| Don Airey |
Don
Airey performing with Deep Purple in 2005
|
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Donald Airey |
| Born |
June 21, 1948 (1948-06-21) (age 59) |
| Origin |
 Sunderland,
England |
| Genre(s) |
Heavy
metal, Hard rock |
| Instrument(s) |
Keyboard |
| Years active |
1974 - present |
Associated
acts |
Deep Purple, Rainbow, Ozzy
Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Electric Light Orchestra,
Gary
Moore |
Don Airey (born 21 June 1948 in Sunderland,
England)
has been the keyboardist in the rock band Deep
Purple since 2002, succeeding Jon Lord. He has had a long and
productive career, playing with such acts as Gary
Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas
Priest, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Whitesnake,
Colosseum
II, Sinner,
Michael
Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Rainbow,
Divlje
jagode and Living Loud. He has also worked with Andrew
Lloyd Webber.
|
Contents
- 1 Early
life
- 2 1970s
work
- 3 1980s
work
- 4 1990s
onwards
- 5 Deep
Purple
- 6 Discography
- 7 References
- 8 External
links
|
Early life
Don Airey was born in Sunderland, in northeast England on 21 June 1948. Inspired by his
father, Norman Airey, he took a love for music at a young age and was
trained in classical piano
from the age of seven.
He continued his love for music by earning a degree at the University of Nottingham
and a diploma at the Royal Northern
College of Music.
1970s work
In 1974 he moved to London and joined Cozy
Powell's band Hammer. Don worked on several albums with solo
artists and in 1978 was a session musician on the Black
Sabbath album Never Say Die!.
Soon after, he joined guitarist Ritchie
Blackmore's band Rainbow and featured on Gary
Moore's solo debut Back On The Streets.
With Rainbow he contributed to two hit albums, Down to Earth
and Difficult to Cure.
1980s work
In 1980 Don played on Ozzy Osbourne's first solo album, The
Blizzard of Ozz where he had a famous and
slightly gothic intro to the song Mr. Crowley. After leaving Rainbow in
1981, Don joined with Ozzy Osbourne for a three year stint where he
helped with the albums Bark at the Moon
and Speak of the Devil.
Don joined the band Jethro Tull in 1987 for
their tour in support of Crest
of a Knave. The same year also saw the release
of Whitesnake's
multi-platinum Whitesnake
, on which Airey played keyboards. (The album is known as "1987" in
Europe.) Soon after though he quit the band to record the album "K2".
1990s onwards
The first half of the 1990s saw Don's son suffer from a
serious illness, his musical activity was largely on hiatus during this
time.
In 1997 he arranged and played on "Love Shine A Light' by Katrina And The Waves,
conducting the accompanying orchestra at The Eurovision Song
Contest. The song won the contest.
He presently lives with his wife Doris and their three
children in South-West Cambridgeshire in England. He also
worked with Iron Maiden's Bruce
Dickinson on one of Bruce's solo albums, playing keyboards on "Darkness
Be My Friend". Don also played keyboards on At Vance's
mastermind Olaf Lenk's first solo album "Sunset Cruise". In 2006 Don
featured on Gary
Moore's release Old New Ballads Blues contributing to all tracks.
He is currently writing a book about his experiences in the
music business.
Deep Purple
Don went in semi-retirement until 2001 when he joined the band
Deep
Purple to fill in for an injured Jon Lord, who has since retired.
Don joined the band as a full time keyboardist since March 2002. He has
recorded two studio albums with the band, Bananas
and Rapture of the Deep. He is
currently travelling with the band on their Rapture of the Deep tour.
