The vocalist of Deep Purple's best albums celebrates his anniversary today

Hardly anyone will argue that the best Deep Purple albums were Deep Purple in Rock, Fireball and Machine Head. And Ian Gillan was the vocalist of Deep Purple in all of them.

And not only the vocalist, but also the author of the lyrics, such as one of the most famous songs in the history of rock music, Smoke On The Water. He wrote the lyrics on a napkin, looking out of the hotel window at the smoke that enveloped Lake Geneva after an accidental fire in the Casino concert hall. However, the words "smoke on the water" belong to Roger Glover, in whose head this picture was somehow connected with a nightmare he had at night.

Incidentally, Gillan left Deep Purple at the same time as Glover. Glover's departure was demanded by Ritchie Blackmore, who said of Gillan: "He is the greatest vocalist in hard rock. But I deeply dislike him with his antics and bad behavior. That's why we don't communicate on a personal level." True, Blackmore immediately added self-critically: "I know that I'm also very difficult."

But for the sake of working in Deep Purple, Gillan turned down the most stellar role in a movie that a rock singer could dream of. In 1973, director Norman Jewison offered Ian to play Christ in the film "Jesus Christ Superstar." Gillan could have repeated the stunning success of the Jesus Christ Superstar album, where he performed solo, but he cited his busy schedule. In the end, Ted Neeley played and sang Christ in the film flawlessly, and rock fans all over the world argued about who did this role better.

In general, Deep Purple lacked one thing to become a great rock band, like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones - consistency. Its lineup changed so often that reference books usually list 10 (!) of its variants, from Mark1 to Mark10. Mark2 is considered classic (Gillan, Blackmore, Glover, Lord and Paice. The last one on the "list" is the only one who was present in all ten lineups).

Gillan was not bored without Deep Purple either, he organized different groups, worked with Black Sabbath for one year and even was involved in the motorcycle business. And, by the way, a few years ago, one could say, he returned to Deep Purple in its next lineup, taking part in the recording of the band's 21st album called Whoosh!

Photo: Gillan in 2012 Wikipedia