{"id":601981,"date":"2026-04-23T17:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/601981\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:19:10","slug":"the-vocalist-who-turned-down-the-doors-and-deep-purple-in-1971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/601981\/","title":{"rendered":"The vocalist who turned down The Doors and Deep Purple in 1971"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Paul<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy \/ Sun Records)<\/p>\n

Thu 23 April 2026 16:00, UK <\/p>\n

Rock stars can\u2019t be found on any old street corner, and even during a rock and roll age as productive as the early 1970s, truly gifted frontmen were in desperately short supply. Nevertheless, it is difficult to imagine anybody \u2013 regardless of their credentials \u2013 turning down job offers from groups as iconic as The Doors<\/a> or Deep Purple, never mind both.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both groups, after all, were firmly on the upper echelon of the rock and roll pyramid during the early 1970s. Although the \u2018peace and love age\u2019 had largely subsided, The Doors were still riding high off their anarchic blend of jazz and psychedelia, with their frontman and rockstar archetype Jim Morrison typifying the counterculture spirit in every fibre of his being<\/a>. Deep Purple, meanwhile, were at the forefront of the hard rock realm, and their \u2018Mark II\u2019 line-up saw them come into their own, spurred on by domineering heavy riffs.<\/p>\n

Yet, despite all of that success, both bands were in the market for a new frontman during that period. The Doors, in the tragic context of Jim Morrison\u2019s untimely death in 1971, needed somebody to fill his inherently irreplaceable shoes, although most audiences would have surely understood if the rest of the band had dissolved entirely \u2013 you can\u2019t have The Doors without Morrison. Meanwhile, Deep Purple\u2019s \u2018Mark II\u2019 line-up had come crashing down in 1973, with the clouded departure of Ian Gillan<\/a> following years of rising tensions and rock and roll fatigue. <\/p>\n

Bizarrely, both groups saw their salvation in the talents of the same man: Paul Rodgers. A defining rock and roll frontman, then of the cult hard rock outfit Free, the Middlesbrough-born vocalist certainly had the credentials to fit with either The Doors or Deep Purple, with Free having rivalled even Led Zeppelin<\/a> during their early years both in terms of quality and commercial prowess.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/a>(Credits: Sun Records)<\/p>\n

Free disbanded for the first, though not the last, time in 1971, around the same time that The Doors were recruiting for a new frontman, and the hippie heroes were so serious about getting Rodgers on board that they sent Robby Krieger across the Atlantic to recruit the vocalist in person. \u201cAt that time, I had buried myself in the country, working on things,\u201d Rodgers told Uncut in 2011, \u201cAnd they couldn\u2019t get a hold of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for whether he even considered the possibility of joining the Doors, the frontman continued, \u201cI dunno. It\u2019s hard to say, looking back. But I think not.\u201d <\/p>\n

He explained, \u201cI tend to form bands, that\u2019s what I do. Although it\u2019s always flattering to be asked.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the end, Krieger and Ray Manzarek ended up taking on vocal duties themselves, with varying degrees of success, which culminated in the band\u2019s disbanding two years later, in 1973.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That was the same year that Free disbanded once again, having gotten back together the year prior. This time, it was the recently Gillan-less Deep Purple who came knocking on Rodgers\u2019 door. \u201cFree had played with Deep Purple in Australia and it was our very last show,\u201d he once told the Houston Press. \u201cI got along really well with [Purple] keyboardist Jon Lord and we exchanged numbers.\u201d <\/p>\n

Once again, though, Rodgers had other plans: \u201cLater, I got a call to [join], but I was forming Bad Company at the time, so it wasn\u2019t possible,\u201d he said. That explanation certainly tracks with his reasoning for rejecting The Doors two years prior, preferring to start completely afresh rather than join a pre-existing band with a pre-existing sonic manifesto. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the idea of a Paul Rodgers-fronted version of either The Doors or Deep Purple remains one of the great \u2018what-ifs\u2019 of the 1970s rock realm, though admittedly it\u2019s easier to imagine his performance style fitting in with Purple than the American counterculture heroes. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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