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,
Jill Paice in "Chess the Musical" at the Signature Theater in 2010. In 2011, she created the role of Grazia in Maury Yeston's "Death Takes a Holiday" in the original Off-Broadway production by Roundabout Theatre Company. She was cast in the leading role of "I" in the musical "Rebecca", which had been scheduled to open on Broadway in November 2012. The production of "Rebecca" on Broadway has been postponed. On September 3, 2013, she took over the role of "Miss Honey" in the Broadway musical "Matilda The Musical". In April, 2015, Paice opened as Milo Davenport in the Broadway musical "An American