Bands start, and they end! The end of one thing leads to the beginning of another. In this case, Rainbow had to call it quits for Deep Purple to get back on its feet again, and Joe Lynn Turner was aware of what was happening from the beginning. Here’s what he had to say to Classic Album Review about everything that played out.
The singer shared, “I knew about it. I knew precisely, and in fact, I was one of the ones that felt very proud that I was bringing them back with Gillan because I had no compunction, I was hoping for a solo album, you know I, I was like ‘Okay, I’m fine with it no problem at all,’ so I was very aware of it absolutely.”
Turner was aware of and supported the Deep Purple reunion; he added, “I knew the deal with BMG had happened, and you know, I was told that this was going down, and I said ‘I’m not going to stand in your way.’ I think Ian Paice was very kind about it because he wrote it in Fireworks Magazine.”
“I’ve saved the clip,” the rocker continued, “Where he said, you know, ‘Joe was kind of like the middle man, the guy that held it together because without Joe doing that record, Richie would have been off someplace, and we would have never actually been able to get back together with Gillan to do you know ‘Perfect Strangers’ and so forth and I was very proud of that because that was the truth.”
Even though ‘Slaves and Masters’ was the only Deep Purple album Turner was a part of, he enjoyed the experience with the band and was more than comfortable giving it up for Blackmore and all the guys to reunite. The rocker concluded, “That’s the truth, and I had a great time with Purple, and I still think we have a very good record with ‘Slaves and Masters,’ very good.”
The Deep Purple reunion was a big deal as the band had not released any new music in almost a decade. The ‘Mark II’ line-up featuring the original members Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Paice and Jon Lord, alongside Roger Glover from Rainbow and Ian Gillan from Black Sabbath, was a huge success right off the bat with their first studio album ‘Perfect Strangers.’ The much-anticipated reunion started strong and received so much attraction from fans who had high hopes for the reunion, and they sure weren’t disappointed.
