Deep Purple Just Receive Departure Letter From The Manager...

On June 29 1973, Ian Gillan left Deep Purple and no-one said a word. The singer tells Classic Rock the full, sad story

It was bizarre, actually. Because I had actually handed in my letter of resignation to the band months earlier, while we were in Dayton, Ohio.

I told them in this letter that I intended to leave Purple at the end of the next tour. But, at the time nobody said anything at all to me about my decision. We just got on with making the new album Who Do We Think We Are and then we went out on the road.

We went to Japan in June 73, and the last date was in Osaka on the 29th. That was the end of the touring schedule, and therefore my final show with the band. Still no-one said a word to me. We got onstage, did the gig, and… well, that was it! I left the venue on my own, and went back the hotel. There were no goodbyes from anybody connected to Purple.

None of the other four in the band, none of the crew, nobody from the management. It was almost as if it had been swept under the carpet. As I said, the whole thing was bizarre. I never expected a farewell gift or an emotional outburst from anybody, but just to ignore the whole thing was really weird.

I never said anything after the gig. It just didn’t feel right that I should say something. The atmosphere at the time in Purple was just horrible, and for me it was just such a relief to have it all done and dusted. To understand what was going on in the band you’d need to be a trained psychologist. Everyone in the line-up at the time behaved like an asshole – and I am including myself here. I was as bad as the rest of them.

Tags: Deep Purple Ian Gillan Japan

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