Former Deep Purple singer Joe Lynn Turner opened up about the time he was fired from the band and shared his disappointments.
In a new interview with Backstage Pass, Turner revealed his thoughts about ‘Slaves And Masters.’ This was the only album he recorded with Deep Purple. The singer answered a fan question about if he was disappointed for not doing the next record with the band. As it seems, this is true because he thought he was ‘the glue’ of Deep Purple:
“Was I disappointed? Yes, in a way because I knew I was an interim singer. I think Ian Paice had a great statement in the press one time that I read. He said, ‘Joe was kind of the glue that held Purple together and in order to go from this point to this point. And without that album, without Joe being there, Ritchie would have taken off and done something else. They never would have had that reunion with Gillan.'”
He then discussed some of his musical works:
“Plus I knew that there was something in the works with BMG, trying to reunite Gillan for a large sum of money. Money talks, nobody walks. I understood that, but we did work on the second album which was the ‘The Battle Rages On’ for them. I do have some cassettes with me vocalizing over these tracks and so on. In fact, I did a song that I called ‘Stroke Of Midnight’ that I co-wrote lyrics and melodies with Jim Peterik from Survivor, and Blackmore’s bluesy tracks and they called it ‘One Man’s Meat.”
How Turner Got The Purple Gig
Turner’s audition for Deep Purple ended up as a last-minute call. He explained earlier in another interview:
“I was the last-minute call because at that point Colin Hart, the road manager, called me up and said, ‘You fancy coming up for a month to audition?’ And I said, ‘I gotta audition?’ So I drove up for a month, and there they were in this beat-up, old, abandoned ski lodge, in the bar area, stinking of cigarettes and beer… As soon as I walked in, [Ritchie] Blackmore started playing and I went up to the mic. And then Jon Lord, rest his soul, he started playing this piano bit, and that turned into ‘The Cut Runs Deep,’ right there and then.”
Besides, Turner was fully aware that the band would reunite with Gillan.
You can watch the interview below.
