Mel Galley of Whitesnake and Trapeze fame passed away on July 1, at his home in Heath Hayes, UK. He had suffered from cancer and in February had announced that doctors determined his condition as terminal:
Rather than sit around feeling sorry for myself I intend to make the most of the time I have left with my family and friends. I am blessed with a fantastic wife and two sons who I am very proud of. For now I am just aiming to make my 60th birthday in March.
I have enjoyed a great life, travelled the world having some amazing experiences, met all sorts of people and played with some of the best musicians there are.
In one of his last messages on Myspace Mel wrote on May 10:
Hi to everyone and thanks so much for your continued kind words and wishes. They are truly appreciated by my wife and I. I want you to know that i am no longer going out to the pub – now the pub is coming to me. I have friends visit me at home each day, I have drugs in me 24/7, and I have a plentiful supply of Gin & Tonic by my bedside. I even have my own ice machine! In fact it’s just like my Whitesnake days.
Whitesnake will guest on the nationally syndicated radio show “Rockline”, hosted by Bob Coburn, on Wednesday, September 3 at 11:30 p.m. EST/8:30 p.m. PST. Fans can talk live with Whitesnake by calling 800-344-ROCK (7625). To find a station near you or to listen to the show live via the Internet, go to http://www.rocklineradio.com/.
It looks like there’s a new band in the purple family. It’s called Purple Rainbows and the lineup is Joe Lynn Turner — vocals, Bobby Rondinelli — drums, Tony Carey — keyboards and Craig Goldy — guitar (no word yeat as of who’ll take bass duties, but I hear that Glenn Hughes might be available).
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Now, anybody who’ve followed JLT recently knows that he’ll take any job. Tony Carey hasn’t been heard in years in the hard rock context. And Craig Goldey did a damn good job on Rainbow numbers with Dio. (One time I saw them, he even pulled a white strat for a Stargazer, and he did a very faithful rendition to boot.)
On the balance of things, it could be half interesting.
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The band is currently looking to book concerts in 2009.
We have more confirmed tour dates for this Fall autumn: Deep Purple will continue touring well throughout September, October and November. They will start this leg with an open air in the midst of the oil fields of Siberia, then visit Israel (where they haven’t played since 1991), then off to the bullrings, beaches and biker fests of Spain. In October the band will be off to the east again, this time for a massive tour of Russia and Ukraine, of which only two dates have been confirmed so far: Moscow and St.Petersburg, but little birdie tells me there’s more to come. From Russia they are straight to Germany (all German dates have been confirmed), and finish with a gig in Switzerland on November 18.
As mentioned earlier, Roger Glover has been involved with the Linda McCartney Center on this song. We’ve been informed that there will be a limited edition CD available from www.deep-purple-net at a cost of £5.99 inclusive of UK postage. Orders for the CD will be taken up until July 31st 2008. Both formats will include a B side of 2 songs: Chosen Words and Elated by the band Domminney. Please email lmccmusic@live.co.uk for further details, or visit http://www.deep-purple.net/related-news/roger-glover.htm
Steve Morse used the break in the busy touring schedule to work on the new Steve Morse Band album:
We have 10 songs, ranging from a classical guitar/bass piece to a Bluegrass instrumental, and of course, many tracks reminiscent of the style on ‘Southern Steel’.
He has also completed a solo album in collaboration with Sarah Spencer (Dave LaRue on bass and Van Romaine on drums provided the rhythm section). The album is called Angelfire and will be released in the fall this year on Radiant Records.
Sarah has the kind of smooth, beautiful voice that makes for a welcome contrast to the harsh realities of life, but she can really sing anything. I simply chose to write the type of music that I would like to hear her sing, and it still blows me away with how good she sounds.
Here is you big chance to wine and dine with Jon Lord. The Scotsman reports:
SPACES are still available at a gala dinner to celebrate investments in Edinburgh’s six colleges.
The annual Edinburgh and Lothians Colleges Group dinner is being held on June 19 at Prestonfield Hotel and is set to be attended by Deep Purple legend Jon Lord. Anyone interested in attending should e-mail Joan Serafini at joan@equatorevents.com.
We have no idea if Jon will perform and/or give a talk at the dinner, so don’t blame us for any falsely raised hopes. 😉
Not wanting to start a yet another pointless Blackmore vs Morse debate, ‘ere’s a though for ya: Blackmore leaving back in 1993 was the best thing that happened to this band in 20 years. We, as fans, got twice the music to enjoy. Continue Reading »
Deep Purple have been added to this years Sunflower Jam in London on September 25 – and for the first time in six years, Jon Lord is set to perform with the band.
On his website, Jon Lord confirms that he will get onstage with Deep Purple as Special Guest:
I imagine they’ll be playing some of the more recent stuff and I’ll join for a few of the old favourites. The idea is not that they’ll turn up without Don Airey at all. That would be terribly unfair to him after all this time.
Last time Jon appeared on stage together with Deep Purple was on September 19, 2002 at the Regent Theatre in Ipswich, UK.
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Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing