Ian Gillan (born on 19 August 1945), is a rock music vocalist known as the lead singer for legendary rock band Deep Purple, and for his two-year stint in Black Sabbath. He is considered to be one of the foremost rock vocalists, who introduced into rock music the vocal belting technique. In his prime he possessed a very wide vocal range, extending from the E2 to the soprano high C, or C6, with seemingly effortless and fluid movement throughout it and with remarkable force and precision in the upper register. Gillan was born in Hounslow, Middlesex, England. He joined the band Deep Purple in 1969. In 1970, he sang the part of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar. After leaving Deep Purple in 1973, he went into brief retirement before forming the Ian Gillan Band. The early band sound had a distinct jazz-rock aspect which proved unpopular and was replaced by a more high powered hard rock sound as Gillan reformed the lineup and shortened the groups name to Gillan. With the release of Mr. Universe Ian Gillan was back in the UK charts and through several more line up changes released a string of hit singles and successful albums including Glory Road, Future Shock, Double Trouble, and finally Magic.
Then he announced the band would fold as he needed to rest his damaged vocal cords. In 1983 he joined Black Sabbath to record the Born Again album before rejoining a reunited Deep Purple shortly after completing the Born Again tour in early 1984. He left Purple again in 1989, but rejoined for good in 1992. He remains in the band today.
In April 2006 Gillan released a CD/multimedia project to document his 40-year career called Gillan's Inn. Tony Iommi, Jeff Healey, Joe Satriani, as well as Jon Lord, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Don Airey and Steve Morse (all of whom are either current or former members of Deep Purple) featured on this 2006 CD and DVD project, a re-recorded selection of his Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and solo tracks. Gillan also announced that his solo records from the '70s and '80s will be re-issued late in 2006 through the Demon record company according to his interview in Metallian.
