Ritchie Blackmore
In the 1950s, Blackmore played with small bands. In 1968, Blackmore, with keyboardist Jon Lord, singer Rod Evans, bassist Nick Simper and drummer Ian Paice created the band Deep Purple. Deep Purple had a hit song in the United States with "Hush". Although they were doing well, Ritchie Blackmore and Deep Purple decided to get a different singer. They replaced Evans with Ian Gillan from the band Episode 6. They also replaced the bass player (Nick Simper) with  another Episode 6 member, Roger Glover. The band's album Deep Purple In Rock was released in 1970. In 1972, Deep Purple made the album Machine Head. It included one of their most popular songs, "Smoke on the Water. In 1972, they recorded the live album Made in Japan. Gillan and Glover left the group in 1973. They were replaced with singer David Coverdale and bassist Glenn Hughes. The new Deep Purple released two albums Burn (1974) and Stormbringer (1974). Blackmore left the band soon after these albums were released.