Ian Gillan Purple. By 1969, after having released nine singles, none of which charted in the UK, and finding their style of music too restrictive for him, he decided to leave Episode Six. By spring 1969, Deep Purple had had a top 5 US hit with "Hush", but the band, particularly Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord and Ian Paice, decided their future lay in hard rock, rather than the psychedelic pop sound of the early band. In June 1969, Blackmore, Lord and Paice went to see Episode Six perform at a pub gig and subsequently offered Gillan the job as new lead singer,
Graham Bonnet work on a new studio album to be recorded featuring new compositions and a bonus disc consisting of re-recordings of a number of songs from Bonnet's career. The final line-up of The Graham Bonnet Band is: Graham Bonnet, Vocals; Conrad Pesinato, Guitars; Beth-Ami Heavenstone, Bass; Mark Zonder (Ex-Fates Warning), Drums. The band will resume touring towards the end of 2016. On 4 November 2016, The Graham Bonnet Band released their debut album, 'The Book.' Reviews were positive, with the Real Gone website calling the album "surprisingly good" and also stating that some of the tracks "exceeded expectations by some distance".