Deep Purple is a British hard rock band. The group’s name is derived from the jazz classic Deep Purple, the favourite song of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore’s mother (or grandmother, depending on the source). Jon Lord started a band called Roundabout in 1968 with guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, but it was not very successful and the drummer and bassist soon left. Through two people who wanted to manage the group, he got Nick Simper as bassist and Ian Paice as drummer. Rod Evans joined the group as singer.
The group changed its name to Deep Purple and recorded a cover of Hush, which became their first hit, especially in the United States. That single was followed by a cover of Neil Diamond’s Kentucky Woman, after which the first LP, Shades of Deep Purple, was released. That record did not catch on in the United Kingdom but had reasonable success in the United States. The band therefore decided to release the next album, The Book of Taliesyn, as soon as possible. On this album, Deep Purple worked with an orchestra (strings) for the first time, on the track Anthem. This LP was less successful in the US than hoped, but the subsequent tour there was successful. In the UK, the band remained underground for the time being.
With the arrival of Roger Glover and Ian Gillan from Episode Six to Deep Purple, the group took a different direction. In 1969, Jon Lord wrote Concerto for Group and Orchestra, on which the band collaborated with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Malcolm Arnold. This album is the first to feature the band in the Mark II lineup. The breakthrough in Europe came with the album Deep Purple in Rock. The band established its name as a hard rock group and, alongside bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, was one of the pioneers of this style.
On 15 July 2006, Deep Purple was also the closing act of the Montreux Jazz Festival, which celebrated its 40th anniversary that year. Deep Purple participated for the third time, partly due to their special connection with Montreux through the song Smoke on the Water. Deep Purple also has its own monument on the Montreux boulevard.
In 2013, Now What?! was released. In January 2017, Deep Purple launched Infinite with 10 new tracks.
Source: Wikipedia Photo: DVB33 and CC BY-SA 2.0, (Wikipedia)
http://www.deeppurple.com/
