Ian Gillan is the vocalist and songwriter of the cult British band Deep Purple. However, in his creative life there were other groups, cooperation with which bore fruit in the form of interesting singles and albums. In addition, Ian Gillan was the first performer of the main part in the cult rock opera "Jesus Christ is a superstar." You can find out more about this and much more in this article.
Childhood
Ian Gillan was born in August 1945. He, like many of his peers, in childhood was an ardent admirer of Elvis Presley's work. This hobby was the reason that the boy did not graduate from school, deciding to become a rock musician. At that time, another movie with the king of rock and roll was playing with great success in English cinemas. After viewing this tape, the hero of the article made a decisive act - dropped out of school. By the way, the classmate of the future rocker was no less legendary musician, one of the founders of The Who, Pete Townsend.
First creative experiences
The young man created the first group in the early sixties. It was a duet with school friend Chris Euler, who played the guitar. At the same time, Jan Gillan himself, in addition to the vocalist, served as a drummer. The team was called the sonorous name of Moonshiners (which can be translated from English roughly as "Moon Rays"). Friends played songs from the repertoire of the then popular singer Tommy Rowe and the band The Shadows. This group has not made a single recording. But already during his participation in it, Jan Gillan understood what path he should move on in musical creativity. He stopped playing the drum kit, concentrating entirely on vocals.
30 years later
The next step on the road to fame was The Javelins. Her story is very interesting, it can be divided into two periods. The first lasted from 1962 to 1964. At the time, there was no evidence of sound recordings about the group’s work either. It is known that young people played cover versions of popular rock and roll compositions.
The team broke up when her guitarist left for the band, which later became known as Sweet. Gillan, too, was at that time in close contact with the members of this collective. This friendship has been preserved for many years. Sweet musicians subsequently played on the singer’s solo albums.
The Javelins group suddenly resurrected in the early nineties. Then old friends decided to get together again and do what they did not succeed in their youth - to record an album. Ian Gillan said that they did not have to think long about the choice of songs. The musicians simply found a list of songs performed at one of their concerts thirty years ago.
This year, 2018, the second album of old friends was released. Ian Gillan says that the uniqueness of this project lies in the fact that all the participants, except for him, in the fifty years that have passed since the collapse of The Javelins in the first half of the sixties, were not engaged in creativity.
They are not professional musicians who decide to record classical compositions. The team members play like a school band. As it was in the sixties. According to their leader, this is the whole charm of two albums.
When Ian Gillan wants to make a new record with his friends, he simply calls each of them and says: “Rehearse such and such songs with great effort.” Then they get together and record a record in one to two days.
First success abroad
The next item in the creative biography of Ian Gillan was the ensemble Episode Six. This team can be called a supergroup. This is the name of ensembles, which include musicians who already have a certain fame. The group was formed from the other two, which at this point had ceased to exist. The musicians released several singles, but none of them hit the British charts. Some time after their release, these recordings unexpectedly became popular in the eastern country of Lebanon.
Big success
The group performed mainly in London parks, giving 45-minute concerts on open stages and in pubs. In the summer of 1969, the band came to listen to Richie Blackmore and John Lord, the guitarist and keyboard player of the newly created band Deep Purple. The British musician Ian Gillan, whose biography is brought to your attention, was invited to Deep Dip.
In the first year of working in a new team, the singer wrote words and music for the song “A Child in Time”, which became the indisputable classic of rock music. A year later, Ian Gillan received an offer from Tim Rice, author of the text of the rock opera "Jesus Christ is a superstar." The poet was struck by the beauty of the timbre and the strength of the voice of the young vocalist. His choice was successful - the singer was able to record his part for an audio album in just three hours.
The vocalist contributed to the creation of fifteen Deep Purple albums.
Other jobs
The musician recorded approximately the same number of discs solo. Also in the biography of Ian Gillan (the singer’s photos are attached to the material), which is presented in this article, it is impossible not to mention his long creative friendship with the guitarist of the Black Sabbath band Tommy Iommi.
Together with this musician, he recorded two albums. The first of these is Black Sabbath's eleventh studio work, Burn Again. This disc received numerous negative reviews from critics. Nevertheless, she is loved by fans of both Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. The musicians collaborated for the second time in 2012 as part of the WhoCares joint project.
Jan Gillan today, having crossed the seventy-year milestone, continues to engage in his favorite business - music, which he does, as always, well. You can verify this by listening to the new album by Ian Gillan & The Javelins.