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 Paice Royal Albert Hall, performing alongside guitarist Brian May of Queen, bassist John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, and vocalists Bruce Dickinson and Alice Cooper. Paice is married and has three children: James, Emmy and Calli. His wife, Jacky, is the twin sister of the departed Jon Lord's wife, Vicky. It had been rumoured (and even mentioned by former Gillan guitarist Bernie Torme in an interview) that Paice has only one lung. In reality, he is only missing a portion of the lower lobe in his left lung, due to contracting a case of pneumonia when he was 6 years old