(Credits: Far Out / Joan Sorolla)
Sat 31 January 2026 10:30, UK
As highly regarded as Deep Purple are in the canon of hard rock and heavy metal bands, they’ve somehow managed to establish themselves while going through many turbulent spells of changing lineup.
Known for separating their different incarnations by referring to them as ‘Mark I’ all the way up to ‘Mark IX’, complete with two reunions of ‘Mark II’ thrown into the mix for good measure, the band have cycled through 15 different permanent members in total, with drummer Ian Paice being the only member to have survived through every personnel change.
Despite his omnipresence, for much of the time it seemed as though Paice wasn’t the one calling the shots, and it was more likely a case of him being a committed and obedient timekeeper that allowed him to remain in the band despite all of the constantly shifting lineups, rather than the possibility of him being a power-hungry egomaniac.
Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, on the other hand, despite having stormed out on a couple of occasions himself, was seen as the one with his finger on the trigger, itching to fire anyone to didn’t subscribe to his vision for the band, and he was often the member who was responsible for hiring replacements when he’d dismissed a core part of the group.
This feels like an incredibly gung-ho way of running an operation, band or otherwise, and yet, they remain one of the most celebrated bands of their ilk, with a prominent focus on their output in the 1970s for being the strongest era for their work. It was clear that for some time, the lineup changes weren’t damaging for the band or their reputation, but at certain points, Blackmore wasn’t able to get his hands on the right candidates to take over any outgoing members.
Among the dozen-plus members from past and present iterations of Deep Purple are four different vocalists, with Ian Gillan being the one present for the longest amount of time over three separate spells. However, after his second departure, Blackmore was especially keen to tap up one frontman to take the reins, and was gutted when he was unable to secure his services.
During the 1980s, Blackmore had developed something of an admiration for the American prog rock-cum-metal outfit, King’s X, and was especially impressed by their vocalist and bassist, Doug Pinnick. “I was blown away with the complicated arrangement,” he told VH1 in 2000. “But they didn’t take away from the melody.”
“The singer is a fantastic singer too,” he continued. “I think it was in Purple, when we were looking for a singer. We actually called him up and said: ‘Would you like to join?’ He said: ‘No, thanks. I have my own thing going’. So we actually offered him the job. I don’t think I would like to follow them on stage. They are one hell of a band.”
This could well have been the dream fit, but equally, given the constant lineup changes, it could have been a recipe for disaster that Pinnick was desperate to avoid. In the end, Blackmore chose to recruit his former Rainbow associate Joe Lynn Turner, who lasted a whole three years before Gillan usurped him and regained his place as the frontman.
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