by André Depienne

Deep Purple member Jon Lord has been a li- ving legend. Already at the age of 9 he had piano lessons and as a teenager, he became a professional musician. His first steps on his long career were the Bill Ashton Combo, the National Youth Orchestra and the Red Bludds Bluesicians. After 1967 he was working with Nick Simper as a studio musician for groups like “Flowerpot Men”. Together with Nick he created the band “Roundabout” and only two months later renamed the band Deep Purple. With this band Jon Lord had his greatest suc- cess. Additionally to his career with Deep Purple, Jon Lord used to play with groups like “Paice, Ashton & Lord” or Whitesnake and was recording and performing as a solo singer too. The big success of Deep Purple was due to his talent and love to classical music. He was also the co-writer of most Deep Purple songs. He also had the idea for the “Concerto for Group and Orchestra on September 24th, 1969 at “Royal Albert Hall”, together with the “Royal Philharmonic Orchestra”. The music was written by Jon Lord and lyrics by Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan.