 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 #2 in the UK, 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 with a grand show at London's Albert Hall, where the invited parents of the musicians were accommodated 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 played 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.

Deep purple is a British rock band, stars of the 70s. Music critics rank this group among the founders of hard rock and highly appreciate the contribution of musicians to the development of progressive rock and heavy metal. There is hardly a person who has never heard the work of this group, because they are the authors and performers of such immortal hits as "Smoke on the water", "Highway star" and "Child in Time".

History of creation

The group formed in 1968. The main initiator of the creation of the team was drummer Chris Curtis. In 1966, he left The Searchers, but planned to continue his musical career. At the same time, keyboardist Jon Lord was also on the lookout. They met by chance, but immediately hit it off. Curtis gave the new band the name "Roundabout", which means "carousel".

It turned out that the Lord had a talented guitarist in mind - it was about, who then lived in Germany. He was offered a place on the team, and he accepted.

It was at this moment that the main initiator of the creation of the group disappeared, there were rumors that this disappearance was related to drugs. Of course, the project at this point was under threat. But Jon Lord took matters into his own hands.

Already during the first tour, the musicians decided to rename the group. Everyone wrote their own version on a piece of paper. The names "Fire" and "Deep purple" caused the most controversy. As a result, we settled on "Deep Purple" - "dark purple". Suggested by Ritchie Blackmore, it was the title of his grandmother's favorite song, a romantic ballad by Billy Ward.

Compound

The composition of the Deep Purple group has changed several times over the 50-year history of its existence. A total of 14 people were in the group. And only the only member - drummer Jan Paice - has been in the team since its inception to this day. For the convenience of determining the compositions, it was customary to number them Mark X, where X is the number of the composition.

The group gave its first concerts in Denmark. Rod Evans performed vocals, Ritchie Blackmore and Nick Simper played guitars, Jon Lord played keyboards, Ian Paice played drums. It is noteworthy that in their native England, few people listened to their work. But in the USA they collected huge platforms.

Soon the band's frontmen - Blackmore and Lord - met Ian Gillan. He sang in the band "Episode Six", and the musicians were amazed by his vocals. He auditioned for "Deep Purple" with bassist Roger Glover, with whom they were an established songwriting duo at the time.

They were immediately invited to join the group, although they did not inform Rod Evans and Nick Simper about this. For some time, Rod and Nick were in the dark that without them, rehearsals were already actively taking place. They continued to perform at concerts with the band. But it didn't last long.

As a result, Evans and Simper were paid monetary compensation, and were also entitled to annual deductions from the sale of records in the amount of 15 thousand pounds. But Nick decided to do otherwise - he sued, sued 10 thousand pounds, but lost deductions. This decision was extremely strange.

The biggest hits and albums were recorded as part of Mark 2, which included Ian Gillan, Jon Lord, Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover and Ian Paice.

In 1973, misunderstandings and disagreements began to arise in the group more and more often. In the middle of the year, after finishing work on the next album, Gillan and Glover left the band. At Blackmore's insistence, the group continued to work, and its line-up was replenished with David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes.

Subsequent albums were not as successful, Richie was unhappy with this and in May 1975 he also decided to leave Deep Purple. Guitarist Tommy Bolin was invited to replace him, but his playing style was not suitable for hard rock, plus, he became addicted to drugs.

So already in 1976, the group's managers announced its dissolution. Just a couple of months after Deep Purple broke up, Bolin died of a heroin overdose.

In 1984, Gillan decided to reunite the team. With a classic line-up, they went on a world tour and recorded two albums.

The album "Perfect Strangers" quickly went platinum. But between Blackmore and Gillan, the "showdown" began again, and Ian was forced to leave.

Richie invited former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lee Turner to replace him, but the other members reacted negatively to this. He was soon retired and Gillan returned to the team.

This time Blackmore could not stand it. He was replaced. But in this composition they failed to record a single album. Some fans of the team believed that without Blackmore the group would not exist, but they were wrong. And Richie wasn't sitting around doing nothing. He had a Rainbow team. And in 1997, together with his wife Candice Knight, he founded the Blackmore's Night group.

