- Born
- Nickname
- Papa G
- Height1.88 m
- Former vocalist for the Javelins and Episode Six, Ian Gillan joined Deep Purple in 1969. They recorded the legendary albums "Deep Purple In Rock", "Fireball", "Machine Head" and "Who Do We Think We Are", as well as a number of live albums.
He left Deep Purple in 1973 due to differences with guitarist 'Ritchie Blackmore', as well as exhaustion due to excessive touring with the band. He then formed The Ian Gillan Band around late 1975/early '76. They released two studio albums: "Child in Time" (1976), which included a "jazzy" version of the Purple classic "Clear Air Turbulence" (1977), and a live album, recorded at the Budokan.
He then disbanded The Ian Gillan Band, and formed "Gillan". They released five albums: "Mr. Universe" (1979), "Future Shock" (1980), "Glory Road" (1980), "Double Trouble" (1981) and "Magic" (1982) before disbanding due to Ian's throat problems. Ian then met Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler and joined Black Sabbath in 1983. They did one album, "Born Again", that same year and toured in 1984. At that time Ian got a call from Ritchie Blackmore, asking him to reform Purple MKII, along with band mates Jon Lord, Roger Glover and Ian Paice. Ian left Sabbath and rejoined Purple. They recorded "Perfect Strangers" (1984) and "The House of Blue Light" (1987), before his problems with Blackmore made him quit Purple yet again. In 1988 he and fellow Purple band mate Glover made a record under the "Gillan/Glover" moniker, called "Accidentally on Purpose". Ian participated on various projects until 1992, when he formed a band and recorded "Cherkazoo and Other Stories".
In 1993 he was asked to rejoin Deep Purple yet again. He accepted, and recorded "The Battle Rages On". After a world tour Blackmore quit Deep Purple for good. They then made a couple of dates with Joe Satriani before finding a permanent replacement in Kansas/Dixie Dregs guitarist Steve Morse. The new Purple then recorded "Purpendicular" in 1996 and "Abandon" in 1998. In 1998, Ian released his solo album "Dreamcatcher".
Organist Jon Lord was replaced for the 2003 record "Bananas" with former Rainbow keyboardist Don Airey. Deep Purple MK VIII did a world tour for "Bananas", and went to work on their 18th studio album, "Rapture of the Deep", released in November 2005.
Ian released "Gillan's Inn" in 2006, and is touring with Deep Purple.- IMDb mini biography by: David Elías (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
- SpouseBron(1984 - present) (2 children)
- High-pitched vocal scream
- He sang the part of Jesus on the 1970 album release of "Jesus Christ Superstar," by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
- When the Deep Purple Mark II lineup reunited in 1984, he refused to sing material from the three albums Purple recorded with vocalist David Coverdale.
- Was the lead singer for Black Sabbath in 1983, recording only one album ("Born Again") with the band. His tenure with Black Sabbath led some critics to nickname the group "Deep Sabbath."
- To this day, he and Ritchie Blackmore aren't on speaking terms.
- Presented with the Medal of Honour from the Armenian president, for his support after an earthquake which took place in Armenia in December 1988.
- I haven't ever had any ambition in my life. I just drift from day to day with a stupid grin on my face.
- Buy real records in real shops, or I'll come round your house and scream at your mother.
- Heavy metal drives me bonkers, it makes me want to vomit, heavy metal really is a pile of puke.
- We spent a long time learning the craft of songwriting, Roger Glover and I, for a few years before we joined Deep Purple. You learn about the percussive value of words, and you learn about rhyme and meter. You learn that you can't transform a poem into a song lyric, mostly because the spoken shape of words is different than the sung shape of words. You wouldn't use the vowel 'U' or the vowel sound 'ooo' for a high note for example, its very difficult.
- I totally ignore people who criticize me for coming to Israel, including whats-his-name [Roger Waters]. If he were to contact me, I would tell him to tell it where the sun don't shine.
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