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> Login to your account > RegisterPURPLE'S UNKNO VOCALIST
From page 49 of Classic Rock Magazine December 2002
Cover of December 2002 issue.
DEEP PURPLE are a five-piece band again. After months of rumours and speculation about who would join Deep Purple as lead singer in place of Ian Galan, the band announced the new man this week.
He is David Coverdale, who has been singing around the Northern clubs with various professional and semi-pro bands for the last five years. and who, until he signed with Purple. was working in a boutique in Redcar.
Last week. David had joined the rest of the band — Jon Lord, Ian Paice. Ritchie Blackmore and Glen Hughes (who joined them on bass and vocals earlier this year) — at Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire for rehearsals.
Jon Lord told SOUNDS that they already had about half an hour's worth of new music worked out, ready for the band's next album. They will be recording in November on the Rolling Stones mobile unit, and their first scheduled dates are in America in January. But Jon said that they hoped to fit in sonic dates in Europe — including one in London — before the tour, probably just before Christmas.
The new band will play almost entirely new material — though they plan to keep a rearranged version of "Smoke On The Water" in their stage show, and vocals will be shared between David and Glen. who said that he had only joined on the understanding that he could sing as well as play bass. "I told them I didn't just Nint to do oohs and aaahs," He said at the castle.
