Formed in 1968 in Hertford, England, Deep Purple are part of the holy trinity of British hard rock with Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. The classic ‘Mark II’ line-up consisting of Ian Paice (drums), Roger Glover (bass), Jon Lord (keyboards), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar) and Ian Gillan (vocals) went on to become legendary. Deep Purple’s steady climb to the top started with 1970’s ‘In Rock’ and continued with ‘Machine Head’ (1972), which included the hit single ‘Smoke on the Water’, and ‘Who Do We Think We Are’ (1973). However, mounting tensions resulted in a split in 1976 but eight years later the band rebooted. The ‘Mark VIII’ line-up remained unchanged from 2002, with Don Airey replacing Jon Lord, leaving Ian Paice as the only remaining founding member. In 2022 guitarist Steve Morse made way for Simon McBride (‘Mark IX’). They may be getting on a bit but their music and talent has stood the test of time: with ‘Bananas’ (2003), ‘Rapture of the Deep’ (2005), ‘Now What’ (2013) and ‘Infinite’ (2017) they have continued to release prog gems well into the new millennium. They’ve racked up 22 studio albums with ‘Turning to Crime (2021) as their most recent contribution. (#GMM24)
