"When I was a kid, I hated being kissed by aunts on my birthday. This probably explains my aversion to celebrating my birthday," Ian Gillan ponders, referring to his anniversary on August 19. "I won't celebrate the seventieth either." But his fans are.
Ian Gillan, born in London in 1945, grew up in the suburb of Hounslow, near Heathrow Airport. His first serious band was called Episode Six. When Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord and Ian Paice looked at the group in June 1969, Blackmore in particular was so enthusiastic about the distinctive singer that he immediately offered him a job at Deep Purple. He brought his episode six colleague Roger Glover into the love marriage as a dowry. "From then on, my life changed completely."
Gillan became the archetype of the hard rock shouter in the seventies, and as a matter of course he took on the title role in the recording of the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar". "What happened then in two or three years is still sensational in retrospect." The speed of his career led to Gillan's burnout in 1973. "I was just done, so Blackmore had no choice but to replace me as lead singer."