Satriani was replaced by American guitarist Steve Morse. They acted like this until 2002 - then Jon Lord decided to leave the team. Don Airey took his place. In 2011, it became known that Lord had pancreatic cancer. The musician died on July 16, 2012.

Music

In the first composition, the group recorded three albums. But the real success "fell" on the musicians in 1970 with the album "Deep Purple in Rock". It was this record that brought the band to the ranks of the most popular rockers of the century. The album immediately hit the top of the charts, and they went on tour. Despite the constant traveling, that year they still managed to record the disc “Fireball”.

And after a couple of months they went to Switzerland to record the album "Machine Head". It was there that their legendary hit “Smoke on the Water” was born. This happened when a fire suddenly started during a concert. Subsequently, Glover dreamed of this fire and smoke spreading over Lake Geneva. In the morning he got up with a line on his lips:

"Smoke on the water, fire in the sky".

On the wave of unprecedented popularity, they went on a tour of Japan. After the tour, the musicians recorded an equally successful live compilation "Made in Japan", which later went platinum.

They were extremely surprised by the Japanese public. At concerts, the audience sat and listened without moving or making sounds. And only at the end of the song they burst into applause. "Deep purple" are accustomed to a more "loud" audience. Both in the USA and in Europe, during their performances, everyone screamed, jumped up from their seats, rushed to the stage.

After Gillan's departure, the band recorded the album "Burn". And they decided to present the new songs "Deep purple" at the famous show "California Jam". The festival gathered over 400 thousand people. In the world of music, this is truly a unique event. But that year, it was also remembered by the viewer for the trick of Ritchie Blackmore.

Deep Purple had a fireworks show scheduled, the group was supposed to be the last to take the stage after sunset. But it so happened that one of the participants did not come, and they were asked to speak earlier. The guitarist categorically refused to go out and simply closed himself in the dressing room. In order for Richie to take the stage, the organizers resorted to the help of the police.

Of course, Richie was so angry that during the performance he broke the guitar, hit it on the operator's video camera, set the stage on fire and exploded. Such an extravaganza at the festival has never happened before. The group “ran” from the police by helicopter, however, they still had to pay a fine for broken equipment.

In 1984, after the reunion of the "classic" line-up, "Deep purple" recorded the album "Perfect Strangers" and went on a world tour. Tickets for their concerts were redeemed instantly. In 1987 they released The House of Blue Light. In 1990, Slaves & Masters was recorded with new vocalist Joe Lee Turner.

On the eve of the band's 25th anniversary, Ian Gillan returned. At the same time, the album "The Battle Rages On ..." was released, which means "The battle continues." It was some sort of nod to the constant "battle" between Richie and Ian.

During their career, the band has released 20 studio albums, 34 live albums and countless singles. Deep Purple was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.

The musicians presented their latest work for today quite recently - in 2017 they presented the fans with the record "Infinite". At the same time, they announced that in support of the new album they were going on The Long Goodbye Tour, which would last about three years.

"Deep purple" now

In the fall of 2017, it became known that "Deep purple" would come to Russia in 2018. As part of the tour, the musicians will give concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Ritchie Blackmore also decided to visit Russia in 2018. In April, he performed live with the reunited line-up of Rainbow. Thus, the musician decided to put an end to the career of a hard rock musician.

Clips

• 1970 - "Child In Time"
• 1972 - "Smoke On The Water"
• 1972 - "Highway star"
• 1980 - "Hush"
• 1999 - "Soldier Of Fortune"
• 2017 - "The Surprising"

Discography

• 1968 - "Shades of Deep Purple"
• 1969 - "Deep Purple"
• 1970 - "Deep Purple In Rock"
• 1971 - "Fireball"
• 1972 - "Machine Head"
• 1973 - "Who Do We Think We Are"
• 1974 - "Burn"
• 1974 - Stormbringer
• 1975 - "Come Taste The Band"
• 1984 - "Perfect Strangers"
• 1987 - "The House Of Blue Light"
• 1993 - "The Battle Rages On"
• 1998 - Abandon
• 2003 - "Bananas"
• 2013 - "Now What?"
• 2017 - "Infinite"