When I picked up my guitar, I spent the first day learning the chord E, the second day A, then B7, and all of a sudden, I could play the blues. Ian Gillan Read Quote
What happens is we finish the show, have a couple of drinks, go back to the hotel, talk, and that’s it. Ian Gillan Read Quote
My grandad was an opera singer, my uncle a jazz musician; I was a boy soprano in the church choir. But the first performance with Deep Purple was something I’ll never forget. All elements were working brilliantly. Ian Gillan Read Quote
Purple – I mean, the music and the influence and the subliminal touches range from orchestral conversation to jazz to blues and soul and God knows what. It’s a vast range of expressions. Ian Gillan Read Quote
I love extended solos. I used to like them in the old days a lot, because it used to give me time to go to the pub for a drink. Ian Gillan Read Quote
In the early Seventies, I bought a dilapidated hotel in north Stoke for about £100,000 and spent the same amount again renovating it, putting in a guitar-shaped swimming pool, painting the bathrooms purple, and installing gold dolphin taps. Ian Gillan Read Quote
When I was in my formative years, I rejected Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, and Dean Martin. I now realise they were all great artists, but at the time, as a young man, you have to clear the decks. Ian Gillan Read Quote