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,
Paice Ashton Lord Lord organised a testimonial concert for Tony Ashton at London's Abbey Road Studios to mark Ashton's apparent recovery from illness, named the 'Endangered Species Awards 2000'. 300 guests were invited and Tony Ashton was backed by artists including Lord, Paice, Marsden, Whitesnake's Neil Murray, Ringo Starr's son Zak Starkey and actor Ewan McGregor. A recording of 23 tracks from the event was released as 'Endangered Species' in 2009, featuring four Paice Ashton Lord songs. "Malice in Wonderland" was re-released on CD in 2001 by Purple Records, with an additional thirty minutes of songs intended for the unreleased second album. Paice