Ian Gillan: The Autobiography of Deep Purple's Lead Singer

Heavy Metal fans usually trace the roots of the genre to Black Sabbath, and, it's true that their powerful heavy sound, coupled with gloom and dark atmosphere, would be a major foundation stone to the music. Yet, personally, I would trace it back to Deep Purple. I remember when I first listened to their album 'In Rock': the shattering violence and fast-paced tempo, the crazy guitar solos, the frantic bass, intoxicating drumming, surprising keyboards, and, above all, Ian Gillan's voice. No, wait! Let me rephrase this: FUCKING IAN GILLAN'S FUCKING VOICE!! The guy has been a major influence on many singers, not least Bruce Dickinson (yes, one of my favourite singer ever from my favourite band ever: Iron Maiden). But damn! Who never had the show more chills listening to him? Try and listen to 'Child in Time' without putting it on repeat... In fact, it's simple, Deep Purple's original line-up is among those rare bands with whom I can't listen to even one song, just one, without going through their whole discography! It's that type of sound and passion. Well, good news, because I finally put my hands on Ian Gillan's autobiography...

Prior to read this, I had no idea of Gillan's personality. I had seen him doing various interviews. He seems quite laid back, although I was also aware of the love-hate, kind of toxic relationship, he had with Ritchie Blackmore. So, how has that read gone down then?

For starter, it was nice to follow his career. Before Deep Purple, he had solid formative years with Episode Six (a band I confess not knowing) and, already big pal with Roger Glover, we see him emerging as a strong original persona (or so I assume, since Episode Six were touring the Middle East circuit -Lebanon- instead of England, apparently a market clearly not up for them!). The story then quickly goes straight down to business, when it all falls into place when him and Glover would combine their talent with Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Paice, and Jon Lord to form THE band. It's a nice story, but then there's not much he says which won't already be known by the fans -how 'In Rock' came to be, the disagreement in tastes regarding 'Fireball', the incertitude about 'Concerto for Group and Orchestra', his sad and bitter departure following 'Made In Japan'... In fact, 'bitter' may be a key word here, or at least explain why it's such a light read.

Indeed, the relationship between him and his guitarist was everything but great. He assures us, though, that he holds no grudge, and, indeed, he is never shy lavishing praise upon Ritchie Blackmore's skills with a fret (although, getting to understand his personality is another matter altogether! The said guitarist's behaviour as described here doesn't favour him...). The thing is, such approach might be a noble endeavour after so many years, but it doesn't offer much insights from one of the key members of a band that had, basically, screwed itself up over egos. In fact, he's still hurt:

I've never been allowed to forget the time I said, 'I'd rather slit my throat than sing with that band again'. But, then, I've also been asked many times, about my feelings towards their singers since my departure... and, about that, my answer has always been, 'how would you feel if you found your lover with somebody else?'

What about ego, by the way? Well, the guy clearly has his own idiosyncrasies. On the one hand, he truly is a music lover and it was humbling to see him hopping from bands to bands with no care for their level of success or popularity, he who would play stadiums or lesser venues depending on where his career would take him. Ian Gillan is a rare breed, in that he cares about singing only for projects he is genuine about (he refused to sing in Rainbow...). You would think, then, that he doesn't really care about fame and money? Well, about money, think again... On the other hand indeed, I have never seen someone so concerned about money. I mean, alright, from a Londonian working class background and musician whose career was quite a seesaw, he can be excused to seek financial comfort. But Ian Gillan takes it all to another level! In fact, he has no qualm quoting his salaries, talk candidly about his tax avoidance, exposes his business failures, and, there are actually more pages in here about his accountant than, say, major figures of the music industry he luckily worked with (e.g. Martin Birch, who sadly passed away two days before I wrote this review...). It makes for a bizarre sense of priority, but does it make him unlikable?

I was surprised by how reserved he seems to be. The excesses backstage are there, but not detailed crassly. He has been, in fact, married to the same woman for quite a long time (and he acknowledges her many time over!) which says a lot about his personal values. Groupies and drugs were not his priority, or so it seems. He even doesn't delve too much into his alcoholism, apart for recognising he had issues with heavy drinking. As for other aspects of his career, it's as light as his take on the Deep Purple saga: from a few liners on his role in 'Jesus Christ Superstar' (I had no idea!) to the ridiculous tour with Black Sabbath (although Born Again is a very good album, I think...).

So there we are! There's not much to learn in terms of hindsight, but here's nevertheless a nice chit chat with a rock n' roll idol. He might seems very composed, if not detached at times, but, he still has the cheeky sense of humour of a prankster, and, so, 'listening' to him is quite entertaining even if light. Maybe he has come full circle? show less