Joe Lynn Turner On Feeling Disappointed About Deep Purple

As a band that has performed with many different lineups, Deep Purple has also changed its lead vocalist several times. While Ian Gillan is generally the best-known singer of the band, Joe Lynn Turner also joined them for a brief period during the early 1990s and recorded one album. In a recent interview with Eon Music, Turner talked about whether he felt happy seeing his former band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and if he felt disappointed for not being there.

After being announced as nominees for the Hall for the third time, Deep Purple was finally inducted on April 8, 2016. Although some former members like Ritchie Blackmore and David Coverdale attended the ceremony, Joe Lynn Turner was excluded from induction.

“No, because I don’t believe in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” said Turner when asked whether he felt disappointed for not taking the stage with Deep Purple in the induction ceremony. “I think it’s the Rock and Roll Hall of Shame; it’s a business. It’s really a money business; it’s a money grab. Ritchie wouldn’t go too.”

He continued by explaining their attitude toward awards in Rainbow, “First of all, in Rainbow, we were never about awards or videos. We had to make them – which we did – but we were always half-hearted about it because we were about live performance, kicking ass on stage, making records. So awards shows; unless it was like a people’s choice, never mattered to us.”

“We barely wanted to receive our gold records because it was just like, ‘so what?!’” added the musician before moving on to discussing the names that have been inducted. “There are some really great bands that are still not in that Hall of Fame; why? And if it’s the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, why are there rap stars and everybody else? It’s a money maker; big money for the seats and all that, and it’s this big thing.”

“I got the skinny from Roger Glover, actually, when they were saying; ‘No, we’re not going to go,’ and then he said; ‘Let’s just do it for the fans,’ and that was one of the main reasons they went. They do deserve some recognition, of course, but they have that recognition.”

Speaking on how he was credited during the speech, he said, “So, I had an honorable mention; I think it was Ian Gillian who said, ‘…And Joe Lynn Turner, Tommy Bolin, all of these people that were in the band at one point or another really made us the some total of the parts that we were,’ and that actually went over.”

Joe then concluded that it was more important to him to see that his counterparts in the industry respected him. “Ritchie said in an article, he was talking about it, and he was kind of disparaging this ‘hall of shame’ thing, and he didn’t want to go and all that, and he said; ‘But I think Joe Lynn Turner should get an award for his writing ability and singing on the album.’ I was floored. The respect that I got from that, I go, ‘That’s the kind of award I like!’”

Following his departure from Deep Purple in 1992, Joe Lynn Turner worked on his solo career and released over ten studio albums. The singer’s latest solo effort, ‘Belly of the Beast,’ including 11 new tracks, has just arrived on October 28, 2022.