Ian Paice

Born in Nottingham before moving south in early childhood, Paice got his first drum kit at 15. He began his professional career in the early 1960s playing drums in his father's dance band. The first band he was in was called Georgie & the Rave-Ons, which after being renamed the Shindigs released their first single featuring the 17-year-old Paice and George Adams.

In 1966 Paice joined the MI5, which soon changed its name to the Maze. Primarily a club band, the Maze produced a number of singles, recorded mainly in Italy and France.

Paice with Deep Purple at the Labatt Centre in London, Ontario, Canada (2005)

The Maze featured vocalist Rod Evans, who alongside Paice was to form the original line-up of Deep Purple in March 1968. Evans had responded to an ad for a lead singer published by Deep Purple management, and showed up for his audition with Ian Paice in tow. Given that Deep Purple's first choice as drummer, Bobby Woodman, had expressed dislike for the band's musical direction, the group hastily arranged an audition for Paice, with guitarist Ritchie Blackmore leading the charge.[2] Blackmore in interviews years later stated: "I had looked for Ian Paice for about a year after seeing him perform in Hamburg. He's an incredible drummer. And he was the motor of the band". Before arriving at their current lineup, Deep Purple has undergone numerous lineup changes since its inception, with Paice being the last remaining original member active in the band through the present day.[3]

During this time, Paice was also involved in sessions for producer Derek Lawrence.

After Deep Purple split up, Paice went on to form a new group, Paice Ashton Lord in 1976. The band, also comprising singer/pianist Tony Ashton, Deep Purple organist Jon Lord, guitarist/vocalist Bernie Marsden and bassist Paul Martinez, recorded one album (Malice in Wonderland) and played only five live shows. Paice Ashton Lord were put on hold in 1977, halfway through recording the group's second album. They subsequently broke up, allegedly because Tony Ashton only felt at home playing live shows in little clubs.

In August 1979, Paice was asked by David Coverdale to join Whitesnake on the Japanese tour for the Lovehunter album. He stayed with the band for almost three years. He appeared on the Whitesnake albums Ready an' Willing (1980), Live...in the Heart of the City (1980), Come an' Get It (1981) and Saints & Sinners (1982).

This incarnation of Whitesnake also featured Bernie Marsden and Jon Lord, which meant three members of the Mark III line-up of Deep Purple were in Whitesnake during this period. Following musical differences with David Coverdale, Paice left Whitesnake in January 1982.[4]

In 1982, Paice joined Gary Moore for an album that turned into Corridors of Power. Moore's manager subsequently came up with the idea of Moore and Paice putting a band together under Moore's name, so that his management would take the business side of the project with Paice having a sizeable interest in the band. The collaboration turned out to be a successful one and produced a couple of albums and extensive tours. Paice left Moore's band in April 1984 when the reformed Deep Purple reconvened, and he remains in Deep Purple to the present day.

Paice played drums on the Velvet Underground's final album Squeeze, which was released in 1973. At that point, the band only consisted of singer and multi-instrumentalist Doug Yule (all of the other members, including Lou Reed, had either left or been fired by their manager), and the album was poorly received and quickly fell into obscurity.

In 1973, Paice was among English rock musicians invited by Eddie Harris, an American jazz player, to take part in the saxophonist's London sessions at Morgan Studios. Paice played on two songs: "He's Island Man" and "I've Tried Everything" along with Jeff Beck, Steve Winwood and Rick Grech. The album, called E.H. in the U.K. – The Eddie Harris London Sessions, produced by Geoffrey Haslam, was released the next year thru Atlantic Records.

In 1983, Paice took part in one of the first tribute recordings by symphonic orchestra paid to a rock band. Arrested – The Music of Police was a joint venture by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Don Airey and assembled rock musicians (other artists involved included Neil Murray, Graham Bonnet, Chris Thompson, Gary Moore, Roy Wood, Keth Airey and Raff Ravenscroft). The sessions took place mainly in London, primarily at Abbey Road Studios, but also in Los Angeles.

In July 1989, Paice took part in George Harrison's recording session at Friar Park, which resulted in three songs "Cheer Down", "Cockamamie Business" and "Poor Little Girl", which also featured Jeff Lynne, Jim Horn and Richard Tandy among others. The songs were recorded for the compilation album Best of Dark Horse 1976-1989, released in October the same year. The purpose of this album was to close Harrison's contractual obligations to Warner Brothers. "Cheer Down" was also released on the Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) soundtrack album.

In March 1999, Paice joined Paul McCartney at Abbey Road Studios for the recording of Run Devil Run, released in October that year. The line-up also featured Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and The Pirates' Mick Green. Paice also joined the album's line-up at three one-off performances in September and December 1999, including a show at the famous Cavern Club. Steve Morse said of Paice: "He's like a real heavy Ringo. He's just so good on the drums, but doesn't want to make a big deal about it."[5]

In 2001, Paice guested on Jim Capaldi's album Living on the Outside. He played on a 1960s-style rock-and-roll song, "Anna Julia", and the guitar-driven "We're Not Alone". "Anna Julia", which was also released as a single and turned out a considerable hit, also features George Harrison and Paul Weller.

Paice has worked on numerous occasions with former Spencer Davis Group drummer, Pete York. In December 2001 the two played a low key club tour of Germany, playing two drums on one stage, supported by Colin Hodgkinson (bass) and Miller Anderson (guitar, vocals). Apart from the regular setlist consisting of songs from York's and Paice's back catalogue, the shows featured impromptu drumming demonstrations and Q&A sessions.

