I was sad to hear of Jon Lord’s untimely death, as I had a fleeting acquaintance with him in my adolescence……but more of that later. Jon Lord was born in my local parish of Leicester and studied classical piano from the age of five. In his teens, the the new rock ‘n’ roll and R&B movements made a deep impression on him, in particular the music recorded by blues pianists and organists such as Jimmy McGriff and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Jon Lord discovered his trademark sound when he formed Santa Barbara Machine Head, which included Rolling Stone, Ronnie Wood. The key to this group’s success was its powerful, organ and guitar driven music, which eventually formed the basis of Deep Purple, bringing together Jon Lord and the bassist Nick Simper. The duo were the backbone of Deep Purple, ably supported by lead guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, vocalist Rod Evans and the drummer Ian Paice among them. This Famous Five formed Purple’s first line up in 1968.

Deep Purple spent the next eight years playing the world’s largest stadia and releasing a series of classic albums – “In Rock” (1970), “Fireball” (1971), “Machine Head” (1972) and “Burn” (1974) among them. Band members ebbed and flowed, but Jon Lord and Ian Paice remained stalwarts until the group disbanded in 1976 – ironically the year that I adopted them indirectly through the school gang I was hanging around with!! There was many a night that my study emanated to the sound of “Smoke on the Water” and “Child in Time”!! In the end my interest in Prog Rock bands, Genesis and Pink Floyd eclipsed Deep Purple……

It was the unusual marriage and fusion of rock and classical that made Jon Lord such an unique musician. During Deep Purple’s glory days, he often infused the Deep Purple songs with classical influences, counterbalanced against Ritchie Blackmore’s dynamic lead guitar, was unique and often copied.

After Deep Purple split, Jon Lord formed a group with the rock Vocalist Tony Ashton and Deep Purple’s ex-drummer Paice entitled Paice, Ashton & Lord. They released one album, “Malice in Wonderland”, in 1977. Following this one off project Jon Lord teamed up with Whitesnake, fronted and formed by Deep Purple’s last lead singer, David Coverdale. This was Whitesnake at their finest in their early years, as an earthy, blues-rock band. However Jon Lord couldn’t resist his spiritual home and rejoined a reformed line up of Deep Purple in 1984 alongside Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Paice, vocalist Ian Gillan and the bassist Roger Glover.

The following years witnessed cameo collaborations on albums by Jon Lord’s Oxfordshire neighbour George Harrison and Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour. Eighteen more years of recording and tours followed before Jon Lord suffered tour fatigue. When a request for a year long sabbatical was declined, he amicably left Deep Purple in 2002 and spent the remaining decade of his life in contented retirement.

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