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,
Jim Paice Jim Paice Sir James Edward Thornton Paice, DL (born 24 April 1949) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South East Cambridgeshire between 1987 and 2015, when he stood down from parliament. He was the Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2010–2012 until being removed in the 2012 government reshuffle. Born in Felixstowe, Suffolk, Paice went to the independent Framlingham College. At the Writtle Agricultural College, he received a National Diploma in Agriculture in 1970. He was a farm manager from 1970–73. From