Discography
- 1974 - Cozy Powell - Na Na Na (single)
- 1976 - Babe Ruth (band) - Kid's
Stuff
- 1976 - Colosseum II - Strange new flesh
- 1977 - Colosseum II - Electric Savage
- 1977 - Colosseum II - War Dance
- 1977 - Andrew Lloyd Webber - Variations
- 1978 - Jim Rafferty - Don't talk back
- 1978 - Strife
- Back to thunder
- 1978 - Black Sabbath - Never Say Die
- 1979 - Gary Moore - Back on the streets
- 1979 - Rainbow - Down to Earth
- 1979 - Cozy Powell - Over the top
- 1980 - Michael Schenker - Michael Schenker
Group
- 1980 - Bernie Marsden - And about time too
- 1981 - Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz
- 1981 - Cozy Powell - Tilt
- 1981 - Rainbow - Difficult to cure
- 1981 - Rainbow - Final Vinyl (compilatie 1986)
- 1982 - Gary Moore - Corridors of power
- 1982 - Gary Moore - Rockin' Every Night
- 1983 - Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the moon
- 1984 - Gary Moore - Dirty Fingers
- 1985 - Alaska - The Pack
- 1985 - Phenomena - Phenomena
- 1985 - Gary Moore - Wild Frontier
- 1986 - Zeno
- Zeno
- 1987 - Thin Lizzy - Soldier of Fortune
- 1987 - Whitesnake - 1987
- 1988 - Fastway (band) - Bad Bad
Girls
- 1988 - Jethro Tull - 20 Years
of
- 1989 - Don Airey - K2
- 1989 - Gary Moore - After the war
- 1989 - Whitesnake - Slip of the Tongue
- 1990 - Perfect Crime - Blond on Blonde
- 1990 - Jagged Edge - You don't love me
- 1990 - Judas Priest - Painkiller
- 1990 - Forcefield - IV - Let the wild run free
- 1990 - Tigertailz - Love Bomb Baby
- 1992 - Cozy Powell - Let the wild run free
- 1992 - UFO - High stakes &
dangerous men
- 1992 - Anthem - Domestic booty
- 1992 - Kaizoku
- Kaizoku
- 1993 - Brian May - Back to the light
- 1994 - Graham Bonnet - Here comes the night
- 1994 - The
Kick - Tough trip thru Paradise
- 1994 - Gary Moore - Still got the blues
- 1994 - Katrina and the Waves
- Turn around
- 1997 - Quatarmass II - Long Road
- 1997 - Glen Tipton - Baptizm of fire
- 1998 - Colin Blunstone - The light
- 1998 - Crossbones - Crossbones
- 1998 - The Cage - The Cage
- 1998 - Olaf Lenk - Sunset Cruise
- 1998 - Eddie Hardin - Wind in the willows
(live)
- 1998 - The Snakes - Live in Europe
- 1999 - Millenium (band) - Millenium
- 2000 - Micky Moody - I eat them for Breakfast
- 2000 - Silver (band) - Silver
- 2000 - Uli Jon Roth - Transcendental Sky Guitar
- 2000 - Olaf Lenk's F.O.O.D. - Fun Stuff
- 2000 - Ten (band) - Babylon AD
- 2000 - Company of Snakes - Burst The
Bubble
- 2001 - Mario Fasciano - E-Thnic
- 2001 - Judas Priest - Demolition
- 2001 - Silver (band) - Dream Machines
- 2001 - (Rolf Munkes') Empire (band) - Hypnotica
- 2001 - Company of Snakes - Here they go
again
- 2002 - Metalium - Hero Nation Chapter Three
- 2002 - Bernie Marsden - Big Boy Blue
- 2002 - Bruce Dickinson - Tattooed
Millionaire
- 2002 - (Rolf Munkes') Empire (band) - Trading Souls
- 2003 - Living Loud - Living Loud
- 2003 - Silver (band) - Intruder
- 2006 - Gary Moore - Old New Ballads Blues
References
-
Don Airey interview - BBC Wear
-
Don
Airey's profile - Official Deep Purple website
-
Don Airey interview - BBC Wear
External links
| v • d • e Deep Purple |
| Current
members |
| Ian Gillan | Steve
Morse | Don
Airey | Roger
Glover | Ian Paice |
| Former
members |
| Jon Lord | Ritchie
Blackmore | David Coverdale | Glenn
Hughes | Joe Lynn Turner | Rod Evans | Nick
Simper | Tommy Bolin | Joe
