"Jon passed from Darkness to Light"
Former keyboardist from the legendary hard rockin' British band, Deep Purple, has passed away at the age of 71. Straddling a Hammond B3 organ, Lord 's powerful, driving tones helped turn Deep Purple and Whitesnake into two of the most popular hard rock acts in the '70's and the '80's.
Pioneering classical-blues fusion into his trademark Hammond/Leslie combo, Lord was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968. Lord pushed the Hammond-Leslie sound through Marshall amplification , creating a growling, heavy, mechanical sound that gave a rhythmic counterpoint to guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's lead playing. It also allowed Lord to compete with Blackmore as a soloist, with an organ that sounded as heavy as a lead guitar. Here is some of the greatest rock classics like "Smoke on the Water", "Space Truckin'", "Highway Star" and "Child in Time" came from...
Deep Purple dissolved in 1976 and Lord went on to Whitesnake with vocalist David Coverdale. Feeling the pressure of a rather limited role with the band, he left to reform Deep Purple in 1984. The second coming of Deep Purple was successful, resulting a hit album Perfect Strangers and a high grossing reunion tour. Lord stayed there until his retirement in 2002. Since then, Lord has mostly worked on classical rock solo albums.
In 2011, Lord was diagnosed as suffering from pancreatic cancer, a normally swiftly developing and deadly form of cancer. Lord died on 16 July 2012, surrounded by his family at the London Clinic after suffering a pulmonary embolism.
Here is how I remember Jon Lord, back when I saw Deep Purple at Alpine Valley in the summer of '85....
May he rest in peace....
Pioneering classical-blues fusion into his trademark Hammond/Leslie combo, Lord was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968. Lord pushed the Hammond-Leslie sound through Marshall amplification , creating a growling, heavy, mechanical sound that gave a rhythmic counterpoint to guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's lead playing. It also allowed Lord to compete with Blackmore as a soloist, with an organ that sounded as heavy as a lead guitar. Here is some of the greatest rock classics like "Smoke on the Water", "Space Truckin'", "Highway Star" and "Child in Time" came from...
Deep Purple dissolved in 1976 and Lord went on to Whitesnake with vocalist David Coverdale. Feeling the pressure of a rather limited role with the band, he left to reform Deep Purple in 1984. The second coming of Deep Purple was successful, resulting a hit album Perfect Strangers and a high grossing reunion tour. Lord stayed there until his retirement in 2002. Since then, Lord has mostly worked on classical rock solo albums.
In 2011, Lord was diagnosed as suffering from pancreatic cancer, a normally swiftly developing and deadly form of cancer. Lord died on 16 July 2012, surrounded by his family at the London Clinic after suffering a pulmonary embolism.
Here is how I remember Jon Lord, back when I saw Deep Purple at Alpine Valley in the summer of '85....
May he rest in peace....
1 comment:
Hey Drew -- Nice write-up. Lord's organ work sure did light-up some of those early Deep Purple songs, especially "Hush," "Kentucky Woman," "Highway Star".... I should probably get to know their work a little better. Think I probably dismiss them a little cos I never liked "Smoke on the Water" much. Anyway, nice work....
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