Ian Gillan
Ian Gillan performing live with Deep Purple in 2006
Background information
Birth name	Ian Gillan
Born	August 19, 1945 (1945-08-19) (age 61)
Origin	Hounslow, London, England
Genre(s)	Rock, Hard rock, Heavy metal
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1965 - present
Associated acts	Episode Six Deep Purple Gillan Ian Gillan Band Black Sabbath
Website	http://www.gillan.com/

Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945 in Hounslow, London), is an English rock music vocalist best known as the lead singer for Deep Purple. During his career Gillan had a year-long stint as the vocalist for Black Sabbath and sang the role of Jesus Christ in the original recording of Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. Gillan is considered to be one of the foremost rock vocalists, who introduced into rock music the vocal belting technique. In his prime he possessed a very wide vocal range, extending from the E2 to the G above soprano high C, or C6. His work with Deep Purple is particularly recognisable for its occasional high-pitched screams and falsettos.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Post Deep Purple years 4 Personal life 5 Recent solo activity 6 Trivia 7 Discography 7.1 With Deep Purple 7.1.1 Studio albums 7.1.2 Live albums 7.2 As Ian Gillan Band 7.3 As Gillan 7.4 With Black Sabbath 7.5 As Gillan & Glover 7.6 As Garth Rockett & the Moonshiners 7.7 Solo 7.8 With The Javelins 7.9 Others 8 Books 9 References 10 External links

Early life

Gillan was born at Chiswick Maternity Hospital, Hounslow, London, England in a family of Scottish descent (his father was from the Govan area of Glasgow).

Career

He was the lead vocalist in the band Episode Six. After Deep Purple members Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore saw one of his performances with the band, he was later approached to replace Rod Evans in Deep Purple.

Gillan was first member of Deep Purple from 1969 through to 1973, appearing on such now-classic Deep Purple albums as In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head. During these years, he also was the voice of Jesus on the original 1970 album recording of Jesus Christ Superstar. He was offered the lead role in the 1973 film adaptation (Jesus Christ Superstar). Ian demanded not only to be paid for his role in the movie but insisted, without the consent of his manager, that the entire band be paid because filming would conflict with a scheduled tour. The producers declined and Ian continued on in the band .

Gillan was room-mates with Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, and in a 2006 interview Gillan said Blackmore "turned into a weird guy and the day he walked out of the tour was the day the clouds disappeared and the day the sunshine came out and we haven't looked back since." He added that "there are certain personal issues that I have with Ritchie, which means that I will never speak to him again. Nothing I'm going to discuss publicly, but deeply personal stuff.

Post Deep Purple years

After leaving Deep Purple, Gillan retired from performing to pursue business ventures. However, encouraged by his reception at the Butterfly Ball in 1975, he decided to resume his singing career. He formed the Ian Gillan Band. The early band sound had a distinct jazz-rock aspect which proved unpopular and was replaced by a more high powered hard rock sound as Gillan reformed the lineup and shortened the group's name to Gillan. Writing the bulk of new material with keyboardist Colin Towns, the release of Mr. Universe saw Ian Gillan back in the UK charts, although the independent record company the album came out on - Acrobat - folded soon after the album was released, prompting a contract with Richard Branson's Virgin Records. Through several more lineup changes the band released a string of UK hit singles and successful albums including Glory Road, Future Shock, Double Trouble, and finally Magic.

In 1982 Ian Gillan announced the band would fold as he needed to rest his damaged vocal cords.

In 1983 he joined Black Sabbath (replacing Ronnie James Dio) for a year to record the Born Again album and tour (on which Black Sabbath played the Purple standard "Smoke On The Water" as an encore). He was largely dissatisfied with his stint in Sabbath, notably the production of the Born Again album (though he liked the songs and their original mixes) and its cover, which featured a demonic-looking baby. He was quoted in Kerrang! in 1984 as saying "I looked at the cover and puked." The tour did not do well, as Gillan did not enjoy singing the early Ozzy Osbourne-era Sabbath material. In an interview on Part 2 of the VHS, The Black Sabbath Story (1992), he said, "I was the worst singer Black Sabbath ever had..." However, he stated in the same interview that he liked Sabbath personally: "I love Tony (Iommi), love Geezer (Butler)."

He rejoined a reunited Deep Purple shortly after in early 1984. He left Purple again in 1989, rejoining in 1992. He remains in the band up to present day.

Personal life

In 1984, Gillan married Bron, his girlfriend, whom Ian had dedicated the melancholic "Keep It Warm" from Black Sabbath's 1983 Born Again. They have twice since renewed their marriage vows. The couple have one daughter, Grace. They live in a small town in Dorset, England.

Gillan's mother, Audrey Parkinson, often visits him while he is touring with Deep Purple in the United Kingdom. She can often be seen sitting to the side of the stage.

He is a passionate football fan, supporting Queen's Park Rangers F.C.. He is also a big fan of cricket.

He is well-known for his intolerance of aggressive crowd security personnel at concerts. On August 15, 1998, he was charged with assault after striking a security guard on the head with a microphone.

Recent solo activity

In April 2006 Gillan released a CD/multimedia project to document his 40-year career called Gillan's Inn. Tony Iommi, Jeff Healey, Joe Satriani, as well as current and former members of Deep Purple such as Jon Lord, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Don Airey and Steve Morse are featured on this 2006 CD and DVD. The project includes a re-recorded selection of his Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and solo tracks. In a recent interview, Gillan announced that his solo albums from the 1970s and 1980s would be re-issued late in 2006 through the Demon record company.[1] These albums began to be released in early 2007.

In 2006 a single called Eternity was released for the Japanese Xbox 360 game Blue Dragon, composed by Nobuo Uematsu and featuring the vocals of Gillan.

On April 2nd 2007, Ian Gillan released a DVD Highway Star: A Journey In Rock. The DVD has 6 hours of footage including documentaries and music clips.

Trivia

• His surname is often misspelled as "Gillian". Gillan himself made light of this in the lyrics to "MTV", a track off of Deep Purple's 2005 album Rapture of the Deep.

Discography

With Deep Purple

Studio albums

• Deep Purple in Rock (1970)
• Fireball (1971)
• Machine Head (1972)
• Who Do We Think We Are (1973)
• Perfect Strangers (1984)
• The House of Blue Light (1987)
• The Battle Rages On (1993)
• Purpendicular (1996)
• Abandon (1998)
• Bananas (2003)
• Rapture of the Deep (2005)

Live albums

• Concerto for Group and Orchestra (1969)
• Made in Japan (1972)
• Deep Purple in Concert - BBC Radio sessions 1970/1972 (1980)
• Scandinavian Nights - Live in Stockholm 1970 (1988)
• Nobody's Perfect (1988)
• In the Absence of Pink - Knebworth '85 (1991)
• Gemini Suite Live '70 (1993)
• Come Hell or High Water (1994)
• Live at the Olympia '96 (1997)
• Total Abandon: Live in Australia (1999)
• Live at the Royal Albert Hall - Concerto's 30th Anniversary (2000)
• Live at the Rotterdam Ahoy (2001)
• Live in Europe 1993 (2006)
• They All Came Down To Montreux (2007)

As Ian Gillan Band

• Child in Time (1976)
• Clear Air Turbulence (1977)
• Scarabus (1977)
• Live at the Budokan (1978)

As Gillan

• Gillan (aka The Japanese Album) (1978)
• Mr. Universe (1979)
• Glory Road (1980)
• Future Shock (1981)
• Double Trouble (live) (1981)
• Magic (1982)

With Black Sabbath

• Born Again (1983)

As Gillan & Glover

• Accidentally on Purpose (1988)

As Garth Rockett & the Moonshiners

• Garth Rockett & The Moonshiners Live at the Ritz (1990)

Solo

• Naked Thunder (1990)
• Toolbox (1991)
• Cherkazoo and Other Stories ('73/'75 solo sessions) (1992)
• Dreamcatcher (1997)
• Gillan's Inn (2006)
• Gillan's Inn-Deluxe Tour Edition (2007)

With The Javelins

• Sole Agency and Representation (1994)

Others

• Jesus Christ Superstar (1970)

Books

• Gillan, Ian (1998), Ian Gillan: The Autobiography of Deep Purple's Lead Singer. Blake Pub, ISBN 1857823206.
• Gillan, Ian (2006), Smoke This!: The Warblings, Rants, Philosophies, and Musings from the Singer of Deep Purple. Immergent, ISBN 0978825403.

References

External links