Deep Purple

Biography Part 1

Deep Purple is the best hard rock and heavy metal band in music history, with over 110 million albums sold and one of the most acclaimed and influential Hard-Rock acts of all time.

The band was formed in 1968 in Hertford, ENGLAND by vocalist Rod Evans, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, bass guitarist Nick Simper, keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice.

The band's debut album, "Shades Of Deep Purple" - 1968, soon becoming a smash hit in the United States where it peaked at #24 on the Official Pop chart helped by the hit single "Hush", originally by Joe South, which rose to the #4 slot on the Pop Singles Sales chart.

By early 1969, the band released their second LP, "The Book Of Taliesyn", reaching the #54 in the States; the record spawned another cover single, Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman", which cracked the American Top 40, plus a minor hit, "River Deep, Mountain High".The same year, the band also recorded and released their self-titled album scraping the lower reaches of the U.S. chart.

Both Evans and Simper were excused from the band shortly before the dawn of the '70s, replaced by Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, respectively.

They recorded "Concerto For Group And Orchestra" with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, an ambitious experiment that unfortunately failed to reach a substantial audience; nevertheless, the originality of the project helped keep the band's name in the public eye in the U. K. for the first time.With this line-up, the most celebrated in band history, the band scored a stream of successful singles and LPs, beginning with "Purple In Rock", which hit #4 at home and made a brief chart entry at #143 in the U.S. upon its June 1970 release; that same month they also left off the non-album single "Black Night", which rose to #2 on the British Pop chart and reached the #66 on the U.S. Pop Singles list.

In September 1971 the band delivered their fifth album, "Fireball", it reached the #32 in the U.S. and shot to #1 on the National U. K. Albums chart spawning the top 10 hit single "Strange Kind Of Woman" and a top 20 hit with the LP's title-cut.

The follow-up album, "Machine Head", issued in May 1972, took Deep Purple to even greater heights and the band once again found themselves at #1 in the U. K. chart and reached the #7 on the U.S. Pop Albums chart; this record contained their most well known song, "Smoke On The Water", the track with its immortal guitar riff peaked at #4 on the U.S. Pop Singles chart.That fall, the quintet released the double-album "Made In Japan", the set, recorded over three nights, captured Purple's live prowess becoming a worldwide smash; it reached the top 20 in Britain and peaked at #6 on the U.S. Pop Albums chart going platinum. Although the success of the band's 1973 studio record "Who Do We Think We Are!", it debuted at #4 on the U. K. Official Albums chart and hit the top 20 in America backed by the single "Woman From Tokyo", relations within the band grew increasingly strained and their seventh LP marked the end of the band's highly successful line-up.

In November 1973, the band returned to the recording studio with another new line-up, David Coverdale joined as lead singer after the departure of Ian Gillan, Glover also left and was replaced by bassist+vocalist Glenn Hughes; their 1974's "Burn" rose to #3 spot in Britain and to #9 in the U.S. spawning a minor hit single in "Might Just Take Your Life".They quickly recorded a follow-up album, "Stormbringer", which appeared before the year's end, the set was a bit less successful than its predecessor and it barely dented the top 20 in the States. Albums Sales chart; this was the last effort of Blackmore made the stunning announcement in May of 1975, he left the band to form Rainbow.

to be continue...