I suggested we call ourselves Good Company, Purple or The Deeps. I remember the meeting with the remaining band members and management following Ritchie’s announcement. My disappointment was in not changing the band name. You’ve got to go out and discover somebody new.’ Otherwise I probably would have gone, if it hadn’t been for Bowie.”Ĭoverdale: “When it was official that Ritchie was out, I immediately wanted to make a solo album – and the players I knew I wanted to work on it with me were the rest of Purple. Bowie was staying at my house in Los Angeles, and when I got back from Paris he told me: ‘No, you’ve got to see this out, you’ve got to find somebody completely different to Blackmore. It was David Bowie who convinced me to stay.
Hughes: “I was the one who probably wanted to leave more than anyone else. I’ll just sit here and look at the Pacific and think about what to do next.’” I was sitting in California thinking: ‘This is alright, I’ve got a few bob in the bank, it’s been a good run. So, with Blackmore off to scale the Silver Mountain with Ronnie James Dio in Rainbow, Purple’s future looked bleak – and then some. But Ritchie wanted to go and play his Bach-infused music, which was 100 miles from were I was going.” Purple weren’t a – quote, unquote – heavy metal band who had to follow a formula. I’d go into his hotel room and he’d be playing Steely Dan, Marvin Gaye, Kool And The Gang, anything to do with black music. “Let me make this clear,” he continues, “Coverdale and I were listening to the same kind of music in 1974. Was it my fault that Ritchie left Deep Purple? Absolutely not. I’m not sure if it was my ‘funky shoeshine music’ that was the last straw. Change the singer, change the keyboard player, whatever. Regardless of whether it was Purple or Rainbow, he always lusted after change.
So I wasn’t that surprised when Ritchie said: ‘No, I want to leave’.”ĭespite being the architect of Purple’s shift away from their Brit-centric, heavy rock roots, Hughes says he cannot be held accountable for Blackmore’s departure. I remember the people at Warner Brothers, when we delivered Stormbringer, were quite shocked by its soulful, funky vibe. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but at the time I wasn’t exactly thrilled either. Lord: “Ritchie didn’t like the direction Purple were going in.
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