Satriani |
| Discography |
| Albums : Shades
of Deep Purple | The
Book of Taliesyn | Deep
Purple | Deep
Purple in Rock | Fireball
| Machine Head
| Who Do We Think We Are
| Burn | Stormbringer
| Come Taste the Band
| Perfect Strangers
| The House of Blue Light
| Slaves & Masters
| The Battle Rages On
| Purpendicular
| Abandon | Bananas
| Rapture of the Deep |
| Live albums: Concerto for Group
and Orchestra | Made
in Japan | Made
in Europe | Last
Concert in Japan | Deep Purple in Concert
| Live in London
| Scandinavian Nights
| Nobody's Perfect
| In the Absence of Pink:
Knebworth '85 | Come Hell or High Water
| King
Biscuit Flower Hour Presents: Deep Purple in Concert
| California Jamming
| Mk III: The Final Concerts
| Live at the Olympia '96
| Gemini Suite Live
| In Concert with the London Symphony Orchestra | Total Abandon: Live
in Australia | Live at the Rotterdam Ahoy
| This Time Around:
Live in Tokyo | The
Soundboard Series | Inglewood - Live in
California | Kneel & Pray
| Space Vol 1 & 2
| Denmark 1972
| Perks and Tit
| Just Might Take Your Life | Live
in Stockholm | Live in Montreux 1969
| Live in Paris 1975 | Live
in Europe 1993 | Live
at Montreux 1996 | They All Came Down to
Montreux |
| Videos
and DVDs:
Concerto for Group
and Orchestra | Special Edition EP
| Live In Concert 1972/73
| California Jam / Live in
California 74 | Rises
Over Japan | Come Hell or High
Water | Bombay Calling | Live
at Montreux 1996 | In Concert with
the London Symphony Orchestra | Total Abandon Australia
'99 | New, Live & Rare
| Perihelion | Live Encounters |
| Compilation Albums: Purple
Passages | The Early Years
| 24 Carat Purple
| When
We Rock, We Rock, and When We Roll, We Roll | The
Mark II Purple Singles | Deepest
Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple | The
Anthology | Powerhouse
| The Deep Purple
Singles A's and B's | 30: Very Best of Deep
Purple | Days May Come and Days
May Go | Listen, Learn, Read On
| Winning Combinations: Deep Purple and Rainbow | Deep Purple:
The Platinum Collection |
| Related
articles |
| Rainbow | Blackmore's
Night | Ian Gillan Band | Gillan | Whitesnake
| Trapeze
| Black
Sabbath | Dixie
Dregs | Episode
Six | |
| v • d • e Rainbow |
| Ritchie Blackmore |
| Vocals: Ronnie James Dio | Graham
Bonnet | Joe Lynn Turner | Doogie
White |
| Bass: Craig Gruber | Jimmy Bain | Bob
Daisley | Roger Glover | Greg Smith |
| Drums: Gary Driscoll | Cozy
Powell | Bobby Rondinelli | Chuck
Burgi | John O'Reilly | John Miceli |
| Keyboards: Micky Lee Soule | Tony Carey
| David Stone | Don Airey | David Rosenthal
| Paul Morris |
| Discography |
| Albums : Ritchie Blackmore's
Rainbow | Rising
| Long Live Rock 'n' Roll
| Down to Earth
| Difficult to Cure
| Straight Between the Eyes
| Bent Out of Shape
| Stranger in Us All |
| Live albums: On Stage
| Finyl Vinyl | Live
in Germany/Live in Europe | Live
in Munich 1977 | Rainbow Live at
Cologne SportsHalle |
| Videos
and DVDs:
Live
Between the Eyes/ The Final Cut | Live
in Munich 1977 |
| Compilation Albums: The
Best of Rainbow | The Very Best of Rainbow |
20th
Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Rainbow |
Pot of Gold |
Catch the Rainbow:
The Anthology | Winning Combinations: Deep Purple
and Rainbow |
| Related
articles |
| Deep Purple | Blackmore's
Night | Black Sabbath | Dio | Alcatrazz | Yngwie
J. Malmsteen |
