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that one of its member's grandmother liked, was formed in Hertford, England, in 1968, with an inaugural lineup that featured guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, vocalist Rod Evans, bassist Nick Simper, keyboardist Jon Lord, and drummer Ian Paice. In the wake of a highly publicized regrouping of the classic lineup, Deep Purple emerged as one of the longest-lived U.K. hard-rock/metal outfits and a showcase for some of the most successful hard-rock stars of the '70s, '80s, and '90s, including guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and singer David Coverdale. The band's commercial breakthrough came with 1970's Deep Purple in Rock, which sold over a million copies in the U.K., with the subsequent non-LP single "Black Night" falling just shy of topping the U.K. pop charts. 1971's Fireball was also a smash, scoring a hit with "Strange Kind of Woman." Inspired by a fire that broke out at venue at which they were to play, Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" proved their most enduring hit from this era .The song, featured on the multi-platinum classic Machine Head, reached the U.S. Top Five in mid-1972 and positioned Deep Purple among rock's elite.
The next two decades would see more successes, but also several lineup changes as the band searched for a workable blend of artists. In 1994, Steve Morse took over the guitar slot, fresh from a stint in Kansas; the revitalized group returned to the studio for 1996's Purpendicular, which proved a success among the Purple faithful. 1998's Abandon followed, as well as a 1999 orchestral performance released the following year as Live at the Royal Albert Hall. Over the next decade there were several archival releases as the legend of Deep Purple was kept alive. Throughout its changes in personnel and an eight-year hiatus, the band retained its core audience of metal fans (though they declined to label themselves as a metal group). The Deep Purple faithful have been rewarded with two reunion tours and studio releases which confirm their notion that with Deep Purple songs, the louder the better.