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,
Ian Gillan the 20th anniversary of Rock Aid Armenia, Gillan together with Tony Iommi, Geoff Downes, and the project organiser Jon Dee were received by the Prime Minister of Armenia who awarded them with the republic's Orders of Honour. On 26 and 27 March 2010, in Yerevan, Gillan performed with State Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia. At a press conference in Yerevan on 27 March, Gillan said he considers Armenia his spiritual motherland. In 2010, Ian Gillan met Tony Iommi, Nicko McBrain and Jon Lord, Mikko Lindström from HIM and Jason Newsted at a studio in London to finish recording a song called