DEEP PURPLE BREAK UP

Press, 29 July 1976, Page 15

DEEP PURPLE BREAK UP

London. Deep Purple have split up because the band could not stand the hypocrisy and falseness of the rock world. Only three other groups—the Beatles. Zeppelin and the. Stones —hav. earned more than Deep Purple. But this month two of the members were divorced by their wives, who blamed groupies for the break-ups. And lead singer David Coverdale, who was not married, said the groupie situation was responsible for ending a "deep relationship” he had with a girl, shortly after joining the band. “Personally I just couldn’t stand the hypocrisy and falseness that came with being tn a, top band like Purple. It was great being on stage, but 1 haven’t been happy for a long time.” he said Although Coverdale said the worst part was execu-

fives in the record business “who had no soul”, the group has sold more than 30 million albums and made about £lOO million. “I got used to getting off planes round the world and being greeted by a trendy record company executive who called me by a Christian name of one of the other members of the group,” he said. And the social pressures were enormous, he said. "When you go on stage, you put on your platform rock ‘n’ roll shoes and make music. But I can’t lie. Our music is based on anger and rebellion and when I wasn’t feeling what I was doing, I recided I’d had enough.”

All of the members of the group—Glenn Hughes. Tommy Bolin, Jon Lord, lari Plaice and Coverdale —live outside Britain to avoid heavy l taxes. Deep Purple is reported to have an income equal to that of the Stones.