Paice often joins Italian guitarist Tolo Marton, with whom he has performed on many occasions over the last decade, on stage. Marton's live album Dal Vero features Paice on the Jimi Hendrix songs "Stone Free" and "Hey Joe". Since 2005, he has also been involved in Moonstone Project led by Italian guitarist Matteo Filippini. The band performs regularly, mainly in Italy; they have also released two studio albums on which Paice has guested. Time to Take a Stand, released in 2006, featured two songs featuring both Paice and Glenn Hughes, performing together for the first time since 1976.

The list of Paice's declared admirers includes Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith.[6] On 21 June 2004 Smith and Paice joined forces at the launch of the London Drum Company. The next year they also played together at the Modern Drummer Festival at New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Both performances were released on DVD.

In mid-2011, Paice took part in the all-star recording of William Shatner's Seeking Major Tom, the actor's fourth album, a collection of space-themed cover songs. Paice plays on a rendition of Deep Purple's "Space Truckin'" alongside Johnny Winter. The album also features former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore.

On 19 June 1992, Paice was among guest musicians performing at the Leukaemia Research charity concert in Oxford. The concert featured members of Bad Company and Procol Harum as well as Gary Moore and Tony Ashton.

On 20 October 1992 in New York, Paice played at the John Bonham Tribute alongside Jason Bonham, Tommy Aldridge, Denny Carmassi, and Frankie Banali among others. Paice performed "The Rover" from the Led Zeppelin album Physical Graffiti.

Paice joined Tony Ashton at two performances at the Hell Blues Festival on 10 and 11 September 1999 in Norway. The band also featured Paul Martinez on bass, who had played alongside Ashton and Paice in Paice Ashton Lord in 1976/1977. The group was, however, billed as Tony Ashton & Legendary Friends.

Paice entertained more than 1000 people at a special charity concert in Reading on 13 January 2006. This highly successful event, which raised over £7000, was organised by Chris Wright, MD of DrumWright. The show was organised in aid of Tong-Len, which supports primary education for highly deprived children in Northern India.[7]

On 31 March and 1 April 2006, Paice joined Don Airey, Thomas Blug and Thijs van Leer at impromptu performances held during the ProLight+Sound fair in Frankfurt, Germany. The show included songs from the highly acclaimed Billy Cobham album Spectrum as well as songs by Deep Purple and Focus.

Since 2006, Paice has also been involved in The Sunflower Jam, a London-based charity founded by his wife Jacky Paice and also involving actor Jeremy Irons. Paice is usually featured as a member of the SunflowerJam house band. He has performed there with likes of Robert Plant, Brian May, John Paul Jones, Gary Moore and Bruce Dickinson.

On 2 March 2007, Paice held a drum clinic organised by the University of Glamorgan. The show was organised in partnership with ATRiuM the University's Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries. Commenting after the show Paice said: "ATRiuM will be a great place for young musicians to learn their craft, not to mention all the other things they’ve got going on there. This drum clinic of mine will hopefully demonstrate that drummers are also musicians, despite the jokes!".[8]

On 13 January 2008, Paice took part in the ChildLine Rocks charity concert in London, where he played live with former Deep Purple bassist Glenn Hughes for the first time since 1976.

On 24 May 2008, Paice participated in "Rock Legends Adventure" concert in Cologne, Germany. He joined an all-stars line-up featuring Pete York, Leland Sklar, Steve Lukather, Bobby Kimball and John Miles among others. Paice played on 10 of 32 songs performed that night, including The Kinks' "You Really Got Me", The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Come Together", Allman Brothers Band's "One Way Out", Steve Wonder's "Superstition" and Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water".

Paice appeared at the Pearl Day (Pearl drums event) which was held on 1 June 2008 at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham, UK. Apart from Paice, guests included Jerry Brown, Mark Brzezecki, Jimmy Degrasso, Darrin Mooney, and Dan Foord.

On 6 September 2009, Paice joined Neil Murray, Doogie White, Jonathan Noyce, Clive Bunker and Phil Hilborne at a "Night with Jethro Tull and Deep Purple" concert in Turin, Italy.

On 18 April 2010, Paice, Jon Lord and Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson joined leading actors (Gillian Anderson, Julie Christie, Sinéad Cusack, Emilia Fox, Derek Jacobi, Zoe Wanamaker, James Wilby, among others) to support Survival International at the Apollo Theatre in London for fundraising event "We are One – a celebration of tribal peoples", created by actor Mark Rylance.

On 2 April 2012, Paice performed at the Buddy Rich 25th Anniversary Memorial Concert at the London Palladium. He was joined on stage by the Buddy Rich Orchestra and Bruce Dickinson.

On 16 September 2012, Paice appeared at the Sunflower Jam charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall, performing alongside guitarist Brian May of Queen, bassist John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, and vocalists Bruce Dickinson and Alice Cooper.[9]

On 14 June 2016, he suffered a transient ischaemic attack, or mini stroke.[14] This led to Deep Purple cancelling two concerts planned in Sweden that week.[15] He said after the incident that there was "no serious or permanent damage" and expected to return to performing in July. He added that the cancelled concerts were the first Deep Purple performances of which he had forced the cancellation since his co-founding of the band in 1968.[16] He returned to stage with Deep Purple in Gothenburg on 1 July, playing a full setlist with the band, but without performing his drum solo.